"Windows Experience Index"

[Sporkman]

I just heard about the Windows Experience Index (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Experience_Index), which basically is a test that gets run in windows (as a cron job, or also from the start menu), and in about 30 seconds to a minute spits out a "score" of combined processor, graphics, IO, etc performance of the machine. I.e. if Windows is running quick and responsive on a machine, the score will be higher, whereas if its running sluggishly the score will be lower.

Neat idea, no? With all the talk of "bloat" around here, it would be neat to be able to quantify bloatedness...

[Johnsie]

To me everything that uses over 640kb of ram at once is bloat ;-)

In the 90's you could get quite alot out of your ram and still get alot done.

[DrMelon]

To me everything that uses over 640kb of ram at once is bloat ;-)

I guess rendering a 3D movie is bloat to you then :P

[Tristam Green]

or gaming...or having antivirus+endpoint protection running...

[undecim]

I guess rendering a 3D movie is bloat to you then :P

Of course it is. Just go read the book and let your organic GPU display the graphics in your head for you.

[underquark]

In the 90's you could get quite alot out of your ram and still get alot done.Yeh, one of the 286 machines at work took 29 minutes to print a one-page graph. I couldn't live with that (there are only so many lunch breaks in the day) so that's why my Dan 386DX PC had 8Mb RAM and a 2.5Mb caching hard disk controller card. And a whopping 210Mb hard disk.

[p_quarles]

I just heard about the Windows Experience Index (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Experience_Index), which basically is a test that gets run in windows (as a cron job, or also from the start menu), and in about 30 seconds to a minute spits out a "score" of combined processor, graphics, IO, etc performance of the machine. I.e. if Windows is running quick and responsive on a machine, the score will be higher, whereas if its running sluggishly the score will be lower.

Neat idea, no? With all the talk of "bloat" around here, it would be neat to be able to quantify bloatedness...
At least in Vista, it's not a combined score, rather it just takes the score for the weakest major component. For instance, here's mine:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_n_9kYP-Eitk/S4vRUK1Pn2I/AAAAAAAAAII/cHct80ftvrI/s720/WEIndex.jpg

The memory, hard drive and graphics all receive the highest possible score, but because the CPU is a bottleneck on this system, the overall score is the same as the CPU's score.

It's not really a very robust benchmarking system, and it basically just tells you what the average geek already knows about his or her machine.

[Sporkman]

Thanks for the screenshot. Cute how they insert ads there. :P

[p_quarles]

Thanks for the screenshot. Cute how they insert ads there. :P
Well, "they" in this case is the OEM. Can't pin that on Microsoft.

It's just a link to Compaq's hardware sales, so you can be "certified" add-on/replacement parts.

[Johnsie]

yes, I would consider rendering a 3d movie to be bloat. However, one mans bloat is another mans treasure ;-)

You shouldn't need 30 megabytes to view a website though ;-)

ps. don't talk to me about gaming... Pacman is still very popular today and so is Pong. Many people get as much satisfaction playing those games as they would playing some OTT super-graphical yet another 1st person shooter ;-)

[ubunterooster]

My last W.E.I: 5.2.
[That's after I stripped it completely down]

[whiskeylover]

You shouldn't need 30 megabytes to view a website though ;-)


Unless the webpage itself is > 30MB

[mickie.kext]

Well, "they" in this case is the OEM. Can't pin that on Microsoft.


Watch me.


Microsoft gets money for selling ad space on Windows menus. See, I can pin it on Microsoft;).

[Johnsie]

well that's just bad web design lol... :-)

In my day you tried to get it under 60k for all those people on dial-up modems :-)

3D films? I prefered the 2d disney classics... :-)

[whiskeylover]

I know... but with Images and Flash, and javascript and all... I guess sometimes 30MB isn't enough : )

Edit: also multiple tabs

[madnessjack]

Watch me.


Microsoft gets money for selling ad space on Windows menus. See, I can pin it on Microsoft;).
It's not just branding, it's helps in tech support too.

Some people may not know what the make of their computer is. Now they do.

Stop moaning.

[ubunterooster]

@whiskeylover: my main 'computer' [DSi] has 16mb RAM.
I really get tired of seeing "out ofmemory, please..."

