Which windows do you think and feel is the fastest?

[DesiPirate]

Windows 8 CP runs faster than windows 7 on my PC.So my vote goes with windows 8.

[Lyon275]

Windows 7 :wub: I hate windows 8 ... :)

[dcs18]

Which windows do you think and feel is the fastest?

Which windows is the fastest, eh?

Well, the windows from which I nearly flung my PC after having installed Windows 8 (the same windows of my 18th floor apartment.)

[FaeGiN]

Why no Windows 98 SE?

Fastest OS EVER!

[Ponting]

Windows 7 B)

[digimon]

Why no Windows 98 SE?

Fastest OS EVER!

windows 3.1 was fastest windows os ever released

reactos is currently in alpha but its a clone of windows server 2003 and its faster then windows 98

[bubbada]

seriously winxp is the fastest on fact of uses less ram and not to menchion less time to run a program compared to vista and 7 ex. run program and then wait confirm what u ran.

[DKT27]

seriously winxp is the fastest on fact of uses less ram and not to menchion less time to run a program compared to vista and 7 ex. run program and then wait confirm what u ran.

That's like saying McLaren F1 is faster than Bugatti Veyron :) .

[calguyhunk]

XP is faster on older hardware than Win7. The biggest plus is the support for legacy hardware from a (relatively) modern OS. If you got a Pentium 1^st gen system lying in your garage with a sub 100Mhz processor and sub 100MB RAM, you can actually pop in an XP CD (yes, not a DVD back those days with a 700MB installation file :P ) instead of Win 9x even though the MS recommended system requirement is quite a bit more ;)

Of course, at those specs, you can always use Puppy or DSL especially if you don't need the Windows apps ;)

[onix]

For me Windows 7 x64 is one of the best OS. Not so long ago I was thinking that Windows 7 is completely useless OS since it's simply a service pack for Vista. But now that I am using it it look like it's not so bad after all. It's stable and fast booting OS with a lot of tools build in. Yes it does demand 1 gb+ RAM to run but 1 gb ram was a lot back in 2002 now 1 gb is only put in phones so for me Windows 7 is one of the best OS i ever seen. Windows 8 will be like iPhone so I am not even thinking on using it. All I hope they start working on this Linux Ubuntu so games can be played in it with ease as it's more light and open OS than windows will ever again be.

Edit: Windows 7 is only useful after you disable all of it's security build in futures that ask you 100 times before you open an .mp3 file let's don't ask about some .exe or other things.

[calguyhunk]

...Not so long ago I was thinking that Windows 7 is completely useless OS since it's simply a service pack for Vista.

It is. But it's the service pack that actually makes Vista Win7 usable :P

Windows 8 will be like iPhone so I am not even thinking on using it.

All I hope they start working on this Linux Ubuntu so games can be played in it with ease as it's more light and open OS than windows will ever again be.

The drivers are all there 'officially' these days from both Nvidia & AMD, but GPU scaling is still abysmal for most of the games that support Linux ;)

Windows 7 is only useful after you disable all of it's security build in futures that ask you 100 times before you open an .mp3 file let's don't ask about some .exe or other things.

First thing you do on a new Win7 installation - Disable UAC ;)

[DKT27]

First thing you do on a new Win7 installation - Disable UAC ;)

I thought I was the only one to do that. :P

[UnderShadow]

First thing you do on a new Win7 installation - Disable UAC ;)

I thought I was the only one to do that. :P

me too; i was beginning to feel guilty/ashamed for that, now i know i'm not the only one

thanks, i'm relieved now!

[dcs18]

Somebody change the Poll option from Windows 8 beta to Windows 8 RTM.

[DKT27]

Somebody change the Poll option from Windows 8 beta to Windows 8 RTM.

Removed the beta part. Now it should be general, no need to put RTM. ;)

Having said, removing beta doesn't mean it's actually out of it. :P

[calguyhunk]

Having said, removing beta doesn't mean it's actually out of it. :P

LOL! :lol:

[dcs18]

Having said, removing beta doesn't mean it's actually out of it. :P

LMAO :D

[alitaher]

windows xp black FTW! :pirate: :tooth:

Windows 8 would've been the fastest OS for me, too - except that I started hunting for it's Start Menu a couple of months ago (needless to say - have yet to to be able to locate it.)

Try Windows 7 Start menu which is just a click away and leaves you feeling truly intelligent, too.

I'll stick with windows 7 sp1

Coz 7 Ate Nine :)

Linux! :P

let's see windows 8 performance then you judge your self

Windows 8‘s Metro interface may be controversial, but it looks like few PC users will complain about the new operating system’s performance. The PCWorld Labs put the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 through a battery of tests and found it generally faster--sometimes a lot faster--than Windows 7.

Our test system running Windows 8 Consumer Preview started up faster, ran through our WorldBench 7 benchmark faster, and showed superior performance when browsing the Web, compared with the same system running Windows 7. In only one major test, our office productivity measure, did Windows 8 lag behind Windows 7 performance.

Obviously, these results are far from definitive, since they’re based on a preview rather than on the final version of the new operating system. But once Windows 8 is finally released, it is entirely possible that the performance will improve, since we had to use drivers that weren’t yet tweaked for Windows 8.

