Inside CNET Labs: Windows Vista SP1 performance

The long-awaited Service Pack 1 update for Windows Vista brings with it a number of significant bug fixes and other improvements. Microsoft says that with it you will also see a number of noticeable performance improvements as well. In CNET's initial round of testing, the tester saw a mixed bag of results: CNET saw a few notable performance improvements under some conditions as well as significant performance degradations in others. For the most part, however, CNET saw little difference in performance between Vista and the Vista SP1 update.

[Silellak]

I wish they'd have compared game performance. I could care less if it takes 5 seconds longer to copy a file...

Oh well, I went back to XP a couple of weeks ago anyway. Vista was nice enough, but didn't offer much new and there were too many game compatability problems, even with newer titles like the Witcher.

[ravenguard88]

But I like Vista enough to keep it.

Things will improve, it's just the beginning of a new cycle.

I agree, these performance enhancements don't really mean anything to me, though I supposed it could effect the page file and gaming performance slightly. I would like to see some more game-related benchmarks.

[Darkiewonder]

It only helped out with the USB sticks. I'm going to have for SP2 then. hmmph

[TheIneffableBob]

Other reports have been saying that it improves performance nearly across the board.

One of those reports is,
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hard...

[beoulve]

"CNET saw a few notable performance improvements under some conditions as well as significant performance degradations in others."

Good god, It's already damn slow now. I'll stick to XP for now, will patiently wait for SP2.

[James64619]

I tested the beta of sp1 and i found it to give great performance programs load instantly and start up and shutdown times where faster i'm not going back to xp i'm on vista at the mo and i like it had no problems since release.

[Marriot VP]

When the balls does this come out?

I mean the official version, not the beta

[James64619]

March

[James64619]

I hate when people moan oh it's slow it's not actually on my pc vista runs better then xp does it makes use of all the hardware i got inside my pc xp doesn't do this.

[James64619]

my system specs are

Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe
AMD 6400
4GB DDR2 800 Corsair XMS
Nvidia 8800GT 1GB
Western Digital 500GB HDD 16mb cache x2 raid 0
700watt Thermaltake PSU
SoundBlaster Fatal1ty Pro

[Shioka]

Let´s see if this Service Pack is good enough...

[velaxun]

The problem with Vista is that it was designed for newer hardware. When people try to run it on a 5 year old system.... it's not going to work. It runs smooth as butter on my system and that's because it's basically new parts.

ASUS P5K
Intel Core2Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz
Geforce 8600 GTS
4GB Patriot DDR2 RAM

[Marriot VP]

Seriously, vista has its flaws but with the perks, gadgets(notepad, cpu/memory dials), interface, and search makes it worth it.

And like the guys above said, having newer parts makes a big difference. My system boots up like a dream and never crashes. I haven't had a freeze or performance dip ever. I'm not a radical gamer though, so don't think I am. Of course a more stripped down basic OS like XP would run your games faster.

64 bit 4200 x2
2gb g.skill
8600gt dx10

[LoydX-mas]

With xp, my old computer crashed and locked up all the time. It has been about a year now with Vista, and not one crash!

Luckily I don't play games on my computer, so I may also not have seen some of the problems others have talked about.

[James64619]

i dont really play games on pc anymore thats why i bought a xbox 360 for i update my computers hardware about once a year

[teh_tourist]

it works fine for me
CPU - Q6600 @ 2.7
GPU 8800GTX
RAM 4GB
HDD 500GB

i've never had any problems with Vista, i'm so happy with it i could never go back to XP