Transcript Windows Vista System Requirements And WinSAT Richard G. Russell Development Manager Windows Client Performance Microsoft Corporation.

Windows Vista
System Requirements
And WinSAT
Richard G. Russell
Development Manager
Windows Client Performance
Microsoft Corporation
Agenda
Windows Vista system requirements
Aero requirements
WinSAT overview and scenarios
WinSAT technical detail
Windows Vista System
Requirements
System Requirements
Minimum
supported
CPU
System memory
GPU
Minimum recommended by SKU
Home basic
An 800MHz x86 or x64
processor3
A 1GHz x86 or x64 processor3
512MB
1GB
SVGA
(800x600)
DX9
Capable
Aero Capable
32MB
128MB 1 2
Graphics memory
HDD
20GB
40GB
15GB
HDD free space
Optical drive
All other SKUs
CD-ROM4
DVD-ROM4
Networking
Internet Access Capable
Audio
Audio Output Capability
System Req. Foot Notes
1. Local or dedicated memory
2. 1GB of physical system memory required
with integrated
(UMA) graphics
3. This is the nominal (or max)
processor speed
4. The CD or DVD ROM may be external
(not integral, not built into the system)
Memory
Windows Vista has a minimum supported
requirement of 512MB system memory
Out of 512MB, only 64MB can be used
for graphics memory
Out of 1GB, up to 256MB can be used
for UMA graphics memory
When running Aero
512MB must be available to the system
This means 1GB is required with UMA graphics
Feature Specific Requirements
Some features do require more capable
hardware; TV recording is a
good example
Tuner cards: Analog, ATSC, Cable Card*
Large disk drives (150GB+)
Remote control
HD-DVD
Decode support in the graphics card
And/or a multi-core processor
*Only available from OEM’s
Aero Requirements
Windows Aero Defined
Visual quality and reliability
Retained Graphics Model: Apps are
no longer responsible for desktop updates
Programs appear more responsive
Fewer CPU resources spent on
application repaints
Greatly reduced tearing and painting artifacts
Productivity
High-DPI scaling
Immersive Windows Flip 3D for
window switching
“Live previews” of windows improve usability
of Taskbar and Alt-Tab
Style
Focus on appearing professional, streamlined
and efficient
Transparent borders allow users to focus
on content
Larger window frames make mouse-targeting
for move and resize easier without feeling big
or clumsy
Aero Logo Requirements*
A WDDM driver – Aero does not work
with Windows XP drivers
A Direct X 9-class GPU that supports
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
Graphics configured for 32-bits per pixel
Requisite amount of graphics memory
Requisite graphics performance
*Requirement SYSFUND-046
Aero Logo Requirements
Graphics memory needs depend on
resolution and number of monitors
For single monitor and mobile systems
64MB up to but not including 1280x1024*
128MB up to and including 1920x1200
256MB over 1920x1200
For desktop dual monitors
128MB up to but not including 1280x1024x2
256MB for larger dual monitor configurations
*Or equivalent in terms of total pixels
Aero Requirements
Aero requires enough graphics
memory performance
Measured using the Aero acceptance
test (AeroAT.exe)
Metric is MB/s of graphics
memory throughput
Shader performance is important,
but a secondary factor
Minimum value is 1,600 MB/s
Aero Acceptance Test
Tests performance and memory sizes
Uses WinSAT to make performance
measurements
Targeted at OEM’s, IT Pros, enthusiasts
Distributed in the WDK
Beta-2 WDK version does not reflect latest
SYSFUND-046 requirements
Newer version available via WinHEC
site download
Tools For Consumers
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor
Downloadable
Runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista
Sets users expectations about Aero and
other Windows Vista features
Windows Vista will automatically
enable Aero on systems with
enough performance
Automatically Enabling Aero
WinSAT runs before and during MOOBE
This happens during the “Aurora”
The results are used by the DWM to
automatically enable Aero when appropriate.
