My colleague Nicholas Port was just asking me about my experience with different versions of Windows & Matlab running Psychophysics Toolbox. I asked my team about their experience, and I thought it might be useful to record their comments here:

Paul: “I used windows 7 and Matlab 2012b for psychophysical experiments before and I didn’t have any issues. However when I was using an Eyelink 1000 (external eyetracker) and timing was important for some reason the functionality only worked on 64 bit, so it is certainly worth considering which version you should use. Windows 7 and 2012A is more than enough.”

Zoltan: “I used Windows 8.1 with Matlab R2014A. I had some issues with timing because the desktop mode is handled differently.
If you do production-quality stuff where timing is important, go with Windows 7 for the time being. I never had any issues with the 64-bit Matlab. However, there is a software limitation with Windows 7: the refresh rate you can set on any monitor is capped at 85 Hz. You will need to do some hacking in the registry if you have a Radeon card, and you can conveniently make a new custom resolution with anything nvidia.
So, currently, the most stable stuff is a Windows 7 PC, 64-bit Matlab, and an nVidia GPU. If you need more power, switch off the swap file, visual effects and have plenty of RAM.”

Ghaith: “I’ve been using PTB on Windows 7 using both 32/64-bit versions of Matlab with no problems.”

Partow: “I had some problems in downloading psychtoolbox with 32-bit on a Windows 7. 64 is fine.”