Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Bootcamp performance

S

starski0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 5, 2013
11
0
I've been search the web and the forum for a while and haven't found anything conclusive so I thought I'd just ask.

I have an early 2011 macbook pro. I enjoy playing cs:go on it but I noticed that its performance has gotten progressively worse with newer versions of the OS.

I installed windows 8 about a year ago and, though I never used it for playing, I noticed that it was slow in general. So I don't think it's an option for gaming.

I'm considering now getting a windows 7 license with the sole purpose of running a few games.

I'd really appreciate if someone could advise me on whether I should expect good results from a bootcamp Windows 7 before I waste the money. =D

Thanks
 
starski0 said:
I've been search the web and the forum for a while and haven't found anything conclusive so I thought I'd just ask.

I have an early 2011 macbook pro. I enjoy playing cs:go on it but I noticed that its performance has gotten progressively worse with newer versions of the OS.

I installed windows 8 about a year ago and, though I never used it for playing, I noticed that it was slow in general. So I don't think it's an option for gaming.

I'm considering now getting a windows 7 license with the sole purpose of running a few games.

I'd really appreciate if someone could advise me on whether I should expect good results from a bootcamp Windows 7 before I waste the money. =D

Thanks
Click to expand...
For any given game you're likely to get better performance under Windows.
 
Yea, this is what guessed. But considering I know Windows 8 wasn't very good in general, can I assume Windows 7 will be better?
 
cbautis2 said:
Windoze in any version is slow and crappy.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily slow, but unstable, yes.


-------------

I suggest you try Windows XP... It is lightweight because it was made for old machines. But Windows XP is no longer supported, isn't it? Yes, so rather than use the original XP, use Windows Embedded.
I use Windows Embedded POSReady2009 on my Mid-2009 MacBook Pro and I get significantly better performance. One reason is the OS is lighter, and another reason is that you use official drivers from the GPU manufacturer, like Nvidia, and these drivers have more options. You can run the GPUs at a higher clock speed for better performance.
 
starski0 said:
Yea, this is what guessed. But considering I know Windows 8 wasn't very good in general, can I assume Windows 7 will be better?
Click to expand...

Windows 8 is just as good at running games as Windows 7. Make sure you have latest drivers installed and that you use appropriate settings in your game.
 
Honestly, I have been running Windows 7 for pretty much ever alongside my OS X partition. I ditched it yesterday since I saw Windows 8 has better drivers now than it did before.

I'm on it right now and it's fantastic. The whole tiles thing is kind of intrusive at times, but I'll take advantage of it just to have tiles with Netflix, weather, stocks, etc.

Booting up is much faster as it's booting with EFI now like OS X - both boot equally as fast. Text rendering on the web and throughout has greatly improved on the retina.

Just remember to install the Apple drivers and all Windows updates. They make a huge difference.
 
starski0 said:
Yea, this is what guessed. But considering I know Windows 8 wasn't very good in general, can I assume Windows 7 will be better?
Click to expand...
Windows 7 will be no faster than Windows 8. If anything the opposite. I think you are playing more demanding games or installing too much useless stuff as that should be the only reason anything gets slower. If you take care with your installs Windows 8 stays as quick as day one for years. It is also the quickest Windows so far with lots of memory optimizations and all the new graphics drivers aren't really tested for anything more than basic compatibility on older platforms. The new ones will always give you better performance.
Between Vista and XP was the difference of Dx9 vs 10 but there is no such difference with Windows8. The only thing people complain about with Win8 is the GUI, justfied or not, in terms of speed it is absolutely at least as good as Win7 and better on occasion.
 
Actually Windows 8; more precisely Windows 8.1 is faster than Windows 7 in both booting up and operations. If you cannot deal with the UI just install ClassicShell for free!
 
yjchua95 said:
It's true. This is because Windows 8.1 supports native UEFI booting.
Click to expand...

But not on the OP's 2011 MacBook Pro. Only Macs with Haswell CPUs support this option (I know you know this - it was more for the OP so he doesn't get a wrong impression).
 
saturnotaku said:
But not on the OP's 2011 MacBook Pro. Only Macs with Haswell CPUs support this option (I know you know this - it was more for the OP so he doesn't get a wrong impression).
Click to expand...

Oh really?

So then Windows 8.1 is NOT faster than Windows 7 on anything before Haswell?
 
poiihy said:
Oh

So Windows 8.1 IS faster than Windows 7 besides boot time?
Click to expand...

Yes.

If Windows 8.1 is installed in BIOS-CSM like Windows 7, boot times are identical, but everything else is faster.

If Windows 8.1 is installed in UEFI, everything is faster including boot times.

I also know that you are not an SSD fan (I remember that thread when you ultimately ended up getting ridiculed in your own thread), but if both Windows 8.1 UEFI and Windows 7 BIOS-CSM are installed on an SSD, the performance gap is even larger.

----------
saturnotaku said:
But not on the OP's 2011 MacBook Pro. Only Macs with Haswell CPUs support this option (I know you know this - it was more for the OP so he doesn't get a wrong impression).
Click to expand...

Yup, forgot to mention that. Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back