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Playing Music Slows Vista Network Performance?
An anonymous reader writes "Over the months since Vista's release, there has been no doubt about the reduced level of network performance experienced compared to Windows XP. However, some users over at the 2CPU forums have discovered an unexplained connection with audio playback resulting in a cap at approximately 5%-10% of total network throughput. Whenever any audio is being sent to a sound card (even, several users report, while paused), network performance is instantly reduced. As soon as the audio is stopped, the throughput begins to climb to its expected speed. It's a tough one for users — what do you pick, sound or speed? So much for multi-tasking."
Lets see, I can play an mp3 while transferring a file at 120 mega bytes per second over an iSCSI interface hooked up to a pair of 28 disk fiber filers. I can transfer to a SATA RAID from a SATA RAID at 60 mega bytes a second. Playing an MP3 in media player or a movie, even a 1080P movie, causes no effect at all on the network speed during the copy (a 8gb ISO file). I'm pretty sure 1000 mega bits per second is equal to 120 mega bytes a second. If I can use my iSCSI NAS at 100% and play a 1080P video at the same time then I'm guessing just about anything would work without the described behavior.
I would assume spending 5 minutes running media player and performance monitor together to see if the story is true wouldn't be too much trouble. That might might make slashdot editors talk to a dirty vista OS user, let's just assume if the news is negative then the news must be true.