Can't make Windows Experience Index go up

I am writing about a Dell Inspiron 1501.
Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ 1.80 GHz
1918 MB RAM
32-bit Operating System

The Windows Experience Index was 2.0, held down because of "memory
operations per second." So I just added two 1 GB memory modules. Now the
score for Memory is 4.6 (yay!). But the score for "Graphics" is still 2.4.
I went to "adjust visual effects" and clicked "adjust for best performance."
And so my screen looks different now--I gather this is "Classic Windows," as
opposed to "Aero." But the score is still the same: 2.4! What do I have to
do to make it go higher?

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 22:19:00 -0700, Itinerantscholar
<Itinerantscholar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I am writing about a Dell Inspiron 1501.
>Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ 1.80 GHz
>1918 MB RAM
>32-bit Operating System
>
>The Windows Experience Index was 2.0, held down because of "memory
>operations per second." So I just added two 1 GB memory modules. Now the
>score for Memory is 4.6 (yay!). But the score for "Graphics" is still 2.4.
>I went to "adjust visual effects" and clicked "adjust for best performance."
>And so my screen looks different now--I gather this is "Classic Windows," as
>opposed to "Aero." But the score is still the same: 2.4! What do I have to
>do to make it go higher?

Buy a beefier graphics card.

In message <cr4s44pkvoc76tue5tseas1k01vr6rtsp1@4ax.com> Nonny
<nonnymoose@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 22:19:00 -0700, Itinerantscholar
><Itinerantscholar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>>I am writing about a Dell Inspiron 1501.
>>Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ 1.80 GHz
>>1918 MB RAM
>>32-bit Operating System
>>
>>The Windows Experience Index was 2.0, held down because of "memory
>>operations per second." So I just added two 1 GB memory modules. Now the
>>score for Memory is 4.6 (yay!). But the score for "Graphics" is still 2.4.
>>I went to "adjust visual effects" and clicked "adjust for best performance."
>>And so my screen looks different now--I gather this is "Classic Windows," as
>>opposed to "Aero." But the score is still the same: 2.4! What do I have to
>>do to make it go higher?
>
>Buy a beefier graphics card.

I'm not sure bovine will help here, but certainly a better performing
card would be a worthwhile investment, if you care about the score.

However, the score is just a number -- Itinerantscholar, are you happy
with your system's performance? If so, then why care about the number?

On Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:53:24 -0600, DevilsPGD
<spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>I'm not sure bovine will help here, but certainly a better performing
>card would be a worthwhile investment, if you care about the score.

If you think you can change the graphics card in a Dell Inspiron, you
clearly have no idea what it is...

Exactly.

Why do people seem to still think you can change a card in a laptop?

There's few models that were built with the capability, and of those none of
them were ever offered any upgrades *sighs*

I owned an Inspiron 6000 that had a discrete Radeon X300 in it that Dell
promised would be upgradable in the future and they never did come out with
an upgraded card.

You can literally open this laptop up and remove the GPU.

"Steve Pearce" <*stevepearce@btinternet.com*> wrote in message
news:fnis441102pab109pqehpj7v9rhaglcp0n@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:53:24 -0600, DevilsPGD
> <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>>I'm not sure bovine will help here, but certainly a better performing
>>card would be a worthwhile investment, if you care about the score.
>
> If you think you can change the graphics card in a Dell Inspiron, you
> clearly have no idea what it is...

> I went to "adjust visual effects" and clicked "adjust for best
> performance."
> And so my screen looks different now--I gather this is "Classic Windows,"
> as
> opposed to "Aero." But the score is still the same: 2.4!

That's not surprising. It's testing your hardware and drivers. These don't
change just by choosing a different, and less resource-hungry, user
interface. The UI sits "on top" of the drivers and hardware, so your choice
of UI won't affect the score.

As other's have said, if you are happy with the performance, forget about
the score.

