Windows XP SP3 Yields Performance Gains Over Vista SP1

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.

*www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2_xpsp3.png
Figure 1 - OfficeBench Completion Times
(In Seconds - Lower is Better)

Note: As with our Vista SP1 testing, we used the identical Dell XPS M1710 test bed with 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB of RAM and discrete nVidia GeForce Go 7900GS video.

Windows Vista = Windows ME "Reloaded?" You be the judge!

Neowin.net

*www.neowin.net/images/icons/souricon.gif News source: Exo.Blog

Can't wait to get my hands on it!

When it's going to release officially? Thanks for the superb info..

wen wil xp sp3 come!! cant wait much!!

why is this vista so slow n why isnt MS DOIN SOMETHING FOR IT

I cant wait...

awesome news.......

thanks waspin

C

Thanks for the info.

Welcome guys

And Windows XP SP3 will be released somewhere in half of the 2008.( After SP1

)

Guys just read the comments they haven't tested vista properly , vista opens
OfficeBench way much faster than this & some beta of sp 1 has already mention in the comments that SP 1 makes vista very fast , also the reason why SP 3 opens officebench 10 seconds faster is because it has some multicore optimizations try doing the same test on single core & you won't notice any diffrence.

History repeats.
Xp SP1=vista SP1

So lets wait for SP2

waitin for this one

Hush.. Hush.. keep it low! If MS sees this then they'll tamper wid XP SP3 to boost Vista sales!

smit said:
also the reason why SP 3 opens officebench 10 seconds faster is because it has some multicore optimizations..

Isn't it all about optimization to make things speedier?

Great news

G

I installed SP3 on my PC today afternoon, but frankly I don't see any difference at all. With SP2 we had visible differences like the addition of windows security center and stuff. This time it looks like bug fixes and security fixes only.

^^ where did u got Sp3 ???

I saw that on a cyber cafe too.. may be some torrent roaming around created by few people .. !!

Nice Info.... XP rockz big time !!!! If only M$ had incoporated DX10 in XP officially... there wud hv been no need to migrate to vista for gaming !!!!

^well,already Vista sales are crawling and now if M$ ports dx10.1 to XP,Vista is gone!like the fate of winME :lol:

,they wont do that!. :twisted:

Vista will be forced on u!if u buy any laptop!thats what i understand.

ya Ricky ur right there were sum sp3's by local indian guy ... btw there just craps .

As a XP user -> Happy
Vista users -> Unhappy.

But there will definitely be a performance increase in vista sp1 by the time of its release.

T

I will go to Vista Next Year End only. By that time most of the bugs will be gone and SP1 will be out. Also My PC will be upgraded to later versions of Hardware which I do on annual basis. [AMD+ Gigabyte + ATi Combo 100%

]

I moved to XP only when SP2 was out. No point in getting MS OSes before service packs comes out because vanilla OSes from them are usually crappy performance and total bug world.

N

I didn't find any performance boost in the leaked SP3 version. Though in IE I started observing a new screen showing about connection failure...but that's it. Found nothing new and improved.

C

^^ same in here, no so-called performance gains !!