Experience Windows Vista at its Best

[poldopunk]

Not many people make use of a very useful tool available in Windows Vista -- Windows Experience Index. The feature has been designed for users or consumers on how well Vista will perform on specific hardware components.

Most people just whine about how their copy of Vista is slowly performing and not reading enough articles on what went wrong or how to improve their computing experience. Here's an in-depth look on Windows Experience Index and how this would change your point of view regarding Microsoft's latest operating system. For the sake of the people who are too lazy to open the link in a new window, I'll post the juiciest parts of the article as well as adding my personal opinion and recommendation on the matter.

The Windows Experience Index is useful for the following:

1. When buying a new PC, it is useful for determining the quality of the Windows experience a buyer can expect from a particular PC.
2. When upgrading a PC, the index is useful for estimating the overall improvement a PC user can expect to get when replacing or adding a new hardware component.
3. When buying software, the software package may include the recommended Windows Experience Index base score a PC should have in order to run the particular software application well. If a PC has a higher base score than the score recommended by the software, the software will run well on it.

In case you don't know or don't have an idea what the Windows Experience Index looks like, well, it looks like this:



Just how useful is the base score? Consider the following:

1.0 – 1.9

A base score of 1.0 is intended to reflect the minimum specification needed to run Windows Vista™. PCs that meet this level will run Windows Vista™ in a basic, but acceptable manner. This is a “catch all” level assigned to any machine that can realistically be upgraded to Windows Vista™ but won’t meet level 2 specifications.

2.0 – 2.9

A base score of 2.0 represents the mainstream Windows Vista upgrade target system. This level of PC may run Windows Aero but users may see noticeable performance issues from time to time, especially on PCs with base scores less than 2.5 and/or 64MB of graphics memory. Performance issues may also be noticeable when opening many application windows at the same time or when using very large monitors.

3.0 – 3.9

This is the lowest capability Windows Premium Logo PC that will ship with Windows Vista™ pre-installed. Windows Vista will generally enable Aero automatically on level 3 machines. Aero will perform quite well on level 3 machines with single monitors. With dual monitors (especially larger than 1280x1024), users may see noticeable performance issues from time to time, especially on PCs with base scores less than 3.5 and/or 128MB of graphics memory.

4.0 – 4.9

All Windows Vista features will run well with snappy performance. HD playback and recording of one HD stream will work well. 3D games and other high-end 3D applications will run acceptably on Level 4 machines. Multi-tasking will be quite good on these machines (when an application makes use of this capability). Many mid to high level 4 PCs will have dual core CPUs.

5.0 – 5.9

Level 5 PCs will dramatically exceed the Windows Premium logo requirements. They will easily run Aero-Glass on multi-monitor systems at high resolution. First person shooters, multiple HD streams, video creation, high end multimedia applications are all characteristic scenarios of people who will be using Level 5 systems. As Level 6 machines are not defined yet, it is possible that the highest performance and capable Level 5 machines may be re-leveled as level 6 in the future (i.e. that may happen if the new hardware is evaluated before the index is updated with the new capabilities).

Now, how does Windows calculate or rate your system? It tests the following components: processor, memory, graphics, gaming graphics, primary hard disk.

CPU Score

The CPU score was created to measure the processor performance when tasked with common Windows usage activities. The processor is assessed on the following items:

1. Compression and decompression using the LZW compression algorithm
2. Compression and decompression using the Windows Vista compression algorithm used for hibernation files, ReadyBoost and other features
3. Encryption and decryption assessment
4. Computing hashes
5. Encoding of video

Memory Score

The memory score measures the bandwidth of moving data into and out of memory in Mega Bytes per Second. The higher the bandwidth, the better the memory.

Not having enough memory is a limiting factor on performance. As a result, the amount of memory in the system constrains the score value. The amount of system memory is determined by the overall system memory minus any memory reserved for graphics (if any).

refer to the table for memory score here.

