Windows 7 x64 Performance Rating – Its all about the Numbers!

So, it is no secret that I use Apple Refurbished Mac Pro’s as my desktops at home and in the office.  I use a Lenovo x301 and a macbook pro for laptops.  That being said, my operating system of choice is not OS X, it is Windows 7 – ever since the earlier beta releases through the RTM which was announced a few days back.  I had some free time on my hands yesterday and decided to take a look at the ever so meaningless Performance Rating numbers.  My system ranked in at a 5.8 out of a possible 7.9…but why?

My Config:

• Mac Pro – 8 Core – Refurb – GREAT DEAL!
• 8gb RAM
• Corsair P256 – 256gb SSD Drive
• NVidia Geforce 8800

I should be getting the highest numbers possible…but NO…5.8.  The reason was that the Graphics and Gaming Graphics were low…everything else was pretty much the same as it is now…screen shot below.  I figured something wasn’t right…this machine should SCREAM.  I went ahead and downloaded NVidia’s latest drivers for Windows 7 x64 and installed them right away.  The first surprise, I did not have to reboot after the installation.  The drivers installed and things were running normally.  I, of course, went ahead and checked the systems rating again.  The score had now jumped to 6.7, with the lowest rating going to the Corsair SSD drive.  The graphcs and gaming graphics had both jumped up to 6.8.  WHOA!  Could it be possible?  I had to make sure I was not hallucinating and thus like any other good PC user I rebooted and ran the tests again.  Same Results.

I am now a happy camper because my system rating is on the HIGH side…but did things actually improve?  I cant see a bit of difference..my games still work as they did before, my videos still look good, everything is the same…but my rating is higher.  In the end, Its all about the numbers!

I hope you liked this little blurb…please share your experiences via the commenting system (high tech verbiage for comments).  And now the screen shot.