Article: Windows 8.1 vs 10 graphics performance analysis

ruiner13

2015-07-30 19:27

Thanks for the info, Hilbert. Are you seeing any of the SLI related memory problems that people have been reporting in forums? The single-card tests don't show any difference compared to Win8, but I wonder if multi-GPU setups show any different behaviors...

#5132684

Asgardi

2015-07-30 19:27

No surprises there as its the same code running on both systems. The differences are only in the Modern app side. Its the OS itself which is way faster and better than W7. When games start using the new APIs (DX12 among others), we start seeing the benefits.

#5132695

scoter man1

2015-07-30 19:37

Maybe this is a dumb request/statement but it'd be kind of sweet to see Win 7 up in those charts too.

#5132712

Agonist

2015-07-30 19:50

Thanks for the info, Hilbert. Are you seeing any of the SLI related memory problems that people have been reporting in forums? The single-card tests don't show any difference compared to Win8, but I wonder if multi-GPU setups show any different behaviors...

I havent had any issues at all myself. No memory problems. What memory problems are you referring too? Honestly, SLI feels just a bit smoother on Win 10. Games feel smoother as well. In the AVP benchmark, I was 5 fps faster on Win 10 with no OC on the cards vs an oc on the cards in Win 8.1. 153.2 vs 148.6. With an OC, I got 162 in Win 10. Exact same settings for both OS. And I ran the benchmark 3 times. and there were all 1 fps within each other.

#5132716

Evildead666

2015-07-30 19:53

Thanks a lot Hilbert! 🙂 This answers many questions, and I won't be rushing to Win10.

#5132730

ruiner13

2015-07-30 20:11

I havent had any issues at all myself. No memory problems. What memory problems are you referring too? Honestly, SLI feels just a bit smoother on Win 10. Games feel smoother as well. In the AVP benchmark, I was 5 fps faster on Win 10 with no OC on the cards vs an oc on the cards in Win 8.1. 153.2 vs 148.6. With an OC, I got 162 in Win 10. Exact same settings for both OS. And I ran the benchmark 3 times. and there were all 1 fps within each other.

It may just be certain games, like BF4. That's why I was asking. Here's the response from ManuelG on geforce forums. Sounds like there's an acknowledgement of some sort of issue, just don't know how extensive. https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/860152/geforce-drivers/official-windows-10-353-62-game-ready-display-driver-feedback-thread-7-29-15-/post/4617242/#4617242

#5132771

Agonist

2015-07-30 21:02

It may just be certain games, like BF4. That's why I was asking. Here's the response from ManuelG on geforce forums. Sounds like there's an acknowledgement of some sort of issue, just don't know how extensive. https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/860152/geforce-drivers/official-windows-10-353-62-game-ready-display-driver-feedback-thread-7-29-15-/post/4617242/#4617242

Thanks for the link. I have not experienced anything like that myself. In fact, in Win 10, my vram ususage is 100mb less and 250mb avg less on system ram.

#5132780

ruiner13

2015-07-30 21:14

Thanks for the link. I have not experienced anything like that myself. In fact, in Win 10, my vram ususage is 100mb less and 250mb avg less on system ram.

Do you happen to play BF4? Good to know it isn't affecting everyone. Still makes me nervous to update my machine with 2x780s until I see more data points 🙂

#5132880

OnnA

2015-07-30 23:24

On that particular x8/16 system spec as you have there is no significant gain. But on My system there is ;-) I've got +7-14FPS is every game i'm playing in Win_X In pCars i'll have solid 55-65FPS experience in Utra/High Shadows Med and Smoke Low in 1792:1344 85Hz -> in comparison on Win 8.1 MCe i was playing without Smoke and shadows on Low to get similar FPS. So gain is Great on AMD CPU's i think 😀

#5132950

leszy

2015-07-31 01:33

Deleted. Probably fake results in the link or wrong methodology. Sorry.

#5133018

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 04:20

These results are a bit inaccurate. I think you'll see a bigger difference with an average system (i.e. an i5/8320 coupled with a mid range GPU), IMO.