SteveT

In message <fnis441102pab109pqehpj7v9rhaglcp0n@4ax.com> Steve Pearce
<*stevepearce@btinternet.com*> wrote:

>On Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:53:24 -0600, DevilsPGD
><spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>>I'm not sure bovine will help here, but certainly a better performing
>>card would be a worthwhile investment, if you care about the score.
>
>If you think you can change the graphics card in a Dell Inspiron, you
>clearly have no idea what it is...

Inspiron means nothing to me as I'm not a fan of Dell machines and
therefore not familiar with their product lines.

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:53:12 -0600, DevilsPGD
<spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:

>In message <fnis441102pab109pqehpj7v9rhaglcp0n@4ax.com> Steve Pearce
><*stevepearce@btinternet.com*> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:53:24 -0600, DevilsPGD
>><spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>>>I'm not sure bovine will help here, but certainly a better performing
>>>card would be a worthwhile investment, if you care about the score.
>>
>>If you think you can change the graphics card in a Dell Inspiron, you
>>clearly have no idea what it is...
>
>Inspiron means nothing to me as I'm not a fan of Dell machines and
>therefore not familiar with their product lines.

Same here. Stevey can blow me.

Now that you have increased your memory the next weakest link is your
graphics card (which is scoring 2.4. Although you state that the WEI is
registering 2.0 so either the graphics card is registering 2.0 or else you
have some other hardware that is registering 2.0 on the WEI scale.) The
final WEI figure is derived from the lowest scoring piece of hardware. To
improve the figure the hardware needs replacing with a higher spec piece of
hardware. Adjusting for best performance will not improve the WEI.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..



"Itinerantscholar" <Itinerantscholar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:183CCF97-C2E6-4870-9FB5-10B46DA626CA@microsoft.com...
> I am writing about a Dell Inspiron 1501.
> Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ 1.80 GHz
> 1918 MB RAM
> 32-bit Operating System
>
> The Windows Experience Index was 2.0, held down because of "memory
> operations per second." So I just added two 1 GB memory modules. Now the
> score for Memory is 4.6 (yay!). But the score for "Graphics" is still
> 2.4.
> I went to "adjust visual effects" and clicked "adjust for best
> performance."
> And so my screen looks different now--I gather this is "Classic Windows,"
> as
> opposed to "Aero." But the score is still the same: 2.4! What do I have
> to
> do to make it go higher?

My apologies Itinerantscholar I hadn't noticed that you referred to a Dell
laptop. like most others that have replied to your post I too am not
familiar with the Dell line of PCs. If the graphics card cannot be replaced
(and you would need to ask Dell about that) you are, unfortunately, stuck
with your current WEI score.

If the graphics card is rendering graphics at a suitable speed for you then
I wouldn't be too concerned about the WEI. It seems to me that Microsoft
have introduced another 'élites' spanner into the works. Instead of the
usual banter of 'oh I have a quad ore machine with 8 GB memory and a
terabyte hard drive.' Now it's a case of people expostulating 'my WEI is
higher than yours, I bet you wish you had as much money as I have to spend
on a PC.' As old Ebenezer Scrooge would say 'Humbug!' If the machine
performs well for you the what does it matter if WEI says you have a low
score? It's all to do with what you want the PC for and if it does what you
want then to hell with WEI.

To be honest my latest machine (which is not quite 6 months old now) has a
lower WEI than my previous machine which was 5 years old. It doesn't bother
me I am the one I need to please not the PC manufacturer.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..


"Itinerantscholar" <Itinerantscholar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:183CCF97-C2E6-4870-9FB5-10B46DA626CA@microsoft.com...
> I am writing about a Dell Inspiron 1501.
> Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ 1.80 GHz
> 1918 MB RAM
> 32-bit Operating System
>
> The Windows Experience Index was 2.0, held down because of "memory
> operations per second." So I just added two 1 GB memory modules. Now the
> score for Memory is 4.6 (yay!). But the score for "Graphics" is still
> 2.4.
> I went to "adjust visual effects" and clicked "adjust for best
> performance."
> And so my screen looks different now--I gather this is "Classic Windows,"
> as
> opposed to "Aero." But the score is still the same: 2.4! What do I have
> to
> do to make it go higher?