Windows 7 put before Firingsquad: Runs Games Faster than XP ?

Right now, Windows 7 is kind of a mixed bag. While it was able to beat both Vista and XP in certain applications, it also got beat in others. 3DMark06 gave a clear advantage to XP on both of our test beds, while Vantage favored Vista by about 10%. However, real world performance brought our numbers to a much narrower margin, with Windows 7 performing admirably in both DX9 and DX10 modes. Crysis still favors Vista pretty heavily as it officially trounced Windows 7 by 16 frames per second on average on our high-end test bed. The margin was closed when we take a look at our mid-range setup, when that gap shrunk to a one frame difference.

In all other applications though, the margin was much smaller as Windows 7 appears poised to be a serious contender as far as performance goes. USB transfer rates saw a decent increase while CPU utilization saw a small decrease, giving some credence to Microsoft’s claim that they have reworked the USB subsystem. Boot times are also worth mentioning not only because Windows 7 was faster, but more importantly, because Windows 7 felt more ready to go once the desktop loaded up. Both XP and Vista took at least an extra minute after the desktop loaded to be ready to run applications, while Windows 7 ran Firefox without stuttering or hesitation. Overall, we would say that Windows 7 was just snappier and more responsive when it came to general usage.