Vista x64 RC1 SP1 vs XP SP2 x64

[LCA]

I decided to do a direct comparison between Xp x64 and Vista x64 SP1 RC1 ver.744 on one of my machines. The setups were as follows:

CPU: Dual Core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA - K8NF-9

Ram: 2gb Adata Dual Channel DDR

Video Card: Sapphire ATi x1900GT 256mb

Hard Drives: 2 x 36gb Western Digital 'Raptor' 10,000rpm (Raid 0)

Soundcard: Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS

Operating Systems:

Windows Vista Business Edition x64 Build 6001, Service Pack 1, v744 (called SP1 RC1 Refresh)

Chipset Drivers: Nvidia (the standard drivers installed from the Vista DVD)

Video Card Drivers: ATi Catalyst 8.1 x64

Raid Drivers: The default drivers included with Vista DVD

Note: Aero interface was turned on and the Sidebar was turned off.

Windows XP x64 (Build 3790 Service Pack 2)

Chipset Drivers: Nvidia 6.86 nForce

Video Card Drivers: ATi Catalyst 8.1 x64

Raid Drivers: Nvidia version 5.10.2600.0552

The results are:

The winner in each category is in red.

3DMark06 was run at 1280 x 1024 (no AA or AF).

The results speak for themselves with most tests the difference is 1.4% or less. The hard drive read performance in Vista is vastly superior whilst XP has a good win in WinRar. In 3Dmark06 it is also very close with most of the difference in the CPU scores.

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PCMark05 Tests:

The winner in each category is in red.

Note: The hard drive tests refused to work when using XP x64.

Some big variations in results here with XP predictably winning the 2D Graphics Memory test and the Audio Compression (XP is always going to win this after Microsoft completely rewrote the audio stack in Vista). With transparent windows rendering Vista pulverises XP, for Video encoding Vista has a good edge too.

Vista struggles in the file encryption test, the text edit test, and with web page rendering but wins the virus scan test.

:)

[jimboh1]

Wow- interesting results; looks like Vista's catching up. Thanks for taking the time to do all that testing.

[Slimy]

Great post! Thank you (Y)

But why did you use the default raid drivers for Vista and not the latest from WU or those from nVidia? or have they not been updated yet?

[LCA]

But why did you use the default raid drivers for Vista and not the latest from WU or those from nVidia? or have they not been updated yet?

I haven't played around with the Nvidia Raid drivers in Vista for ages. The last time I tried the ones on the Nvidia site they were really slow.

[Malisk]

Interesting how algorithm heavy things are so much favoring XP.

E.g. audio compression and archive compression.

[MidnightDevil]

Thank's for this benchmarks, vista performance is still noticeable slower than xp... we hope it improves :|

[M118LR]

Thank's for this benchmarks, vista performance is still noticeable slower than xp... we hope it improves :|

XPx64 is Server 2003, not XP.