The real WoW killer

[Danielfboone]

The thread title is facetious actually. Maybe a little "bait and switch" . What's up is that I just bought a new gaming rig that will chew through any game out there at high to Ultra settings. Now I don't have to worry about the possibly increased requirements of WoD . It's the Avatar model FX6327X from Newegg and it's a beast for what you pay for it. It has an AMD FX-6300 6 core CPU and a Sapphire dual fan Radeon R9-270X graphics card. It also has a Gigabyte motherboard and a Seagate 1TB HDD. The case really looks nice as well. Right now the most graphically intense game I have is Far Cry 3 and it's smooth as butter in that on Ultra settings. My laptop can play it but only in DX9 on a mix of low and medium settings. I can turn my WoW settings way up and still get double my previous fps. The laptop usually got from 45-90 fps except in LFR raids where on some fights with a lot of effects on the ground and in the air, it would drop down to like 5-8 a lot of times even with effects on low.

I also picked up a 23" 1920 X 1080 Acer monitor with an IPS panel and DVI input. It looks fantastic in games and with Bluray movies. I'll add a picture of it. maybe this can become a thread for people to show and talk about what they use.

Avatar2.jpg (184.03 KiB) Viewed 1863 times

[Lisaara]

One problem....

It's Windows 8. Worst OS ever. XD

[Danielfboone]

One problem....

It's Windows 8. Worst OS ever. XD

There's nothing wrong with Windows 8. It's actually better, faster, and more secure than any other Windows version. It's only the original interface that sucks for PC's. If you use something like Classic Shell and make it look and feel like 7 (Like I have and show in the pic), you can't beat it. Just ignore the "Metro" stuff, including most of the apps, and it's great. Under the hood, it's the best Windows ever. It's speed, boot times, hardware and driver support, and compatibility modes for older software are amazing and much better than those of Windows 7. Even with the added things, it takes up less space on your HDD than 7 does. They just made the mistake of trying to make a "one size fits all" OS when they would have been better served making 2 separate versions. (well, they kind of did with RT but that's just about dead) The latest update makes it automatically boot to the desktop if you're on a PC and the "Modern" interface only if you're on a tablet or phone. The next update is supposed to bring back the Start menu to the desktop but Classic Shell does that for now. I had the option of OS to install and purposely chose 8 over 7. I had previously replaced XP with Windows 8 on my circa 2005 HP laptop and was surprised to find that it was actually faster than XP had been. Windows 8 is much better and lighter on the older hardware than 7 and I would highly recommend those wanting to change from XP to get 8.

[Rawr]

XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, next one should melt eyeballs.

[Lisaara]

Windows 8 is bad. there are lots wrong with it. First one notably is Microsoft's bright idea to get rid of the start menu(which was put back in 8.1 cause the general populace lashed out). Second, their GUI was designed for a touch screen like a tablet. Newsflash to Microsoft....touch screen monitors are not mainstream....yet. If they were, then the GUI wouldn't be so bad.

8 is only faster than XP because XP hasn't been supported in a long time now. Windows 7 is still supported(not for much longer though). I've played with 8 before and 8.1. Both were awful. Windows 8 lagged so bad(atleast on a Virtual Machine) and I couldn't find anything that I wanted to find. Gave me a headache after twenty minutes of searching and I'm computer literate. Most techs despise Windows 8 and usually recommend just removing it and putting in Windows 7 because the updated are not tried and tested like 7 and the updates often break stuff. Also due to how 'new' Windows 8 is, it's much more vulnerable to attacks, whereas Windows 7 is not. It's secure and hardened after being around for a time.

That's not to say Windows 8 is all bad, however. You are right. Boot up is faster and there's lots of handy dandy tools and even 3D printing support. However, until Microsoft fixes the GUI so the learning curve isn't so steep(which they are for Windows 9), most people are gonna have a severe disdain for it. Windows 8 is considered the new Vista these days.

It's cool you like it, or atleast got used to it. I, however, didn't like it at all when I toyed with it.

EDIT: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/win ... ,3331.html

Enjoyable read and I thought you might be interested to. It shows the gaming performance between 7 and 8.
TLDR: There was little to no difference between them. Nothing significant save for one game unable to be played on Windows 8 for some reason. Overall, most games transitioned over just fine. So for us gamers, that's the good news!

[Danielfboone]

I acknowledged that forcing the GUI on desktop users was bad. However, the latest update to 8.1 does not do that. PC users boot straight to the desktop. The next update is bringing back the Start Menu to the desktop as well. I never use the "Modern" UI and have installed Classic Shell which gives me the full Start Menu and the ability to make it look like Windows 7, or even XP for that matter.

The speed differences have nothing to do with whether or not updates are available. I didn't say that 8 was faster than XP on the old machine. It's equal which was totally surprising to me. Where it is much faster is in the boot times. I have had absolutely no performance problems with Win 8 on this machine or the old single core laptop I put it on to replace XP. As far as security goes, Windows 8 is a lot more secure than 7 and was from it's first launch. It's not more vulnerable but actually, far less. I don't know of a single vulnerability being patched that wasn't also patched in the older Windows versions but, there have been many patches needed for Vista and 7 that were not needed for 8 because the vulnerabilities just didn't exist. The updates have also never broken anything for me on either machine and I have never heard that they did for anyone else. But then, I have never had a Windows update break anything in any version of Windows going back to 98SE. I have never had to remove an update.