[Psumi]

At least in Vista, it's not a combined score, rather it just takes the score for the weakest major component. For instance, here's mine:

The memory, hard drive and graphics all receive the highest possible score, but because the CPU is a bottleneck on this system, the overall score is the same as the CPU's score.

It's not really a very robust benchmarking system, and it basically just tells you what the average geek already knows about his or her machine.

Must have a very powerful computer.

I saw an i7 at best buy with a score of 4.3, and that was the highest score their computers (desktops) had. The only reason it was 4.3 was because of the graphics, lol.

[Kdar]

Of course it is. Just go read the book and let your organic GPU display the graphics in your head for you.

Best GPU there is :)

[jpeddicord]

Laptop here scores a 3.1, with the GMA 950 pulling everything down (others are around 5).

[Tristam Green]

My AspireOne D150 pulls down between a 2.1 and 2.8.

Bawwwwwwww.

[fatality_uk]

Laptop here scores a 3.1, with the GMA 950 pulling everything down (others are around 5).

My Win 7 lappy has a better score than my desktop.

[Objekt]

Windows 7 scores my desktop box as a 5.7. Can't remember which category is the low score. On memory access it gets a 6.1, not surprising as I opted for DDR3 1333 MHz (PC 10666) RAM when I built my system in August 2008.

Haven't tested 7 on my netbook. It might be amusing to see how Win 7 evaluates an Acer Aspire One D150, with its whopping gigabyte of RAM, blazing fast Atom N270 CPU, and incredibly powerful Intel GMA 945SE video device.

On that note, a question for fatality_uk: How in the heck did your lappy get a better score for 3D gaming than desktop stuff?! Must be something funky about Aero, because I have a hard time seeing how video hardware that can handle 3D games would strain to draw things in 2D mode.

The slowest thing on my system - and I suspect this is true for most of us - is disk access. It's all well and good to have a 3.0 gigabit/s disk interface (SATA II), but somewhat disappointing when you realize that a mechanical SATA HDD can output at best 60-70ish MB/s (about 0.5 gigabit/s). Solid state drives need to be a lot cheaper before I want to use one as my boot drive. Until then I guess I'll just have to be patient.

[jwbrase]

Of course it is. Just go read the book and let your organic GPU display the graphics in your head for you.

It's still using over 640k!

*Gouges own eyes out... The framebuffer was just using up too much*

*Ears too*

*While I'm at it, let's dispense with all sensory and motor functions. Can't read anymore, so I don't need to remember that, let's get rid of those all those sappy family memories too...*

A few hours of deleting later:

*Hmmm, still using over a megabyte. Let's see, what's left: Involuntary functions: Heartbeat, breathing, digestion, bladder control...*

[mickie.kext]

It's not just branding, it's helps in tech support too.

Some people may not know what the make of their computer is. Now they do.

Stop moaning.

Then it is broken. It have one custom built PC right here, and it says HP. It is not HP, I just assembled it myself and I do not work for HP. So I pin that in Microsoft too. And on HP.

There I said it. Now I will stop... moaning:D.

[Ubom]

Then it is broken. It have one custom built PC right here, and it says HP. It is not HP, I just assembled it myself and I do not work for HP. So I pin that in Microsoft too. And on HP.

There I said it. Now I will stop... moaning:D.

That's usually a sign that someone is running pirated Windows, got something to confess? :p

[samh785]

It's not really a very robust benchmarking system, and it basically just tells you what the average geek already knows about his or her machine.
Yeah, but IMO it's good for informing the non-geeks about the performance of their computer. It would be nice for something similar to be implemented in Ubuntu.

[mickie.kext]

That's usually a sign that someone is running pirated Windows, got something to confess? :p

It is not pirated, it is 30 day trial. I just need to test new stuff. Linux does not BSoD, so I do not use it for testing.

Score is 5.9. Hard-drive is puling stuff down.

[phrostbyte]

I was bored..

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3464/lolmagi.png

Only the CPU benchmark works right now, and it's testing methodology is pretty ghetto.

[Psumi]

I was bored..

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3464/lolmagi.png

Only the CPU benchmark works right now, and it's testing methodology is pretty ghetto.

Oh snap.

I want that when it's all pretty.

[swoll1980]

Mine is a 5.9 my Hard drive was the low man on the totem poll with the 5.9 Every thing else scored at least a 6.5 memory was the highest with a 7.5