Test Machine: Dell Optiplex 960 with 4gig of Ram and E8400 3.0 Dual Core CPU.

The Intel SSD was an Intel X25-M 80gig on a SATA II connection.

Comparing boot times between different Operating Systems isn’t really a fair comparison due to how each individual Operating System deals with the delayed loading of background services.

But chances are if you’re a windows user you can use these results to gauge relative to your own experience.

Test Methodology

I have a single machine and created 3 bootable partitions (XP, Vista and Windows 7).

The boot times above are taken from when I select the chosen Operating System from the Windows Boot loader screen and does not include the time spend in the Bios (which was about 13 seconds).  The stopwatch stopped once the Windows Sound started to play in each OS signifying the operating system was loaded (not 100% scientific but you get the idea).

Each test was run 3 times and the boot times are the average of the 3.

Thoughts on the Boot Speeds

I was actually quite surprised at the results i though the lean and mean Windows XP would be the clear winner. However 2.37 seconds isn’t too far behind. As Windows 7 is still beta and not final code its inclusion here is only as a guide. Hopefully the final shipping Windows 7 will be more optimised and at least equal Windows Vista.

Boot Speed is only a part of the Performance Story

The short version of this analysis is Windows XP is about 5% faster when it comes to looking at the average transfer rate of data on the file system. Both Vista and 7 are neck and neck.

Once again I would have thought there would have been a larger difference.

Is 5% really that noticeable in day to day operation?

Operating Systems

Windows XP: Overall this is still the fastest in day to day use but this is a hollow victory. Due to its age its bound to run well on the latest technology however the margins between XP and Vista/7 are in reality pretty small.

Windows Vista: This performed much better than I had expected but knowing that Windows Vista 2.0 (aka Windows 7) is in the wings it’s difficult to get excited by Windows Vista at this point in history.

Windows 7: As a day to day user of Windows 7 it just feels like a better version of Windows Vista. The performance of Build 7000 is on par with the mature Windows Vista SP1 and in theory should get better in the final stages of optimisation.

Note to Microsoft: Would some kind microsoftie put my name down for the future Windows 7 RC1. I am not sure of the Public beta status of the RC1 but if there is a list please put me on it (colindiponio@gmail.com).

So this Intel X25-M thing is fast then?

Yes, impressively so. I am now moving on to using the X25-M in my main desktop machine running in a Dual Boot XP/7 Partition so in a week or so I can compare all the benchmark data with real world usage.

To read my other posts on SSD see: View all posts in SSD Solid State Drive

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 9:56 am and is filed under SSD Solid State Drive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.