Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

to start with, i upgraded my operating system to Windows 8 Enterprise Edition (well i am now in the process of doing). anyways i have noticed better performance for GW2 running on windows 8

Just so you know i tested this on my old PC as doing a full re-install on my main PC is alot more hastle.

Specs
CPU – Intel i7 Overclocked to 4.5GHz
Memory – 32Gb Memory
Graphics – 2x AMD Radeon 6990
Hard Drive – 2xOCZ SSD Raid0 (where OS and game is installed)
Audio – M-Audio Delta 44 soundcard

now the only difference to the setups is the operating system, i didnt install the drivers for the additional hardware. Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 have been tested with 32-Bit and 64-bit.

i split the FPS types into 2 categories, PvE and WvW since WvW you are more likely to be in heavy crowded area’s

Windows 7
PvE FPS = avg. 24fps
WvW FPS = 2fps (in crowded area’s)

Windows 8
PvE FPS = avg. 122fps
WvW FPS = 89fps

now what i want to know is why is the game running alot better on Windows 8 than Windows 7. Windows 8 has just been released not long ago where as windows 7 has been out for years

All other games i play run exactly the same between Windows 7 and Windows 8 except Guild Wars 2.

Now before you say its down to the drivers etc, well its not as i used the exact same drivers for W7 as i did for W8. I did experience the same issue on my main PC as well. and before people start posting that they dont have a problem with Windows 7 running GW2 then congrats, have a cookie.

i was just posting this to let you know my experience with Windows 8 comparing to Windows 7, also all tests where done on a fresh install of the operating system.

Process went like this:-

• Install OS
• Install Drivers
• Install game
• Restart PC
• Play Game

I switch between the two quite often and I think I only notice a small difference in performance, in favour of Windows 8. It makes better use of GPUs and is faster in general, so that’s probably why.

I’ve also noticed that all of my components run a bit hotter (GPU 3°, CPU 5-7°) at all times under load, so it’s probably making better use of the hardware.

Hmmm…urge to upgrade rising. But the huge range on those differences is very weird indeed. Those win 7 numbers are obviously messed up to being with, but I wonder what it is that’s killing it for win 7 for you?

VisceralMonkey.6128:

Hmmm…urge to upgrade rising.

I lol’d.

VisceralMonkey.6128:

Those win 7 numbers are obviously messed up to being with, but I wonder what it is that’s killing it for win 7 for everyone?

Fixed that part. :P

If this is true…I sure hope A.Net can sort out the W7 performance because that is ridiculous. And I really, REALLY do NOT want to use Win8. Ever.

You should try to get this info to A.Net by any means if this is really the case.

Idolicious.6091

If this is true…I sure hope A.Net can sort out the W7 performance because that is ridiculous. And I really, REALLY do NOT want to use Win8. Ever.

You should try to get this info to A.Net by any means if this is really the case.

i dont see why you dislike W8, is it coz of the metro thing, well they changed the name of metro start? if it is you know you can disable this and have it set up to look exactly like W7 all with changing 1 thing from a 1 to a 0

VisceralMonkey.6128:

Hmmm…urge to upgrade rising. But the huge range on those differences is very weird indeed. Those win 7 numbers are obviously messed up to being with, but I wonder what it is that’s killing it for win 7 for you?

Problem is user. User installed too much programs and too many processes running in Win 7 that’s why it’s slowing down. If you both compare fresh install of win7 sp1 vs win8 you’ll notice that there’s no performance gains in games.

Wowowooo slow down boy… 4 freaking GPUs and 2 FPS in WvW? I got a “weak” 660ti compared to that beast and it is never drops below 30 even in massive crowds.

You sir did something really wrong with that machine.

i did test with fresh installs of windows 7 and windows 8 and the results of the fps difference is what i posted in my original post.

also i did nothing wrong to the system, i built it completely by myself, and in windows 7 the GPU and CPU usage is very low, ~40% max but in windows 8 the GPU hits 90% and CPU is ~74% max

It’s entirely possible with win 7 your missing very specific mb drivers or something that might be included by default with win 8.

Never-the-less, it’s certainly worth getting more people to try out. I’d do it myself, but I can’t find any current drivers available for my Asrock z77 extreme4 MB in win 8, which would mean the hardware wouldn’t be very optimized as opposed to win 7.

Lightvision.9357:

i did test with fresh installs of windows 7 and windows 8 and the results of the fps difference is what i posted in my original post

Win 7 SP1? There’s something wrong with that. Your system would have similar result both in win7 and win 8. My brother tried both win 7 and win 8 both clean installs and he never got any performance gains in games. Only noticeable difference is the boot times.

Machines in our House :

Q6600 + 460 GTX + 8gb ram
E6300 + 560 ti
i740qm + 460m GTX (upgraded to win 8 )
i5 26xxm + 540m (return back to win 7)

Games tested :
- Dota2
- Guildwars 2
- Diablo 3
- Battlefield 3
- TF2
- Stacraft 2

Tested with both Win 7 and Windows 8 doesn’t gain any fps from games just faster boot times. Afaik there’s no major revision in windows 8 if you check winver (from command prompt ) its 6.2 , while windows 7 is 6.1 (XP is 5 and vista is 6)

@vis
Other win 7 drivers works in win 8 tested with my old P5B deluxe drivers.

Alpha Dragon.4576:

Lightvision.9357:

i did test with fresh installs of windows 7 and windows 8 and the results of the fps difference is what i posted in my original post

Win 7 SP1? There’s something wrong with that. Your system would have similar result both in win7 and win 8. My brother tried both win 7 and win 8 both clean installs and he never got any performance gains in games. Only noticeable difference is the boot times.

Still, his observations still matter if anyone else i having the same problem and would like to give it a shot as a last resort. Just do a new partition, install win 8 and GW2 and see what happens.

VisceralMonkey.6128:

Alpha Dragon.4576:

Lightvision.9357:

i did test with fresh installs of windows 7 and windows 8 and the results of the fps difference is what i posted in my original post

Win 7 SP1? There’s something wrong with that. Your system would have similar result both in win7 and win 8. My brother tried both win 7 and win 8 both clean installs and he never got any performance gains in games. Only noticeable difference is the boot times.

Still, his observations still matter if anyone else i having the same problem and would like to give it a shot as a last resort. Just do a new partition, install win 8 and GW2 and see what happens.

Probably yeah. I’m still thinking its driver related issue been testing win 8 since Consumer preview and gotten used to the MetroUI so far no issues with games. I might do a partition and recheck win 7 fps vs win 8