The start button is back! This may be all that people seem to care about, in the latest update to Microsoft’s controversial new Windows, but there are actually some decent improvements in this substantial update. So, now that the idea of a Windows 8 PC isn’t one that makes you feel queasy, the big question is: can it run games?
Initial reports seem to be positive, with many gamers reporting that they’re seeing improved FPS (frames per second) even at maximum settings. Battlefield 4, a popular benchmark for gamers, has been recording a 10-15% improvement in performance. There is another contingent, with their own set of results that argues there is a negligible difference between the two platforms.
HardOCP and Toms Hardware
both ran comprehensive tests on the new platform. HardOCP used Battlefield 4 as their testing grounds. Toms Hardware used a whole collection of games including: Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2, Crisis 2 and Dirt: Showdown. Both sites set benchmarks with AMD and NVIDIA hardware.
Is There A Performance Advantage?
HARDOCP: Windows 8.1 has a consistent performance advantage over Windows 7. This advantage extended not only to the GPU’s, but also to the game performance during play. When it comes to performance, it would appear that NVIDIA is getting the most out of the 8.1 update. TOMS: All of their graphs were within the margin of error of one another, implying that in terms of performance there’s a negligible difference to the discerning gamer.
Is Image Quality Any Better?
HARDOCP: Negligible, the advantages were so small (3-6%) that they were unable to raise the resolution of the game, or the anti-aliasing. Essentially, the game will look the same on your computer, no matter what OS you use.
Is The Gameplay Experience Better?
HARDOCP: A resounding yes. While playing on Windows 7 HardOCP experienced ‘choppiness’ as they played in both the multiplayer and ‘test range’ maps. This choppiness was more pronounced on the NVIDIA card than the AMD. Once they upgraded to 8.1, the choppiness disappeared and moving was much smoother in both the test and multiplayer map.
TOMS: Not really, of the ten games they sampled, only one showed a significant difference in frame rate, and that was actually a reduction from 86.6 to 81 FPS. Even so, this drop is so negligible as to not really be noticeable unless you’re tracking it.
Toms Hardware did post this caveat to their review, however: “some of the performance, power management, compatibility, and battery efficiency improvements that would have required a service pack update in the past are now being made available through Windows Update much sooner. Thus, it’s possible that, in some situations, performance and compatibility will improve on zero-day as a result of Microsoft’s new delivery mechanism.”
Is It Worth It?
For HardOCP, with their target audience being BF4 players, the decision was tight. There is a small performance advantage, but not necessarily enough of one to justify the upgrade. It’s definitely faster, so those looking for a competitive edge may be tempted. If you’re just looking for an upgrade to your visuals however, you’re probably best off giving it a miss.
As far as Tom’s Hardware is concerned however, there really is a negligible difference between the systems, so if your only reason to upgrade to windows 8.1 is to improve your gaming performance, they would advise against it.
Optimizing for Gaming
If you do decide to upgrade your OS to 8.1, there are a couple of things you can do to ensure that it’s operating to the best of its ability:
- Remove time-wasting animations – While these animations look nice, they don’t do anything for your computer’s performance. By turning off these animations you often find your computer runs a lot smoother.
- Optimize your hard drives – A diminishing hard drive can cause your PC to have performance issues, so it’s a good idea to analyze and defrag it to ensure high levels of performance.
- Elevate your CPU priority – By default, every process in your system is set to ‘normal’ CPU priority. This priority level is adaptable, and can be altered to give your primary programs the extra CPU power they need to run at optimal levels.
- Shut down unnecessary background services – Windows 8 runs background services at all times to ensure that they’re available when the user wants them. However, these services can be a drain on resources. Stopping them from loading at start-up not only reduces the time it takes for your computer to be ready, it also means that your computer runs smoother as a whole.
- Manage your power settings – Windows computers are automatically set to ‘balanced’ power settings. These settings favor energy consumption over performance. It is possible to change your settings to ‘high performance’ which has no concerns about the amount of power drawn by the computer and therefore allows your machine to live up to its full potential. Not recommended for those of you running laptops however as this will run the battery down incredibly quickly.
Not Great, But Not Bad
Rounding up what’s been discovered, it’s clear that Microsoft has made some big changes to produce an OS that is capable of running games smoothly. However, the difference is not so significant that those gamers already running Windows 7 would be tempted by the change. If you’re running a previous version of Windows however, and are concerned that Windows 8 might be a hindrance to your gaming, that is obviously no longer a concern, and buying Windows 8 should stand you in good stead for at least one more iteration of Windows.
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William Thompson
William Thompson is the Marketing Manager at Power Admin, a server monitoring software business in the Kansas City area. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter. William has been a professional in website design, digital marketing and 3D/graphic design for over 20 years.