Vista SP1 Performance Before and After

Please post benchmarks of your system before the Vista SP1 install, and after.

See this article for an example. The more benchmarks used the better.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4319

Please Post Benchmarks!


The boost in performance that people are seeing may just be the result of some memory caches being cleared, and/or some other temporary optimizations, and the increased performance will subside and disappear over time. So it may just be a temporary increase that won't last long.

If this is the case, then some long term benchmarks will be needed for comparison as well, so keep up with those benchmarks over time, and post back in this thread to let us know.

 

I found it made it faster. And my fan is quieter.

 

What do you mean by, "I found it made it faster". Was it benchmarks, or just a sense of it being faster?

 

Increased my 3dMark06 score from 7786 to 8025, and my games seem to performing ALOT better. Much higher average frame rates in CoD4.

 

That's encouraging.

Who else has before and after benchmarks to share?

 

My vote is non-benchmarked. Sorry, voted before reading.

 

My start up time went from 55 secs to 1 min 45 secs.

 

SP1 makes the start up time longer.

I found it to be all around faster.

 

I am installing as I type, so hopefully if it is truly a drop in performance I can uninstall. I will benchmark 3dmark06 and hdd test as thats all I am setup for atm, more to come.

PS: Why not use vantage and 06, instead of 05 and 06?

 

Just to clarify. Microsoft, and others around this forum have said that Vista SP1 erases some of the data that makes Vista faster, Prefetch, etc. After a while, it'll go back down.

 

I agree with this too.

With SP1 IE loads pages faster than ever. Generally system responsiveness has improved much.

 

So this may just be a short term boost in performance. I guess we'll need some long term benchmarks done as well.

 

Well i havent gotten around to doing any benchmarks but according to my G15 performance screen b4 SP1 just idle it would use 32% of my 6 Gigs of Ram while after installing SP1 its hovering around 15%

 

I think you got turned around a little bit here. The point is actually the exact opposite.

Prefetch and other cacheing systems IMPROVE the speed of Vista. They also improve Vista startup times as well as individual program startup times. Over time performance will INCREASE as Vista builds and optimizes your cache, not decrease. Clearing the cache should actually make your computer slower.

That said, things feel zippier, but the only benchmark I ran was HL2:LC, which gain a whopping 1FPS (from 68 to 69).

SP1 is mostly just a bunch of hotfixes already released compiled into a single update. Updated Vista machines shouldn't see that much of a performance gain, but for some reason (maybe it is the placebo effect) things really do feel zippier and more responsive.

 

Prefetch is for XP, it's called Superfetch now.

 

Well, if it's not the prefetch, perhaps something else has been cleaned and/or optimized.

EDIT: *Superfetch!

 

Initially, I noticed it brought to startup entries back from the dead, and I hope it has not reset my custom services rules, but all in all it is zippy. Startup was a bit sluggish, but that should go down. I benchmarked using PC Wizard 2008, WPrime, 3DMark06, PCMark05, HD Tune, and Half Life 2: Lost Coast. I noticed the video marks go up, while there were mixed results with others. The HDD rates seems a little better, but I have not tested transfer to flash, as I have no pre-SP1 marks. My specs are in my sig, all resolutions are default or 1920x1200, whichever the program settings use. Lost Coast was run with lowest settings, except resolution and color. Overall temperatures seem to be the same to this point, no BSODs yet either.


Video Driver: 174.31 Mod Inf

Lost Coast: SP0-71.1 FPS SP1-75.22 FPS

3DMark06: SP0-4083 SP1-4083

PCMark05: (See Image Below; not complete score as I ran without Visual effects both times as I am not running for a score, but a benchmark. Subtle changes, a large drop in video?. but overall, ok.)

HD Tune: (Results attached)

PC Wizard 2008:

SP0-
Processor Global Performance : 24586.08
Cache Global Performance : 17978
Memory Global Performance : 4722
Video Global Performance : 785
Hard Disk Global Performance : 72
:
PC Wizard Rating : :
4814.31 :

SP1-
Processor Global Performance : 24383.5
Cache Global Performance : 17673
Memory Global Performance : 4654
Video Global Performance : 912
Hard Disk Global Performance : 71
:
PC Wizard Rating : :
4769.35 :

WPrime: SP0-59.12 SP1-57.317

 

What's "PerfLogs"
After installing SP1, it showed up in my c Drive.

