WinSAT: Vista's Built-in Benchmark
Windows Vista will contain a Microsoft-embedded benchmark, known as WinSAT (Windows System Assessment Tool.) WinSAT serves several purposes:
* It's a tool for OEM system providers to help enable them to meet Windows Vista logo requirements
* WinSAT runs during the Vista setup procedure, to determine if the system is capable of running the Aero 3D user interface and compositing system.
* Users can run it as a rough guide to performance of Vista on their system, as well use it for a system diagnostic
WinSAT ships in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. The 32-bit version will not run under 64-bit Vista. It will even run on Windows XP, though due to differences in the way the benchmarks run, the results aren't really comparable. WinSAT runs a suite of tests based on what Windows Vista does. For example, there's an encryption test using Vista's own AES encryption engine. It's important to understand that WinSAT is neither a synthetic benchmark, nor is it an application-based benchmark. It is a test of how Vista performs on specific hardware.
