Have you ever been poking around your Windows Vista computer, found the Windows Experience Index score and wonder what the heck it is? One thing that might confuse people is that your overall score is the lowest of all the ratings and not an average. For example, you may have a 5.1 for the processor speed, a 4 for ram and a 2 for graphics which is the lowest but your overall score is 2.
The answer is pretty simple. The idea behind rating is to help you out when you install software on your computer and ensure you will know what to expect when you buy and install a video game or utility. In the past, when people bought games, the needed to make sure their video card was good enough, processor was fast enough and so forth. The number system solves this. If you buy a Vista video game rated at a minimum 5, every category in your system should be a 5 or greater otherwise you will possibly have issues. Whether it may be ram, processor, or video, you game will lag because the rating is lower than what is expected. If you buy a game and it’s rating is a 3 and your overall average score is 5, you be able to play the game with no issues.
Hope this helps you understand why this rating system is in your computer. If anything, it is a way to brag to friends when your number is bigger than theirs.