How Does The CPU Score Correlate With User Experience?

As with graphics, Microsoft feels it is helpful to consider how user experiences would map to the core computation score.

• < 2.0  means the processor is extremely slow and not well suited for a Windows 7 experience.
   
• 2.0 to 2.9 maps to single-tasking “every day” computing scenarios such as reading mail, browsing the web, editing Word documents and PowerPoint slides, and editing basic spreadsheets.
  - With this class of processors, even the most basic things can push the CPU to high utilization levels.
  - Multi-tasking will contend for CPU time in a manner that causes notable responsiveness issues.
  - Some websites that make heavy use of Flash, Silverlight, or Java may run poorly.
  - Audio ripping takes a noticeably longer time than on faster systems and pushes the system to long periods of 100% CPU utilizations. Even simple video encoding tasks are not very practical.
   
• 3.0 to 3.9 maps to basic multi-tasking “every day” computing tasks. 
  - There is enough CPU capacity to do basic multi-tasking. For example, background printing would not interfere with a foreground task. Everyday tasks generally do not push the processor to high utilizations, but there may be noticeable responsiveness issues occasionally due to contention for CPU time.
  - Flash, Silverlight and Java-heavy websites run acceptably well.
  - Audio-ripping performance is acceptable, though it may not be effective to let this happen in the background.
  - Video encoding tasks such as encoding a consumer camera AVI video for a portable media device  are practical; but may take a bit long. For example, encoding a 20 second clip may take about 40 seconds on a 3.9 processor and much longer on a 3.0.
   
• 4.0 to 4.9 maps to a robust every day computing and good multi-tasking experiences.
  - “Every day” computing tasks, even when multi-tasking, do not push the CPU to high utilizations.
  - Responsiveness due to contention for CPU time is rarely a problem.
  - Audio-ripping performs well and can be done in the background without adversely affecting basic tasks like web browsing, even on sites with Flash, Silverlight or Java.
  - Flash, Silverlight and Java-heavy websites run very smoothly.
  - Video encoding tasks run well on these system; on the faster systems, videos can be encoded in times shorter than the length of the clip.
  - Basic games are not CPU-limited, but the more demanding ones are.
   
• 5.0 to 5.9 maps to a robust multi-tasking experience.
  - “Every day” computing tasks, audio ripping, and video encoding do not push the CPU to even moderate utilizations.
  - It is very practical to rip audio and encode video while doing other tasks.
  - Things that leverage multi-core processing show good scaling as compared to 4.X including Excel, image processing, and compiling software. All but the most demanding games are not CPU-limited.
   
• 6.0 to 6.9 and 7.0 to 7.9 give the user an experience that is rarely CPU bound.
  - Multi-tasking is friction-free. On these systems, multi-core enabled applications and scenarios show major performance benefits over the lower levels.
  - Scenarios include very large Excel spreadsheets, sophisticated graphics rendering, software compiling and scientific applications.

There is a challenge with mapping triple-core processors to 6+ and quad-core processors to 7+ as there are currently few broadly-applicable scenarios that benefit from these high end processors. Microsoft has drawn the line between 5/6 and 6/7 based primarily on the performance associated with the number of cores. This allows room to accommodate improved hardware that may ship over the next few years.

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