WYP
News Guru
AMD are dropping Windows 8 support in all new versions of of their Catalyst drivers. Better Update to 8.1
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AMD Catalyst 14.7 Releases, without Windows 8 Support?
- Thread starter WYP
- Start date
. I'm hoping its waay better than 14.4 was. Really shook my confidence in AMD drivers after having no issues for years.
Dicehunter
Resident Newb
Does anyone really still use 8.0 though ?
cooperman
New member
Not here...
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Considering its only a beta driver its not really a big deal. Just from here on out no more support for it. Which makes it easier on the driver team since its one less thing to worry about.
WYP
News Guru
I think this is a good thing. Keeps people up to date with the current OS even if they dont like it. 8.1 is better anyway
Pretty much anyone on 8 should have upgraded by now, and anyone who hasn't are not PC gamers anyway.
Makes me think a Windows 7 vs Windows 8.1 comparison is needed here, I personally don't know which is better for gaming TBH. That being said I'm not going to buy a Windows 8 Key anytime soon even it is better.
Windows 8 is faster for almost everything. Boot times and such are great. In gaming, maybe slightly better performance, but not much.
WYP
News Guru
Good to know, I'll need to speak to Tom but maybe I can convince him to find a Windows 8.1 Key so we can get numbers to back your words up.
I'd be interested how things change. Cinebench, PCMARK, 3DMARK and then a few games. Would be an interesting bit of content for the site, and a good topic of discussion once the results come in.
Yep, I'd enjoy seeing all of the benefits in actual numbers like boot times, benchmarks, games, render times, etc.
Excalabur50
Well-known member
I've been using 8.1 for ages and it performs great it's 7 trimmed down and quicker and just as stable, seriously what's not to like? People don't like change but are there things that could be better yes but you don't need to worry as the improvements needed will be released with 9 early next year.
Windows 8.1 is slightly faster at most task's than Windows 7 but what I have found is that Windows 7 is slightly better for some benchmarks and games, and then Windows 8.1 is faster in others.
Video converting appears to be quicker on Windows 8.1 though, I use Windows Movie Maker as I don't do any editing so it's just converting and it's probably shaved about 2 to 10 minutes of the conversion, dependent on the file size and quality options I choose.
I am currently on my old Western Digital Velociraptor drive since both my Corsair SSD's are having issues on my board, and until I can get some money together to replace my board I cannot test them properly.
The boot times are roughly 10 seconds quicker on a fresh install of Windows 8.1 compared to a fresh install of Windows 7.
Next time I have a week off work I will try and get some numbers though, but I don't have a week off till next month.
Video converting appears to be quicker on Windows 8.1 though, I use Windows Movie Maker as I don't do any editing so it's just converting and it's probably shaved about 2 to 10 minutes of the conversion, dependent on the file size and quality options I choose.
I am currently on my old Western Digital Velociraptor drive since both my Corsair SSD's are having issues on my board, and until I can get some money together to replace my board I cannot test them properly.
The boot times are roughly 10 seconds quicker on a fresh install of Windows 8.1 compared to a fresh install of Windows 7.
Next time I have a week off work I will try and get some numbers though, but I don't have a week off till next month.
SieB
New member
Makes sense, if you are on windows 8 there is no reason for you not to have upgraded to 8.1, so it is a bit of a non issue really 
It also makes sense driver wise because 8.1 has full DX11.2 where as Windows 8.0 is only DX11.1. That is also the reason why some games run faster on Windows 8/.1 compared to Windows 7 which is DX11.0.
Both DX11.1 and DX11.2 on Windows 8/.1 have performance benefits and better optimization over Windows 7 and DX11.0.
It also makes sense driver wise because 8.1 has full DX11.2 where as Windows 8.0 is only DX11.1. That is also the reason why some games run faster on Windows 8/.1 compared to Windows 7 which is DX11.0.
Both DX11.1 and DX11.2 on Windows 8/.1 have performance benefits and better optimization over Windows 7 and DX11.0.
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cooperman
New member
The only reason windows 8 boots fast is because it gos in to a kind of sleep mode when shut down instead of actualy shuting down.
Windows 8 shutdown "saves" running services and drivers loaded to something like a hiberfile and resumes it on the next "fast startup".
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WYP
News Guru
I started my look into Windows 7 vs 8.1 last night.
I have my windows 8 results finished and will do windows 7 results later in the week.
Currently I am now at my parents as 12-14th of July is a big family occasion for me, but I should have my results ready by the weekend.
Sadly I only have my 4670K to test, so I can't say anything about AMD performance gains, but it should be conclusive enough results as far as perf gain or loss goes.
I have my windows 8 results finished and will do windows 7 results later in the week.
Currently I am now at my parents as 12-14th of July is a big family occasion for me, but I should have my results ready by the weekend.
Sadly I only have my 4670K to test, so I can't say anything about AMD performance gains, but it should be conclusive enough results as far as perf gain or loss goes.
Dicehunter
Resident Newb
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