Win10 vs. Win8: Tests show that there is no performance advantage compared to both

At present, it is quite difficult to figure out the performance of Windows 10. It is not easy to test the operating system that was scheduled to be released on July 29, because the public cannot install the RTM version. Microsoft has not disclosed changes in the underlying technology of Windows 10. In addition, Microsoft hardware partners are completely banned from disclosing information about Windows 10.

One thing is certain: in the many changes compared to Windows 8, as the only operating system that Microsoft supports DirectX 12, Windows 10 graphics performance may be considerably improved. . Early tests showed that the performance improvement of other aspects of Windows 10 was much smaller.

To test Windows 10 performance, PCWorld used two identical HP Spectre x360 notebooks, one for Windows 10 Home Edition Build 10240 and one for Windows 8.1 Home Edition.

The two notebooks are equipped with the same display and battery, all equipped with 8GB LPDDR3 memory, 128GB solid state drive, Intel Core i5-5200U processor, running the same BIOS. They are identical except for the operating system.

In order to understand the difference in performance between the two operating systems, PCWorld runs a variety of test software, including compression testing, chess testing, 3D rendering testing, and DX9 and DX11 testing.

PCWorld hopes that the two operating systems will show great differences in performance, but in reality they are quite different and the difference is quite small.

For example, the image below shows the PCMark 8 Creative Conventional test scores for both operating systems. PCMark simulates a variety of “real world” application loads, and Creative Conventional tests simulated surfing, photo editing, video editing, games, and hangouts. Home load adds casual games and more.

As shown in the above figure, the performance of the two operating systems is almost identical. On almost all projects, the test results for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 are similar: on most projects, the two are equal, and on some projects, Windows 10 has a very weak advantage.

How is the game situation?

Windows 10 Promise"  DirectX 12 should significantly improve the performance of games that support it, but for games that don't support DirectX 12, Windows 10 and Windows 8 behave very close.

For example, PCWorld runs Tomb Raider on its zero-point system. The system is equipped with Intel Core i7-4770K processor, 16GB DDR3/1600 memory and GeForce GTX 980 graphics card. PCWorld installed the same NVIDIA drivers for both operating systems. However, PCWorld is running Windows 10 build 10162 instead of the current build 10240. PCWorld's tests show that Windows 10 does have an advantage, albeit small.

Other tests have shown that Windows 10 has a bigger advantage, but it is not very large.

The two key issues to be pointed out are: First, although users are generally not interested in Windows 8, the operating system is very fast. For example, when Battlefield 4 was first released, there were media reports that attributed many of its performance improvements to running Windows 8 instead of Windows 7. Windows 8 has improved in video and audio decoding, which has also increased its speed. Second, if Windows 8 runs fast, Windows 10 will run faster.

This is not a conclusion

The initial tests of PCWorld have not been covered in many projects. Microsoft may also improve the battery life, file system and other items of the Windows 10 system. With the appropriate Windows 10 ISO files, PCWorld can be cleanly installed and will have a better understanding of the performance of Windows 10 on projects not covered today.

Operating system performance testing faces other challenges. Many of the test software that PCWorld runs is designed to test hardware rather than operating system performance. For example, despite the impact of the operating system, the Cinebench R15 is a pure CPU test software. Before the release of SP1, Windows Vista had a great impact on USB performance, and the operating system overhead also dragged down other aspects of performance.

Conclusion

In mainstream testing, Windows 10 has no performance advantage over Windows 8, but we don't have to deny it —— because there is no reason. In Windows 7, Microsoft updated the operating system's CPU scheduler to improve the performance and battery life of systems configured with Intel and AMD processors. This won't be a deduction for Windows 10, because Windows 8.1 performance is already good.

You need to remind readers again that Windows 10 will open up the DirectX 12 era. DirectX 12 will greatly improve the performance of the games that support it.