So I currently have a xps 730x pc with i7940, 6gb ddr3 1066, 500gb hd, gtx 660, x-fi titanium and windows vista 64 bit. I am looking at upgrading the OS this year and I am not sure which would be better to get windows 7 or 8. If anyone has experience with the two I would like your thoughts on it now that 8 has been out for more time. I mostly use the computer to play pc games like battlefield 3 and i plan on playing battlefield 4. I have no experience using either 7 or 8 so I was hoping someone could tell me the positives and negatives of each. With it being an older pc I am a little bit worried about compatibility issues.
I ran the windows 7 upgrade advisor and it said something about paid update available for openal would that do anything to the cmss-3d on my x-fi card? I also ran the windows 8 compatibility test and openal was fine but had others like says secure boot not compatible, punkbuster has an x and says to check their website, so does windows live essentials, and widcomm bluetooth software. The main one that I have questions about is the intel storage matrix manager says update available then takes me to this page https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=17882 not sure which I would need.
But I know when I go to dell drivers and enter my service code it lists no drivers available for windows 7 or 8 does that mean there are none or are they just the same as vistas? Mainly I used the dell chipset drivers, thermal app and alien fx that would need re-installed.
Will word,excel (2010) work on windows 8 or 7 and also what about movie maker on windows 8? Are there any programs that won't work on windows 8 I remember reading something about word 2013 and media center on 8 but can't remember what it was all about. Also i know blue is coming out will that be an update like service packs or will it have to re-install the os and need to back up all the files? Can you lock individual tiles on windows 8 or do you need seperate users?
Also if anyone could give me the proper install order for things if I do upgrade that would be great tnx.