windows experience index

[kaka]

I added extra 2 GB ram ( make it to 4 gb) and updated the index by
clicking on the button but it's still 3.0( didn't change at all).
I thought it's going to do the major update with 2gb, but i guess i
was wrong.

Should I upgrade my graphic card then?(currently i am on 128)

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Don't put to much faith in the ratings on devices by WEI, it tends to get it
wrong sometimes.

 

[Frank]

Don't put to much faith in the ratings on devices by WEI, it tends to get it
wrong sometimes.

To increase your WEI rating, upgrade if possible, the hardware with the
lowest number in your WEI.
Frank

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Look at the WEI page.
What component has the lowest score?
That will be your score regardless how high the others.

Do not upgrade simply to get a higher score.
Instead upgrade if there is an expected benefit you want or need.
The score is really a guide to help you, but hardware manufacturers
possibly like it since some upgrade solely for the numbers with little
regard to actual benefits.

 

[kaka]

Don't put to much faith in the ratings on devices by WEI, it tends to get it
wrong sometimes.

OS recognizes the ram but i didn't feel the boost. ( may be i need to
add another 4 gb? )

I will try to upgrade the graphic card when i have another $200 - 300.
( probably next month )

 

[Steve Thackery]

I agree with Jupiter Jones. Don't upgrade at all unless you know you need
the extra performance.

The WEI is a useful pointer if you AREN'T satisfied with your performance -
it points to the most likely cause. But a score of 3 is just fine for
virtually every purpose except - probably - serious gaming.

Remember, you're in charge of your PC, not the other way round!

Steve

 

[gls858]

OS recognizes the ram but i didn't feel the boost. ( may be i need to
add another 4 gb? )

I will try to upgrade the graphic card when i have another $200 - 300.
( probably next month )

Only the 64 bit Vista can utilize the full 4 gig of RAM. Plus WEI
will only be as high as your lowest score.

gls858

 

[John Barnes]

Upgrade the item with the lowest rating if possible. If you are trying to
increase the rating of your memory, you should have gotten wider bandwidth
and lower latencies. Those give you ratings boosts. You probably never got
close to using your 2 gig with Vista

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Kaka.

You haven't told us WHICH component is getting the low score. If it's the
graphics, then another 4 GB of RAM will just leave you as frustrated as you
are now. Much more frustrated, because you will have spent all that money
with no improvement in your score.

But, as the others have said, if it does well what you need done, then why
worry about some unimportant number?

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta 2 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 beta v.275)

 

[dennis@home]

OS recognizes the ram but i didn't feel the boost. ( may be i need to
add another 4 gb? )

Use the performance and monitoring tools to see how much RAM you are using
before you make a decision.

I will try to upgrade the graphic card when i have another $200 - 300.
( probably next month )

Don't make the mistake of just buying a card with more RAM.
There is more to the performance of a graphics card than the quantity of RAM
on it.

You didn't say what you windows experience scores were.
You can't increase it unless you do something to the lowest score.
Also why do you want to increase it?
Do you have a performance issue and if so what with?
You may well be throwing money away if there isn't a good reason to do it.

(I wonder what Crazy Adam is going to accuse me of being a fake expert in
this time? Probably accountancy as I mentioned money.)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

OS recognizes the ram but i didn't feel the boost.

You are apparently a victim of the commonly-spread misinformation that
more RAM is always better. It's true only up to a point. You get good
performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from using the
page file, and that depends on what apps you run. Once you stop using
the page file, adding more RAM does almost nothing for you. That's
true, not only in Vista, but in all versions of Windows.

Most people running Windows Vista, unless they perform particularly
memory-hungry tasks like video or large photo-editing, will see little
or no improvement past 2GB. You apparently fall into that category, as
most of us do.

and even my MB allows the installation of 8 GB.
( may be i need to
add another 4 gb? )

Unless you have a 64-bit processor and are running 64-bit Windows, 8GB
won't be seen at all. The absolute maximum is 4GB (but all of it can't
be used).

 

[cvp]

Don't put to much faith in the ratings on devices by WEI, it tends to get it
wrong sometimes.

And it's hard to get an extra decimal point or two on what must be a
logarithmic scale:

My laptop which HDTune clocks in at average Xfer rate of 39MB/s and seek
of 15.3ms gets a respectable 5.0
My desktop with Xfer rate of 160MB/s and seek of 7.5ms only gets up to 5.9

 

[dennis@home]

And it's hard to get an extra decimal point or two on what must be a
logarithmic scale:

My laptop which HDTune clocks in at average Xfer rate of 39MB/s and seek
of 15.3ms gets a respectable 5.0
My desktop with Xfer rate of 160MB/s and seek of 7.5ms only gets up to 5.9

5.9 is the maximum IIRC.