The results also jibe with what readers who had installed the Consumer Preview told us in a recent survey. About 40 percent of respondents said their machines seemed faster with Windows 8, and only 9.4 percent said they seemed slower; nearly 45 percent noticed no significant change.

Test Methodology

We tested using our WorldBench 7 tests, performed on the Labs' baseline system, which is built around a 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K processor. That CPU is coupled with 8GB of DDR3 RAM clocked at 1333MHz, a 1TB 7200-rpm hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card. Our testbed system is certainly no slouch, but it represents what we’d call a middle-of-the-road PC.

We loaded the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 on the system, and compared our results with the numbers we already had for the same system running Windows 7.

Windows 8 ran through WorldBench 7, our comprehensive performance benchmark, 14 percent faster than Windows 7. Generally, any difference of 5 percent or more on WorldBench is noticeable, so this is a difference you should feel when you’re running a Win 8 machine.

(For a full breakdown of WorldBench 7, our testing methodology, and the ins and outs of the individual tests, check out Jason Cross’s "How We Test PCs.")

Startup Time

If you hate waiting for your PC to get going, you should like Windows 8. Our system started up at least 35 percent faster running Windows 8 than it did while running Windows 7. Under Windows 7, our average startup time was 56.2 seconds. Under Windows 8, that time dropped to 36.8 seconds.

That number is even more impressive considering that Windows 8 has a built-in handicap. To measure startup time, we command Windows to open a text file in the PC’s startup folder, and time how long it takes from when we press the power button to when that text file opens. Because Windows 8 starts up in the Metro interface, not the traditional desktop, our testbed had to boot up, load the Metro interface, and then load the desktop to get to that text file. The average time to reach the Windows 8 Start screen (without getting to the desktop) was even faster: just 23.91 seconds. And that was on a spinning-platter hard drive--if you’ve upgraded to a solid-state drive, your startup time will be even quicker.

Why is Windows 8 so quick to start up? With the latest incarnation of Windows, Microsoft has introduced a new “hybrid boot,” combining the speed and functionality of Windows’ hibernate mode and the benefits of a fresh startup session.

A bit of background: When you choose to shut down your PC, Windows closes all running applications and services, and then powers down. When you choose the hibernate option, Windows writes everything currently in RAM to a file on your hard drive, and then shuts down. This adds some time to the shutdown process, but your PC will boot faster and be right where you left it before hibernating. In Windows 8, shutting down your PC closes all running applications, but hibernates the underlying operating system. When you turn your PC back on, Windows 8 will load that saved state much faster. The bottom line is that it's just like a clean boot in a fraction of the time. The Building Windows 8 blog details the architectural changes.

Individual Tests

Our WorldBench 7 test also includes individual tests of Web performance, office productivity, and media creation. We measure Web performance using the handy WebVizBench benchmark. This test measures how well the system renders dynamic Web content, including Javascript and HTML 5. For our testing, we used each operating system’s default browser: Internet Explorer 10 in Windows 8, and IE 9 in Windows 7.

The strides that Microsoft has made in hardware acceleration and browser optimization are evident here, with Windows 8 having a frames-per-second score that’s 50 percent better than the same system running Windows 7.

The differences aren’t as great in our Content Creation tests, which measure how well a machine performs in encoding audio and video, and in editing images. Our system running Windows 7 was a bit faster than the same system running Windows 8. Those differences were rarely greater than a few seconds, though, and the results could change dramatically once updated video drivers are introduced for Windows 8.

Windows 7 won decisively only in our Office Productivity test. Our test uses the Productivity section of Futuremark’s PCMark benchmark tool, which includes typical office tasks such as editing text, launching applications, and scanning for viruses. On this test, Windows 8 was roughly 8 percent slower than Windows 7. It’s worth noting that Futuremark is in the process of updating its benchmark suites for Windows 8, and those updates could change this result.

These performance numbers will likely shift in the coming months as Microsoft releases updated versions of its new OS. The Windows development cycle will stretch for months, and will include driver updates, performance tweaks, and general optimizations that are bound to improve things. Windows 8’s dramatic new interface may not be a runaway hit with PCWorld readers, but the numbers don’t lie: Even in its early form, this is promising to be the leanest, most efficient incarnation of Windows to date.

[dcs18]

I agree with the test results on performance, but do not agree with the methodology used. :thumbsdown:

When comparing Windows 8 with Windows 7, it's certainly true that Windows 8 is the faster one. However, that's like comparing oranges with apples.

I'd like to see a more fair comparison done after incorporating Aero and all other missing components from Windows 7 into Windows 8. By Aero, I don't mean just the enablement but a full blooded transparency with due animations.

[onix]

Did i get something wrong or the windows 8 OS and there is engine program running on background? If so why they created windows 8 to have engine and not make the OS to be the engine it'self. Now Windows 8 sound even more retarded and disgusting OS that ever before. It's like creating minecraft and make it closed for modding = we have to buy all the mods that microsoft create for us. Also I can't wait to buy some DLC/Service packs they will be maybe 50$+ each so microsoft can make even more money. And 5$ per security update sounds reasonable.

[LiLmEgZ]

..based on my experience, Windows 7 is faster than Windows XP.. I used to have Windows XP..but when I tried Windows 7, I never looked back again on XP. :D

I can vouch for this statement 1000%, cuz its 1000% TRUE :)