geforce 7600gt on win8 very slow compared to win xp

So, i decided to install win8 pro x86 to my old pc - intel e6300 1.8 ghz, geforce 7600gt, 1 gb ram, monitor at resolution 1280x1024. Now, on windows xp sp3 with latest updates, i mostly play "need for speed most wanted", a REAL version from 2005, not that new rubbish with the same name (seriously, wtf they were thinking when they gave exactly the same name for a new game ?!?!?!?). Anyway, that game runs great with maximum settings on windows xp with no lag at all, about 40 fps. But on windows 8, that game on maximum settings runs with big lag, about 10 fps... Both os are with newest drivers for all hardware devices, windows 8 was fresh installed, and windows xp is full of crap, because it was reinstalled looong time ago. So what is wrong with windows 8 gaming performance ? Is the cause of this bad performance windows 8, or is it bad nvidia drivers ? Does anyone else have problems with gaming performance on windows 8 compared to windows xp ?

Well, i installed windows 7, and games laged as in windows 8. I disabled windows aero and selected windows classic theme, things got a little better, but still not as good as in windows xp, so apparently new changes in windows aero and metro graphics are bad for gaming with not high end pc. So i guess i will have to stay with xp/7 dual boot, unless somewhere is some tweaks/options, that can change gaming performance in win7 / win8.

Win7 or 8 might give less performance than XP with your hardware, but not that much worse. There's something incompatible with the game. As EA didn't provide any patches or updates for the game after December 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_Speed:_Most_Wanted_(2005_video_game), all that I can suggest is trying some of the hacks that a web search will show. It's kinda old, though. (Windows Vista was released in early 2007.)

Good luck.

Well, performance is worse in test drive unlimited too, so i guess, its not games problems.

Correlation implies causation?

Maybe staying with XP on oldish hardware is best, regardless.

Nah, win8 works smoother and better overall versus so much older win xp, its just a little problem with gaming performance, so i guess i will just stay with 8/xp dual boot.

But seriously, what is wrong with games performance in windows vista/7/8 ??? On xp, i get 60 fps in torchlight with maximum graphics @ 1920x1080 on tv (could get much more, but vsync limits fps to 60 to remove tearing), and on win8 i get only about 18 fps, totally unplayable... And that bad performace is on all newer win versions than xp - vista, 7, 8. Its not a problem for me to dual-boot, but i wonder if this sh1t happens on new hardware too, or is it that my old pc doesnt support something to run games normally on vista/7/8 ? Can anyone test some newer/older games on xp vs 7 or 8 and post results ? Because i wanna know if its good to install xp for gaming on new pc, when i will buy it. Because, you know, if true is that vista/7/8 is really bad for gaming, then you can play games on win8 that runs well, and if it doesnt, then you can play it on win xp and get from 2 to 5 times more fps