WEI - Is it worth the bother?

chev65 said:

Despite all the contrary opinions I think WEI gives a fairly useful assessment of overall system performance.

I agree, that's why I think this post makes the most sense...

Victek said:

WEI gives you a reasonable idea of the levels of system performance. I don't believe it means to be a serious benchmarking tool, but many people are offended when it doesn't accurately reflect their hardware upgrades, etc. If there is a real concern that some part of the system is under-performing then a dedicated benchmarking tool can be used to evaluate it. WEI is not that tool. Just ignore it.

WEI - Is it worth the bother?

I wouldn't completly ignore it though as a low (4 instead of 6 for example) score could indicate a problem. However its not a benchmarking tool!!!

prospero said:

Can anyone recommend a more useful benchmarking tool (preferably free)?

I use Belarc Advisor as a fairly comprehensive tool for auditing my system, but it doesn't provide any benchmarking, however it does tell me if any MS patches are missing.

A couple of programs that are geared towards video card performance but will test system performance as well are....

3DMark Vantage.... Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark Vantage - Introduction. Google it and you will find that any PC benchmarked will use this program. It's not free, however you can get a "one try" trial for free.

A free and older program is 3DMark 06 Basic Edition with limited functionality - Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark06 - Download. However this version is limited to DX9 testing. If you want to test DX10 & 11 performance, go with 3DMark Vantage.

If you want something to test your overall system performance there's PC Mark Vantage.... Futuremark - Benchmarks - PCMark Vantage - Introduction. This also has a "one try" free trial use.

I know some of these aren't free, it's just to make you aware of the them. Sometimes Futuremark runs deals. I got both 3DMark Vantage & PCMark Vantage for $19.99.

If you want to see what's out there for testing there's a good list here.... Latest Overclocking Programs, System Info, Benchmarking, & Stability Tools