Windows 7 Experience Index

[Ian]

The Engineering Windows 7 blog reports that there have been some changes made to the "Experience Index" feature of W7.

The overall Windows Experience Index (WEI) is defined to be the lowest of the five top-level WEI subscores, where each subscore is computed using a set of rules and a suite of system assessment tests. The five areas scored in Windows 7 are the same as they were in Vista and include:

• Processor
• Memory (RAM)
• Graphics (general desktop work)
• Gaming Graphics (typically 3D)
• Primary Hard Disk

Though the scoring areas are the same, the ranges have changed. In Vista, the WEI scores ranged from 1.0 to 5.9. In Windows 7, the range has been extended upward to 7.9. The scoring rules for devices have also changed from Vista to reflect experience and feedback comparing closely rated devices with differing quality of actual use (i.e. to make the rating more indicative of actual use.) We know during the beta some folks have noticed that the score changed (relative to Vista) for one or more components in their system and this tuning, which we will describe here, is responsible for the change.

Found via the WTB, for the full blog post read more at EW7.

 

[xyvian]

I noticed the changes, and quite frankly I think they are flawed. I'm scoring a 5.5, which I'm not surprised about seeing as I'm not running DDR3. I have 2 GB DDR2 - 1066. But what irks me is it's rating for my primary Hard Disk. it's rating it as a 5.9. I'm not sure why (my only idea is that it's been partitioned in half and that SOMEHOW has something to do with it). But I have a 150GB 10,000 RPM drive and it should definitely be getting better than that. Unless they are rating it VS a SSD which would be silly because then laptop 5400 RPM drives would rate in as a 1 or 2...

 

[debsuvra]

I noticed the changes, and quite frankly I think they are flawed. I'm scoring a 5.5, which I'm not surprised about seeing as I'm not running DDR3. I have 2 GB DDR2 - 1066. But what irks me is it's rating for my primary Hard Disk. it's rating it as a 5.9. I'm not sure why (my only idea is that it's been partitioned in half and that SOMEHOW has something to do with it). But I have a 150GB 10,000 RPM drive and it should definitely be getting better than that. Unless they are rating it VS a SSD which would be silly because then laptop 5400 RPM drives would rate in as a 1 or 2...

MS knowingly capped the index for certain HDDs, read the posts from given links above and your doubt will be cleared.

 

[xyvian]

As a note, the tests don’t specifically check to see if the underlying storage device is an SSD or not. We run them no matter the device type and any device capable of sustaining very high random I/O rates will score well.

Need to get myself an SSD for a boot disk...

 

[Endless Installation]

SSD not helping much

Well, I have SSD (4 of them) in RAID0 and get score just 7.0, I womder what I have done wrong to get such bad score - maybe the free space? I have left on c partition just 21MB free?

Also spend some $ on HD5970 and get score of 6.0! which I also don't understand as it's the best card one can buy today, if I run WEI I get DirectX10, but when I run DirectX it shows version 11, anyone has HD5970 - what score did you get?

My WEI is 6.0 because both Graphics and Game Graphics is only on 6.0

 

[Veedaz]

Hi Endless Installation welcome to Windows 7 Forums

I'm running a ATI HD5970 (click my spec) and i get >

Windows 7 Experience Index is a bit stinge with its marks ... as me and you are running the fastest Graphics Card out ! what do we have to do to get the full 7.9 ?

Edit - maybe put two 5970s together (Quadfire) ?

 

[davehc]

Ah. You mean like this:


View attachment 665

 

[Veedaz]

^ LoL Very good Dave

 

[davehc]

^ LoL Very good Dave

Damn - you guessed!

 

[Veedaz]

Cs3 ... Cs4 ?

 

[davehc]

Oh no! you didn't guess.
Manual editing.
The file is the last one in Windows - Perfomance - Winsat - datastore. If you open it with word you can change all the readings (up to 99 if you wish - lol)

 

[___Reap3R___]

Odd that you guys would only get 7.3 with your HD5970 as I get the same with my GTX275... everything on my system scores 7.3 except the HDD which is at 5.9 (2x500GB spinpoints in Raid0) I was hoping for better but then the WEI scores means very little in the way of gaming performance.

 

[Endless Installation]

Well I did not get the 7.3, I just got 6.0 and that's with latest drivers on the 5970.

 

[Veedaz]

This seems to be one patr of W7 that dont work to well :lol:

 

[clifford_cooley]

Well I did not get the 7.3, I just got 6.0 and that's with latest drivers on the 5970.

Your other hardware maybe crippling the graphics adapter. Do you have the fastest CPU and Memory? Remember the system works together, one slow component can slow the others.

 

[Veedaz]

You may have a point there Clifford ... but with Intel i7 950, Corsair 6GB PC3-12800 XMS3 DDR3 XMS Series Matched Triple Kit, Asus Rampage II Extreme, HIS ATI Radeon HD 5970 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card i would have expected a higher score, but I'm happy with its performance

 

[catilley1092]

Perfect,davehc, congrats! I have decent scores in most areas, but a 2.9 with the Aero deal. On a PC less than a month old! I think I got cheated on the score, but it doesn't matter. For the past seven years, I've had XP Pro, before that Win 2K Pro. I still have the laptops that dual boot the two of them, but they have been put to other uses: Downloading and making discs for this one! Windows 7 beats all the rest!

 

[trondam]

Hello Endless Installation
I'm having the same problems as you have....I have two HD5970 in quadfire....and iI still only get 6.0 on both graphics tests....don't no why tho' ....hope someone have a solution for that problem....

 

[Nibiru2012]

Nearly all single hard drives, whether they're 7,200 or 10,000 RPM, score at 5.9 on the WEI score. There are some RAID setups that are getting better scores.

Using an SSD will give the best scores, especially in a RAID setup.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I have two HD5970 in quadfire....and iI still only get 6.0 on both graphics tests

Just to clarify

Do you have all of windows 7 updates and the latest ati drivers installed?
You are saying that you score a 6.0 for both "Graphics" and "Gaming Graphics"?