Verify Windows XP SP3 Improves Efficiency Truth

There is no doubt that in addition to Vista SP1 continues to receive attention, XP SP3 is also attracting users' attention. Since Microsoft has not officially launched SP3, many friends who have been fortunate enough to use SP3 have released through various channels. After the experience of using it, it also caused discussion in various forums. The debate about how much SP3 can improve system performance is fierce. For a time, there were many opinions and rumors. There are a lot of improvements, and there is no change, but many of them are based on personal feelings, and there is not much comparability and authority. In this issue, we will evaluate these rumors to see how much efficiency SP3 can improve.

We tested in the following hardware environments:

The following is a reference fragment:

Processor: Pentium D 830
Hard disk: Mator 6L160M0, WD800JD-75LSA0 < BR> Memory: DDR2 533 512MB×4
Display card: ATi Radeon X600 256MB

rumor 1: 10% faster boot speed

Description: After installing SP3, boot speed Will be significantly faster, can be increased by 10%. However, many people doubt this and question whether the data obtained by the other party is true.

Our verification method: enter the dual boot menu, start timing from the selection of Windows XP startup items, until the successful entry into the desktop, the unit is accurate to milliseconds.

Test results: In the "boot start speed" project, SP3 is shortened by 8 seconds 19 compared with SP2, and the increase rate is 23%.

Conclusion: From the test results, this rumor is established, if it is a new installation or pure system, the effect will be more obvious. We believe that SP3 has a certain improvement in the startup speed of this project, it should be part of the introduction of Vista and Server 2008 part of the kernel optimization mechanism is working. As for some reports, the reason why the boot speed is slow after installing SP3 is that the optimized software has been used before, and SP3 will restore the default settings.

rumor 2: File transfer speed increased by 30%

Description: When copying and moving files, the transfer speed is greatly improved. If it is on the same hard disk, the maximum can be increased by 30. %.

Our verification method: copy 3.1GB single ISO file between different partitions of hard disk and 161 image files with copy capacity of 78.1MB, the unit is accurate to milliseconds.

Test results: When copying a single file of 3.1GB, SP3 is shortened by 22 seconds compared with SP2, and the increase is 21%. When copying 161 picture files with 78.1MB capacity, SP3 is shorter than SP2. At 9 seconds, the increase was as high as 69%.

Conclusion: From the test results, this rumor is true, I believe that low-end computers should have more obvious changes. In this respect alone, updating to SP3 will have great benefits.

rumor 3: Application software speedup 10%

Description: When running WinRAR, Photoshop, AutoCAD, Word and other applications, the efficiency of running will increase, and the speed of opening documents can be speeded up. 10%.

Our verification method: Here, we use Microsoft Word 2003 and WinRAR 3.71, which are frequently used by ordinary users, as representatives. Use Word 2003 to open a document with 72 pictures and a size of 10.4MB. From the time the document is opened, until the picture in the document is fully displayed, the unit is accurate to the millisecond; as for WinRAR 3.71, the "performance and hardware test" is used.

Test results: When opening an Office document, the time required to fully display the image has increased by nearly 1 second. It should be said that it is not obvious, and the user should be fully able to accept

, after all, Word The situation with 72 images in the document is rare; when running WinRAR's "Performance and Hardware Testing", the SP3 score is 63KB/sec lower than the SP2 system, and the drop is close to 10%. It seems that SP3 is compressing, There may be some impact when decompressing.

Conclusion: From the test results, the rumors do not seem to be true. We believe that this may be due to the fact that SP3 has added a lot of new security features, which has led to a slight decrease in the efficiency of the application software, but the overall decline is not very obvious.

Summary: In general, SP3 brings a large number of security patches to Windows XP users. It also has a big change in boot speed optimization and file transfer speed. It is recommended to pursue system performance and not timely put on the system. The patch's friends installed SP3 at the first time. If you use a variety of application software frequently, and the security work is done in place, the system patch has been installed in time. In order not to reduce the working efficiency of the application software, you can choose not to install SP3.