In addition to this, you need to consider how your memory is operating, for instance, even if you have 4GB of RAM but is running in single channel mode, windows will give you a score of 4.0 - 4.9, not a 5. In my case, I have 3GB (1 x 1GB, 1 x 2GB DDR2-667) operating in single channel mode since my mobo doesn't support dual channel.

The Graphics Score (often overlooked)

This score is intended to reflect how a system will run Aero (desktop composition) and playback Windows Media Video. It measures video memory bandwidth (in mega bytes per second) and converts it to a score between 1.0 and 5.9.

If the graphics hardware does not support DirectX 9 (DX9) graphics, then the system receives a graphics score of 1.0 regardless of driver type. If the system supports DX9, but does not have a WDDM Driver (Windows Vista Display Driver Model) the system will then receive a graphics score of 1.9 at the most.

The Gaming Score

The gaming score measures the frames per second the graphics card can handle for various textures. Things to remember:

• If the graphics card does not support D3D 9 then it receives a Gaming score of 1.0.
• If D3D 9 is supported, the card is DX9 capable and has a WDDM driver, it will score at least 2.0.
• If the score is greater than or equal to 5.0 and the graphics sub-system does not support Pixel Shader 3.0 then the score is limited to 4.9

The Disk Score

The disk score measures disk bandwidth (in Mega Bytes per Second). The conversion to an index number is set up in a way that all modern disks will score at least 2.0.



Now, how does this help you out? Okay, in order to get the most out of Windows Vista, you'll basically need the following components:

• A dual-core processor.
• At least 2GB of RAM in dual-channel mode (single channel still works, btw)
• A discreet graphics card with decent specification. (integrated graphics just wouldn't cut it. )
• A modern hard drive (duh?)

My system isn't really from the highest of ends. In fact, most people would consider this low-end and yet, I am enjoying Vista and yes, it is stable and worth keeping. Since I upgraded to a much better graphics card and tried Vista on it, I never looked back to XP. Here's my system specification:

Motherboard: Asus P5S-MX SE (PhP, 2000, more or less )
Processor: E4500 @ 2.2 GHz, 800 FSB (stock speed) (PhP -5000)
Memory: 1 x 1GB Kingston DDR2 667 (PhP 1160 @ PCX), 1 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 667 (PhP 2090 @ PCX)
Graphics Card: Inno3d 8600 GT 512MB DDR3 (PhP 4450 at the time it was bought)
Primary Hard Drive: 80GB SATA Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM (PhP 2000+)

Now, how do I fare with Windows Experience Index?



At first I was baffled why my lowest score was 4.3 when I have 3GB of RAM in my system. I found out later on that it's bottle-necked since mobo is operating at single channel. Now, if you're already running WinVista, please post system specs and WEI score here.

[jordinho]

here ya go:

[luwid]

yeah mine is 2.5 hehehe ,diman ko gamers... Vista so far no hang ups... laptop d ay ni ako..kay kung mu range naka ug 4point something imo index..aw mhalmahal na dyud na nga laptop

[poldopunk]

Quote: Originally Posted by jordinho here ya go:

very nice bro. what's your graphics card?

[jordinho]

@poldo daan2 na bro 8800gtx

[darkdruid]

hahahaah.. we degraded our computers back to xp. dili pa kaayo daghan ang software nga mo work sa vista.

but for the TS... nice info. thanks.

[Zerone_null]

free product ID!!!

[jordinho]

saun man nimo ang product ID bay zerone lols. product key might be more important lolz

[Sasori]

OT: gusto na unta ko mag upgrade to vista thou i need to upgrade my vc 1st, guys wat would u recommend a good vc? budget wud be 4.5T

[muzikfreakah]

IMHO, if below 4 ang score, stick with XP

[vern]

Moved to Tutorials & Guides.

[AMD_infinium05]

5.2 performance rating,,, rating is determined by lowest subscore...


i think 5.2 goes to my Processor

my vcard is scored 5.9..

i'll re.check when i get home. i'll post it here

[moz_k2]

here' my score running on stock

[[DSX]]

here's my laptop WEI:



I consider the Snipping tool one of the handiest Vista tool ever!