It does game just as well , or better, than 7 and I have installed games from back in Windows 95 and 98 days that I was able to get working flawlessly due to the excellent compatibility options present in Windows 8. I'll repeat that under the hood, which means once you get past the UI which won't be an issue at all after 8.1 update 2, Windows 8 is the best Windows version ever. You just use the UI that is best for your system. The modern one is obviously better for tablets and phones.

The changes they have made and have upcoming in 8.1 should have been present from the beginning. If they had been and desktop users got the desktop UI with a Start Menu, there would have been much greater initial acceptance and you wouldn't be hearing or seeing 95% of the complaints. Most of the complaints have come from people not willing to learn a new way of doing things and started way before 8 was even launched. Most are now outdated and as it is now, more and more people are coming around and realizing that Windows 8.1 ain't that bad at all. I'm one. I was one of it's biggest detractors when it first came out but after trying it on that older machine, I was won over. Of course it helped that I snagged an unused copy of Win 8 Pro on eBay for $32

[Sukurachi]

Most of the complaints have come from people not willing to learn a new way of doing things

the complaints are justified.
people SHOULDN'T have to learn a whole new program simply to upgrade an operating system.

change things that NEED changing, but otherwise, things people have been using for years, things that worked perfectly well, things that do not in any way, shape, or form affect performance, shouldn't be changed.

Microsoft screwed the pooch on this one in a massive way.
People who work on their computers daily want to know they can simply open the computer and continue working. They don't have time to dick around with learning a new operating system that has had its UI arbitrarily changed. It was incredibly stupid marketing.

[Danielfboone]

Most of the complaints have come from people not willing to learn a new way of doing things

It was incredibly stupid marketing.

I agree with that part and said as much. What 8.1 will be after the next update is what Windows 8 should have been from the start. However, the complaints about the UI and learning a new system are now mostly outdated in Win 8.1 Update 1 and will be totally irrelevant when Update 2 arrives.

Yes, Microsoft made a huge mistake with the initial release of Windows 8 and shot themselves in the foot, but even if you had that, the utilities like Classic Shell and others could give you back all the functionality you were used to. The end result? Same UI, better OS under the hood. To say, at this point, that 8 is the worst Windows ever is just simply not accurate. That dubious distinction still belongs to Vista even though it's latest iteration is much better.

People also forget about all the problems XP had when it first came out. The complaints back then were overwhelming and almost equal to Vista. It really wasn't a good OS until SP1 and not really good until SP2. It was further improved with SP3 which made it faster and smoother. Now it's been retired and it's time to move on.

If you are planning on upgrading the OS on an older system that came with XP, 8.1 (with a UI mod utility) is a better choice than 7 because it is faster, lighter, and very compatible with the older hardware.

[Lisaara]

I acknowledged that forcing the GUI on desktop users was bad. However, the latest update to 8.1 does not do that. PC users boot straight to the desktop. The next update is bringing back the Start Menu to the desktop as well. I never use the "Modern" UI and have installed Classic Shell which gives me the full Start Menu and the ability to make it look like Windows 7, or even XP for that matter.

The speed differences have nothing to do with whether or not updates are available. I didn't say that 8 was faster than XP on the old machine. It's equal which was totally surprising to me. Where it is much faster is in the boot times. I have had absolutely no performance problems with Win 8 on this machine or the old single core laptop I put it on to replace XP. As far as security goes, Windows 8 is a lot more secure than 7 and was from it's first launch. It's not more vulnerable but actually, far less. I don't know of a single vulnerability being patched that wasn't also patched in the older Windows versions but, there have been many patches needed for Vista and 7 that were not needed for 8 because the vulnerabilities just didn't exist. The updates have also never broken anything for me on either machine and I have never heard that they did for anyone else. But then, I have never had a Windows update break anything in any version of Windows going back to 98SE. I have never had to remove an update.

It does game just as well , or better, than 7 and I have installed games from back in Windows 95 and 98 days that I was able to get working flawlessly due to the excellent compatibility options present in Windows 8. I'll repeat that under the hood, which means once you get past the UI which won't be an issue at all after 8.1 update 2, Windows 8 is the best Windows version ever. You just use the UI that is best for your system. The modern one is obviously better for tablets and phones.

The changes they have made and have upcoming in 8.1 should have been present from the beginning. If they had been and desktop users got the desktop UI with a Start Menu, there would have been much greater initial acceptance and you wouldn't be hearing or seeing 95% of the complaints. Most of the complaints have come from people not willing to learn a new way of doing things and started way before 8 was even launched. Most are now outdated and as it is now, more and more people are coming around and realizing that Windows 8.1 ain't that bad at all. I'm one. I was one of it's biggest detractors when it first came out but after trying it on that older machine, I was won over. Of course it helped that I snagged an unused copy of Win 8 Pro on eBay for $32

Oh yeah, under the hood, disregarding that thing they call a 'modern ui', it's definitely better than 7. Not by much, as the article I linked showed you from a gaming perspective, but still worthwhile. You technically can't buy 7 in stores anymore. Eventually I will have to suck it up and get 8.1. I didn't fuss with that one. The one I had was Windows 8 on a VM using VMWare and it was a nightmare. But 8.1, I have heard a bit better things about.

[Sukurachi]

Out of curiosity, does this "Classic Shell" thing come WITH Windows 8? or is it something you have to download from some other website?

(I will have to be upgrading my computer very VERY soon, and I am SO not looking forward to having to reinstall all of my work software... there's a TON of it, and none of it is "easy")