Hello, I am building a new gaming desktop PC and I am wondering which would be better to instal Windows 7 or 8??

This desktop will only be used for gaming, price is not an issue, performance is.

I am sorry if this was posted already, other threads seemed to be for labtops or duel boot, which I am not doing.

Thanks for whomever answers!

The performance difference between the two as seen in numerous benchmarks is miniscule.  Having said that, as with any newish OS, your biggest obstacle is driver support. 

Having said that, I reccomend Windows 7 (64-bit obviously) personally.  Windows 8 was designed for tablets and phones and pawned off to desktop users as a viable OS.

I'd stick with Windows 7.

Using Windows 8 has a very unfortunate side-effect: It causes you to go out and buy a Mac. You won't be able to play most of your games on a Mac.

I think Windows 8 will be a better pick once you get acclamated to it and make adjustments to some of the worse features of it like how it handles programs started from the Modern UI, and the traditional desktop.

Windows 8 will be faster then Windows 7 and cheaper.  So if you care about performance then Windows 8 is what you want.

If you have multiple monitors, then definitely Windows 7. Multi-monitor support of Win 8 is abysmal.

If you have only a single monitor, then you could really go with either one. The driver support isn't that much different, and performance diffence is minimal. Windows 8 would have faster booting time and some nice new features speaking for it, whereas Windows 7 has interface better suited for large monitor, less bugs and it's more polished. The difference isn't large.

Assuming you're used to Win 7 already but haven't learned to use Win 8, there's no reason why you should switch and le-learn the OS. Microsoft will have launched Win 9 and adjusted the interface from Win 8 anyway before Win 7 starts getting old.

EDIT: Make sure to get 64 bit version of Win 7 (or Win 8), not the 32 bit version. /EDIT

Originally posted by Cleffy

I think Windows 8 will be a better pick once you get acclamated to it and make adjustments to some of the worse features of it like how it handles programs started from the Modern UI, and the traditional desktop.

Windows 8 will be faster then Windows 7 and cheaper.  So if you care about performance then Windows 8 is what you want.

Bold statements. Care to back those up with facts?

From a performance standpoint, the difference between them is a rounding error.

I'd personally recommend going with Windows 8 for most people, as I'd expect Microsoft to try harder to fix problems for longer in a newer OS rather than an older one.  But if you have strong feelings about it either way, I wouldn't criticize going with Windows 7.  They're not actually all that different, even.  Do you prefer Windows NT 6.1 or 6.2?

Performance is about the same.

Win8 has FastBoot and some other nifty things that make it feel a bit faster, but don't really yield any gaming performance.

Apart from LiveTiles/Metro, there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two.

I upgraded my gaming desktop and laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8. No driver problems, no gaming problems, no problems with 3 monitor support, no decrease in performance, no problems with anything that I can find.

The start screen took a tiny bit of time to get used to. Now I actually prefer it. I can get to anything I want faster than I could in Windows 7 (just start typing and it brings up everything on the fly, no more clicking through menus and sub-menus to find stuff, not to mention placing programs in the start screen!), and I can hit the Windows key to simply go back to good ole desktop if I want. If you're incapable of learning a new interface you can even get software to make the interface act like the old one.

I was hesitant at first to make the switch because I've heard so many people say "Omergard the start screen SUX!! You can't do anything! It's impossible to blahblahblahblah". Yeah, those people must be spouting what some other people heard some other people mention from some other person that saw a screenshot from someone that copied it and put an out of context comment on based on what they heard from someone that knew someone that saw it once.

Unfortunately it DOES take a little while for a person to learn how to do things a little differently than what they've done for the past 20 years. I'm glad I gave it a chance, personally.

i was running Windows 8 for a bit. i bought the upgrade for it. I noticed that everything you open that isnt a App from Microsoft opens up a desktop for it. In which having The start menu and desktop should have problems with some programs as to resources.

If you play games that use game guard or a program like that it will detect the start menu as a hacking program or third party. I dont know about it now cause i used it  about a month ago when i tried to get onto lineage 2.

