By Randall C. Kennedy
Back in January 2009, I published the first half of my groundbreaking study on multicore support under Microsoft Windows. The article featured an in-depth look at multicore/multiprocessor performance under Windows 7, Vista, and XP, including extensive benchmark data for each platform. At the time, I concluded that Windows 7, and to a lesser degree Vista, delivered better scalability moving from single-core to dual- and quad-core architectures. However, I also noted that this advantage was not yet sufficient to allow Windows 7 to overtake the leaner, more efficient XP under heavy workloads.
What a difference a year makes! After revisiting my earlier test scenarios using a newer, Nehalem-based workstation (the HP Z800 with dual quad-core Xeon 5500-series CPUs), I’m pleased to report that Windows 7 not only closes the gap with Windows XP, but blows right past it, delivering results that are 47 to 178 percent faster overall. Moreover, Windows 7 shows far superior scalability, by a factor of more than 3.5, when moving from a single quad-core CPU (Core 2 Duo Extreme QX9300) to the dual quad-core, Hyper-Threading Xeons in our newer Z800 test bed.