Why?

#5133026

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 04:36

Because it's not the results that he wanted to see.

I didn't expect DX11 improvements with WDDM 2.0, the fact that AMD made CPU overhead optimizations first on the Windows 10 driver was interesting but it wasn't limited to WDDM 2.0 but WDDM 1.3 and lower. It's good to see they didn't make things worse 🙂

#5133141

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 08:34

http://i.imgur.com/GlsUzVp.jpg says a lot..

What driver was installed on 8.1? Looks to me like you weren't running >= 15.7 which had the CPU overhead optimizations that they now have.

#5133162

xIcarus

2015-07-31 09:20

Guys please include spoiler tags or links when posting or quoting images. The page looks weird. And I feel the need to scroll sideways continuously. MUST NOT SCROLL.

Haha wow, where are all those "Wait for Windows 10 and you'll see the AMD difference" cats at now? :wanker: But hey, keep believing in the magical driver/OS fairy.

That's exactly what I was thinking about. I'm not surprised there's no magic stick for the Fury. Now we wait for DX12.

#5133202

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 10:18

I was going to say the same thing! I have higher draw calls per second under DirectX 11 on my rig (R9-280x with an i5-3570K) in Windows 10. That is running the latest 15.7.1 driver. That is both for single and multi-threaded (around 1100000 for both). Here's mine (screenshot): Keep in mind I have an older CPU, and a lower end video card. My results for DirectX 11 and 12 should be less than yours...

CPU overclocked?

#5133215

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 10:23

Yes, to 4.3 GHz (compared to his 4.0 GHz). Still, that won't equal 20 percent higher DX 11 draw calls, especially considering mine is an i5-3570K and his is an i7-4790K. The i7-4790K at the same clock speed should still be a little faster in the draw call test, seeing as it does have higher IPC. That is, assuming the CPU makes that much difference (I presume it does).

I wonder what resolution they used. The CPU IPC is very important in the test.

#5133221

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 10:30

It should be the same resolution, 1280x720. It's an overhead test, not a graphics resolution test! Even with IPC being important, that further highlights that the i7-4790K should at 4.0 GHz should be at minimum, no less than the i5-3570K at 4.3 GHz.

The i7-4790K can boost to 4.4GHz.

#5133240

heffeque

2015-07-31 10:56

That's exactly what I was thinking about. I'm not surprised there's no magic stick for the Fury. Now we wait for DX12.

Not surprised either. Who actually thought that Dx11 performance would change from Win8.1 to Win10? The real difference comes with Dx12 vs Dx11, where Dx12 hardware will shine against older Dx11 hardware, and where CPU performance will be a bit less important than with Dx11. That's what AMD is talking about their "magic" stick, their underpowered CPUs will be able to shine better in games thanks to Dx12 (even more the APUs).

#5133241

theoneofgod

2015-07-31 10:57

Not surprised either. Who actually thought that Dx11 performance would change from Win8.1 to Win10? The real difference comes with Dx12 vs Dx11, where Dx12 hardware will shine against older Dx11 hardware, and where CPU performance will be a bit less important than with Dx11 (that's what AMD is talking about their "magic" stick, their underpowered CPUs and APUs will be able to shine better in games thanks to Dx12).

DX11 hardware supports DX12 give or take some Intel iGPU's (not up to date wth AMD APU's). The improvements will come from the low level API. I don't know anyone that expected DX11 improvements with Windows 10.

#5133244

heffeque

2015-07-31 11:01

DX11 hardware supports DX12 give or take some Intel iGPU's (not up to date wth AMD APU's). The improvements will come from the low level API.

I'm pretty sure that AMD's APUs will do a lot better in Dx12 than Intel's iGPUs since AMD's APUs have more Dx12 HW accelerated instructions than Intel's iGPUs. Intel will have to do more stuff on CPU than AMD. On external GPUs the story changes obviously.

I don't know anyone that expected DX11 improvements with Windows 10.

Well... check this post: http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=5132768&postcount=12