Results for the WinSAT Comprehensive Assessment

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 8

The WinSAT Comprehensive assessment runs the WinSAT.EXE program and generates engineering metrics that lead to the Windows Experience Index (WinEI). WinEI is a set of scores that enables you to compare hardware on different computers. Although this assessment does calculate the scores, its primary purpose is to provide access to the underlying metrics related to the scores.

In this topic:

  • Goals File

  • Metrics

  • Issues

For more information about the WinSAT Comprehensive assessment, system requirements, and assessment settings, see WinSAT Comprehensive.

Goals File

You can create custom goals to measure your improvements in the Results View. Goals files are a triage tool that can help you understand how a PC is performing and to compare PCs in your business.

For example, goals for a basic laptop might be different than the goals you set for a high end desktop computer, or market expectations might change in such a way that you want the flexibility to define different goals and key requirements as time passes and technology improves.

When a metric value is compared to the goal for that metric, the status is color coded in the Result View as follows:

  • Light purple means that the system has a great user experience and that there are no perceived problems.

  • Medium purple means that the user experience is tolerable and you can optimize the system. Review the recommendations and analysis to see what improvements can be made to the system. These can be software changes, configuration changes or hardware changes.

  • Dark purple means that the system has a poor user experience and that there is significant room for improvements. Review the recommendations and analysis to see the improvements that can be made to the system. These can be software changes, configuration changes or hardware changes. You might have to consider making tradeoffs to deliver a high quality Windows experience.

  • No color means that there are no goals defined for the metric.

Note

In the Windows Assessment Toolkit for Windows 8, some assessments include default goals files. The first time you view results using this version of the tools, the default goals file is used. However, you can also define custom goals for Windows 8 the same way that you can for Windows 8.1.

You can set the goals file location and add a goals file to that location before you can use the UI to apply the custom goals. Once a goals file is selected it will continue to be the goals file that is used for any results that are opened.

Only one goals file can be used at a time. Goals for all assessments are set in a single goals file. The assessment tools will search for goals in the following order:

  1. A custom goals file

  2. Goals that are defined in the results file

  3. Goals that are defined in the assessment manifest

You can use the sample goals file that is provided at %PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Kits\8.1\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Assessment Toolkit\SDK\Samples\Goals to create your own goals file.

Note

You cannot package a goals file with a job, but you can store it on a share for others to use.

Metrics

The WinSAT Comprehensive assessment returns system scores based on the performance of several system components, including CPU, memory, hard disk, and graphics. The following table briefly describes these metrics.

Note

All the scores on Windows RT systems are zero.

Metric Description

AlphaFps for DX9 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the graphics hardware’s alpha blend performance when it is used with the Direct3D API in DirectX 9. For additional information about Direct3D, see Direct3D 11 Graphics. For additional information about alpha blending, see Alpha Blending (Direct3D 9)

AlphaFps for DX10 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the graphics hardware’s alpha blend performance when it is used with the Direct3D API in DirectX 10.

ALUFps for DX9 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the performance of the graphics hardware’s arithmetic logic units (ALU) when it is used with the Direct3D API in DirectX 9.

ALUFps for DX10 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the performance of the graphics hardware’s arithmetic logic units (ALU) when it is used with the Direct3D API in DirectX 10.

Bandwidth (Megabytes per second)

The average rate of data transfer to or from memory.

BatchFps for DX9 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the performance of the graphics hardware when rendering batches of geometric primitives using the Direct3D API in DirectX 9.

BatchFps for DX10 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the performance of the graphics hardware when rendering batches of geometric primitives using the Direct3D API in DirectX 10.

CBuffer for DX10 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the performance of the graphics hardware’s constant buffers when it is used with the Direct3D API for DirectX10.

Compression Metric (Megabytes per second)

This metric is an engineering metric for a processor (CPU). It shows the CPU’s average rate of video compression using the LZNT1 and Xpress compression algorithms and when the CPU is running one thread per core.

CPU Compression Metric 2 (Megabytes per second)

A second measurement of the CPU’s average rate of video compression using the LZNT1 and Xpress compression algorithms when it is running one thread per core.

CPU Compression Metric UP (Megabytes per second)

The CPU’s average rate of video compression using the LZNT1 and Xpress compression algorithms when it is running only one thread.

CPU Compression Metric UP 2 (Megabytes per second)

A second measurement of the CPU’s average rate of video compression using the LZNT1 and Xpress compression algorithms when it is running only one thread.

DShow Encode Time (Seconds)

The elapsed time to prepare the video stream recorded in one format for playback in DirectShow (DShow). For more information about DirectShow, see DirectShow.

DX9 Gaming Graphics Engineering Metrics

If this setting is expandable, choose it to see additional metrics for Batch, Alpha, Tex, and ALU measurements.

DX10 Gaming Graphics Engineering Metrics

If this setting is expandable, choose it to see additional metrics for Batch Metrics, Alpha Metrics, Tex Metrics, and ALU Metrics.

DX9 Sub Score

A gaming graphics score computed using only DirectX 9 metrics.

DX10 Sub Score

A gaming graphics score computed using only DirectX 10 metrics.

Encryption Metric (Megabytes per second)

The CPU’s average rate of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA1) data encryption when it is running one thread per core. For more information about AES, see Keep Your Data Secure with the New Advanced Encryption Standard. For more information about SHA1, see Hash and Signature Algorithms. For more information about encryption algorithms, see Encryption algorithms.

