XP vs Vista Networking?

[Yezinki]

Hi there, I have 2 machines side by side, attached to the same modem, same ISP.....I get a faster speed on Vista.....why any ideas......cause its got twice the amount of memory & CPU is faster.......2 GB vs 4 GB......1.88 GHz vs 2.00 GHZ CPU........hard ware can make such a big difference........thought 2 GB was ample for XP.......XP is a fresh install vs Vista that is old with out SP2, rarely scanned.....or dell driver is more specific?

Thanks.

[YoKenny]

It would be helpful if you replaced your signature with each system's specifications like I have in my signature.

A 1.88GHZ system could be a lot slower than a 2.00GHZ system if the RAM is slower and the RAM is not matched on dual-capable motherboards:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture

The Vista system might have a Multi-core processor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-core_processor

Is the DELL driver the latest one available that is installed?

[Yezinki]

1. Is the signature good enough now?

2. Dell driver is 2 years old.

3. I think it’s the CPU L2 cache making the difference....4MB of T7200 running Vista vs. 2 MB of T2400 running XP?

Thanks & Regards!!

[scythe944]

Is the speed difference that you're talking about only related to internet browsing speeds (that's what I'm taking it as, because you're listing modem and ISP)?

I guess if you ran a different browser on the systems, that could make a difference.  Of course the new Vista machine could have better networking stacks built-in, faster bus, the larger L2 cache as you mentioned certainly helps.  But there are others, graphics card differences, memory controller differences, hard drive speeds and cache.  I don't know, all in all, what you state should be the norm.

Newer computer, faster speeds.  Should make sense, right?

[Yezinki]

1. I agree newer machines faster speeds.
2. They both have a 72K RPM HDs…. I have e feeling that L2 cache & the manufacturer make the difference ……..XP is on a Sony & the Vista is on a Dell.
3. Btw my office machine an old Dell 1.4 GHZ Pentium 4 inspiron running XP SP3 too, HD is 54K RPM, rarely  scanned for malwares nor driver /bios updated runs even better than this T7200…….maybe it’s difference in quality of the ISP provider…Brighthouse there……but these 2 machines are side by side attached to the same modem & the provider is the same??

[scythe944]

I think there's just way too many variables to tell really.  I mean, you could have some resident software running on the Sony that's causing slow downs.  You're comparing two different computers from two different manufacturers, with different drivers for each, etc.

If you really wanted to test why one machine was faster, you'd have to get two identical machines, install no extra software, and put vista on one, and XP on another.  Then test.  Then start adding programs.  If there was no difference, you could conclude that it's because of hardware only.

You have to think though, even motherboards have lots of parts that deal with performance.  You could get a cheap motherboard, and an expensive one but use the same parts everywhere else and see a difference.

The bottom line is that your newer system has faster / better parts than your older system has, or at least better performing drivers.