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Conclusion
While there were a couple of cases where WinXP outran Windows 7 and Vista, for the most part Windows 7 wins more than it loses, especially when you factor in multi-GPU technologies like SLI and CrossFire. In fact, if you’re a Windows XP gamer with SLI or CrossFire, I’d definitely urge you to upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as possible.
Windows XP’s origins date back to Windows 2000, an OS that was never designed for multi-GPU.
On the other hand NVIDIA and ATI worked closely with Microsoft to get Vista’s DX9.0L and DX10 APIs to scale more efficiently with SLI and CrossFire. Memory management tweaks found only in Windows 7 increases this even further, allowing SLI and CrossFire to scale even better under Windows 7 in comparison to Vista in many games.
Going into this article I didn’t expect the gains to be as great as they were, but the benchmarks don’t lie. Windows 7 is a huge improvement over XP in this regard.
The 3-Way battle between Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 is much closer when you exclude the second GPU benchmarks; other than ARMA II, the Radeon and GeForce GPUs performed remarkably similar regardless of OS (as long as you exclude the GeForce Windows XP x64 numbers). No one OS really pulls away from the other, they just trade wins and more often than not, they’re tied in performance. For this reason I’d have to give the overall nod to Windows Vista and Windows 7, as they generally run just as fast as XP, with the obvious addition of DirectX 10 and DX11 support.
So is Windows 7 the best OS for gaming? Based on the results we’ve just looked at, I’d have to say “yes”. Windows 7 delivers the best combination of features and game performance of any OS tested today. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s also just as stable as Windows XP and Vista and seems more responsive. The addition of gestures and the new taskbar really push Windows 7 over the top.
I’m not a huge fan of the new system tray but I can understand Microsoft’s reasoning behind the changes and it’s an easy adjustment to make. Compatibility could be the one issue where Windows 7 takes a backseat to Vista and Windows XP, as I did have to manually install a third-party driver to get STALKER to run properly (I don’t recall the manufacturer, but I believe it was related to the game’s copy protection scheme). Even though it’s less aggravating, I also continue to disable UAC.
Comparing the issues Vista faced on its launch day to Windows 7 though, all signs point to Windows 7 being a huge success. Windows 7 builds on the foundation Microsoft laid with Windows Vista and takes it to another level. Based on everything seen so far, I see no reason why Windows 7 won’t be a homerun for Microsoft.
Gamers reluctant to upgrade from Windows XP fear not. You finally have a reason to upgrade. If I was running Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 though, I wouldn’t be in a rush to pick up Windows 7. It’s definitely an improvement over Vista, but unless you plan on running SLI or CrossFire, it’s probably not worth Microsoft’s asking price. After all, it is fundamentally just a highly polished extension of Vista. Instead I’d spend that money on a better graphics card or CPU.
Windows 7 is the genuine article though. This time the final product does live up to the hype. By taking the features of Vista, improving the interface, and combining the best attributes of Windows XP, namely its performance and stability, Microsoft has put together a solid OS that should please the most discriminating hardware enthusiast or gamer. In some ways, this may just be Microsoft's best OS yet.
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L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
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Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
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Resident Evil V Benchmark
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