Say you get 7.9, which is the maximum score with windows Experience Index, with your current hardware. Next year the hardware is faster. If you already got the max score, what does it mean to upgrade to faster hardware? Will 7.9 be an obsolete irrelevant score? Will windows not take advantage of the faster hardware?
Windows Experience Index = 7.9, then what
windowswindows-experience-index
Related Solutions
I haven't found a way to skip DirectX 10 testing. On the other hand, I've found a way to fill system rating data so that Windows Experience Index is displayed:
The following steps explain how to change the displayed numbers. Since I couldn't run the official performance testing, I had to cheat.
WinSAT: Windows System Assessment Tool
Using WinSAT command-line utility, I ran all the tests excluding gaming graphics:
winsat dwmformal
winsat cpuformal
winsat memformal
winsat diskformal
This way I obtained the rating for almost all the components. The results are saved in %WinDir%\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore\ in XML files.
And then I ran only DirectX 9 subset of graphicsformal3d assessment:
winsat graphicsformal3d -dx9 -xml d3d.xml
I skipped graphicsformalmedia assessment as its data are not displayed.
Formal Assessment Data File
Luckily I had a copy of XML file with Formal assessment from another Windows 8 computer. I modified the data in <WinSPR> element and put my data into it:
<WinSPR>
<SystemScore>3.1</SystemScore>
<MemoryScore>4.4</MemoryScore>
<CpuScore>4.8</CpuScore>
<CPUSubAggScore>4.1</CPUSubAggScore>
<VideoEncodeScore>3.9</VideoEncodeScore>
<GraphicsScore>3.1</GraphicsScore>
<Dx9SubScore>4.1</Dx9SubScore>
<Dx10SubScore>5.6</Dx10SubScore>
<GamingScore>3.3</GamingScore>
<StdDefPlaybackScore>TRUE</StdDefPlaybackScore>
<HighDefPlaybackScore>TRUE</HighDefPlaybackScore>
<DiskScore>5.1</DiskScore>
</WinSPR>
In my case, the file is named 2012-12-03 12.12.03.212 Formal.Assessment (Recent).WinSAT.xml.
After modifying the XML file, the system displayed the data but complained the data were out of date. To fix it, I copied the data starting with <SystemConfig> up to the end from one of the formal assessments generated above.
Inconsistencies
I didn't modify the data in <Metrics> element, so they're incorrect.
Additionally, the data in <Dx9SubScore> and <Dx10SubScore> are inconsistent with <GamingScore>.
The inconsistencies can be fixed by copying the data from the formal sub-assessments. My goal was achieved: Windows displays the Windows Experience Index, so I left those unchanged.
Acknowledgements
The answers to Performance rating returns with no results showed me the way to go. I learned about WinSAT and how Windows stores its Performance data that are displayed as Windows Experience Index.
Best Answer
The score will get higher. As it already did. The first "high" score was 6.
Microsoft updates the patterns and result values accordingly.
You can find more information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_System_Assessment_Tool
By the way - this is not a real benchmark - this is just a value that is based on some benchmarks and should be understood as a measure for "user experience".
You should use real benchmarks (like 3DMark http://www.futuremark.com/, Spec http://www.spec.org) If you'd like to know how fast your system is.