Windows Experience Index in Windows 7

Summary: Microsoft has lifted the veil on some of the changes made to the Windows Experience Index system in Windows 7.

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes for Hardware 2.0 | January 20, 2009 -- 07:43 GMT (23:43 PST)

Microsoft has lifted the veil on some of the changes made to the Windows Experience Index system in Windows 7.

The Windows Experience Index (also known as WEI) is a suite of system tests that give the end user an idea of the performance capabilities of their PC. I've talked before about WEI in Vista so I won't cover that ground again (refer to this post for background information), but I will take a look at some of the most significant changes to WEI in Windows 7.

Windows 7 raises the top WEI score from 5.9 to 7.9. This takes into account faster hardware that's been released since Vista went RTM.
Five areas tested stays the same: - Processor - Memory (RAM) - Graphics (general desktop work) - Gaming Graphics (typically 3D) - Primary Hard Disk
The scoring rules have been changed, which means that scores on identical hardware relative to Vista might not be the same.
WEI scores of 6 and 7 represent high end systems.
to score a 6 or 7 in terms of gaming graphics, a system will have to support DirectX 10 and WDDM 1.1 driver. DirectX 9 support only, along with WDDM 1.0 drivers, will cap score at 5.9.
Hard drive scores for drives exhibiting what Microsoft calls "problematic" have been capped under Beta 1 of Windows 7.
As guidance, Microsoft claim that most quad-core CPUs will be able to hit high 6 to low 7 range, with 8-core rigs able to approach 7.9.

I've yet to see a system that scores a full 7.9 under Windows 7. To be honest, it might not be possible right now. As far as I can tell the Core i7 Extreme 965 doesn't score a 7.9, in which case to get a high score for the CPU you'd need an 8-core dual-CPU rig like a Skulltrail, but that platform doesn't support SLI or Crossfire, so you'd be hit on the graphics side. Maybe an insane overclock on the 965 would work, but that only goes so far. I'm sure you'd also need a quad-GPU graphics card too. Oh, and a RAID 0 array of really fast drives, maybe SSDs. And add to that fast DDR3.

Given this it may not be possible to hit the magical 7.9 score just yet.

Topics: Software, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Windows

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26 comments

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There is a severe problem with that Index

Considering that the drive in my laptop got a 4.7 score
in Windows Vista. In Windows 7...... it gets a score of
2.0!

Now, it may just be me.... but why the heck would there
be such a difference when nothing about the drive itself
has changed?

Lerianis
20 January, 2009 08:13

Reply Vote
- Vista WEI
  
  Vista's WEI wasn't very good at gauging HDD performance. That is all there is to it. Windows 7 is much more accurate.
  
  I have a 500GB Seagate 7200.10 HDD that got a 5.3 in Vista. I couldn't understand why, my HDD always felt slow and that score seemed undeserved. In Windows 7 it now gets a 2.9... a much more honest score that reflects my experiences.
  
  mikefarinha
  20 January, 2009 08:35
  
  Reply Vote
  - Ah that explains it
    
    Seems like I am going to have to upgrade the stock hard drive in my notebook then.... it must SUCK to be blunt.
    
    I always thought that it was kinda slow, but thought "4.*.... it's a speed demon!" Apparently not.
    
    Lerianis
    20 January, 2009 10:21
    
    Reply Vote
    - RE: ah that explains it
      
      Microsoft's measurements are pure baloney.
      
      try HD tach for real-world performance results. There's a trial version available for download on Softpedia.com
      
      Custard_over_2x_Pie
      20 January, 2009 17:01
      
      Reply Vote
    - At least you can accept the facts.
      
      It seems to be a rare person these days that wouldn't have just started bellyaching about how crappy and unfair the WEI score is and demand some sort of recourse from Microsoft.
      
      The WEI is nothing more than a causal measurement of hardware aimed to help people have a better understanding of their hardware.
      
      I think it would be wise of Microsoft to request that software companies which base their software's system requirements on the WEI score to list both a Vista WEI score and a Windows 7 WEI score. This will help reinforce the fact that the scores are calculated differently.
      
      mikefarinha
      22 January, 2009 08:19
      
      Reply Vote
- Is it possible...
  
  ...that all it needs is a defrag? Try it and see if it improves the score.
  
  Michael Kelly
  20 January, 2009 10:44
  
  Reply Vote
  - Fragmentation under NTFS
    
    NTFS was designed to minimize disk fragmentation. Frankly said, disk defragmentation doesn't help much now. I've yet to see ANY kind of defragmentation software help speed up performance on any of my computers.
    
