If you have purchased or chekcing out to purchase a new PC, you must have noticed that “faster graphics” and “great performance” are some of the key selling points as of today. Traditionally graphics performance has been measured and analyzed through 3D games but it also impacts what we call “desktop scenarios” - such as when you are using the Windows UI, moving or maximizing windows, or scrolling within Word or IE etc. The performance requirements for these desktop scenarios are quite different from3D games. In fact, this is the reason in Windows Vista Experience Index (WinEI) we give you rating for these two scenarios separately, highlighted in the image:

This post discusses various aspects of graphics performance - both gaming and desktop graphics performance. It calls out the changes made in Windows 7 to address user feedback as well as to take advantage of modern hardware to improve graphics performance.

Full Article: e7