Solidworks in Windows XP vs. Vista Tested

[jwarnke]

I have tested Solidworks 2008 x64 SP4.0 in Windows XP x64 vs. Windows Vista Ultimate x64 and I wanted to share my results.

Both of these tests were ran with Identical hardware, configurations and correct native drivers.)The only difference was in the operating system. Here were the specs of the custom built PC.

Solidworks x64 2008 SP4.0
Windows XP Professional x64
Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 512mb GPU
AMD Athlon X2 FX 6400+ CPU
4GB Corsair pc2-6400 DDR2 800mhz RAM
WD Velociraptor 10,000rpm SATA HD
Motherboard M2N-SLI

GPU OC (205mhz Bus)
CPU OC (208mhz Bus)
RAM OC (1.95v 4,4,4,12)

Using the Solidworks2007 benchmark SPECapc from

http://www.spec.org

The Vista Ulitmate clocked in at 203.52 seconds total.

87.59 Graphics
51.27 CPU
64.66 I/O

Running the same test using Windows XP x64 resulted in a total time of 183.42

78.48 Graphics
48.34 CPU
56.6 I/O

The results show that there is about a 10% increase in performance overall using XP x64 over Vista Ultimate x64. That may not sound like alot, but when you're working on a 300 hour job, that is potentially 30hrs you save simply by selecting an different OS.

Windows Vista is definitly more visually appealing but if you'll notice it's not just the graphics that came down, both the CPU and I/O did as well.

So if you're choosing between ans OS for Solidworks 2008,
XP is the way to go...for now. Solidworks 2009 is released and is MUCH more efficient at processing. Whether Vista vs XP is better in Solidworks 2009 has yet to be tested.

Thanks,

Joel C. Warnke
Mechanical Designer &
Infrastructure Technician
Integrity Design & Mfg. Inc.

http://www.integritydesignmfg.com

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

That's strange. The testing that's been reported in the official SW forum shows that Vista x64 has been faster and more stable than XP x64.

The general consensus there is to use XP x32 for SW x32 and Vista x64 for SW x64.

 

[handleman]

When running the Vista test, were you using the Aero Glass interface? I disabled that pretty quick on the new (not for SW) Vista laptop I got recently. Sure, it's pretty, but what a waste of resources if you're trying to get work done!

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[jwarnke]

No, All appearance was set to performance, wallpaper set to none, screensaver off and resolution 1280 X 1024.

I not only tested these with the benchmark, but also used them both for about a week. You can easlity tell the was a difference.

Joel C. Warnke
Mechanical Designer &
Infrastructure Technician
Integrity Design & Mfg. Inc.

http://www.integritydesignmfg.com

Solidworks x64 2008 SP5.0
Windows XP Professional x64
Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 512mb GPU
AMD Athlon X2 FX 6400+ CPU
4GB Corsair pc2-6400 DDR2 800mhz RAM
WD Velociraptor 10,000rpm SATA HD
Motherboard M2N-SLI
GPU OC (2