Windows Vista x86 SP1 vs. Windows7 x64 (b7100)

To wind up this review I will test two graphics cards in Windows Vista x86 SP1 and Windows7 x64 (build 7100) to compare their performance under the different versions of Windows and see if AMD’s and Nvidia’s drivers are ready for the new OS. I chose the 64-bit version of Windows 7 due to the low price of system memory (32-bit OSes do not support more than 3.7GB). As the memory requirements of modern applications and games are growing steadily, most users will switch from Windows Vista x86 (the most popular Vista) to a 64-bit version of Windows7. I guess this comparison should be interesting.

The two fastest graphics cards were tested: Diamond Radeon HD 4890 1GB XOC and ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 896MB. Both were overclocked to the following frequencies:

This test was performed after the gaming tests and I could use the latest versions of the drivers: Catalyst 9.5 from May 15, and GeForce 185.85 (Windows Vista x86 and Windows7 x64) from May 6. The drivers were set exactly as for the gaming tests. There were no changes in the list of benchmarks.

The results of this test are listed in the following table (the percentage shows the advantage of Windows7 x64 relative to Windows Vista x86 SP1):

Click to enlarge

The results indicate that both GPU developers are ready for Windows7, their new drivers delivering at least the same performance under the new OS as under Windows Vista SP1. Moreover, we can see a performance growth under the new OS in such games as Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Unreal Tournament 3, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena as well as in both synthetic benchmarks. It is only in the high-quality modes of Far Cry 2 that the GeForce GTX 275 slows down under the new OS. There is still half a year till the official release of Windows7, so we can expect the new platform and graphics card drivers to get even more optimized.