Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 comparison

[haynor666]

Recently I've decided to switch from old XP x32 to a bit modern system. Since I didn't know about performance I decided to do some tests on two machines:

Custom build - G3258 3,2 GHz (so not overclocked), 2Gb RAM, SSD disk, Radeon HD5450, latest CRT emu driver 16.2.1

Dell OptiPlex 3040 - i5 6500 3,2 GHz (not k model so not overclocked as well), 4 Gb RAM, standard HD, Intel 530, latest GPU driver (windows 10 installed it's own)

All tests are done with -bench 299 then with -str 299 -nothrottle -nowaitvsync

Results:
                     i5 6500                                                                                                                  G3258

[haynor666]

Also extra benchmark from Passmark:

Dell 3040:
Combined score: 7 - 2521; 8 - 2362; 8.1 - 2340; 10 - 2399
Combined CPU:  7 - 7219; 8 - 7082; 8.1 - 7154; 10 - 6950
Single CPU core: 7 - 2106; 8 - 2105; 8.1 - 2102; 10 - 2106

Custom build:
Combined score: 7 - 1598; 8 - 1615; 8.1 - 1609; 10 - 1580
Combined CPU:  7 - 3347; 8 - 3307; 8.1 - 3326; 10 - 3315
Single CPU core: 7 - 1915; 8 - 1918; 8.1 - 1914; 10 - 1914

Speed differences in all cases are minimal but windows 10 is mostly the slowest platform so IMO is not worth to invest into windows 10, at least for now.

[keilmillerjr]

Also extra benchmark from Passmark:

Dell 3040:
Combined score: 7 - 2521; 8 - 2362; 8.1 - 2340; 10 - 2399
Combined CPU:  7 - 7219; 8 - 7082; 8.1 - 7154; 10 - 6950
Single CPU core: 7 - 2106; 8 - 2105; 8.1 - 2102; 10 - 2106

Custom build:
Combined score: 7 - 1598; 8 - 1615; 8.1 - 1609; 10 - 1580
Combined CPU:  7 - 3347; 8 - 3307; 8.1 - 3326; 10 - 3315
Single CPU core: 7 - 1915; 8 - 1918; 8.1 - 1914; 10 - 1914

Speed differences in all cases are minimal but windows 10 is mostly the slowest platform so IMO is not worth to invest into windows 10, at least for now.

Most games run in excess of required speeds, so any newish system should be ok. I’m more interested in boot times, and have found on my iMac running virtualbox as well as well the pc I built for my arcade machine - windows 10 has been the fastest booting from windows 7 and newer. I won’t consider xp as it’s old as shlt and doesn’t properly support ssd.