Windows Vista SP2 Beta vs Vista SP1:Battle of the Service Packs

Lets explore some real world gaming results.

Lets face it, if anybody wants to know if Vista SP2 Beta is worth it, they will look at this game.

Crysis series is the most beautiful set of games to grace the PC screens to date and they can bring the highest end of PCs to their knees.

Crysis Warhead, developed by Crytek, is an expansion to the original Crysis. Crysis Warhead follows Sergeant Michael “Psycho” Sykes, a Non-Playable Character (NPC) from the original Crysis, as he faces his own trials and challenges on the other side of the island during the time period of the first game.

Framebuffer Crysis Warhead Benchmark tool was used for the purpose of this test. “Ambush” timedemo was selected from this tool. This timedemo represents real-world gameplay as the player runs through the night across a falling aircraft, walks through water, and throws grenades blowing up a hut. This timedemo also features some burning huts. As the timedemo ends, the player passes through some foliage as the night changes to day.

Tests were run at 1280×1024 resolution with 2x Anti-Aliasing(AA) enabled at Enthusiast DX10 (DX10 E), Gamer DX10 (DX10 G), Enthusiast DX9 (DX9 E), Gamer DX9 (DX9 G) settings.

This was the strangest benchmark. FPS did not even budge in some tests between the two OSes. It was like watching a mirror image of performance on Vista SP1.

Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare was one of the most successful games of 2007. It was the top-selling game worldwide for 2007, selling over seven million copies by January 2008. It uses a proprietary game engine that includes features such as true world-dynamic lightning, HDR lighting effects, dynamics shadows, and depth of field. It features a fictional story set in the near-future. The most well received part of the game is its multiplayer modes, where you earn experience points for kills and completing certain tasks online. These experience points unlock certain abilities and new and more powerful guns which can tip the balance in your favor in online matches.

For testing this game, we recorded a timedemo on the “Creek” map while playing online. The demo was played back at normal speed with the demo command from the console and the results were recorded by FRAPS.

All settings were at their maximum; 1280×1024 resolution was used with 4xAA and max AF from in-game. The FPS Cap was removed for this test and all the latest patches were applied.

Vista SP2 beta wins hands-down here. Its faster by 18% and 14% in minimum and average FPS, which are the most important.