Windows XP SP3 is Here... (Updated with benchmarks!)

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Well, Microsoft finally finished XP's 3rd and final service pack. True to their style, this release is already clouded with controversy. If you want to read all about it, there's plenty of news posted on Google...but basically, people who pay good money to have updates first were told they would have to wait to get it, and people that only use Windows Automatic Updates will have to wait till summer too.

Full article here.

[Update]
Well, after the typical M$ delay, SP3 has finally been released. On Sunday I reverted my RAID array from a RAID 5 to a RAID 0. After I had finished installing Windows (with SP2) and the core drivers for my system, I ran 3 different benchmarks. Once I had the scores, I installed SP3 and then ran the benchmarks again. Here are the results:

--Pre SP3--

3DMark05:
3DMark Score: 18943
CPU Score: 12149

Cinebench:
OpenGL Standard Test: 6520
Single CPU Render Test: 3292
Multiple CPU Render Test: 3165

HD Tach:
Random Access: 13.25ms
Average Read Speed: 81.2MB/s
Burst Speed: 227.8MB/s


--Post SP3--


3DMark Score:
3DMark Score 19001
CPU Score 12262

Cinebench:
OpenGL Standard Test: 6480
Single CPU Render Test: 3287
Multiple CPU Render Test: 3209

HD Tach:
Random Access: 13.0ms
Average Read Speed: 81.35MB/s
Burst Speed: 231.5MB/s


--Test System--
Both tests were preformed using the same system. The only thing that changed with the installation of XP SP3.
CPU - Intel C2D E8400 @3.0GHz
Mobo - Asus Maximus Extreme
RAM - 2GB of Corsair DDR3 1333
GPU - ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB
HDD - 2 320GB in a RAID 0 array

--Results--
The 3DMark05 score rose by 58 points, with the 3DMark50 CPU score rising 113 points. The OpenGL Standard Test in Cinebench saw a drop of 40 points, with the Single CPU Render Test loosing 5 points. The Multiple CPU Render Test however rose 44 points. The Random Access, Average Read, and Burst Speeds on HD Tach saw only minimal increases of 0.25ms, 0.15MB/s, and 3.7MB/s respectivly.

--Conclusion--

While SP3 doesn't give much of a speed increase for everyday applications, it does give some extra speed in 3D applications. People with single core CPUs have the potential of seeing a slight slow down in certain OpenGL 3D applications as Cinebench points out...With all the included Windows patches and security updates, along with a slight speed boost, SP3 looks to be a winner.

 

I'm gonna give it a week or two before I install SP3, just in case it's a pile of buggy crap.

 

When I saw the thread I immediately thought "oh good I'll get it straight away!" Then after reading this whole business about having to wait until summer for it to be available on Windows Update makes me suspect there are some serious problems in it. I think I'll wait for some more daring souls to try it and report on what it does to their systems before I take the plunge.

 

Well, as I said earlier, I was going to download and install SP3 as soon as M$ made it available on their website. So Tuesday night I was suprised when I couldn't find it.

Today I found this article: XP SP3 Delayed Again. It's really annoying when they wait until the release date to pull the cord...

 

Well...XP SP3 is here. Read my first post for the benchmarks.

 

I'll still wait until after I have High speed and have a chance to hear if people like it or hate it before going through the download proceedure.

 

So what's the final verdict on this? I haven't installed it yet. Is it worthwhile? Any problems encountered? Should I disable my anti-virus before installing? Any other installation tips?

For what it's worth, my computer is a somewhat older AMD Athlon 3400+ with 1.5 GB of memory and lots of free hard drive space.

 

I've been running it since it was released with no problems. There is a speed increase, which is always nice! I've had no problems, nor have I heard of anyone having problems.

Final verdict:

It's good stuff, so go install it.

 

Depending on what Anti-Virus software you use, it might be wise to shut it down completely or to disable any self-defense options.

 

Thanks, guys.

So SP3 looks to be a no-brainer. I'll shut down Norton just to be safe.

Edit: Installation done, without problems.

Thanks again.

 

SP3 - It is faster

Using a single core CPU I did not notice that the system is running faster; tonight I will be disabling some of the processes on the computer in hopes of further system performance increases.