Factors include
Number and size of monitors
Amount of graphics memory
Graphics performance
Users can always choose their settings
Turn Aero on or off
Turn transparency on or off
The Windows System
Assessment Tool
WinSAT.EXE
WinSAT Overview
WinSAT is a command line tool built into
the operating system
Assess the performance of
Processor
System Memory
Graphics Aero and gaming
Video Playback
Disk
WinSAT Scenarios
Enabling Aero
in the upgrade and clean install scenarios
During graphics card upgrade*
Logo test for requirement SYSFUND-046
In the Windows Vista Readiness Advisor
and Any Time Upgrade promotional tool
to set user expectations
Metrics used to for other programs and
Windows Vista components
As a tool for enthusiasts to measure
system performance
As a performance diagnostic
*Implementation dependant on IHV
WinSAT Runs At These Times
WinSAT runs on every Windows Vista system
before first user login
Results saved in the registry and XML file
(%systemroot%\performance\winsat\datastore)
On demand by the user via the Performance
Center control panel
Programmatically by an application using
the API
During graphics card upgrade
By software packages during install
or configuration
Graphics Card Upgrade
WinSAT does not run automatically after a driver
or graphics card upgrade or change:
This is very difficult to do
Would require prompting the user –
this kind of prompt is almost always refused
Requires UAC Elevation
Difficult to time and synchronize with re-boots
and 3’d part software installs
The solution: We’ve ask IHVs to run WinSAT
as part of their software installation
This will work well – process is already elevated,
no user prompts necessary, part of natural “flow”
of upgrade
WinSAT.EXE
Full 32-bit and 64-bit parity
Runs on XP(1)
Lots of parameters for each assessment
Multi-Core/Multi-CPU aware where appropriate
Memory assessment
Computational assessment
Video encode and decode(2)
Canonical output is XML
Requires elevated privileges
With minor limitations
With the appropriate codecs
Block Diagram
WinSAT API
2 WMI
WinSAT.EXE
Features
Video
Compute
Storage
D3D
Memory
%systemroot%\
performance\winstat
Graphics
Input
Files
(Command line tool)
XML
Data
Store
%systemroot%\
performance\winstat
datastore
WinSAT API
Simple Automation COM interface for
Visual Basic, Javascript, HTML,
XML, PowerShell
Provides simple and easy programmatic
access to WinSAT and the data store
Provides access to WinSAT data via WMI
Note: the Win32 “C” Style API discussed
last year has been deprecated
No elevation required to simply read
WinSAT results
Data Store
Only stores data from formal assessments
Ad hoc results are not managed or
accessible through the API
A history of up to 100 formal assessments
is kept
Oldest deleted when 100 is reached
WinSAT always keeps the initial
formal assessment generated during
machine OOBE
Graphics Assessment
Designed to assess a system’s ability
to efficiently run Aero
Primary metric is
Graphics memory bandwidth
Drives the hardware in a very similar
way to the desktop window manager*
Used by the DWM to make decisions
about enabling Aero
*The component that provides Aero
D3D Assessment
Designed to assess a system’s ability
to render 3D gaming graphics
Metric is frames per second
Targeted to Pixel Shader v2.0 or
better hardware
Focused on three aspects
Shader ALU performance
Shader texture load performance
Post-pixel blend performance
Evaluates 8-bit and 16-bit render targets
Memory Assessment
Focused on throughput, not latency
Designed to assess
How well large blocks can be moved in
system memory
Metric is mega bytes per second
This assessment fully supports multi-core
Storage Assessment
Is a “sweep” test – divides a physical disk
into regions and evaluates the following
for each
Random read and write performance
Sequential read and write performance
Uses up to sixteen regions
Metric is mega bytes per second
Reports metrics for each region
Reports an aggregated metric for the
disk using the mean of all regions
Storage Assessment
WinSAT formal disk assessment only
measures sequential read performance
Sequential read performance is an effective
overall indicator of drive performance
Random I/O perf is small (1-3MB/s) and doesn’t
vary much drive to drive
Write performance cannot be measured reliably
in a short period of time
Write buffers policies and drivers can make
it difficult as well
Sequential Read and Write performance are
generally proportional
The Processor Assessment
Designed to assess the system’s
computational ability
Is not a synthetic test – uses native
Windows components
Data compression and decompression
LZW and Microsoft algorithms
Data encryption and decryption
AES and SHA1 hashing
Windows Media video encoding
Fully supports multi-core
Full 64-bit and 32-bit parity
Video Decode Assessment
Designed to assess the system’s ability to
play high definition Windows Media Video
Also supports any other video format for
which there is a resident codec
Measures per-frame decode time*
WinSAT supports both DirectShow
and Media Foundation (MF)
MF is the default on Windows Vista*
Codec optimizations for 64-bit and
multi-core are on-going
*Not in Beta-2, in RC1
WinSAT As A Diagnostic
WinSAT is a good perf diagnostic
and can detect problems with
Memory configurations
Processor clock speed
Disk interface configuration
Use to base line a known
good configuration
Run tests against base line on other systems
Differences
Some assessments may produce different
results on Windows Vista versus Windows XP
Graphics and D3D
Due to changes in the driver model XPDM
versus WDDM
Due to performance of pre-production drivers
Processor assessments
Due to differences in the Windows components
used in those assessments
WMV Codec
Encryption Providers
Post Beta-2 Work*
Per frame video decode and encode times
CPU utilization during encode and decode
*These are items that will be included in RC1
The Windows Vista
System Performance
Rating (WinSPR)
Solves Customer Problems
Levels map to key Windows
Vista scenarios
Level 3 systems will run Aero well
Level 4 systems will play HD video well
Level 5 systems are great for all key
Windows Vista scenarios
WinSPR makes it straight forward
to match software requirements to
hardware capabilities
The Overall Rating
Top level score represents the minimum
integer value of all the sub-scores
Future Technologies
Development of WinSAT assessment
support for DX10 is being evaluated
This work is post Windows Vista
Dependant on new DX10 hardware
Call To Action
Understand the Windows Vista
logo requirements as they pertain
to your products
Use the AeroAT test to measure
systems ability to run Aero
Make sure WinSAT works with your
graphics drivers
Doesn’t produce “zero” scores
Reports graphics memory correctly
Use WinSAT as a performance diagnostic
Additional Resources
WinHEC download
The Beta-2 version of WinSAT.EXE
The Aero Acceptance Test (AeroAT.exe) that implements
the latest logo requirements
A tool for translating WinSAT XML files to CSV files
Documentation
WinSAT Technical document
WinSAT XML Schema documentation
WinSPR Model, describes scoring system
Location: www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/winsat
Please send WinSAT feedback to: winsatfb @ microsoft.com
Windows Vista logo requirements
www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx
E-mail: hwlogotm @ microsoft.com for logo questions
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