With the advent of barebones and the myriads of customizations and configuration options one is faced with the dilemma of which components to choose to best suit your needs. Buying expensive upgrades may not necessary increase your system performance. For an optimal upgrade you have to identify the "weakest link".
The Windows Experience Index feature (WEI) in Windows 7 rates your computer on a scale of 1.0 to 7.9. Each of the key hardware components in your PC like Processor, Memory, Graphics and Hard disk will receive an individual score or sub score. Your PC as whole will then get a base score which will be the lowest sub score of an individual component. The base score is a representation of the minimum performance of your PC. The sub scores will help you decide which hardware components to upgrade to improve the performance of your computer.
To open Windows Experience Index Tool
1. Click on the Start button
2. In the Search box type Performance Information and Tools
3. Select Performance Information and Tools from the results
You can also select Performance Information and Tools from your Control Panel
When a new hardware is installed, you can click on the Re-run the assessment to update the score.
How good is your base score?
A computer with a base score less than 3 will have the capability to perform just the basic things like browsing, emailing, word processing and to run small business applications.
With a base score between 3 and 5 you could run multiple programs at the same time and can be used for gaming and multimedia applications at a basic level.
A base score greater than 5 is necessary for high end graphic experiences like 3D gaming or playing HD video.
Windows Experience Index feature was first introduced in Windows Vista Operating system where the scale was set from 1.0 to 5.9. As the technology advances the scale will increase.
