08/11/2009 17:47:00 | Nic Simmonds

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Windows XP vs. Windows 7

Gaming discussionsGaming discussions

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We compare the gaming performance of Windows 7 with Windows XP

Microsoft recently released its latest Windows operating system; Windows 7. Many enthusiasts complained about Windows Vista’s sluggish performance, and many gamers opted to skip the troubled OS altogether, deciding to stick with Windows XP.

With Windows 7 widely available now, and early reports suggesting that it has patched up many of the shortcomings that were present in Vista, gamers have reason to be excited.

Can Windows 7 deliver equal or even superior performance to Windows XP service pack 3? While the prospect of DirectX11 has many enthusiasts drooling, the reality is that current games will benefit from solid DX9 and DX10 performance. With this in mind, we benchmarked the two operating systems using a selection of modern games in DX9.

Test Rig

AMD Phenom II 965BE@3800MHz

8GB DDR 3 1333MHz

AMD HD 5870

Testing

All games were benchmarked in DX9 mode. Identical hardware was used on both operating systems, with all the most recent system and game updates installed. All games were benchmarked at 1680x1050. The scores indicate how many frames are rendered per second.

	Windows XP-64 bit	Windows 7 64-bit
Crysis (High, 4xAA)	58	57
FarCry2 (Very high, 4xAA)	66	71
Dawn of War II (Ultra)	101	103
ARMA II (High, Normal AA)	45	45
Call of Duty 4 (Max, 4xAA)	184	180

According to our tests, Windows 7 offers slightly improved performance over Windows XP in some games, while others are likely to be equal, and others will show improved performance in XP.

Considering that Windows 7 is a new OS, and performance is likely to improve with future updates, its gaming prospects are promising. Add to that DX10 and DX11 functionality, and gamers currently still using XP have good cause to make the Windows 7 plunge.

Next week we will be comparing the gaming performance of Windows 7 to Windows Vista.

Discuss Windows XP vs Windows 7 gaming performance in the forums

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Ernst

on 09/11/2009 05:40:24

Ill never go back to XP, gees my crossfire setup never worked in XP but in 7 it works flawless. Thumbs up for micro corrupt this time, they really proved they can still make a good OS.

Daniel

on 09/11/2009 13:06:23

Win7 > WinXP

That is all.

on 09/11/2009 13:24:42

Nice article, I've been wondering about gaming performance. Looks like I'll save my money. No reason to upgrade, XP has been rock solid and looks like their is little to no improvement in game performance.

allrpgfreak

on 09/11/2009 14:22:05

another microsoft PR article. great going guys!!

I have 6GB RAM, 1GB DDR5 HD4870 and Vista Ultimate x64 edition. I'm getting more than satisfactory performance.

Not every gamer has a monster PC ... so use your head and then jump the Windows 7 ship.

XP guys are missing something

on 09/11/2009 17:56:49

This is all DX9 performance. I know for a fact Far Cry 2 in DX10 out performs the DX9 build. And if anyone is using a NV 8xxx or ATI 3xxx or better card it'd be foolish to stick with XP. I understand that growing pains are always there with MS and it's hard to get over XP being stable as it is (well after SP1 at least) but 7 so far has been more than impressive in synthetic as well as real world benching.

Snigel

on 09/11/2009 20:27:18

Is this the failtrain?
Firstly, it is long known that XP64 has worse performance than XP32.

Secondly, why write this:
"Can Windows 7 deliver equal or even superior performance to Windows XP service pack 3?"

When XP64 obviously has no service pack 3.

XP64 is a very uncommon setup, which does not reflect what the majority of people think is XP.

Perhaps it's time to do a new test.

-1

Arch Nemesis

on 10/11/2009 11:22:51

Agreed with SNigel. I run xp 32 and would like to compare that with Win 7....