    Core2uu
    20 January, 2009 10:59
    
    Reply Vote
    - If you are installing and deleting a bunch of programs
      
      Disk defragmentation still helps a LOT. If you are using
      a program like PerfectDisk, it also helps that it moves
      all your 'bootup' files to the front of the hard drive,
      where they are easily accessed.
      
      Lerianis
      21 January, 2009 04:18
      
      Reply Vote
    - NTFS !
      
      Try ZFS or EXT4 and you'll meet a modern filing system that minimises fragmentation, not that old clunky relic from the DEC PDP.
      
      Alan Smithie
      21 January, 2009 08:11
      
      Reply Vote
      - Not On Windows.
        
        I'm not sure how a Windows user can 'try' ZFS or EXT4.
        
        Or are you just trying to say that we should all use Linux simply because of the file system is uses?
        
        That seems like a pretty asinine and myopic reason to switch OSes.
        
        mikefarinha
        22 January, 2009 08:22
        
        Reply Vote
      - No Fragmentation == SLOWER PERF!
        
        Filesystems that work to avoid fragmentation during IO operations will suffer a perf hit. If you have a file that comprises several contiguous blocks but is completely surrounded with other files' blocks, you have two choices:
        
        1) Copy the entire file to contiguous space
        2) Store the additional blocks somewhere else on disk.
        
        NTFS tries to allocate and grow files contiguously where it can, but there's a comes a point where there's no return in doing extra work just to keep a file contiguous. Specifically, when files get big (think audio/video, big docs, PPT's, databases, etc), it's actually FASTER to read a file that's stored in 2-5 large chunks than one file that's stored contiguously. This is primarily the case when the app reading the data can't read the data faster fast enough to read it all in one disk rotation.
        
        So for filesystems that relocate files on write, that can be a considerable cost to pay (potentially) each time a file is written to.
        
        Fact is that NTFS, whilst perhaps a little more fragmentable than other filesystems, offsets the cost of defragmentation to when the PC is not being heavily used rather than incurring the cost "in-flight".
        
        Sounds like a sound strategy to me!
        
        de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023
        27 January, 2009 12:44
        
        Reply Vote
    - Then I Wonder Why....
      
      If NTFS disk have little defragmentation then I wonder why Microsoft created Windows Vista and Windows 7 to automatically defrag the HDD every Wednesday at midnight?
      
      Yes NTFS is much much better than FAT but it still fragments.
      
      mikefarinha
      22 January, 2009 08:13
      
      Reply Vote
      - ALL filesystems fragment ...
        
        Defragmentation is one the the biggest challenges of any opertating system and very few do it well. Then again, hard drive space is now under 10 cents per gigabyte so it might just be cheaper to buy a new drive than it is to invest in a truly robust defragmentation program.
        
        M Wagner
        22 January, 2009 17:53
        
        Reply Vote
      - Hang on a min-
        
        But files fragment on what ever size,and then files get slower to read,this does not come in to the equation relevent to price per gig'bt?
        
        morrigen
        2 February, 2009 07:48
        
        Reply Vote
    - Free space plays a role too
      
      Defragmentation algorithms require a fair amount of free space to work efficiently. The fact that Windows 7 offers schedule defragmentation will probably help a great deal.
      
      M Wagner
      22 January, 2009 17:38
      
      Reply Vote
  - Nope, definitely NOT that
    
    Seeing as how I did a defragment before running WEI. No,
    it's just that the drive I have isn't very good. I went
    online and looked at the testing of the drive on Tom's
    Hardware.... it rated in the bottom 1/3rd.
    
    Lerianis
    21 January, 2009 04:16
    
    Reply Vote
Don't worry about it

I look at real world results and not test figures.
Most of my computers are not even close to cutting edge. But as long as things work as fast as I like them. Then who cares what the scores are.

jscott418-22447200638980614791982928182376
20 January, 2009 18:41

Reply Vote
dear ADRIAN

ED BOTT said you were the man to ask this question of, so here goes- Have you or anyone tried to get crossfire to run on Windows 7, if you have, how?

morwen
22 January, 2009 09:10

Reply Vote
- Not yet
  
  ... a few weeks ago I tried to use ATI's beta Catalyst drivers but they caused a lot of problems. I've not tried since.
  
  Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
  22 January, 2009 10:48
  
  Reply Vote
  - I appreciate that!
    
    Thanks for the input, for I thought that this was cockpit error , if you also found it troublesome, somehow, that makes me feel better. Will you let me know when you get it to work?
    
    morwen
    22 January, 2009 11:19
    
    Reply Vote