Windows Server 2025 runs better on ARM

Windows Server 2025 virtual environments were compared under identical conditions on a 14th-gen Intel Core i9 x64 host and a Snapdragon X Elite ARM64 host. After matching memory, virtual processor, and role configurations, service responsiveness and load variation were measured inside Hyper-V VMs.

In Performance Monitor, % Processor Time, Processor Queue Length, and CPU Wait Time Per Dispatch were checked. On the ARM side, CPU usage variation was small, Queue Length stayed at 0, and Wait Time was also flat, while on the Intel side the variation range was larger due to boost/throttle effects.

In the service tests, IIS, DNS, Active Directory lookups, domain authentication, and file I/O were measured repeatedly. The ARM64 VM showed more consistent timing values across multiple runs, and while the Intel VM was faster on some runs, its overall deviation was large. The author added that overall, Snapdragon was roughly 20-80% faster.

The key interpretation is that consistency of latency and predictable scheduling matter more than the architecture itself for virtualized server workloads. For workloads centered on maximum throughput, x64's advantages remain, but for typical Windows Server environments with many small, frequent CPU/I/O tasks, ARM64's appeal grows.

However, it was concluded that training/lab environments need to stay on x64. This is because Hyper-V's lack of support for ARM64 nested virtualization makes it difficult to ensure courseware reproducibility.