TuFun
Charter Member
I don't know if this means anything for a single panel users, but none the less interesting.
If you plan on using aircraft with several high resolution instrument panels and you have a fairly modern video card, there is a pretty good reason to use Windows 8 or 8.1. In 2.2 we added native 5551 texture support which is only supported in Windows 8. Gauges are rendered in 5551 format because of their GDI heritage. If the 5551 DXGI format support is not found, then gauge textures must be inline converted to 8888 format each frame before being copied to the card. For larger panels, that conversion could take a much as a millisecond for a single panel. If you have a VC with several VC panels or you're doing a home cockpit with lots of full screen 2D panels, using the native 5551 support can shave several milliseconds off your frame time. It's really too bad that 5551 support wasn't rolled back to windows 7 with the platform update.
Beau Hollis
Rendering System Lead - Prepar3D® Team
If you plan on using aircraft with several high resolution instrument panels and you have a fairly modern video card, there is a pretty good reason to use Windows 8 or 8.1. In 2.2 we added native 5551 texture support which is only supported in Windows 8. Gauges are rendered in 5551 format because of their GDI heritage. If the 5551 DXGI format support is not found, then gauge textures must be inline converted to 8888 format each frame before being copied to the card. For larger panels, that conversion could take a much as a millisecond for a single panel. If you have a VC with several VC panels or you're doing a home cockpit with lots of full screen 2D panels, using the native 5551 support can shave several milliseconds off your frame time. It's really too bad that 5551 support wasn't rolled back to windows 7 with the platform update.
Beau Hollis
Rendering System Lead - Prepar3D® Team