 

Prefetch still exists in Vista, but Vista also has superfetch as well. this is how the turbo memory works. Prefetch- harddrive cached files. Superfetch- memory cached files. This is my view of the situation after reading a lot of info from MS on the subject.

 

Vista SP1 has caused an increase in performance.


Desktop System :
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU
1GB RAM
nVidia Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 RAM
160GB 7200RPM Hard Disk

Windows Vista Ultimate x64

 

After installing SP1 on vista-32bit, my computer shows 4.00gb of ram (as opposed to 3GB).

are all 4gb really being utilized now? or does the computer just know that i have 4gb, but can still only take advantage of 3?

 

It shows 4gb but it can only address 3gb.

 

Theoretically its impossible for a 32bit OS to utilize all 4gb. I think SP1 now just shows the Physical RAM thats installed

 

ah, for a split second there I had my hopes up.

The only reason I downgraded from x64 to x86 is because I couldn't get SolidWorks 2008 x64 to work

 

Check the programs website to see if they have made a patch/fix/version that makes SolidWorks x64 compatible.

Alot of programs are getting x64 support now

Its the future..

 

Guys, please advice. This is really weird... I have 1GB RAM... after SP1 installed, I noticed it shows up 8GB RAM!!! What a glitch!! Anyone experiencing anything similar ?
EDIT: dxdiag shows 1GB though....

 

LOL thats awesome, maybe if you open up your PC you might find 4 sticks of Corsair Dominator Ram ready to be installed

 

lol But how can this be ?!? I just rebooted again, but the same thing shows up.... "Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB"..
All I have is cheap 1GB DDR1 RAM (it's a 3+ year old PC).

 

lol?

wtf?

 

I'll take a screenshot of that and dxdiag in a bit....

Here we go....



It was fine before SP1 was installed... showed up as 1.00 GB

And thereafter, my memory rating in WEI went up drastically

 

one worde: hax

 

I have NO idea what you're talking about.... :\

 

o_0

you have 1 stick of ram that is 8gb?

 

Erm... no, it's 1GB.... I'm sure lol

 

Anyone notice that the graphic subsystem is more smooth? Minimizing windows, dragging windows around, has become a bit quicker.

 

I guess it'd be more noticeable on very low-end systems. It's always been smooth for me on my very old desktop.

 

also be sure to optimise vista using the guide found on this forum and tweakguides.

i followed those two guides before installing sp1 maybe thats why i didnt notice a big improvement.

but i must admit copying file to usb is noticebly faster than before.

 

Yea... file transfers were intended to be the most major fix of this SP.

 

I noticed that SP1 did not fix the stepping and delays with Vista Basic theme when one drags windows around. With XP or Aero they move smoothly.
-1 to SP1

PS more precisely, moving did become smoother for certain scenarios, but it still stumbles sometimes.

 

One thing I noticed is that my internet connection connects a lot faster. Whereas it took a while to show that my lappy was connected to the router, now it is connected before the firewall is even finished loading.

 

Same here. For that reason alone, it was worth installing.

 

Actually, my startup time is the same, if not faster. 7 bars now.

And I swear the tile, stack, and cascade options on taskbar right-click are new!

 

Damn, my GPU is 4c hotter at idle now, it used to idle at 44c, now 48c

 

2-5% increase in benchmarks, with updated drivers.

And I keep a pretty clean system, running CCleaner, JKDefrag and some others to keep my system working fast.

Not a noticeable difference in gaming, but certainly a step in the right direction, only 5-8% off XP's performance now

 

Cascade is already there. Tile and stack might be new.

 

Stack and Side-by-Side are also there. Tile is the only one not on the original right-click menu on the taskbar.

 

Weird I never saw that before...



Well, it's sure handy.

 

This is only true until Vista gets an opportunity to defrag your boot files. For an explanation of this and a simple way to force Vista to do this special defrag see the link in my signature line below.

Gary

 

So Vista 32 bit with SP1 is now showing 4gb ram in system properties is it capable now of using it.

 

Now my system is back to normal. I think it was due to the deletion of old superfetch data by the SP1 installer.