Windows 7 Performance Guide
by Ryan Smith and Gary Key on October 26, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Multitasking
The vast majority of our benchmarks are single task events that utilize anywhere from 23MB up to 1.4GB of memory space during the course of the benchmark. Obviously, this is not enough to fully stress test our 4GB memory configurations. We devised a benchmark that would simulate a typical home workstation and consume as much of the 4GB as possible without crashing the machine.
We start by opening a instance of Internet Explorer 8.0 with six tabs opened to flash intensive websites followed by Adobe Reader 9.1 with a rather large PDF document open, and iTunes 9 blaring the music selection of the day loudly. We then open Lightwave 3D 9.6 with our standard animation, Cinema 4D R11 with the benchmark scene, and Microsoft Word with a few large documents.
We wait two minutes for system activities to idle and then start playing Pinball Wizard via iTunes, start the render scene process in Cinema 4D R11, and then the render frame benchmark in Lightwave 3D. Our maximum memory usage during the benchmark is 3.46GB with 100% CPU utilization across all eight threads.
This a pattern that will repeat itself throughout our benchmarks. In well threaded applications, Windows 7 has a slight advantage over Vista and a larger one over XP. In this particular case, Win7 completes the benchmark nine seconds quicker than XP for a 2% advantage.
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jay401 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
awesome, thanks for the update!MadAd - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
I must have missed that in the feature list- how stupid.6 years of incoming and sent mail history in OE and MS are forcing me to consider alternatives such as thunderbird by not including one.
What strange marketing ideas they have.
BPB - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
Why is downloading it for free such a big deal? This way you aren't stuck with whatever version came with the OS. This way MS can upgrade it and make it easier to stay with a frsh mail client. I really don't get the complaints about that here. It also makes it easier for MS to avoid lawsuits. Can you really blame them for wanting to do all this? Besides, I don't know 1 single solitary user who uses Outlook Express, not one. They all use either Outlook or webmail. Personally I love using plain old Gmail. It's simple to use, and travels with me everywhere I go.7Enigma - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
I missed out on the $50 upgrade deal a couple months ago (literally forgot by 1 day) but since I have Vista and my parents really don't want/need to upgrade their systems I think we could all swallow $150 for the 3 user license (my mom's laptop would especially benefit).My question is since we don't live in the same house/town is that in violation of the family deal? I'd use one license for my computer and the other 2 for my parents computers.
Thanks for this likely simple question, but I'm not about to read a EULA!
nafhan - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
If you know someone with an email address at a university or college, I think you can still buy the student upgrade to Win 7. That's $30.strikeback03 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
Is an email address all that is required? I have a university email address.Matt Campbell - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
A .edu email is all you'll need. Iirc the terms also stipulate you have to show you're enrolled for at least 0.5 credit hours if Microsoft audits you in the future.strikeback03 - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
lol, I wonder if it would count if I audit a session or two of the class my boss teaches.Matt Campbell - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
The $30 student deal is a great one. However, I would caution people against using the Digital River purchase, it's not a downloadable .iso but rather a "box" file that can't easily be made into a bootable DVD. It's a particularly poor choice for those migrating from a 32-bit OS to a 64-bit as the files often can't even be unpacked. There's more info. online at sevenforums, slickdeals and elsewhere. Microsoft offers the deal directly by calling 1.877.696.7786 (mailed DVD for $35 plus tax), this is probably a better option for most to avoid the hassles.The0ne - Monday, October 26, 2009 - link
The files unpack when you run the setup. Windows setup then runs for the unpacked folder. You can quit setup and the folder will be there, ready for you to create an ISO with.