The Windows operating system, starting with version 7, has found its own tool for determining computer performance. Thus, it became possible to assess whether a PC is suitable for performing certain tasks, as well as check it before launching games. The tool is called the Windows Performance Index.
What it is?
The evaluation of the Windows performance index is based on several key indicators: information about the number of operations per second of the processor, the number of access operations per second of RAM, the capabilities of 2D and 3D graphics. As well as the speed of writing and reading the hard drive. The score of the most “lagging” device is set as the main rating. The Windows 7 performance index may have a maximum value of 7.9 points. Version 8 of the operating system is 9.9. As such, there is no shell for the Windows 10 and 8.1 performance index. But you can check it through the command line.
Using the performance index is convenient to control the system. Each type of equipment has its own rating. Therefore, it is possible to quickly upgrade components to improve performance and power.
Features
Systems whose Windows performance index is 1 or 2 points are capable of performing simple operations. For example, working with office applications or surfing the Internet.
A score of 3 points allows you to slightly expand the capabilities of the PC. In particular, on such a system it becomes possible to run simple games and watch streaming video.
With a Windows performance index above 7 points, you can already run more “heavy” games and applications. It also becomes possible to apply a higher resolution monitor for demanding tasks.
How to calculate the performance index of Windows 10?
First you need to run the command line. To do this, just go to the "Start" menu and type "Command Prompt" in the search bar. You need to run it as administrator. Then in the window that opens, enter the command:
winsat formal -restart clean
All collected information about system performance will be presented as a text block in the same command window. If you use the winsat command with one formal key, then the received information will be expanded. That is, additional features and parameters of indicators such as Direct3D performance or hash computing speed, along with other indicators, will be indicated.
The second popular way is to use PowerShell. You can start it in the same way as the command line by typing PowerShell in the search. In the window that opens, use the Get-CimInstance Win32_WinSAT command. She will give a complete list of all the devices available in the system and evaluate the result of their work.
It is worth noting that for a fair assessment, the latest drivers for all devices must be installed in the operating system.
Conclusion
The introduction of a performance index as an additional monitoring tool has significantly increased the usability of the system as a whole. When buying, now you can immediately quickly assess the capabilities of the PC, identify its weaknesses. On home systems, this allowed for simple equipment upgrades. If the performance indicators of the hard drive are prohibitively small, then this is the first thing you should pay attention to when replacing. The video card does not have enough points - it means the time has come to replace it.
For some reason, Microsoft decided to move the element of determining the performance index on systems, starting with 8.1, somewhere deeper. Perhaps they felt that users of these systems should not know how productive the latter are. In addition, many different third-party applications have appeared, with the help of which it was possible to evaluate the performance even without installing them in the system.