How Windows 7 Assesses Your Computer’s Hardware Performance?

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Microsoft Windows 7 has important tools that assess the computer’s hardware performance.

One of these tools is The Windows Experience Index which measures the capability of your computer's hardware and software configuration and expresses this measurement as a number called a base score.

Scoring your computer performance

Subscore will be assigned to every hardware component in your computer. Then your computer will have a base score which will equal to the lowest subscore for an individual hardware component.

If a computer base score is 2.3, what does it mean?

This means that, if the lowest subscore of an individual hardware component is 2.3 , then the base score is 2.3.

What is the benefit of the subscores?

The subscores is a view of how the most important components will perform, and can help in deciding which components to upgrade.

How to buy your programs?

The base score can be used when buying programs and other software that are matched to the computer’s base score.

For example, if a computer has a base score of 3.4, then you can buy any software designed for this version of Windows that requires a computer with a base score of 3 or lower.

Performance Information and Tools FIGUER(1)

To View Your Computer's Base Score

1.       Right Click on My Computer and Choose Properties.

2.       Click on Performance Information and Tools link in the left bottom.

FIGURE (2)

3.       Click Rate this computer.

4.       If the computer hardware is recently upgraded, click Re-run the assessment to find out if the score has changed.

      What is Windows Aero?

• Windows Aero is the premium visual experience of Windows Vista. It features a translucent glass design with subtle window animations and new window colors.

 

Windows Aero features glass-like windows for an open look

 Computer's capabilities according to the base score

The base score represents the minimum performance of your system, based on the capabilities of different parts of your computer, including RAM, CPU, HDD, general graphics performance on the desktop, and 3‑D graphics capability.

• Base score is 2.0 means the computer has sufficient performance to do general computing tasks, such as run business programs and search the Internet. However, a computer with this base score is generally not powerful enough to run the windows Aero, or the advanced multimedia experiences that are available with Windows 7.

·         Base score is 3.0 means the computer can run Aero and many features of Windows 7 at a basic level. Some of the Windows 7 advanced features might not have all of their functionality available. For example, a computer with a base score of 3.0 can display the Windows 7 theme at a resolution of 1280 × 1024, but might struggle to run the theme on multiple monitors. Or, it can play digital TV content but might struggle to play high-definition television (HDTV) content.

• Base score is 4.0 or 5.0 can run new features of Windows 7, and it can support running multiple programs at the same time.
• A computer with a base score of 6.0 or 7.0 has a faster hard disk, and can support high-end, graphics-intensive experiences, such as multiplayer and 3‑D gaming and recording and playback of HDTV content.

If a particular program or Windows 7 experience requires a higher score than your base score, you can upgrade your hardware to meet the necessary base score.

Click Re-run the assessment after any hardware change to get the score change.

Computer's capabilities according to the Subscore

The subscores are the result of tests run on the RAM, CPU, hard disk, general desktop graphics, and 3‑D gaming graphics hardware components of your computer. If your base score isn't sufficient for a program or Windows 7 experience, you can use the subscores to figure out which components you need to upgrade.

The base score is a good indicator of how your computer will perform generally. The subscores can help you understand your computer's level of performance for specific experiences:

• Office productivity. If you use your computer almost exclusively for office productivity experiences, such as word processing, spreadsheets, e‑mail, and web browsing, then high subscores in the CPU and memory categories are important. Subscores of 2.0 or higher are usually sufficient in the desktop graphics and 3‑D graphics categories.
• Gaming and graphic-intensive programs. If you use your computer for games or programs that are graphic-intensive, such as digital video editing programs or realistic first-person games, then high subscores in the RAM, desktop graphics, 3‑D gaming graphics, and CPU categories are important. A subscore of 3.0 or higher is usually sufficient in the hard disk category.
• Media center experience. If you use your computer as a media center for advanced multimedia experiences such as recording HDTV programming, then high subscores in the CPU, hard disk, and desktop graphics categories are important. Subscores of 3.0 or higher are usually sufficient in the memory and 3‑D graphics categories.

What is preventing Windows from updating the Base Score or Subscores?

• Running on battery power.‌ if the computer is running on battery power, a performance assessment won't reflect its true capabilities. Plug your computer in, and then re-run the assessment.
• Low disk space.  If there's not enough free disk space, Windows Experience Index assessment tool won’t be able to create a test file, and the assessment can't be completed. You can use the Disk Cleanup tool to free up disk space.
• The assessment is already running. If the Windows Experience Index assessment tool is already running, your scores can't be updated.
• The display (VEGA) driver is older. If your computer is using an older version of the display (VGA) driver, your scores might not be updated.
• No multimedia support. If your computer doesn't have multimedia support, your scores can't be updated.

References

            http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/What-is-Windows-Aero

Microsoft Windows 7 Help