FSX Benchmarking :: Windows XP vs Windows 7

System Specs:

ABit AB9Pro QuadGT 965 series Motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E8400 running at 3.6GHz here
nVidia 8800GTS 512 (G92)
2x2GB sticks OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066 running at 1,000MHz
(2)7200.10 320GB, (1)7200.10 640Gb HDD (1) 80GB WD for Win 7 Install (slow drive)

FSX in Windows XP vs Windows 7

nVidia Driver level settings:

AA and AF app controlled
AA gamma correction: on
AA Transparency: supersampling
Conformant Texture Clamp: use hardware
Error Reporting: off
Extension Limit: off
Force Mipmaps: Trilinear
Max pre-rendered frames: 3
single display Performance mode
optimizations on
LOD bias: clamp
Texture filtering: quality
threaded optimation: auto
tripe buff and vsynch off

Flight Scenario Saved "737 JFK Benchmark"
B737-800 Boeing livery Virtual Cockpit, zoomed out to .30
JFK (115.9) to TEB (108.4) MC 327 degrees, 300 KIAS, at 1,000 MSL
10 am local time January 12 Winter WX theme: Cold Fronts
AP flown, no view controls.

X-Graphics Default Texture upgrades installed for all runs

**************Medium High*********************
Display Settings :
Graphics: Medium High/Changes to Custom when you set fps unlimited
Aircraft: Medium High
Scenery Medium High
Weather: Medium High
Traffic: Medium High

FPS set to unlimited
1920*1200*32
filtering: Bilinear
AA: OFF
Global Texture REs: High
Preview DX10: ON/OFF (see individual run data below)
Lens Flare: on
Light Bloom: OFF
Advanced Animations: on

aircraft details: Medium High

scenery settings: Medium High
Level of detail radius: Medium
Mesh Complexity: 70
Mesh Resolution: 76m
Texture Resolution: 2m
Water effects: High 1.x
Land Detail Textures: checked
Scenery Complexity: Normal
AutoGen: Normal
Ground Scenery Shadows: off
Special effects: High

weather settings:Medium High
60mi clouds thermal none
detailed clouds at Medium coverage density
Traffic: Medium High
Airline 10
GA 10
Airport vehicle density: Low
Road 10
Ships 30
Boats 30

Windows XP
Frames: 7972 - Time: 180104ms - Avg: 44.263 - Min: 30 - Max: 56

Using same FSX.CFG file as my XP install, I repeated the above run under Windows 7, DX10 Preview On, at 3.6GHz, Medium-High
Frames: 7259 - Time: 178007ms - Avg: 40.779 - Min: 27 - Max: 54

Now we have a 7.87% performance hit - of course this actually only translates to a loss of 3.484 average fps. The difference my CFG tweaks made was .797 fps average.

<<<<<<<<<<<< DX10 vs DX9 performance>>>>>>>>>>>>

Windows 7 DX10 Preview OFF
Frames: 7037 - Time: 179990ms - Avg: 39.096 - Min: 28 - Max: 53

Windows 7 DX10 Preview ON
Frames: 7134 - Time: 178428ms - Avg: 39.982 - Min: 26 - Max: 51

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

************Ultra High*************
X-Graphics Default Texture upgrades installed

Graphics: Ultra High
Aircraft: Ultra High
Scenery Ultra High
Weather: Ultra High
Traffic: Ultra High

FPS set to unlimited
Global Texture REs: Very High
1920*1200*32
AA: on
filtering: Anisotropic
Preview DX10: ON/OFF (see individual run data below)
Lens Flare: on
Light Bloom: OFF
Advanced Animations: on

aircraft details: all on

scenery settings: Ultra High
Level of detail radius: Large
Mesh Complexity: 75
Mesh Resolution: 38
Texture Resolution: 1m
Water effects: Max 2.x
Land Detail Textures: checked
Scenery Complexity: Very Dense
AutoGen: Dense
Ground Scenery Shadows: off
Special effects: High

weather settings:

60mi clouds thermal none
detailed clouds at max coverage density

Traffic:
Airline 20
GA 20
Airport vehicles medium
Road 20
Ships 40
Boats 40

Windows XP
Frames: 2765 - Time: 178172ms - Avg: 15.519 - Min: 5 - Max: 23

Windows 7 with DX 10 Preview ON
Frames: 2465 - Time: 179991ms - Avg: 13.695 - Min: 10 - Max: 18

Windows 7 with DX 10 Preview OFF
Frames: 2431 - Time: 179793ms - Avg: 13.521 - Min: 9 - Max: 18

Conclusion: While I did notice a slight quality improvement under Windows7 with the DX10 Preview, there was an average performance loss of 9.67% at Medium high in game settings with AA off, and 11.75% when using Ultra-High in game settings with AA on, when compared to Windows XP.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<eVGA 8800GTS 512 vs eVGA GTX 285 SC>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Windows XP eVGA 8800GTS 512Medium-High 182.06 drivers
Avg: 44.263 - Min: 30 - Max: 56

Windows XP eVGA GTX 285 SC Medium-High 182.50 drivers
Avg: 43.168 - Min: 23 - Max: 54 (Sure enough, at these settings "the fastest single GPU video card in the world is slower than an 8800GTS when running FSX!!!)

Windows XP eVGA GTX 285 SC Medium-High 185.68b drivers (these were supposedly very fast in new titles - obviously not in FSX)
Avg: 37.290 - Min: 24 - Max: 44

Windows XP eVGA 8800GTS 512 Ultra High 182.06 drivers
Avg: 15.519 - Min: 5 - Max: 23

Windows XP eVGA GTX 285 SC Ultra High 182.50 drivers
Avg: 16.413 - Min: 8 - Max: 24