Cool.  Thanks for the real world examples, Jim.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

+1, thank you for taking the time to post this!

Thanks for sharing the info...I guess I may now use Windows 8 as OS for my new mini-ITX build (I was thinking of using Win7x64 still initially). 

(I apologize if the following is inferred as disrespectful.)
 
I think this test is not useful for comparing w7 and w8 performance.
 
This is a small, simple, project. (32 tracks, few full, frozen synth tracks.)
 
How many cores are doing what for each OS and how do they compare for the whole project?
 
I have read that the windows task managers display results differently.
 
Does w8 calculate core use the same as w7?
Are the same number of cores used?
Or are fewer cores are used at a higher level?
 
More relevant to me:
 60+ tracks, 20+ buses: midi and audio, with lots of effects, and gain/volume envelopes
  some sample-streaming synths, nothing frozen
 
  time comparison of "bouncing to tracks" / "bounce to clips" for a large project
    core use comparison
 
 a third party measurement tool for measuring all stuff: ram, cpu, disk use
 
And so on
 
 
 

I believe I mentioned that the example wasn't intended to be comprehensive.  
 
When running at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size, "We Did We Go" is enough of a load to make valid performance comparison between Win7 and Win8.
 
"Where Did We Go" was chosen because many Sonar users have access to the exact same tune.
It's a typical "project studio" type tune/arrangement.
It's quick/easy/consistent for anyone to test and compare for themselves...
 
I've run many tests over many machines.
Doubling the load doesn't make core load balance radically change.  
Any way you slice it, greater or lesser load, there's very little performance difference between running Windows 7 and Windows 8.
 
 
 
 

Jim Roseberry
Any way you slice it, greater or lesser load, there's very little performance difference between running Windows 7 and Windows 8.
 

This was the main point with the OP. One thing to bear in mind is that some VSTs are scripted to Core 0, so piling them into a project will make a noticeable spike there (I have read threads on Ozone being an offender of this). I am curious if Win8 "bypassed" this and used all cores regardless of the program coding (or if this can even be done)? Bitflipper had a nice post a while ago which basically said that some processes have to run the same thread (if programmed as such), so I assume that is "the same" between Win7 and Win8 as well.
 
The bottom line for me is not to fault Windows, but be mindful of how CPU is being affected by VSTs used (at least in my current configuration). Not all VSTs are equal.