Which OS is better for gaming, Win7 or Win10?

[DoelB]

I know that MS is pulling support in Jan '20. I've heard, though, that Win7 is better for gaming. Is that true, or is that outdated information?

 

[iko22]

Some older games are depreciated in Windows 10, so Windows 7 will be better choice for those older games.

 

[RolandJS]

Desktop or laptop? Either, consider an UPS to give you a decent 20-30 minutes to save games, placing, etc. If laptop, consider adding an external usb cooling assembly to keep laptop from excessive heat.

 

[bulkchart32]

depends on the games that u want to run and the hardware that u want to run them with.

 

[Alejandro85]

It depends greatly on the particular game, specially its "age" and requirements, so a definitive and general answer is not possible, but I'll try to outline something as generic as possible.

First of all, as operating system goes, Win7 and Win10 are pretty much the same thing, as Windows has only seen minor kernel changes since Vista (the last major Windows version and revamp), but there are a few new features here and there, some other removed ones and variation on driver support for hardware mostly for political reasons.

For newer modern and resource-hungry games, it's often better to have a more modern OS too, and generally Win10 tends to work better here, the main reason being better driver support and difficulty to find drivers for Win7. Even if they exist, they often offter limited funcionallity and don't exploit the full potential of graphic cards.

Older games tend to be friendlier with Win7 and even with XP, reason being some don't like Aero (due to incompatibilities in graphic rendering) and, though rarely, newer Windows versions sometimes break compatibility with older software.

 

[erpster4]

Desktop or laptop? Either, consider an UPS to give you a decent 20-30 minutes to save games, placing, etc. If laptop, consider adding an external usb cooling assembly to keep laptop from excessive heat.

Laptop cooling pads (ones that plug in usb ports) can help with extra cooling laptop PCs, especially in the summer months where the weather is very hot

about whether to run win7 or win10 for games - check out this youtube comparison between using win7 & win10

 

[elenaaustin87]

Windows 10 - I too was hesitant when I built my last gaming rig, but it has been perfectly fine.

 

[Laith]

Windows 7 and Windows 10 both have pros and cons when it comes to gaming.
From my experience, I've seen that Windows 7 performs very slightly better in games, which is probably due to it being much less bloated than what Windows 10 is. Even though that's the case, there are some things that you have to sacrifice when going, or staying on Windows 7.

One major factor for my switch to Windows 10 again is due to the bugs of having multiple monitors, the biggest bug being that windows, on monitors that aren't primary, won't be updated until an action on that window occurs. Another bug related to the aforementioned one is that often times, windows will be "missing parts" until an action occurs.
The reason why I bring this up is because most people that I know, that game, often has multiple monitors, and that they'd be very discouraged to switch due to these weird bugs.

Another thing you're going to be missing out on is support for the latest games and programs.
Because Windows 10 is the standard, most programs are developed with it in mind. Old OS:es, especially ones that are approaching EOL/are at EOL, gets less and less support for each day that goes, if any at all. Programs and games made in UWP are an example of modern things that'll never be available on something like Windows 7. Not to mention that stuff like driver support will also be dying off.

To sum up, I don't think the switch to Windows 7 is worth it; if you're already on Windows 10. For the average person, I'd just recommend using Windows 10, with all the bloat removed.

 

[sygnus21]

Well as we know, game performance is dependent on more than just the OS. And in addition to the age of the game, there's also the hardware; and here newer hardware tends to run better under Windows 10 than Windows 7.

All that said, my gaming experience is just as good under Windows 10, as it was under Windows 7. Of course my gaming experience under Windows 10 includes newer game titles.

In the grand scheme of things there isn't a lot to be gained gaming (or otherwise) to justify sticking to/with a dying OS. You also need to factor in newer hardware and drivers moving forward as they my not support Windows 7.

My two cents.

Oh, BTW, I don't run a multimonitor setup and I game just fine. You can see my current system specs here.

 

[file3456]

Well, for one, DirectX 12 comes to mind. I don't think Windows 7 has 12. And that's where they getcha.

Just like the CPU compatibility crap. Want Kabby or Coffee Lake and Windows 7 or 8? No updates for you! But read here on that.

Click the Releases link.

 

[Alejandro85]

Well, for one, DirectX 12 comes to mind. I don't think Windows 7 has 12. And that's where they getcha.

The real question is why would one want DirectX 12 and what will you miss if you don't have it. Apart from some driver proprietary feature there is little that Windows 10 provides that Windows 7 doesn't (they're basically the same kernel with minor upgrades and a tablet user interface).

Unless a program specifically targets DirectX 12 (and some could be very well by artificial limitations), there is little to gain from that.

 

[file3456]

DX12 for gaming is probably a hell of a lot better than DX11 in Win 7. But that's if you're a hard core gamer. If so, you may want the extra fluff DX12 provides.

 

[Golden]

Some older games are depreciated in Windows 10, so Windows 7 will be better choice for those older games.

I've been surprised....I still play a 2005 published regularly in W10 using compatibility mode.

W10 FTW!!!