XP or Win 7 for gaming?

[darkty]

Hey guys, I see these videos of people who are gamers and are still using Windows XP. I have heard some people say XP is better for gaming but what is the truth?
I have Windows7 64 Bit but it seems as if XP was just a bit easier. Can someone tell me what you think is better for gaming....

 

[Archean]

I am not an avid gamer, but few games which I do play there is not much difference between XP or Win7, infact some of the games feel bit more 'responsive' but that may be due to the fact that I am using x64 OS (its a guess).

Edit:
Here is an article about Win7 Gaming situation.

 

[darkty]

XP is not that hard to get, Bad thing about all of this is that I heard MS will stop supporting XP in the not to long future.

Also, Is 8gigs and 1Tereabyte even supported on there?

 

[Archean]

XP SP2 supported ended recently, XP with SP3 will continue to be supported for few more years (I think I somewhere read 2014 when support ends, but if I am wrong someone please correct me).

I read these figures somewhere, but I am not sure where, I guess you can search for it as well:

Here are the upper RAM limits for the different editions of Windows 7 (x64):

Windows 7 Starter and Basic: 8GB
Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate: 192GB

And your hdd will work just fine, don't worry about it.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

XP-64 is...bad.
I suppose you're stuck with windows 7 64.

XP doesn't support DX10 or DX11 effects, so that helps raise FPS. Aside from that, I feel theres hardly a difference. I still use XP because i'm lazy, nothing to it.

 

[Archean]

XP-64 is...bad

Hi again HK !

I would respectfully disagree with this assessment, I've used it for years with out any instability, doing all the things I needed to do. Although, its is now more of relic and I wouldn't bother about it any more. The major bone of contention with it was availability of drivers IMHO.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I'd agree on my bias, but given the choice between Xp-64 and win7-64, I'd think (as arbitrarily as possible) that windows 7 would be easier.

 

[Archean]

I agree with your assertion in this regard. Beside as I already said, its a dinosaur from another era, hence, it is high time it should be relegated to i.e. 'history bin' ..... where it belongs to anyway.

 

[Leeky]

It probably would be HK, but the real issue with XP x64, as Archean very correctly pointed out, was the lack of driver support.

Now we are a further 2 OS generations down the line, x64 is much better supported by the vast majority of manufacturers.

 

[ChinoNYC]

Now we are a further 2 OS generations down the line, x64 is much better supported by the vast majority of manufacturers.

Vista doesn't count. LOL.

 

[ChinoNYC]

XP SP2 supported ended recently, XP with SP3 will continue to be supported for few more years (I think I somewhere read 2014 when support ends, but if I am wrong someone please correct me).

Windows XP support as a product will cease after April 8, 2014, regardless of whichever Service Pack you have installed.

The support link can be found here and you can export it as a CSV file for usage into Excel. M$ Support Lifecycle

 

[darkty]

Windows XP support as a product will cease after April 8, 2014, regardless of whichever Service Pack you have installed.

The support link can be found here and you can export it as a CSV file for usage into Excel. M$ Support Lifecycle

Just want to let you know, Don't always listen to what Wikipedia says. It most likely we will stop supporting in 14 but it's not official. (If wrong, Correct)

 

[darkty]

I know ways of getting XP, But overall, Do you guys think it's worth it?

 

[Archean]

Well its your personal choice, I would not stick with XP, as I earlier said, it is time ...... to move on.

 

[Leeky]

If its a new PC/laptop, then you really should be looking at Windows 7. If its older, then I see no reason not to continue using XP for now - 4 years reamining on support is a long time in any persons book.

I have seveal computers using XP still. They're all older ones though, and to be honest although W7 would work fine on them, it would be rather slow. I'm steadily moving them over to Linux now, which seems an excellent compromise, as its enabling older hardware to run fairly speedily, at no additional cost. They're all perfectly usable so it seems silly to replace them for the sake of a newer Windows environment.

