Soviet France
Enthusiast
I finally had a chance to review the Technical Preview of Windows 10 Beta.
Game Performance
Windows 10 ships with DirectX 12 pre-installed, allowing it to utilize more of an organized spacial structure within any given modern GPU. I tested three games, and benchmarked them. Keep in mind that my computer isn't decent, so I am very surprised that I attained these results. On Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I received an average of 40-60 FPS with all settings on low, using Windows 7. However, on Windows 10, I received an average of 60-75 FPS with all settings on low. I then tested Half-Life 2, where I didn't see any improvement or digression in performance. The FPS counter I had displayed stays locked at 60 FPS at all times, by force of my habit ( I can really only see 60 FPS and below, so why let it go higher? ). I then tested an arcade-style retro game called, "Blast Em!". At the resolution 1650x1050, I received 50-55 FPS with everything on low using Windows 7. On Windows 10, I received 80-95 FPS with everything on low. That one shocked me the most.
GUI/UI
Windows 10 has kept the color scheme of Windows 8/8.1 which, in my opinion, is a huge eye-sore. It is said that user customization will be included in future builds of the OS. The start menu is making a return, doing away with the Metro UI for Windows - although, the new start screen allows you to resize the menu itself to your liking. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that the application tiles from Metro UI are included in the start screen to the right when it is opened. Other than those, the file system and colors remained the same. You are also able to resize the command prompt in this version of Windows, which is great for me as I enjoy writing console applications to entertain myself.
Hardware Usage
I have 5GB of DDR2 RAM, which is now considered legacy hardware (legacy = old). I have an Intel Pentium D CPU Dual-Core @ 2.80GHz in each core. I have two hard drives - One for the Operating System and applications, and the other for my games. On Windows 7, my CPU usage while idle is at 10%. 1.78GB of my RAM is being used while idle on Windows 7 as well. On Windows 10, 5% of my CPU is being used while idle and 0.94GB of my RAM is used. Windows 7 without any additional add-ons such as Windows Media Player or Paint, took up 22GB of HDD space once installed. Windows 10, however, only took up 12.7GB.
If the operating system continues to grow at this pace, we may be looking at the next distribution of Windows that'll last as long as Windows XP did, twelve years, before Microsoft finally ended support for the OS.
8/10.
Game Performance
Windows 10 ships with DirectX 12 pre-installed, allowing it to utilize more of an organized spacial structure within any given modern GPU. I tested three games, and benchmarked them. Keep in mind that my computer isn't decent, so I am very surprised that I attained these results. On Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I received an average of 40-60 FPS with all settings on low, using Windows 7. However, on Windows 10, I received an average of 60-75 FPS with all settings on low. I then tested Half-Life 2, where I didn't see any improvement or digression in performance. The FPS counter I had displayed stays locked at 60 FPS at all times, by force of my habit ( I can really only see 60 FPS and below, so why let it go higher? ). I then tested an arcade-style retro game called, "Blast Em!". At the resolution 1650x1050, I received 50-55 FPS with everything on low using Windows 7. On Windows 10, I received 80-95 FPS with everything on low. That one shocked me the most.
GUI/UI
Windows 10 has kept the color scheme of Windows 8/8.1 which, in my opinion, is a huge eye-sore. It is said that user customization will be included in future builds of the OS. The start menu is making a return, doing away with the Metro UI for Windows - although, the new start screen allows you to resize the menu itself to your liking. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that the application tiles from Metro UI are included in the start screen to the right when it is opened. Other than those, the file system and colors remained the same. You are also able to resize the command prompt in this version of Windows, which is great for me as I enjoy writing console applications to entertain myself.
Hardware Usage
I have 5GB of DDR2 RAM, which is now considered legacy hardware (legacy = old). I have an Intel Pentium D CPU Dual-Core @ 2.80GHz in each core. I have two hard drives - One for the Operating System and applications, and the other for my games. On Windows 7, my CPU usage while idle is at 10%. 1.78GB of my RAM is being used while idle on Windows 7 as well. On Windows 10, 5% of my CPU is being used while idle and 0.94GB of my RAM is used. Windows 7 without any additional add-ons such as Windows Media Player or Paint, took up 22GB of HDD space once installed. Windows 10, however, only took up 12.7GB.
If the operating system continues to grow at this pace, we may be looking at the next distribution of Windows that'll last as long as Windows XP did, twelve years, before Microsoft finally ended support for the OS.
8/10.
- Operating System
- Windows