From power on to a working system
I've just built myself a new computer. It has 8GB of RAM, a fast processor and plenty of fast disk space and is running Server 2008 Enterprise. What I'm doing here is recording how long it takes from power on to windows loading to the sign-on screen. Because the system is new and fresh this time should currently be the shortest time that the computer will ever take to perform this task.
I intend to come back to this post and add more times in the months (years) to come and see how much the system slows time as I add bagage to it.
17 Sep 2008 - power to windows: 30 seconds; windows to logon: 40 seconds (Checked build of Server 2008 - later uninstalled)
On new installation of retail version of Server 2008:
18 Sep 2008 - power to windows: 30 seconds; windows to logon: 27 seconds