Almost definitely yes. It will run faster than with Windows
Vista. If you run Windows 7 on a machine with a dual- or quadcore
64bit processor, Windows 7 will outperform XP too. XP and most
other older operating systems does not utilise multi core
processors. I will even pitch it against Linux KDE4 (which might
start a big war), but since Linux is highly customizable a direct
comparison will be a streched out debate.