Linux is going to be the least amount of headache to be honest. Windows 7 is definitely getting up there in age. Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare… I mean i guess windows 8.1 is an option that strikes the balance between the two?
Still gonna say opt for Linux instead. Been running it nonstop for the past month on both my ryzen desktop and intel + nvidia 1060 laptop. Sure there are plenty of quirks and annoyances but generally everything ‘I’ want to do, does work.
Wine is starting to get pretty solid now, though gaming wise there are plenty of games that still don’t run or have weird quirks (like mouse acceleration always being present for some reason even after disabling it in linux. Or having to play Overwatch as a stuttery mess until the shader cache is generated USE LUTRIS FOR THAT! )
That being said, i think you need to ask yourself what exactly you are going to use the computer for (or edit it into your first post.)
Like, what? Im doing it on my notebook and it works prefectly. Even have windows encrypted with VeraCrypt and got grub to work with that. Just got to hope that Microsoft does not decide one day that its a good idea to automatically “optimize ‘unused/unuseable’ space”.
Ye… its faster. But then Microsoft comes with the “Spyware”-garbage, Random Mini-Games and Apps that Microsoft presumably gets $ from to install on your new clean install of Win10 right away. Like, the first thing that happens on your new Win10 rig is, it installs “Candyland crush something”-watever i don’t even know. Come on, gtfo! And the windows search does not even find shortcuts to my programs that are in the start menu AND docked most of the time, on all my PCs.
It took me a long time of letting the salt build up that Microsoft regularly shoves down your throat to realise that that i have to start walking away from Windows. Though, “I am using Linux on my Home Server” does not exactly instantly make you able to use Linux as your main OS without any issues and a constant array of Questions in your head of what to best use to substitute xyz program and how to configure this and that. Though eventually ill only be using Windows for games, if at all. It does help a lot that im right now basically only using Linux at work though.
My biggest problem with Linux is probably that Asus did not program the god damn Sound Driver for my Xonar Essence STX v1, so i only have the default Linux drivers, witch do absolutely support the card, but i loose the Dolby Headphone Feature completely, witch i used all the time and on Linux its gone, with seemingly no way to get it back.
Right tool, right job. If Linux works for you, then great. If I could 100% run Linux everywhere with 0 (let’s be real, less issues than with Windows) issues, then I would.
Reasons why I still keep around a busted up Lenovo y510p ideapad. does run windows 10, but it’s the perfect option for running games that don’t even work in WINE yet without installing windows of any sort onto my main devices. also helps for configuring gaming mice that have profile storage. (I could always just use a VM for this, but that takes up drive space.)
edit: screw that, most of what i play works perfectly with Wine+DXVK or via Steam Proton.
I setup Windows 7 for my buddy’s build with the Ryzen 1700. It was a bit out of the way to setup because the chipset wasn’t recognized, so we had to use a ps2 keyboard to install it, lots of alt+tab and such, but nothing terrible. There isn’t a baseline driver from MS for windows 7 chipsets on Ryzen.
It seemed to work fine for my buddy, but alas, driver optimization was better with Windows 10 for him. I’m not sure this would be the case for all, but over time, he mentioned a few small issues with core allocation and games inside 7, which he didn’t have with 10. Official documentation says Ryzen is for Windows 10, and apparently is the ‘most optimized.’
But I haven’t seen anything else on the subject. Really, I should have had him run a variety of benchmarks with it to test. He seemed to think (kind of rightfully) that some of his application issues were due to the OS, and seeing as he didn’t have issues with 10, it sure seems possible. I would love to see if someone has actually stats or a video of sorts on this subject.
Lots of complaints on here about Windows 10 spyware… idk if y’all know some of the same telemetry updates were rolled out on all versions of windows around 10’s release.
I will say though, 10 for sure uses more system resources to run in the background, and is constantly making network requests far beyond previous windows OSes.
The only reason I haven’t went to newer chipsets myself is because of this, I just don’t want to use Windows 10 yet. I’m sure I will have to eventually if I want to upgrade…but alas, that is what has kept me on the 4790k for so long.
