Excellent gaming performance in 7

I'll second that! My games are absolutely flying in Windows 7.

Hi, Frostmourne.

When I upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7, I noticed a huge speed improvement - not just in games, but in general use. This was expected as that was the initial idea of Windows 7. As far as speed goes, I think it's more efficient than Windows XP and definitely Vista.

As for Crysis, you've got some impressive specifications. It's no wonder that you're able to play the game with ease. I think having Windows 7 instead of Vista definitely impacts on gaming conditions.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

• Patched to v1.5
• All settings maxed to "High"
• Depth of Field checked
• AA 2x
• AF 2x

This is fine too. Turn up the AA and it slows down, but then rendering a huge living world is difficult enough. Higher resolutions should be fine too, but if you want higher settings a 5870 should do it. This would give Crysis a run for its money.

Lol, you must try playing Crysis at a higher resolution and you'll notice a huge FPS dropoff. Ati's 5970 card can play it at 35 FPS in 1600p mode

superjose said:

Lol, you must try playing Crysis at a higher resolution and you'll notice a huge FPS dropoff. Ati's 5970 card can play it at 35 FPS in 1600p mode

No - I've just upgraded to a Full HD panel and I'll expect at least 40fps with all settings on high.

Resident Evil 5:

• Compatiblity set to Vista SP2 and Run as Administrator
• 1920x1080
• All settings maxed and turn on to High
• 2xAA
• Vsync Off

No problems here, except for a tendency for the cutscenes to disappear on occasion although SP2 mostly fixes that.


Bioshock:

• Patched to v1.1
• Compatiblity mode set to Vista SP1 and Run as Administrator
• VSync On
• All settings turned on and maxed to "High"
• DirectX 10 on
• 1920x1080 widescreen

Excellent performance, but turning VSync off results in an unplayable mess.


Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

• No need for any compatibilty settings
• All settings maxed to high - there are only 3!
• 1920x1080 resolution

Excellent performance from this DirectX 9.0c game.


Call of Juarez

• Patched to v1.1 something.
• DirectX 10
• 1920x1080
• Trilinear filtering
• VSync Off
• AA off
• All other settings maxed.

Smooth although the screen throws up glitches occasionally - VSync might fix this.


Condemned: Criminal Origins

• Every setting set to max - high for all textures and lighting.
• VSync off
• 16X AF
• 4x AA FSAA

Excellent performance considering the settings.


Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

• Patched to v1.1
• Every setting and slider maxed out to high except for HDR (High Dynamic Range lighting disabled with AA on.
• VSync off
• 2x AA
• 1920x1080
• No compatibility settings yet.

Slight stuttering here - I might try VSync as FRAPS maintains the FPS is roughly 70+.

Hitman Contracts:

Had some issues here. Basically, the right resolution wasn't detected, so I copied the configuration.ini file to desktop saved it and overwrote the original with the right graphics and resolution. If you do this, don't touch graphics ingame as the resolution will reset. I also couldn't enable AA manually otherwise the game loaded to a black screen. Finally, this came in a double pack with Hitman: Blood Money and like the other one I had to start the game twice. The second process caused Blood Money to crash and for each session I'm killing the first process so it doesn't interfere and crash the game. Haven't tested if this is the cause but it works so I'
ll leave it at that.

SETTINGS:

• Everything maxed to high (I think) and no AA. Its a 2004 game so the visuals are OK.
• Compatibility to XP SP3 and Run As Administrator.

Hitman: Blood Money

As above with the process issue, I load up to the menu and then end the other process. No compatibility mode, may try running as administartor as there very slight occasional stuttering.

SETTINGS:

• 1920x1080
• Everything maxed to high
• 4xAA
• 4xAF

This may be due to the Mastertronics installer.

Update for Bioshock, finished the game and had slight sound cutouts close to the end for an hour of so. Only it seems in one section, but anyway buy the game - its exceptional.

Dead Space

• 1920x1080
• All settings maxed to high and turned on including AA which cannot be manually adjusted
• VSnc Off

The mouse is a little wacky but its worse with VSync on, so keep it off if you experience this issue.

I find W7 is degrading graphics quality (even on highest settings) to be faster - it's not much but noticeable!