My Hardware 2.0 mailbag is brimming with Windows 7 related questions. The main question on everyone's lips is the obvious one - How does Windows 7 stack up against Vista?
Important note: Before I go any further I feel I need to make a point, and make it clear. The build I'm testing of Windows 7 (build 6956) is a pre-beta build, and as a rule pre-beta builds aren't known for their performance. That said, the performance of this build should give us a clue as to how the OS is coming along.
This test will pitch Windows 7 build 6956 32-bit against Windows Vista RTM 32-bit and Windows Vista SP1 32-bit.
Check out the Windows 7 build 6956 benchmark gallery
UPDATE: I've added Windows XP data to the data below. Check out this post for details.
The System
Here’s the spec of the system I used:
Each system was fully patched with all patches available from Windows Update.
Other noteworthy points:
The Tests
For this test we’re going to use one real life test and three synthetic benchmarks:
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Boot Up Times
This is a simple test which involves measuring the time it takes to go from the boot loader to a usable desktop.
Note: Lower score is better.
Advantage: Windows 7
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PassMark PerformanceTest
PassMark PerformanceTest 6 is a comprehensive benchmarking app that examines several key aspects of the system:
Here are the results:
Note: Higher score is better.
Advantage: Windows 7
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PCMark Vantage
Next we move onto PCMark Vantage. A PCMark score is a measure of your computer’s performance across a variety of common tasks such as viewing and editing photos, video, music and other media, gaming, communications, productivity and security.
Note: Higher score is better.
Advantage: Windows 7
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CINEBENCH R10
Next, CINEBENCH. CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite based on MAXON's award-winning animation software, CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation.
Note: Higher score is better.
Advantage: Windows Vista 32-bit RTM
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Conclusion
What we have here is one set of data points for one particular system, but I think that the results are very promising. The fact that Windows 7 comes out top in three out of four of these tests at this early stage is very promising indeed. The boot time and PCMark Vantage results are particularly good.
I remember benchmarking an early pre-beta of Vista and it was awful compared to XP at the time. At this stage I can only assume that the RTM release of Windows 7 will offer more performance than this build, and will at the RTM stage be better than Vista. This is great for those who are concerned about the OS soaking up too much system resources.
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