(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)

If you’re in need of virtualization software, speed will be at the top of your “must-have” list. Thanks to MacTech magazine, a clear winner has now been declared.

AppleInsider is reporting that an “exhaustive series of tests” by MacTech magazine has declared Parallels Desktop 5.0 to be the clear winner in the speed race against VMware Fusion 3.0. The results show that Parallels is on average 30 percent faster than VMware, as outlined in an eight-page spread in the magazine. The main areas where Parallels is out in front include graphics, gaming
and 3D performance.

“If gaming, graphics, and 3D are your thing, you have no choice. Parallels Desktop has so much better graphics support, and is so much faster in most of the comparisons, there’s simply no contest,” writes MacTech.

But the magazine is quick to point out that speed alone shouldn’t necessarily dictate your choice of virtualization software.

“In the end, your decision as to which product you should take into account what’s most important to you: speed, footprint, graphics capabilities, features, user interface, OS you want to run, and more all come into play,” MacTech concludes.

Also of note is that MacTech still recommends Windows XP for virtualization, noting that it continues to outperform the more recent Windows Vista and Windows 7 from Microsoft.

Finally, MacTech advises that more RAM configured to a virtual machine is not always better — in fact, it leads to longer launch times, suspends and resumes. The magazine recommends 512MB and no more than 1GB of virtual machine RAM for most users.