Applications
As you can see in our application benchmark chart, we saw wildly varying performance of different applications in Windows 7 x64, Windows XP x86 with Service Pack 3, and Windows Vista x64 with Service Pack 2. A few things really stood out, though. First, it seems that the hard drive performance problems that plagued early editions of Vista are solved once and for all in Windows 7. In our tests, Windows 7 was a few percent slower than XP SP3, but faster than Vista SP2.APPLICATION BENCHMARKS
| Windows XP (x86) | Windows Vista (x64) | Windows 7 (x64) | Percentage Difference: XP to Win 7 | Percentage Difference: Vista to Win 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ProShow Producer (sec) | 826 | 1166 | 848 | -2.66% | +27.27% |
| Mainconcept Reference (sec) | 1649 | 1657 | 1653 | -0.24% | 0.24% |
| Premiere (sec) | 831 | 739 | 840 | -1.08% | -13.67% |
| Photoshop (sec) | 141 | 127 | 140 | +0.71% | -10.24% |
| PC Mark 2005 | |||||
| CPU | 9116 | 9076 | 8568 | -6.01% | -5.60% |
| Memory | 6459 | 6371 | 6463 | +0.06% | +1.44% |
| HDD | 8029 | 6782 | 7537 | -6.13% | +11.13% |
| PC Mark Vantage | |||||
| HDD | WNR | 4657 | 4728 | N/A | +1.52% |
Best scores in bold. Our test rig uses a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9770 Extreme CPU, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HD, and an ATI 4890 videocard.
It’s also worth noting that in several of our tests Vista was actually a big winner, thanks to performance enhancements that hit in Vista Service Pack 2.
Network
One of the main problems with Windows Vista prior to Service Pack 1 was poor network performance. Well, we’re happy to say that the days of waiting for files to copy across a network are done. Check the benchmarks and see for yourself—Windows 7 is stupid-fast at transferring files across a network. NETWORK BENCHMARKS
| Windows XP (x86) | Windows Vista (x64) | Windows 7 (x64) | Percentage Difference: XP to Win 7 | Percentage Difference: Vista to Win 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File Transfer (small files) (sec) | |||||
| Download | 46.9 | 56.3 | 21.8 | +53.52% | +61.28% |
| Upload | 20.5 | 16.5 | 16.9 | +17.56% | -2.42% |
| File Transfer (large file) (sec) | |||||
| Download | 46.2 | 4.3 | 4.1 | +91.13% | +4.65% |
| Upload | 4.9 | 4.6 | 3.9 | +20.41% | +15.22% |
Best scores in bold. Our test rig uses a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9770 Extreme CPU, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HD, and an ATI 4890 videocard.
Games
To test gaming performance, we ran a mix of DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 benchmarks on both ATI and Nvidia hardware. It’s important to remember when checking these scores, you shouldn’t be comparing ATI to Nvidia and vice versa. Instead, you should compare ATI’s and Nvidia’s respective scores on the different platforms to see who has the best drivers for Windows 7. GAMING BENCHMARKS - ATI
| Windows XP (x86) | Windows Vista (x64) | Windows 7 (x64) | Percentage Difference: XP to Win 7 | Percentage Difference: Vista to Win 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DX 10 Benchmarks | |||||
| Far Cry 2 HQ (fps) | WNR | 52.9 | 53.1 | N/A | +0.38% |
| Far Cry 2 LQ (fps) | WNR | 57.8 | 58.4 | N/A | +1.04% |
| Crysis - Very High - no AA (fps) | WNR | 31.4 | 31.4 | N/A | +0.00% |
| Crysis - Very High - 4xAA (fps) | WNR | 27.5 | 27.6 | N/A | +0.36% |
| DX 9 Benchmarks | |||||
| Far Cry 2 HQ (fps) | 42 | 41.6 | 45.5 | +8.33% | +9.38% |
| Far Cry 2 LQ (fps) | 46.5 | 46 | 41.2 | -11.40% | -10.43% |
| Crysis - High - no AA (fps) | 47.7 | 44.4 | 41.6 | -12.79% | -6.31% |
| Crysis - High - 4xAA (fps) | 40 | 36.1 | 36 | -10.00% | -0.28% |
| Call of Duty 4 (fps) | 92.9 | 95.2 | 97.8 | +5.27% | +2.73% |
Best scores in bold. Our test rig uses a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9770 Extreme CPU, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HD, and an ATI 4890 videocard.
In DirectX 10 benchmarks, both ATI and Nvidia chalked up almost identical scores in Vista and Windows 7. That’s to be expected, given that both companies are using a universal driver in Vista and Windows 7. That is, the driver in Windows 7 and Windows Vista are essentially the same.
However, everything changes when you get to DirectX 9 benchmarks. Depending on the benchmark, Windows 7 ranged from about 10% faster to about 10% slower than Windows Vista. What you gain in one benchmark, you lose in another. And, over the entire range of our DirectX 9 tests, everything ended up even.
GAMING BENCHMARKS - NVIDIA
| Windows XP (x86) | Windows Vista (x64) | Windows 7 (x64) | Percentage Difference: XP to Win 7 | Percentage Difference: Vista to Win 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DX10 Benchmarks | |||||
| Far Cry 2 HQ (fps) | WNR | 62.7 | 62.8 | N/A | +.016% |
| Far Cry 2 LQ (fps) | WNR | 69.5 | 68.6 | N/A | -1.29% |
| Crysis - Very High - no AA (fps) | WNR | 30.1 | 30.1 | N/A | +0.00% |
| Crysis - Very High - 4xAA (fps) | WNR | 25.6 | 25.7 | N/A | +0.39% |
| DX 9 Benchmarks | |||||
| Far Cry 2 HQ (fps) | 47.5 | 50.5 | 46 | -3.16% | -8.91% |
| Far Cry 2 LQ (fps) | 52 | 46 | 51.4 | -1.15% | +11.74% |
| Crysis - High - no AA (fps) | 50.7 | 49.5 | 49.5 | -2.37% | +0.00% |
| Crysis - High - 4xAA (fps) | 39.7 | 39.7 | 40 | +0.76% | +0.76% |
| Call of Duty 4 (fps) | 121.4 | 114.9 | 116.9 | -3.71% | +1.74% |
Best scores in bold. Our test rig uses a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9770 Extreme CPU, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HD, and a Nvidia Geforce GTX 285 videocard.
For gamers, especially those currently using Windows XP, there’s a strong reason to upgrade to Windows 7. You may sacrifice a little performance in some games, but you’ll gain some in others, and you’ll have the ability to run DirectX 10 and 11 apps in their full glory, which will never be possible in Windows XP. We’re also confident that both ATI and Nvidia will continuously work to improve gaming performance in the future, as both companies have for every other new OS Microsoft has released.
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