Is Windows 7 Actually Faster Than Ubuntu 10.04?

With this first article looking at the OpenGL / graphics / gaming performance between the operating systems we used the Nexuiz, OpenArena, Urban Terror, Warsow, Lightsmark, Unigine Sanctuary, Unigine Tropics, Unigine Heaven, X-Plane 9, and SPECViewPerf 10.0 benchmarks. The Phoronix Test Suite on Windows, Linux, and in most cases Mac OS X natively supports all of these test profiles too. With each of the games we ran them full-screen at 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1400 x 1050, 1680 x 1050, and 1920 x 1080. For displaying the results, we have a line graph that shows how each of the systems and operating systems scaled at the different resolutions and an accompanying table to show the actual result numbers and to provide a more concise way of comparing the results. In addition, note that for any test where the system running Microsoft Windows was the winner is highlighted red and any time Ubuntu won, the number is highlighted in green. The process of generating these graph visuals were also provided automatically by the Phoronix Test Suite thanks to new features in the 2.6 "Lyngen" code-base.

Below is a listing (from the Phoronix Test Suite too) of the different hardware components that comprised each computer system. Also, note the identifier associated with each test system, as that is how the results are displayed in the graphs (i.e. the system bearing the Intel Core i3 CPU/graphics is called "CI3" and the AMD Opteron workstation is called "OPT").

ION:
Processor: Intel Atom CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz (Total Cores: 4), Motherboard: ASRock AMCP7AION-HT, Chipset: nVidia MCP79, Memory: 2GB, Disk: 320GB Seagate ST9320325AS, Graphics: nVidia ION VGA 512MB (450MHz), Audio: Realtek ALC889A, Monitor: DELL S2409W

PX4:
Processor: AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core @ 2.20GHz (Total Cores: 4), Motherboard: ECS A790GXM-A v1.0, Chipset: AMD RS780 + SB700/SB800, Memory: 4GB, Disk: 250GB Seagate ST3250310AS, Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB, Audio: Realtek ALC888, Monitor: DELL S2409W

AX3:
Processor: AMD Athlon II X3 425 @ 3.21GHz (Total Cores: 3), Motherboard: MSI 890GXM-G65 (MS-7642) v1.0, Chipset: AMD RS780 Alternate, Memory: 4GB, Disk: 250GB Seagate ST3250310AS, Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4670 512MB, Monitor: DELL P2210H

CI3:
Processor: Intel Core i3 CPU 530 @ 3.32GHz (Total Cores: 4), Motherboard: ECS H55H-M v1.0, Chipset: Intel Core, Memory: 2GB, Disk: 64GB OCZ-VERTEX, Graphics: Intel Core IGP 256MB, Audio: VIA VT1708S, Monitor: DELL P2210H

CI7:
Processor: Intel Core i7 CPU 920 @ 3.60GHz (Total Cores: 8), Motherboard: ASRock X58 Super, Chipset: Intel 5520/5500/X58 + ICH10R, Memory: 3GB, Disk: 320GB Seagate ST3320620AS, Graphics: nVidia G92 [GeForce 9800 GTX] 512MB (675/1100MHz), Audio: Realtek ALC889A, Monitor: DELL P2210H

OPT:
Processor: 2 x Quad-Core AMD Opteron 2384 @ 2.70GHz (Total Cores: 8), Motherboard: TYAN S2932/S2932-E, Chipset: nVidia MCP55, Memory: 4GB, Disk: 165GB Western Digital WDC WD1600YS-01S, Graphics: ATI FirePro V8800 2048MB, Audio: ATI R6xx HDMI, Monitor: DELL P2210H

As you can see, across these six test systems used (not counting the Mac(s) to be used in future articles) there is quite a range of hardware with a mix of Intel and AMD processors as well as Intel, ATI/AMD, and NVIDIA graphics.

Any questions about our test procedures or benchmarking software can be directed to the forums. Without further ado, let us see how Ubuntu's 10.04 LTS release can run against Microsoft's proprietary Windows 7 operating system.