FPS degradation since "upgrade" to Windows 8

[mjssge]

I bought a copy of win8 for my new build, mainly so I could get to grips with it on behalf of friends and family. In the end I installed it on my main pc.

I noticed when playing my main game (Starport) my fps was running at 20-25 fps instead of the previous 75 (game is capped at 75), I also noticed that SW TOR was down from approx. 111 to 75.

After having some recent problems which required a new PSU, I wondered if my 7970 had also been damaged, so I ran unigine and the scored similar marks to when I was running win7 - hitting 240fps at some stages during the benchmark.

I then ran 3dmark and my score was 2,000 points down on the one I had posted on these very forums prior to my "upgrade" to win8.

So their you go, since upgrading my OS my fps for a couple of pretty un-demanding games has dropped significantly.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

p.s. My A10-5800k (currently not OC'd) is running the aforementioned games at 75fps and 100 plus)

MJS

[Shawnnepc]

Did you do a fresh install or upgrade?

I've seen this occur on 'upgrade' installs (happened to me with Skyrim) and was resolved with a fresh install.

Make sure you download the latest AMD drivers for your 7970.

[mjssge]

I reinstalled Steam today so downloaded one of my games "Payday the heist" to check whether that returned similar FPS to previously.

I got 130fps so that was good, I can understand (sort of) Starport having problems in the Win8 environment, but SW Tor?

MJS

[HiVizMan]

Will wait to see how your other games pan out, but a fresh install is always better than the upgrade path only. Not sure why that would be mind you but...

[mjssge]

Hi HVM,

Yes it was a fresh install from physical disk, Id originally bought Win8 in order to install on my new AMD-A10 build, but I decided it would be easier to install Win8 on my i5 pc. The A10 is being used as a entertainment/gaming pc in my living room and I found it easier to get to grips with Win8 sat at my desk.

So I swapped OS and while I was at it did full reformats and started fresh.

I'm currently building/modding an old Commodore C-16 (AMD-A4-5300, Mini ITX) so Ill transfer Win8 to that.......poor old Win8 shoved from pillar to post! LOL

Ill keep the community posted. 🙂

[maximiza]

Using 3D mark my scores actually increased in windows 8 64 Professional better then Vista 64 Ultimate with same bios overclocks. The developer told me that windows 8 optimizations help to improve scores. I am assuming though some software would be effected negativily if not using the Windows 8 optimizations. The quick fix is make a dual boot system. I am using Vista for all my old licenses and software with no Windows 8 counterpart and Windows 8 too mess around in for now.

[Gorman]

Assuming you installed and configured your new install of windows correctly, you should still expect to see some FPS drop, as a new OS is obviuosly going to be more demanding on the hardware, even in the background - contrary to popular belief, W8 is not W7 + metro!

I assume you've already done things like optimize windows performance and reduced tasks running in background? Check for W8 specific drivers for your hardware, since as you would expect, the hardware abstraction layer will have changed.

[mjssge]

Thanks maximiza, and Gorman please read the thread again, some games are suffering, some are the same as they were (fps'wise)
when running windows7.

Also some benchmarks (unigine) show the same results as previously recorded and others are do not (3dmark)

I am running start8 software from Stardock and all my drivers/utilities are win8 specific.

Now this is important..well to me/us 😛

This post is more an observation exercise not particularly a plea for help, I'm quite long in the tooth now (Vic-20 anybody?), so am aware that these things will sort themselves out in time. I'm sure some here will be pondering an upgrade and I think this thread will be of use.

Many Thanks
MJS