Networking

For our networking tests we utilize a Promise SmartStor NS4600 NAS unit equipped with two WD Caviar Black 640GB drives in RAID 1 operation. We are using our standard large folder and perform a copy from the NAS and then back to the NAS. The Promise NAS unit is connected to each test platform via a NetGear Gigabit Ethernet switch. We left all settings at their defaults on both the motherboard and Promise NAS unit. Our goal was to maximize the performance of the NAS unit to verify our network throughput capabilities in each operating system.

Networking Performance - Large Folder Copy from NAS

Storage Performance - Firewire - HD to External HD

In our download test, Win7 is blazing fast with a 25% advantage over XP and 34% over Vista, making this result particularly notable since network file copy performance has always been a bit of a laggard on Vista. The results are very close in our upload test with Win7 and Vista basically tied and 16% ahead of XP.

USB / FireWire Performance

Our USB transfer speed tests are conducted with an USB 2.0/FireWire based Lacie external hard drive unit featuring a 1TB 7200rpm Samsung F1 drive. In the SSD to External test, we transfer a 3.82GB folder containing 2735 files of various sizes from our Kingston 80GB SSD to the Lacie drive. In the next two file tests, we use the same 3.82GB folder to transfer from our WD VRaptor 300GB hard drive to the external Lacie drive utilizing the USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394a interface.

Storage Performance - USB - SSD to External HD

Storage Performance - USB - HD to External HD

Storage Performance - Firewire - HD to External HD

Win7 and XP perform similarly in our USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394a tests with both finishing ahead of Vista.

 

General Applications Storage Performance & Power Consumption
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  • DominionSeraph - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Is it really that difficult to download WinZip to open .zip files? And WinAmp to play MP3s? MusicMatch Jukebox for ripping and converting? ACDSee to view jpegs? CloneCD to burn?

    More functionality is better.

    Now they just need to get ISO mounting.
  • Genx87 - Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - link

    Hey i was impressed they put .ISO burning as a native function of the OS. God that is nice to not have to install Roxio or Nero to perform that one function.
  • Dug - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Really need to show how much better 7 is in a domain environment. Vista is a nightmare in the workplace, especially with networks. Vista has really slow file transfers, slow authentication, really bad switching from wired to wireless. Constant time outs from explorer or Outlook. Errors trying to update the OS. List goes on and on.
  • Genx87 - Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - link

    Sounds to me like you may have other issues if you are having timeouts in Outlook and Windows explorer and cant update the clients. We have about 30% of our user base using Vista 32. They have for the most part been pretty solid. The biggest issue was the person before me on the initial batch bought machines with 1GB of ram. /shake head

    After doubling and quadrupling that the machines run solid.

    The slow transfers were fixed in SP1 over a year ago.
  • Peroxyde - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    At home I only need Windows to work on some MS Office 2007 documents. I can live without the Windows 7 new features. So here is the fastest Windows and the safest you can have: Use Linux + Virtual Machine (Ubuntu 9.04 x64 and Virtualbox 3.08 in my case). The VM have WinXP + SP3, auto updates. After that, I configure XP so that it can no longer access the Internet. Results: a fast and low resource Windows (only XP and the few programs I need, zero anti virus). Unlike its numerous XP fellows this one is unattackable.
  • tomaccogoats - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Anandtech really needs a dedicated person on its team with better knowledge of linux. It's a computer site, and I'd compare the level of linux no-how to that of a high-school student who's been playing around with it a bit. Ubuntu 9.10 has in essence been around for a while now, and I'm surprised no one's even bothered to look at it. Also you can set ubuntu to get A LOT better battery life numbers. Just my $.02
  • Chlorus - Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - link

    Maybe because its garbage? Maybe because the application base of Linux is almost nonexistent? Maybe because it barely supports any of the latest hardware? Maybe because the ABI situation is a clusterfuck? Maybe because those battery-life improving tweaks involve removing some functionality?
  • LoneWolf15 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    I found some 25% off coupons still lurking around the web back in August and got myself a Technet Plus subscription. For $261, I got one license of Win7 Ultimate one of Premium, one of Professional, and more importantly, a MAK (multiple-activation key) for using Enterprise.

    That's not including the licenses for Office 2007 and a ton of other MS products. Well worth the price and at the end of the year's membership, your licenses are still valid --just keep copies of your .ISOs and keys. Subscription renewal prices are also lower than first-time.
  • MrPete123 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    With respect to hibernating... don't the Vista/Win7 64-bit laptops have 4 gigs of RAM they have to store, while XP 32-bit only has ~3 gigs accessible? Seems like that would artificially affect the performance.

    Also, why didn't you run Win7 FF + FlashBlock?
  • Ryan Smith - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link

    Check the Mobility article that data was pulled from. If the answer isn't there, you'll have to ask Jarred.

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