I really only had that problem with it. But what changed my mind is my wife bought me a graphic tablet for me and it didnt work . Only got it running like a mouse. Using anything with pressure is a no go.

I'll try it again when they get the Graphic tablet working properly.

Having said all that . Performance and minor ( i mean really minor) problems i dont see why you wouldnt go to windows 8.

Could always buy windows 7 and windows 8 upgrade, if you dont like windows 8 you have windows 7 already.

Originally posted by BizkitNL

Originally posted by Cleffy

I think Windows 8 will be a better pick once you get acclamated to it and make adjustments to some of the worse features of it like how it handles programs started from the Modern UI, and the traditional desktop.

Windows 8 will be faster then Windows 7 and cheaper.  So if you care about performance then Windows 8 is what you want.

Bold statements. Care to back those up with facts?

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3412/4/gaming-in-windows-8-vs-windows-7-whats-the-difference-in-performance-conclusion

Average of 1% performance difference in favor of Windows 8.  Some modern games run substantially better on Windows 8.

Originally posted by Cleffy

Originally posted by BizkitNL

Originally posted by Cleffy

I think Windows 8 will be a better pick once you get acclamated to it and make adjustments to some of the worse features of it like how it handles programs started from the Modern UI, and the traditional desktop.

Windows 8 will be faster then Windows 7 and cheaper.  So if you care about performance then Windows 8 is what you want.

Bold statements. Care to back those up with facts?

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3412/4/gaming-in-windows-8-vs-windows-7-whats-the-difference-in-performance-conclusion

Average of 1% performance difference in favor of Windows 8.  Some modern games run substantially better on Windows 8.

I will have to read the entire article but the page you linked to was the conclusion which stated that they were the same. While I will take the time to read the whole thing, the final page may not be what you want to link to because many will simply read that and nothing more leaving with a sense that you have no idea what you are talking about. 

[quote]Originally posted by Cleffy

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Originally posted by BizkitNL

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Originally posted by Cleffy I think Windows 8 will be a better pick once you get acclamated to it and make adjustments to some of the worse features of it like how it handles programs started from the Modern UI, and the traditional desktop. Windows 8 will be faster then Windows 7 and cheaper.  So if you care about performance then Windows 8 is what you want. Bold statements. Care to back those up with facts?

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http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3412/4/gaming-in-windows-8-vs-windows-7-whats-the-difference-in-performance-conclusion

Average of 1% performance difference in favor of Windows 8.  Some modern games run substantially better on Windows 8.

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I don't think that link really corroborates your claim:

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After many hours of benchmarking, we can finally and convincingly settle the debate about whether gaming in Windows 8 is better or worse than in Windows 7. And the answer is: it's the same!

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There were some differences in individual tests, but overall, I think 1% is likely to be within the margin of error.

Now you may have a point about the longevity - driver companies may increasingly start to focus on Win8 performance and just maintaining Win7 compatibility - but that isn't happening now, and didn't really happen with WinXP, even when we saw Win7/8 debut, WinXP drivers still perform fairly well relatively.

Winblows 8 is just another WinblowsME. It will blow over quickly as this one falls flat.

Stick with Winblows7

Originally posted by Maheret

Hello, I am building a new gaming desktop PC and I am wondering which would be better to instal Windows 7 or 8??

This desktop will only be used for gaming, price is not an issue, performance is.

I am sorry if this was posted already, other threads seemed to be for labtops or duel boot, which I am not doing.

Thanks for whomever answers!

 I am using windows7 and I will not upgrade till next time I upgrade my computer, but building a new computer you should allways use latest version of windows,it allways is a litle bit better than previous.

Stick with 7.  Three computer savy guildies 'upgraded' to Win8 when it came out, all three have reverted to Win7 now.

Buying a new tablet? Win8 sure... Desktop? Win7 all the way.

Windows 8 is not designed for desktops, its designed for tablets. 

As others have said, the performance difference is miniscule, but the usability of Windows 8 on a desktop is just not good. Tablets great, desktops rubbish. 

Personally I hate everything about Windows 8, it is an even worse mistake than Vista if you ask me. It tries to do lots of things, and doesnt do any of them well.