Conclusion

The results of our today’s test session turned out quite predictable: even if the use of Windows 7 instead of Windows Vista did provide a gaming performance increase, it was really minimal in most cases. We didn’t reveal any serious performance worsening as well, which is also quite normal. The Operating system should in fact be transparent to the user because it is simply an interface where the user’s applications, including games, are launched.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as flawless as planned. One of the games that is usually included into our standard benchmarking set – Call of Duty: World at War – refused to work correctly in Windows 7. However, there is still a lot of time before the final version of the new Microsoft system comes out, so the problem will definitely be fixed by then: in the OS, drivers or game updates. It is also possible that it was a unique encounter that occurred only on our specific test platform.

Let’s take a closer look at the performance comparison between Windows Vista and Windows 7:

GeForce GTX 295 demonstrated maximum performance boost from the use of Windows 7 in 1280x1024 in Crysis Warhed game, but even in this case the gain never reached 10%. The anti-record also belongs to the same graphics adapter: a 7% performance drop in Far Cry 2 and 5% drop in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. In most cases the difference varies between -4% and 5-6%, which doesn’t affect the gaming comfort in any way. The gamer who doesn’t really care about the numbers in Fraps won’t really feel these tiny performance fluctuations.

In 1680x1050 the delta is even smaller: performance varies between -6 and 7%. The average performance gain changes from 3.5% for GeForce GTX 275 to 7% for Radeon HD 4870 X2. Theoretically it may indicate better quality of ATI driver optimization, especially since the worst result again belongs to Nvidia. However, in reality the difference is too small to make any definite statements at this point.

Advanced Micro Devices software developers have definitely done a better job on optimizing their drivers than their colleagues from Nvidia: ATI Radeon HD performance gain from the use of Windows 7 hits almost 8% and occurs much more often than by Nvidia GeForce. Overall, the gamer won’t really feel any significant difference between the two operating systems, so transition to Windows 7 may only be justified by new features and convenience of use that this new OS has to offer.

Nvidia takes over the leadership here with a 9% performance improvement by GeForce GTX 295 in Crysis Warhead, but it also loses 7% in Far Cry 2. AMD /ATI solutions demonstrate smaller performance fluctuations, and although the performance increase doesn’t reach the levels promised in catalyst 9.7 release notes, it is nevertheless pretty stable. Looks like AMD is indeed the leader in Windows 7 driver development today, even though they tend to exaggerate their leadership a little.

Overall let me say once again that replacing Windows Vista with Windows 7 won’t become a panacea for super performance and won’t deliver free tens of percents to you. Moreover, it would be really strange if it did. Yes, Windows 7 seems to be nicer to work with, however, it hardly has anything to do with performance in contemporary games. We don’t see any serious reasons that could require mass transition of gaming platforms from Windows Vista to Windows 7, although the new Microsoft OS does look very successful. Many users will surely like it, but “increased gaming performance” is very unlikely to become a reason for transition.

As usual, we recommend updating ATI and Nvidia graphics card drivers with the latest official versions independent of the OS type you use, because they not only improve performance but also fix certain existing issues. Namely, Catalyst 9.7 is worth installing due to improved user interface and correct implementation of CrossFireX technology in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, and GeForce 190.38 – due to OpenGL 3.1 support. Both drivers also support the involvement of GPU resources for video encoding in 64-bit Windows 7 version.