Windows 7

[H]

Is anyone gaming on it and have some impressions they might have time to share?

Applications designed for multi-core systems, most notably PCSX2, run faster.

[Oerwinde]

I just installed it, trying to migrate my XP settings now, but the first thing I noticed was its fast. Faster than XP ran on a clean install.

[Pop]

We've been running the RC at work and the speed difference between Vista and W7 is really quite striking. They added a bunch of features that are really quite nice as well. It's like the leap from Oblivion to Fallout 3.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

It's like the leap from Oblivion to Fallout 3.

 

Except Vista was ok and Windows 7 is on par or better while Fallout 3 was not that great and Oblivion was even worse.

 

EDIT: I might pick up at least one upgrade once it comes out - or maybe before that, there's some good deals now.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Deadly_Nightshade

[Bokishi]

Except Vista was ok and Windows 7 is on par or better

 

No it's only better, way better

[Wrath of Dagon]

I've been crashing both Vista and W7 with Mysteries of Westgate, MoW also seems to be corrupting Vista, but not W7 yet as far as I can tell. I just installed new ATI Catalyst drivers on W7, so I'll see if that helps. Empire: TW has also been constantly crashing on Vista, but I'm not going to try it on W7 until I finish MoW, I don't need any more problems right now.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Wrath of Dagon

[samm]

Corrupting? Might want to check your harddrive, have you a tool that can read SMART values?

[Wrath of Dagon]

No, what is that? I'm pretty sure it's the games, it seems to work fine otherwise. Edit: Never mind, I looked it up.

Edited July 16, 2009 by Wrath of Dagon

[Oerwinde]

After running it for a while its starting to lose its edge. Media sharing isn't nearly as easy or effective as XP as WMP12 doesn't handle it as well as 11, and I can't get Tversity to work. EU3 ran quite well at first but started to get insane slowdowns, so I reinstalled it(I was running it from the directory I installed to in XP) and now it won't even start. Plays the intro videos and thats it. It also slowed to a crawl once I got my antivirus installed, and it started having all sorts of network connectivity issues. (All my drivers were up to date) Plus my headphones wouldn't work until I set them up as the rear speakers of a surround sound setup.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Well, the pre-order sale is over and I missed it so I guess I'll be waiting for Windows 7 until I actualy see a better price. They've talked about doing another sale soonish (id est when it ships) for those who are upgrading and if that happens I'll most likely get it. If not... Well, I'm not that upset with Vista and XP has been good as well (I've got PCs with both of those).

[Joseph Bulock]

Is anyone gaming on it and have some impressions they might have time to share?

 

The Hutt is and he likes it.

 

*raises hand as well*

 

No problems here yet. Certainly haven't noticed any issues with it yet. I've currently installed and tested Simcity 4, Baldur's Gate 1+2 and a couple newer games like Overlord 2 and Left 4 Dead. All work just fine and I'm not sure whether it's just different default settings but it seems to like my front audio ports a little better than Vista did. It switches between them and my speakers more accurately now.

 

 

Tons of gaming on it here as well. Demigod, TF2, League of Legends have all been tested and enjoyed. I've been mostly on my 360 lately, so the testing has been a little limited. I've found one audio levels issue with TF2, but that's likely to me not having all the drivers set up right, and being a bit lazy.

[CoM_Solaufein]

I just installed the 64 bit on my other computer. It looks nice so far. I see it uses Direct X 11. I hope that isn't a problem for graphics cards that are only made for Direct X 10.1.

[Bokishi]

Tested Crysis on it today and it runs far better than it does on Vista. I mean I am finally able to crank it to the absolute max DX10 Very High @ 2560x1600

[Jaesun]

Hey Bokishi (or anyone else using W7) have you tried the Virtual PC that comes with W7? Specifically I wanted to know if they finally added 3D support to it. For example I could run Grim Fandango with NO problems using Virtual PC (for Windows XP), however since there was no 3D support, it was using the emulated 3D.

 

I really wanted to try and run Ultima 9 (it requires 3D and has crashing problems with XP) so I could finally finish my lulzy Lets Play thread on the codex. Ultima 9 would not run on Virtual PC, as there was no 3D support.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

The last time I tried it they had not added 3D Support, although I think they have said the final version will have it.

[Rostere]

If I don't confuse things, it has 3D support, although it only emulates the S3 Savage or something like that.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

If I don't confuse things, it has 3D support, although it only emulates the S3 Savage or something like that.

[Jaesun]

If I don't confuse things, it has 3D support, although it only emulates the S3 Savage or something like that.

 

ok thank you. I would "hope" thats enough support to play some older 3D titles?

[Deadly_Nightshade]

If I don't confuse things, it has 3D support, although it only emulates the S3 Savage or something like that.

 

ok thank you. I would "hope" thats enough support to play some older 3D titles?

 

Well, I tried it some and it seems to be a mixed bag - some older games like it and some do not. However, I belive the final one will be even more powerful so I would hope that all titles would work after that.

[Jaesun]

If I don't confuse things, it has 3D support, although it only emulates the S3 Savage or something like that.

 

ok thank you. I would "hope" thats enough support to play some older 3D titles?

 

Well, I tried it some and it seems to be a mixed bag - some older games like it and some do not. However, I belive the final one will be even more powerful so I would hope that all titles would work after that.

 

Allrighty, I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed. By chance, do you happen to have Grim Fandango? I know it worked flawlessly in the XP version of Virtual PC (Using software rendering). I'm curious if you can now finally actually use the hardware rending for that?

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Grim Fandango seems to run fine for all of those who have tried it on Windows 7.

[Jaesun]

Grim Fandango seems to run fine for all of those who have tried it on Windows 7.

 

Yea with Virtual PC for XP, it was the ONLY stable format I could run the game in. Now if only it could be in 3D... but oh well.

 

JUST being able to play it in a stable environment was awesome. <3

Edited July 28, 2009 by Jaesun

[mkreku]

Review of Windows 7 on CNet: http://reviews.cnet.com/windows/microsoft-...l?tag=mncol;txt

 

Microsoft has created several theme packages to give people a taste for what the feature can do. Click on one to download it, and it instantly changes the color scheme and background--no need to reboot.

Wow. You can change your background without having to reboot. Fantastic.

 

Unfortunately they didn't do any gaming related tests, but the only application they compared (Microsoft Office) shows Windows 7 taking 3.21 minutes longer to complete the unspecified task compared to XP. Fantastic.

 

And why does an OS need 20 GB on the harddrive? My entire XP (SP3, with all my programs installed) takes up 4.3 GB. It doesn't make sense.

[LostStraw]

I'm not sure why Microsoft has a listed requirement of 20GB for Windows 7 64 bit and 16GB for the 32 bit version. My install of Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit is around 5GB in size.

Edited August 3, 2009 by LostStraw

[Pidesco]

For a potentially much larger page file, probably.