Experience Index must be wrong...right?

According to the windows experience index, my base score is 4.7, (from my graphics card?!?), which can "Support the new features of Windows 7 and can support running multiple programs at once". When actually, back in XP, I was running big spec full-blown high res games. For games, it recommends a 6.0 or a 7.0. My system is as follows:

Windows 7
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6Ghz Dual Core
2Gb RAM
nVidia GeForce Zotac 9400 GT 512Mb
RealTek Audio HD ouput

I think this is a gamers end PC, is it not? It's not brilliant, but I haven't found a game yet I can't run on it.

Ha, I have the exact same card. Except mine is PNY (haha, Pony). And I don't want to be mean or anything, but your pc isn't really equipped for heavy or regular gaming. I mean, with a 9400 I can manage to crank out around 20-30 fps on ultra high with 8x AA on Lord of the rings online. I guess that's OK but a real gaming compy would crank out 60-80. And going towards the Experience index thing... I would say that Windows 7 is just retarded when it comes to that. It gave me a 4.6 >_> So I just added all the numbers together and divided them by 5 (average them). And back to gaming, here would be some good specs for a gaming compy:


4-8 GB 800/1033 RAM
1TB SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT/GTX/GTX+/GX2 or Geforce GTX 260 and up
AMD Phenom x4 Quad-Core 3.4GhZ Black Edition
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional
and of course, Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Yeah, your system isn't really a gamer system. The CPU is several years out of date, you don't have enough RAM, and your GPU was a budget model the day it exited the factory. I'm sure it's enough to capably run games on moderate settings, but it's no powerhouse. :/

I'm sorry mates, but that's a load of rubbish. The specs you posted beta man are over kill, I never get jagged frame rates, I can run all the games I have (apart from DOWII) on high settings, I've never noticed my computer not peforming well on any game (again, apart from the odd moment on DOWII which is a killer anyway).
I play games regularly on XP and 7 64-bit. Plus, 7 uses way more RAM the XP, so if I can run the games well in 7 with only 2Gb, it probably enough. I may upgrade to 3 if I feel like it, but that's the limit. I definetly have a PC capable of gaming regularly, because that's what I do.
Anyway BetaMan, what does PNY mean?

PNY is a name brand - http://www3.pny.com/homepage.aspx

If I were to upgrade my GPU, and my budget was at £150, what would you recommened?

I think the CPU is just fine, but otherwise I must agree with everyone else... the 9400GT is the 2nd to lowest tier graphics card in the current lineup. It performs around the same as an 8600GT, which wasn't that different from a 7600GS. Any review should have enough comparison cards to show this.

Of course the type of games and the resolution they're played on makes as big a difference as the model of GPU that's used. For £150 you could find some really cheap 4850's and 4770's, however we'd need to know what resolution you game at. There's no sense in buying a midrange graphics card for 1024x768 gaming, for example.

Sorry, I'm no tech genius, on games I normal turn all settings to the max, put resolution to the biggest number and go. If it is slow, I turn them down a bit.
Win7 says my monitors native resolution is 1440x900, so that is what I aim for in resolution. If the game runs badly, I'll tone down the res a bit.
I went on dabs and novatech, and this looks good, especially because you can over clock it, or would you not recommend over clocking?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p.../NOV-4890.html

This presents a question for me as well - I'm not a gamer and don't have a need in high end cards

Question - Say I did decide to start playing games.
What would be the need in a high end card if the resolution is going to be set low at around 1440x900 which is where my monitor is set as well?

A great many cards will run 1440x900. The list is significantly smaller when you're a user that is content to settle for anything less than 8xAA/16xAF.