Windows Vista features built-in benchmarking to assess system and component performance, by calculating so-called Windows Experience Indices (WEI). Can Microsoft really replace traditional benchmarking?

They have replaced everything else...

someone forget to test AMD cpu's?

I installed Vista twice (as beta). I got two different sets of performance ratings on the exact same hardware.

The ratings were similar, but they were definantly different. I remember getting penalized bigtime for only having a modest (at the time) 6600GT 128MB video card.

I really would like to see the on-board graphics from Intel added to this for comparison.

We all know that MS fudged that program to make it look less embarrising for Intel. I'd love to see the actual comparison in black and white to see how much of an exception MS made to help Intel out.

No.
The point is to ensure that a given user has enough computing horsepower to run Vista, and to identify where improvements are needed. Nobody in their right mind would use that as a serious performance benchmark. Would they?

Can someone explain what those MS numbers mean?
Ok, 1 is lowest and 5 is hghest. You need X benchmark to play Y game requiring an X.
But what happends in a few years? The Playing tomorrows software on todays hardware will not work well.
Do you expect numbers will keep going up, 6,7,8,9, etc?
That way a '4' in 2007 will be the same as a '4' in 2010.

I underatand the Windows Experience Index us just a rough guess so the casual buyer won't need to read so much gobbledygook about "System Requirements:"

The numbers will go up over time, as new hardware comes out.

Thanks. Now I can sleep more easily.

Ah, finally a place to put my 2 cents on this topic. When I saw the article I knew before reading it that Tom's will have criticised its over-simplicity. I will agree 100% that the WEI is not a replacement for benchmarking--if it was, every major benchmarking program vendor would be doing their best to sue microsoft for every penny they can get anyways.

The WEI, as the article puts it, is the WEI--IT IS NOT A HARDWARE BENCHMARK, IT IS A WINDOWS BENCHMARK. This means that DirectX versions, hardware driver versions used, HARD DRIVE FRAGMENTATION, background processes (super-duper important!), such as ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS, hard drive free space, available RAM, superfetched data, COLOR DEPTH/RESOLUTION, and even the amount of reboots since the last program installation WILL ALL AFFECT THE WEI FOR YOUR PC.

So...why is it different one day than the next on the same PC? Look at the reasons above. I have personally tested them all--I ran WEI then defragmented and ran again and my score changed, for a single example. Also I have some situations I plan to test:

1. Change the pagefile from one hard drive to another--does the disk index change?

2. Disable my antivirus altogether--does anything change? (tested with AVG Free 7.5 and with Norton 2007 90-day trial separately--Norton is the devil , but disabling AVG completely?)

3. If I disable cool n' quiet, what will happen to my cpu's WEI?

4. Run the WEI at cold startup while speedfan confirms both cores are under 40 Celsius, then retest them at nearly 55 Celsius (by running two WoW.exe's simultaneously at max settings with two different characters--of course closing them both before testing)--how much different?

5. Disable the second cpu core in the bios, and retesting--how much performance does that second core actually give me?

Also tested my Graphics card with the newest NVIDIA driver yesterday and it is still 5.9 as it was with the previous nvidia version. Note with the ORIGINAL Vista driver my Graphics was only 5.7.

Is WEI supposed to replace traditional benchmarking? HELL no, and thank the Lord that we finally have a sytem that will be affected by all environmental conditions--so performance on one person's machine can be totally opposite someone else's experience even if the PC's hardware is 100% identical. Run the WEI and compare it to similar systems to see if you have any viruses or "resource hogs" on your system--how awesome!

Even if Vista does get plagued with viruses like XP has, now I will have an easy method to determine what the performance should be verses what it is. This WEI thing is cool.

Hmm--just thought of a new catch-phrase marketing slogan: "Got Vista, now how much does your computer WEI?" New System Requirements label:
"OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista 32-bit
For XP Systems:
Video: at least 128MB or higher DirectX 9.0c PCIe or AGP adapter including hardware T&L support
RAM: 512MB or higher recommended
CPU: Intel Pentium III 1.0GHz/AMD Athlon 1.0GHz or faster CPU
Hard drive: at least 4.4 GB free uncompressed drive space

For Vista Systems:
Video: at least 128MB or higher DirectX 9.0c graphics chipset with a WEI of 3.0 or higher
RAM: 1GB or higher RAM with a WEI of 3.0 or higher
CPU: Any cpu with a WEI of 3.5 or higher recommended
Hard Drive: Any hard drive with a WEI of 3.0 or higher and at least 4.4 GB free space"

This could be the beginning of something new and exciting, to say the least

Thanks. Now I can sleep more easy.

More easily you mean? (LMAO sorry I just couldn't pass that up Really, just kidding)

my two cents

I don't see Microsoft's benchmarking tool giving enough information, for me to decide weather it would be worth the extra money for the next level of hardware. Even looking in the article I noticed some hardware that had noticeable differences with other benchmarking software, and it barely shows up in the windows benchmarks.

That's a laugh.

Just my opinion, but I feel that this (like so many of M$'s other "innovations" ) is complete BS. An EX6800 and an 820 aren't even in the same "sport" let alone in the same ballpark... yet the WEI indicates that the EX6800 is only 14% faster.

edit1: much -> many (for grammatical purposes since this is one of my pet peeves)
edit2: Oh, and if a P4 560 scores a 5.0 I feel REALLY sorry for anyone trying to run Vista with a CPU that scores a 3.
-mcg