Windows 8 for gaming?

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jaguarskx
A word of warning....

Do not upgrade yet to Windows 8.1 if you are buying a laptop with just Windows 8. There is an issue with Windows 8.1 which seems to disable switchable graphics when you have an Intel CPU and a AMD Radeon graphics chip.

I am in the middle of reformatting a Dell Latitude 3540 laptop for a relative which has an Intel i5-4200u and a Radeon HD 8850m because the laptop crashing very often. I did a clean install of Win 8 and installed some anti-virus / anti-malware programs on the laptop and I also upgraded it to Win 8.1.

I discovered the Latitude had a Radeon HD 8850 when I was looking through Device Manager. Apparently, a factor re-install does not automatically install AMD Catalyst drives. I decided to install the...
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AMD-FX

AMD-FX

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Who ever told you Windows 8 was bad for gaming was wrong. Benchmarks show that Windows 8 performs slightly better in gaming than Windows 7. And by Windows 7 interface, do you mean the desktop? Just press the Windows key or the Desktop tile on the Start menu.
 
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aakarshan

aakarshan

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Nope how to get the windows7 UI in Windows 8.

 
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AMD-FX

AMD-FX

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Oh. Well, I have no idea how to put the Windows 7 UI... I think. Sorry I couldn't help on that part.
 
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aakarshan

aakarshan

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:)

 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Once you go into Desktop, it looks and acts VERY much like 7. The only time I interact with the Metro portion is when I call it up. Otherwise, never see it.

Most used applications pinned on the taskbar, no need for Tiles.
 
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jaguarskx

jaguarskx

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Apr 19, 2006
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A word of warning....

Do not upgrade yet to Windows 8.1 if you are buying a laptop with just Windows 8. There is an issue with Windows 8.1 which seems to disable switchable graphics when you have an Intel CPU and a AMD Radeon graphics chip.

I am in the middle of reformatting a Dell Latitude 3540 laptop for a relative which has an Intel i5-4200u and a Radeon HD 8850m because the laptop crashing very often. I did a clean install of Win 8 and installed some anti-virus / anti-malware programs on the laptop and I also upgraded it to Win 8.1.

I discovered the Latitude had a Radeon HD 8850 when I was looking through Device Manager. Apparently, a factor re-install does not automatically install AMD Catalyst drives. I decided to install the most current driver from Dell's website so I can test it out with some games. However, before installing games, I created an image of the C: drive so that I could simply restore it later without the games.

When playing games the laptop would always use the Intel HD 4400 graphics core, not the dedicated Radeon HD 8850m graphics chip. I tested Skyrim, Civilization 5, Star Trek Online, and Far Cry 3. All of them used the Intel HD 4400 even though I setup AMD's Catalyst Control Center always use the Radeon HD 8850m for everything, including web browsing.

Since my uncle does not play games, I am pretty sure he is not even aware the laptop has a dedicated graphics card especially since I looked at what programs where installed before deciding to do a clean install of Win 8.

So my advice before upgrading to Windows 8.1 is to do some research to determine if this issue is resolved.
 
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