What is the Windows Experience Index?

The Windows Experience Index measures the capability of your computer's hardware and software configuration and expresses this measurement as a number called a base score. A higher base score generally means that your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score, especially when performing more advanced and resource-intensive tasks.

Each hardware component receives an individual subscore. Your computer's base score is determined by the lowest subscore. For example, if the lowest subscore of an individual hardware component is 2.6, then the base score is 2.6. The base score is not an average of the combined subscores. However, the subscores can give you a view of how the components that are most important to you will perform, and can help you decide which components to upgrade.

You can use the base score to buy programs and other software that are matched to your computer's base score. For example, if your computer has a base score of 3.3, then you can buy any software designed for this version of Windows that requires a computer with a base score of 3 or lower.

The scores currently range from 1.0 to 7.9. The Windows Experience Index is designed to accommodate advances in computer technology. As hardware speed and performance improve, higher score ranges will be enabled. The standards for each level of the index generally stay the same. However, in some cases, new tests might be developed that can result in lower scores.

To view your computer's base score

1. Click to open Performance Information and Tools.
2. View the Windows Experience Index base score and subscores for your computer. If you recently upgraded your hardware and want to find out if your score has changed, click Re-run the assessment.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. If you don't see subscores and a base score, click Rate this computer.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

About your computer's base score

The base score represents the minimum performance of your system, based on the capabilities of different parts of your computer, including random access memory (RAM), central processing unit (CPU), hard disk, general graphics performance on the desktop, and 3‑D graphics capability.

Here are general descriptions of the experience you can expect from a computer that receives the following base scores:

• A computer with a base score of 1.0 or 2.0 usually has sufficient performance to do general computing tasks, such as run office productivity programs and search the Internet. However, a computer with this base score is generally not powerful enough to run Aero, or the advanced multimedia experiences that are available with Windows 7.