WEI - Is it worth the bother?

[prospero]

I've just run WEI and had a score of 5.0 - related to Graphics, so I unchecked all the boxes in appearance, (hate the GUI in this mode), and ran the assessment again.
Absolutely no change.
My graphics card is an ATI Radeon 5450HD 1Gb.
I understand that this is a 'cheap' card, but I'm well pleased with the graphics output.
So what's the point of WEI?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

It gives people with a certain personality type something to obsess over and brag about. Seems to be a lot of that personality type around.

It has little to no real world significance.

 

[mickey megabyte]

to put it technically, it's crap.

 

[fireberd]

It is a waste of time. I wonder why Mickeysoft even did it to start with?

 

[pparks1]

It's a waste of time and it doesn't measure your system based upon your settings...rather it runs a standard set of tests against the hardware and reports the results....thus....the reason that your changes to the appearance of the box had no impact on your score.

 

[thefabe]

WEI= Wow Entertaining Information. Far as I can tell, this program is all over the place I don't pay much attention to it, and recommend others don't either. Fabe

 

[TVeblen]

This article here is my favorite explanation of WEI, written by a non-fan, with great clarity:
Engineering the Windows 7 “Windows Experience Index” « Revelations From An Unwashed Brain

All of this reminds me of my car building days. The world seems to split into two groups: those who feather their nests and those who........ do not. Do I really need those $1200 rims? Dual Holley carbs? 500w stereo? Fuzzy Dice? There was always someone telling me I do not (usually girlfriend).

Some people look at their computers like a Corrolla out on the sidewalk, others like a 68 GTO in an air conditioned garage. Same arguments, new millennium!

WEI is like a midnight 1/4 mile run: it tells nothing. And everything!
(it also tests the new video drivers)

 

[Victek]

I've just run WEI and had a score of 5.0 - related to Graphics, so I unchecked all the boxes in appearance, (hate the GUI in this mode), and ran the assessment again.
Absolutely no change.
My graphics card is an ATI Radeon 5450HD 1Gb.
I understand that this is a 'cheap' card, but I'm well pleased with the graphics output.
So what's the point of WEI?

.
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.

 

[sygnus21]

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.

This is one of the the best analysis I've read about WEI. Well stated

 

[whs]

It is a good tool for salesmen approaching the innocent.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Yeah, it's kind of a backscratch for the hardware community. I imagine tens of millions of dollars have been spent on HD, RAM, and video card updates by a lot of people who are feeling inferior due to their WEI--when they would never have upgraded a lick in the absence of the tool.

 

[CarlTR6]

It is a good tool for salesmen approaching the innocent.

Exactly. Well stated.

 

[fseal]

Ugh, WEI is mildy imformative and a decent first step to see how well your computer can handle various tasks. Some people are insanely obsessed with it yes, but that doen't make it "worthless".

In fact it appropriately identified the OPs graphics card as somewhat sub par. But if he doesn;t game with it then that's fine. It's for the user to decide. It's a general comparison of the capability between a large range of hardware options and from what I've seen it actually does a decent job when not expected to be "accurate" to the 0.1 level :/

One thing the OP is a bit confused on though is that WEI does not test how you have options in W7 set up. So turning on or off the eye candy does not change the score. The score is a test of the low-level graphics cabability of your hardware and drivers. IF it gets a really bad score like 3.5 or something you /might/ consider turning off aero for example.

ANother example of it "working" is that if you have AHCI on you will generally get a better SSD score. If you really want to know HOW much better than sure, run an SSD benchmark, but the WEI also indicates if that driver option helped or hurt.

So while hardly the be all end all of performace indicators, it does work for it's intended purpose and what's nice it there is a single version auto-installed on every w7 machine which gives an extremely level playing field when comparing systems.

 

[ken9122]

All you need is a score of 2.0 or better to run Aero.

 

[Nemix]

@ prospero

If it makes you feel better, my hard drive gets a rating of 5.9 on my system. The rest of my system is in and around 7's and Windows gives me a final WEI score of 5.9 for my whole system.

 

[Petey7]

Yeah, I get a 3.1 and aero does great on my computer. I also agree with the guy that says people have spent a lot of money trying to raise their score. Apparently, you can change the video card on my laptop, but the part must come from Dell or another Vostro 1500/1700. Also, Dell has recently stopped selling the part. I was at one point considering buying the nVidia card option for a little over $100, just to see the score go up. I don't play WoW or any other newer game so it would have been spent on basically increasing the score from 3.1 to 4.x. Then after a good night's sleep, I realized I was temporarily suffering from a case of "the stupids."

 

[CarlTR6]

Yeah, I get a 3.1 and aero does great on my computer. I also agree with the guy that says people have spent a lot of money trying to raise their score. Apparently, you can change the video card on my laptop, but the part must come from Dell or another Vostro 1500/1700. Also, Dell has recently stopped selling the part. I was at one point considering buying the nVidia card option for a little over $100, just to see the score go up. I don't play WoW or any other newer game so it would have been spent on basically increasing the score from 3.1 to 4.x. Then after a good night's sleep, I realized I was temporarily suffering from a case of "the stupids."

Very well said.

 

[noobvious]

It gives people with a certain personality type something to obsess over and brag about. Seems to be a lot of that personality type around.

It has little to no real world significance.

Agreed!

It is a good tool for salesmen approaching the innocent.

 

[sygnus21]

If it makes you feel better, my hard drive gets a rating of 5.9 on my system. The rest of my system is in the mid 7's and Windows gives me a final WEI score of 5.9 for my whole system.

Same here.

Yeah, it's kind of a backscratch for the hardware community. I imagine tens of millions of dollars have been spent on HD, RAM, and video card updates by a lot of people who are feeling inferior due to their WEI--when they would never have upgraded a lick in the absence of the tool.

Hmmm... I might need to get that SSD drive so my score can go up

 

[whs]

An SSD will give you better than 7.0 - but I don't think you want to buy an SSD for that reason. There are better arguments for it.