Encryption Metric 2 (Megabytes per second)

A second measurement of the CPU’s average rate of AES and SHA1 data encryption when it is running one thread per core.

Encryption Metric UP (Megabytes per second)

The CPU’s average rate of AES and SHA1 data encryption when it is running only one thread.

Encryption Metric UP 2 (Megabytes per second)

A second measurement of the CPU’s average rate of AES and SHA1 data encryption when it is running only one thread.

Gaming Graphics Score

3D business and gaming graphics performance

Note
The gaming graphics value is based on the primary graphics adapter. Other linked or multiple graphics adapters are not tested. This is a Windows Experience Index score. Expand the result to view sub-scores and engineering metrics for DX9 or DX 10.

GeomF4 for DX10 (Frames per second)

Direct3D geometry performance for DirectX 10.

GeomV8 for DX10 (Frames per second)

Direct3D geometry performance for DirectX 10.

Graphics Engineering Metrics

If this result is expandable, choose it to see additional details including the metrics for each video clip used in the assessment.

Graphics Score

Results include total available graphics memory, dedicated graphics memory (available exclusively for the graphics subsystem), dedicated system memory, and shared system memory. This is a Windows Experience Index score. Expand the result to view sub-scores and engineering metrics.

Mean of Total Bytes per Second

Measured for both single and multi-threaded CPU encryption and compression.

Memory Block Size (Bytes)

Total amount of memory copied in the test, typically double the size of the largest CPU cache.

Memory (RAM) Score

Memory copy throughput per second. This is a Windows Experience Index score. Expand the result to view sub-scores and engineering metrics.

MF Video Decode Duration

This is the Microsoft Media Foundation (MF) decoding duration measured for the assessment. For more information about Media Foundation, see Microsoft Media Foundation.

Number of Processors

The number of processing cores and CPUs.

Number of Threads

This is number of threads measured for the both single and multi-threaded CPU encryption and compression results.

Primary Hard Disk Score

Disk data transfer rate. This is a Windows Experience Index score. Expand the result to view Sequential and Random read results.

Processor (CPU) Score

Provides data encryption, compression and video encoding expressed in megabytes per second. This is a Windows Experience Index score. Expand the result to view sub-scores and engineering metrics.

Random Read Average Throughput

The quantity of data read from the disk, in megabytes per second, an average calculated when it reads from random addresses.

Random Read IO Size

The size of the individual read requests, in megabytes, used to measure Random Read Average Throughput.

Random Read Score

Disk data transfer rate when it reads from random addresses.

Sequential Read Average Throughput

The quantity of data read from the disk, in megabytes per second, an average calculated when it reads from sequential addresses.

Sequential Read IO Size

The size of the individual read requests, in megabytes, used to measure Sequential Read Average Throughput.

Sequential Read Score

Disk data transfer rate when it reads from sequential addresses.

System Score

The overall WinSAT score for the computer. It is limited by the lowest score received for the hardware subsystems.

TexFps for DX9 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the graphics hardware’s texture loading performance when it is used with the Direct3D API in DirectX 9.

TexFps for DX10 (Frames per second)

This metric shows the graphics hardware’s texture loading performance when it is used with the Direct3D API in DirectX 10.

Total Bytes per Second

This is measured, in bytes per second, for the following encryption and compression results:

  • Single Threaded CPU Encryption

  • Multi-threaded CPU Encryption

  • Single Threaded CPU Encryption Results 2

  • Multi-threaded CPU Encryption Results 2

  • Single Threaded CPU Compression

  • Multi-threaded CPU Compression

  • Single Threaded CPU Compression Results 2

  • Multi-threaded CPU Compression Results 2

Video Memory Bandwidth

The average rate of data transfer, in megabytes per second, to or from the video memory.

Working Buffer Size

This is measured, in bytes, for the following encryption and compression results:

  • Single Threaded CPU Encryption

  • Multi-threaded CPU Encryption

  • Single Threaded CPU Encryption Results 2

  • Multi-threaded CPU Encryption Results 2

  • Single Threaded CPU Compression

  • Multi-threaded CPU Compression

  • Single Threaded CPU Compression Results 2

  • Multi-threaded CPU Compression Results 2

More information may be available for any result category. Choose the link to view additional result details.

Issues

Because the WinSAT assessment provides only metrics that are derived from the WinSAT Formal pre-defined set of assessments, and because these values are so different from one system configuration to another, specific issues and recommendations are not provided for this assessment. For more information about WinSAT Formal, see WinSAT Formal.

For additional information about WinSAT components, see WinSAT.

The assessment reports an exit code of 0x80050006

This error occurs when maintenance tasks have been registered on the PC but have not completed before the assessment run. This prevents the assessment from running, as maintenance tasks often impact assessment metrics.

To resolve this issue, do one of the following:

  1. Ensure that the computer is connected to a network and is running on AC power. Manually initiate pending maintenance tasks with the following command from an elevated prompt:

    rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

  2. Disable regular and idle maintenance tasks, and stop all maintenance tasks before running the assessment.

See Also

Concepts

WinSAT Comprehensive
Assessments

Other Resources

Windows Assessment Toolkit Technical Reference
Windows Assessments Console Step-by-Step Guide
[MSDN] Winsat details