Why is my Windows Experience score so low?

[jsphdickens@gma]

My experience score dropped when I upgraded from a 256MB ATI card that cost about $400 in 2004 to a 1GB ATI 4350.

Any ideas why my score is so low, or why it would drop after replacing 5 year old hardware? I ran futuremark and my performance scores were way below average, getting miserable framerates during the test.

I know my processor is on the slower side of dual-core, but I'm still surprised by my performance scores and am wondering if I might have a hardware problem.





Operating System
Windows 7 Business (build 7600)

Enclosure Type: Desktop

Processor
2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded


Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
EP35-DS3R
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. F2 01/04/2008

Drives
2000.40 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
1413.15 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

16X12 DVD DUAL ATA Device [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Installed Memory
Slot 'A0' has 1024 MB
Slot 'A1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'A2' has 1024 MB
Slot 'A3' has 1024 MB

Local Drive Volumes
c: (NTFS on drive 1) 500.11 GB 368.98 GB free
h: (NTFS on drive 0) 1500.30 GB 1044.17 GB free



Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (3x) ATI Radeon HD 4350 [Display adapter]
Generic Non-PnP Monitor
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (22.0"vis, s/n HVKQ502805, May 2008)

Bus Adapters Multimedia
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2934
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2935
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2936
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2937
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2939
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293A
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293C High Definition Audio Device (2x)
Xtreme Sound PCI Audio
Virus Protection [Back to Top] new Group Policies
No details available None discovered
Communications Other Devices

Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter
primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.2.4 / 24
Gateway: 192.168.2.1
Dhcp Server: 192.168.2.1
Physical Address: 00:25:9C:76:1B:83
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Realtek RTL8168B/8111B Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: 00:1D:7D:07:13:8E
Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Networking Dns Server: 192.168.2.1
Logitech Driver Interface (3x)
HID-compliant consumer control device
HID-compliant device (3x)
USB Input Device (2x)
Logitech HID-Compliant Keyboard
Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
USB Composite Device
USB Root Hub (8x)
Generic volume shadow copy

 

[biddaum]

Does this video card have separate plugs for power. If so how many. If you have 2 power spots they need to be on separate power rails.

Possible that windows 7 doesn't like it? Thats how i got my video card gtx 260

 

[jsphdickens@gma]

Actually I saw this drop when I was still running vista.

Is the 4350 a good card? The video card has no seperate plugs, and is only about an 1 inch wide with no fan. It's about the same size as my wireless card.

At this point I am wondering what other video card specs I should know about besides dedicated memory.

 

[sniperviper21]

it dropped due to Windows Aero score being low. so your lowest score will be your actual score.

And i think it dropped due to that card maybe not doing Aero as well as the other card, though it is better then the old one, in gaming. for sure.


heres mine.

with my Overclock its CPU score of 7.4
all depends on your set up. and OS (this is W7)

 

[jsphdickens@gma]

If I wanted to spend a couple hundred bucks, should I find a better card or get a new CPU?

I feel like I have a hardware problem, as my 1 GB ATI card only gets .1 points higher in the WinExp score of a comparable machine I built for my grandparents that only has onboard nvidia graphics.

 

[sniperviper21]

if you had this same PC in 04, Be much better off just buying a whole new Rig, then wasting money on upgrading an obsolete CPU that will still be slow, or spend money on a high end card and have it held back by the slow CPU.

For intermediate gamer, 700$ would be enough to max any game on 22in or below monitor.

 

[jsphdickens@gma]

I bought a whole new PC last year, getting a mobo, 2.4 dual core, and 4GB of RAM. I kept the video card for a while, until going with the 4350 on a budget of $100.

I know the windows experience score isn't the be-all and end-all of benchmarking, but it annoys me that it thinks the weakest part of my system is my video card.

I'm playing Fallout 3 right now, and the frame rates I'm getting are only just tolerable enough to make the game worth playing, and I want to know where a few hundred dollars would give me the most return.

 

[sniperviper21]

how large is your power supply?

if 450W or greater, this card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...PA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=5770&x=0&y=0


if 550W or greater
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125300&cm_re=5850-_-14-125-300-_-Product


both cards are DX 11
both will play any game (but crysis) max all on basically any size monitor.


Though, you may need to upgrade your PSU as well to be able to power these cards.


And aswell, i have no idea how much your CPU would bottleneck these powerfull cards.

*edit*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jljwqKZl9V0
my PC playing Fallout3 on max everything, and those cards i posted are twice as good as the card i have (xfx HD4850) and even with fraps recording it still ran well, though that maybe because of the quad core CPU (multi tasking that is)

 

[jsphdickens@gma]

I think my current PSU is only the 350W that came with my computer case? Could my performance problems come from underpowering the hardware I currently have?

 

[sniperviper21]

no, that would not cause the bad score.
if anything is ever under powerd, it just would not turn on, or it would brake.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9005&cm_re=Corsair_PSU-_-17-139-005-_-Product
that is a great PSU for the price and wattage.
would run either cards i posted for sure.