Bitcoin Forum

Anybody mining in Windows 8 yet?  Installed "amd_catalyst_win8_consumer_preview_[rc10]" driver.  I have one 7970 and two 5830's.  The driver does not support the 7970's, but the 5830's are fully detected.  OpenCL says it is fully installed.  Mining software cannot find OpenCL devices, only CPU detected.  Tried 12.4 preview driver made for Windows 7 that doesn't even install, tried installing OpenCL v2.6 standalone SDK - no go. Gah.

Fixed it by accident!  I have a few beta/preview and official AMD catalyst driver releases extracted to a certain folder.  I went into my Device Manager in Windows 8 and forced the 7970 (listed as Microsoft generic display adapter or something like that) to install a driver from that main directory.  I don't know which one it used, but it installed properly (meaning I told it to search all subfolders and it found one).  AMD has not released a driver for 7970 in Windows 8 officially, but here I am with a working setup!  It unlocked OpenCL for all 3 of my video cards and I am mining just like I was in Windows 7.  Whee!  Hope this helps other ppl.

any benefits for going to Windows 8 instead of using Windows 7?

Not sure if there's a difference as far as mining goes, but from what I've read Windows 8 is just Windows 7 but with an app of sorts that runs over the desktop which is geared more towards tablet PCs and touchscreens?

Haven't decided myself if I wanna bother playing around with it instead of just sticking with Windows 7.

I can't say I see any benefits to using Windows 8 right now.  I've been daily driving it since the original post.  Like someone703 said it is pretty much just Windows 7 with the Metro UI for touchscreen devices.  As soon as I launch Chrome or Windows Explorer it takes me out of the Metro UI and 99% of my day is spent on a desktop that is identical to Windows 7.  I'm not sure what Microsoft was trying to accomplish for desktop devices here.  I've read articles that say they are trying to unify all devices and force them to use this Metro UI, but in reality I'm working all day without it in Win 8.

I think Microsoft could hit something really big with Windows 8 on Tablets. I do not wonder why Google is desperate to get a sub $250 Tegra 3 tablet on the Market before Windows 8 is rolled out. It's going for the moon if done right -> real business usability for tablets....

Imagine the total rocket if MS also get Windows Phone 8 right at the same moment.

But that is not relevant for Bitcoin of course.

I understand metro for tablet and smartphone, but putting this shit in the desktop version? Meh

If you think think using Metro UI for a desktop is crazy then shield your eyes.

Windows Server 2012 start screen:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Windows_8_server_start_screen.png

No .... No I am not kidding (although I wish I was).

Jesus no. Please no.

Well "Server Core" (command line only version of Windows Server that I don't know anyone who actually uses) will obviously not have it.

Lots of nice stuff in 2012 (we have been testing it) but the Metro UI nonsense is not one of them.

Some say Win8 can improve Games for example, results in higher fps.
Some how, maybe same effects on CL Performance.

Not in my experience.  Same exact performance as Windows 7.

Im getting blue screen when mining with the preview driver and the 2.7 SDK after ~ 5 mins of kicking off cgminer. temps are all fine so i can only assume either theres still bugs in the driver or the SDK isnt compatible with windows 8 yet.