 

[Archean]

By the way, I am currently 'testing' Win 7 Pro performance on an P4D (3.2 GHz Presler Core) with 2GB of RAM (as a test case) and it feels ok, and it has an Intel IGP by the way no discrete graphics.

I'm steadily moving them over to Linux now, which seems an excellent compromise, as its enabling older hardware to run fairly speedily, at no additional cost. They're all perfectly usable so it seems silly to replace them for the sake of a newer Windows environment.

However, that is an excellent point, I am sure it will be suitable for our OP to consider this option after taking into account what tasks he want to get done, what software he want to use, and importantly is he going to use it for some form of 'entertainment'.

 

[Leeky]

@Archean
The two main ones are two HP laptops, which both ironically shipped with Vista home basic, but barely run with it! They're only 1.8-2.0ghz Celeron's, with 1GB of RAM, and onboard intel graphics. They run nicely on XP Home. I've moved one over to Ubuntu already (our 7yr old uses it) and I have to say the performance is much more improved.

Its far more responsive than say our HP 6735S laptop, with a AMD dual-core RM70 CPU, 4GB RAM, (though I can't remember the graphics) which runs Windows 7 Ultimate.

But its suitability depends on what its used for. My partner can't stand Linux (she struggles with Windows), though I can never seem to be able to get her off my iMac. She absolutely loves using that. Go figure!

Ultimately, if its just web browsing, checking your emails, writing the occasional letter or spreadsheet and its used as a tool to find your local builder in the yellow pages (for example), then Linux will work for EVERYONE.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I have to say the performance is much more improved.

Yep my desktop background is crystal clear, and all my games run excellently on linux. Oh wait, they don't.

Its far more responsive than say our HP 6735S laptop, with a AMD dual-core RM70 CPU, 4GB RAM, (though I can't remember the graphics) which runs Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thats true, pretty much all linux distro's are much lighter than windows 7.

 

[ChinoNYC]

Just want to let you know, Don't always listen to what Wikipedia says. It most likely we will stop supporting in 14 but it's not official. (If wrong, Correct)

I didn't get that out of Wikipedia, it's right there on the Microsoft Support Lifecycle webpage.

 

[Sharam]

XP-64 is...bad.
I suppose you're stuck with windows 7 64.

XP doesn't support DX10 or DX11 effects, so that helps raise FPS. Aside from that, I feel theres hardly a difference. I still use XP because i'm lazy, nothing to it.

DX10 would've been the only reason to game with Vista and above (read that as Win7) I heard at first that DX10 had to be purchased for XP but included with Vista and 7 then read about "GPU memory virtualisation " which I believe Nvidia "forced" MS to back down and make "GPU memory virtualisation" optional which in turn back fired on ATI in a way.

I did read about DX10 for XP few weeks ago and I thought it is possible and available now (most probably not directly from MS), any way, if DX10 is doable for XP then it would be just matter of choice, I believe 7 is doing a good job and it is only going to get better.

I have the link saved but on another system if anyone would like to take a look, I will post later. Didn't spend much time on this though.

 

[Leeky]

Yep my desktop background is crystal clear, and all my games run excellently on linux. Oh wait, they don't.

Another informative post!

It didn't take long for me to work out you resort to childish, pre-adolescent responses whenever something is above your understanding.

When you 'grow' up, you'll realise one day that your viewpoint doesn't have to be forced onto every one else on the planet.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I suppose not, but its funny :haha:.
Also, DX11 is supported for windows vista, attempts at emulating DX10 on xp are pretty much failures.

 

[Leeky]

I suppose not, but its funny :haha:.

If you like making yourself look about 8 years old I suppose it is!

 

[g4mer]

XP is better for gaming (i get 10 more fps in Xp than 7). But Windows Xp is old now and XP 64Bit version sucks. If you have a gaming PC just go for Windows 7 64Bit.