Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0	Source: FutureMark

PCMark Vantage is the first objective hardware performance benchmark for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows Vista. PCMark Vantage is perfectly suited for benchmarking any type of Windows Vista PC from multi media home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and hi-end gaming rigs. Regardless of whether the benchmarker is an artist or an IT Professional, PCMark Vantage shows the user where their system soars or falls flat, and how to get the most performance possible out of their hardware. PCMark Vantage is easy enough for even the most casual enthusiast to use yet supports in-depth, professional industry grade testing. Higher scores are best.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Overall Results Overall: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 7374 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 6173 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 6593 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 5990 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 5184 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 4641 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 6948 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 5530 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 6151 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 5245 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 5788 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 5358 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 4785 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 4480

Like SYSMark, PCMark Vantage's overall test shows that Windows 7's performance stays consistently ahead of Windows Vista, with the biggest gains going to fast, multi-core processors like the Intel Core i7 920 and the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Memory Tests Memory: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 5754 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 4432 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 5536 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 5089 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 5010 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 4131 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 5321 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 4882 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 4693 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 4346 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 4504 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 4310 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 4010 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 3805

PCMark Vantage's memory test shows Windows 7's memory performance trumping Windows Vista, particularly for Intel processors.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - TV and Movie Tests TV and Movies: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 5021 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 4412 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 4694 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 4317 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 3160 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 3488 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 4577 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 4409 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 3972 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 4017 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 3777 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 3941 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 2942 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 3238

The TV and Movie tests are a mixed bag. While the quad-core processors enjoy a small performance boost in Windows 7, dual and triple core processors seem to do better in Windows Vista.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Gaming Tests Gaming: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 7544 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 7056 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 7123 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 7007 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 4757 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 5192 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 5769 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 6279 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 5205 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 5267 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 5240 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 5690 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 4209 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 4600

The results of the PCMark Vantage gaming test are all over the place... The Core i7 920 shows a small performance gain in Windows 7 while other processors showing no real gai. A few CPUs, like the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition give better performance results in Windows Vista.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Music and Encoding Tests Music: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 7270 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 5286 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 6667 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 5134 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 6572 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 4923 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 6933 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 5215 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 5990 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 4611 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 6166 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 4916 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 5661 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 4393

Music and especially encoding can take advantage of multi-threading, and Windows 7 has made big improvements in this area. There's a 25-35% improvement in media encoding performance to be found simply by switching to Windows 7.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Communication Tests Communications: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 6090 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 5080 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 5808 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 4914 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 5217 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 4618 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 6930 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 5289 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 5615 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 4350 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 5826 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 4326 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 5194 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 3746

The PCMark Communication test is another heavily multithreaded test that does real-time encryption, indexing and compression simultaneously, and all of that simultaneous number crunching is a strong suit for Windows 7. AMD processors scale particularly well in this scenario under Windows 7, although all of Intel's processors also see some benefit.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Productivity Tests Productivity: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 5713 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 5282 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 5565 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 5207 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 3867 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 4441 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 6225 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 5786 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 5159 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 4872 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 5347 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 4971 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 4253 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 3882

PCMark Vantage's productivity benchmarks tests a combination of hard drive performance and CPU performance. For every processor except the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor there's about a 5-10% performance increase under Windows 7 compared to Windows Vista.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 - Hard Drive Tests HDD: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 - Win 7 4179 Intel Core i7 920 - Win Vista 4154 Intel Core i5 750 - Win 7 4048 Intel Core i5 750 - Win Vista 4052 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win 7 4150 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Win Vista 4273 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win 7 4042 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (125W) - Win Vista 4108 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win 7 4166 AMD Athlon II X4 620 - Win Vista 4136 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win 7 4020 AMD Athlon II X3 435 - Win Vista 4078 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win 7 4045 AMD Athlon II X2 240e - Win Vista 4065

The PCMark Vantage HDD test shows that raw hard drive access is largely independent of the operating system, with both Windows Vista and Windows 7 having largely the same scores in this test - as expected.

Window 7 clearly has an advantage in multithreaded situations, particularly in situations where there's an intensive, multi-threaded task going while other background applications are running simultaneously.

Gains between 20-40% are common in these scenarios, and surprisingly its actually dual-core processors that benefit the most from Windows 7's more intelligent CPU workload balancing. If you are noticing that your circa-2006 Intel Core 2 Duo processor is getting a little slow while you're busy mixing MP3s and trying to surf the net at the same time, upgrading to Microsoft Windows 7 can be a good way to get a boost in performance. Quad-core owners who purchased a PC specifically for the purpose of editing or encoding digital video or other highly multi-threaded tasks will also want to consider moving over to Windows 7.

Gaming under Vista and Windows 7

Although this is a CPU-related DIY Guide, let's take a quick look at gaming performance (usually the domain of the videocard) to see how Windows 7 and Windows Vista face off. Keep in mind that the system settings used here are done with an eye to isolating the CPU as a variable, so image quality settings are kept at their lowest so that the videocard doesn't bottleneck gaming performance.