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#Oct 10th @ 1:23 PM
JoshRoss
JoshRoss
A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent.

I was looking for a new computer and I decided to compare machines, using the windows performance index.  Is there a site that keeps track of the different ratings for popular computer brands?  Or do I just have to run the tests myself and see what I get?  While looking at some on the computers at a big box store, I noticed that the feature was disabled on most of the machines, based on a lock-down policy.  If they lock-down that feature, how is a consumer supposed to make an unbiased decision?  It would be great to rate the computers on a price per performance scale.

#Oct 10th @ 1:40 PM
Ion Todirel
Ion Todirel
buuu

build your own machine? 

#Oct 10th @ 2:19 PM
ManipUni
ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

Nobody uses that silly index.

 

Pick a review site like Tom's Hardware or whatever.

#Oct 10th @ 2:50 PM
LeoDavidson
LeoDavidson

You'll probably find that all good new hardware maxes out the index and it's not much use for choosing between the best hardware (only for separating good from bad).

 

It might be useful to "bucket" hardware by speed/ability but it's not good for picking the best product within a given bucket.

 

#Oct 10th @ 7:41 PM
JoshRoss
JoshRoss
A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent.

Wasn't the Windows 7 index extended to accommodate the faster hardware currently available?  I used to enjoy building my own computer.  However, I have discovered that I pay too much and get strange compatibility issues between a random selection of components.

 

With all benchmarks being equal, I would rather use one that was present on all windows machines.  It also helps having a scale with a small range of possible outcomes.  Something like 5.5, 4.2, 5.0 is easier to contend with than three comparable five digit numbers.

 

All created are equal, some more equal than others.

 

The review sites are good for reviewing individual components, and not so good at rating complete systems.

#Oct 11th @ 4:43 AM
LeoDavidson
LeoDavidson

It's been extended but I think the result is just more buckets that newer hardware can be put into. High end cards will still get a 7.9 score even if one is better than the other.

 

My old 8800 card gets a 6.9 score for both Aero and gaming graphics while all my other old hardware gets a 5.9 score. (In Vista I think they all got 5.9, which was the maximum then.) There's definitely bucketing going on.

 

I don't think those numbers are designed to help enthusiasts choose hardware. They seem to be more to give less technical users a rough idea when they want to know if their machine is up to running particular software, or if they want to know which components may desperately need upgrading (rather than the ones that could be upgraded to get another 10 fps in Crysis).

 

#Oct 12th @ 6:27 AM
spivonious
spivonious

If you're looking to get the cheapest machine you can, then just buy the cheapest Dell/HP/Whatever and make sure it has at least 2GB of RAM.

 

If you're looking for the best bang for the buck, then build your own machine. You can build an absolutely killer gaming machine right now for under $1000. Check out sites like Anandtech, Tom's Hardware Guide for reviews on components.

 

If you're looking for a laptop, then get the cheapest one you can that fits size and weight criteria.

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