Zeus_Hunt Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 With the initial performance characteristics of Windows Vista leaving much to be desired (see our previous post on the subject), many IT organizations have put off deploying the new OS until the first service pack (SP1) is released by Microsoft early next year. The thinking goes that SP1 will address all of these early performance issues and somehow bring Windows Vista on par with - or at least closer to - Windows XP in terms of runtime performance.Unfortunately, this is simply not the case. Extensive testing by the exo.performance.network (www.xpnet.com) research staff shows that SP1 provides no measurable relief to users saddled with sub-par performance under Vista.Test ResultsDuring OfficeBench testing we noted a statistically insignificant delta (~2%) in favor of the SP1-patched configuration. CPU Saturation, Memory Pressure and I/O Contention factors were all comparable, as were process specific metrics - including the Thread Utilization and Thread Growth Potential Indices.By providing Vista (SP1) with an additional 1GB of RAM (that's a total of 2GB for those of you keeping score) we managed to achieve a "whopping" 4% improvement in OfficeBench throughput. After a disappointing showing by Windows Vista SP1 (see previous post), we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (v.3244) delivers a measurable performance boost to this aging desktop OS. Testing with OfficeBench showed an ~10% performance boost vs. the same configuration running under Windows XP w/Service Pack 2.Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release - unlike w/Vista SP1, Microsoft made no promises of improved performance for XP - the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus. In fact, XP SP3 is shaping-up to be a "must have" update for the majority of users who are still running Redmond's not-so-latest and greatest desktop OS.Of course, none of this bodes well for Vista, which is now more than 2x slower than the most current builds of its older sibling. Suffice to say that performance-minded users will likely choose to stick with the now even speedier Windows XP - at least until more "Windows 7" information becomes publicly available.Figure 1 - OfficeBench Completion Times (Seconds)The multitasking scenario was also comparable, with the ADO and MAPI Stress workloads showing a delta of less than 1% in favor of the SP1-patched configuration. As with the OfficeBench test scenario, system and process metrics for CPU, Memory and I/O were all nearly identical between the two configurations.Figure 2 - ADO and MAPI Avg. Transaction Times (Seconds)Figure 3 - Office 2003 vs. Office 2007 Completion TimesMoving from Office 2007 to Office 2003 definitely improved Vista's showing. Instead of being over 2x slower than XP on the same OfficeBench workload, Vista is now "only" 1.8x slower.ConclusionsAfter extensive testing of both RTM and SP1-patched versions of Windows Vista, it seems clear that the hoped-for performance fixes that Microsoft has been hinting at never materialized. Vista + SP1 is no faster than Vista from the RTM image.Bottom Line: If you've been disappointed with the performance of Windows Vista to date, get used to it. SP1 is simply not the panacea that many predicted. In the end, it's Vista's architecture - not a lack of tuning or bug fixes - that makes it perform so poorly on systems that were "barn-burners" under Windows XP. View : Original Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toyo Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Sad indeed. Happy I don't even have to think about it, since I have only 512 MB ram ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eBait Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 2gb ram and dont have to think about it too ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zer0buRn Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 It's probably gonna be a while before Vista is optimized to run on a average system... (Hopefully!), Considering XP will be getting the boot just like Win98 did, but I know that's not for a few more years so hopefully everything will be ok then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SacredCultivator Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Sorry to ask a dumb question but... SP3 for XP isn't publicly out yet correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zer0buRn Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Sorry to ask a dumb question but... SP3 for XP isn't publicly out yet correct?Nope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ENTALADO Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Vista suckkksss. XP not dead, and still rulllleeezzzaaz.LOL ;) :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dock98 Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 a lot of businesses are skipping vista and waiting for the new operating system scheduled for release in 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooldude7273 Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Vista really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I even have it running exceptionally fast on a single core Pentium M with 1GB RAM. No problems at all with Vista! :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoKz Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Vista suckkksss. XP not dead, and still rulllleeezzzaaz.LOL :unsure: :dance2:Agree... :unsure: lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marke68 Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Vista really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I even have it running exceptionally fast on a single core Pentium M with 1GB RAM. No problems at all with Vista! :dance2: :) Agreed mate,it seems to me the majority of people who bitch about vista have probably never tried it for any decent period of time,and lets not forget xp didn't exactly set the world alight on release. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dock98 Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 i have tried vista from its first testing.i have it on my new laptop only because i havent put on wxp pro on it yet.too busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 a lot of businesses are skipping vista and waiting for the new operating system scheduled for release in 2009.this thinking is not exactly logical, if MS fails to deliver Vista after pouring in extensive $ and manhours, what makes the businesses think MS will deliver up to expectation on the new OS? Unless the 'new' OS is an improved version of Vista. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobrPatty Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Does anybody know when Vista SP1 RC1 will be released? Last I heard was this week, can anybody confirm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeus_Hunt Posted December 4, 2007 Author Share Posted December 4, 2007 Does anybody know when Vista SP1 RC1 will be released? Last I heard was this week, can anybody confirm?Microsoft also told its own employees to expect the public test build of Vista SP1 to hit the week of December 10. The final Vista SP1 bits are due in the first calendar quarter of 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobrPatty Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Does anybody know when Vista SP1 RC1 will be released? Last I heard was this week, can anybody confirm?Microsoft also told its own employees to expect the public test build of Vista SP1 to hit the week of December 10. The final Vista SP1 bits are due in the first calendar quarter of 2008.Check this out Zeus_Hunt. Just found it a few minutes ago.http://://neosmart.net/blog/2007/windows-vist...sed-to-testers/Also heard same as you "this week they are releasing a new build to testers which could be the general public build 17051 or higher."Cool huh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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