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Low 3Dmark 06 score with 9600 GT

Darren

New Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
1,936 (0.26/day)
System Name Cheap yet powerful gaming and entertainment rig!
Processor AMD Athlon 3800+ X2 Windsor, 1 MB L2 Cache (512k L2 Per Core), 65W Energy efficient, 2GHz @ 2.78 Ghz
Motherboard Asrock ALiveNF7G-HD720p Rev v5.0
Cooling Freezer 64, 2x120mm, 1x92mm
Memory 8 GB DDRII PC6400 @ 929 MHz OCZ (2GBx4) timing: 5-5-5-5-16-2T
Video Card(s) XFX ATI4830
Storage Seagate 320 GB SATA (16 MB Cache)
Display(s) 19' HannsG (1440x900 @ 75hz)
Case Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Meridian, Pioneer VSX-516 Receiver 7.1 with DD/DD EX/Prologic II/DTS/DTS-ES//DTS: Neo
Power Supply Cool Master eXtreme Power 460W PSU
Software Vista Ultimate X64 Corporate Edition
I'm getting extremely low scores benchmarking in 3D mark 2006 and scored a crappy 5440. Although my CPU is a huge bottle neck I'm sure my score should be a few hundred points higher.

I've tried everything! re-installed Nvidia's driver v175.16 twice, re-installed chipset drivers, reseated my graphics card. GPU-z states I'm getting a full PCI-E 16x @ 16x :mad:

I found a thread where someone has a similar spec to mine (graphics card and CPU wise) and he has managed to get a full 8118 points in 3d mark 2006:banghead:

Done running 3dMark06 and the result was 8118 points. Normal result? What about updating chipset drivers; have never updated them before so they are kinda out of date.....
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=57460
 
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i am almost sure its your CPUs fault. 3dmark06 is equally graphic card as its cpu dependent
 
You are running a 2ghz processor on a motherboard that can't overclock. The score seems to fit. Btw, have you installed the latest VIA chipset drivers?
 
I got a higher score with my 7900GS @715/1000 with CPU @ 2.8ghz and even higher with 3.1ghz
 
i have a non overclockable mobo and i had a sempron 3400 1.8Ghz single core with a 8600GTS and got a score of 4000 now im up to 6500 with a amd athlon 5600 X2 .. it IS your cpu that is causing this low score , im 95% sure of it !
 
i am almost sure its your CPUs fault. 3dmark06 is equally graphic card as its cpu dependent

Maybe but it's still on the low side even for a 3800+ X2. There is a guy in another thread with similar CPU to mine and scores alot higher than me! (see quote and thread below)

Done running 3dMark06 and the result was 8118 points. Normal result?
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=57460 <--- his specs states he is running a 3800+ X2 as well! yet he scores 8118 but I score 5440 :mad:


You are running a 2ghz processor on a motherboard that can't overclock. The score seems to fit. Btw, have you installed the latest VIA chipset drivers?

I've installed the latest VIA chipset driver and no luck:mad:


What is your scores of SM2.0 and SM3.0?

I cant remember, BRB 20mins I'm going to run the 3Dmark 06 again and provide a few screen shots.
 
ktr, I ran the test again and here are the results.

SM2.0 score is 2433
SM3.0 score is 2169
 
ktr, I ran the test again and here are the results.

SM2.0 score is 2433
SM3.0 score is 2169

Have you overclocked you card?

This is what I get with a little OC (set my clocks to the alpha dog edition of my card).

3DMark Score------8010
SM2.0 Score-------3590
HDR/SM3.0 Score--4058
CPU Score---------1670

You have a bottleneck, and I would say that the VIA chipset on you board is the one to blame.
 
I decided to buy a new "ASrock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 R3.0" motherboard and my scores improved, I'm now getting a score of 6223 @ PCI-E 8x and 7200 @ PCIE-16x. :)


But now I have another issue.:banghead:

The motherboard came with a PCI-E switch card, when using the switch card I get a full 16x PCI-E bandwidth but my computer becomes really unstable, for example games would lock up after a certain amount of time in games and 3dmark 06 would crash during testing, usually on CPU test 2. However when removing the PCI-E switch card only get 8x PCI bandwidth and games are 100% stable and I don't get any crashes during 3Dmark 06.

I've got the latest South Bridge drivers installed and latest Nvidia Drivers and it's definitely a hardware issues as my old ASUS M2V motherboard was 100% stable in both games and 3D Marks with the same graphics card @ 16x PCI-E.

Edit: Has anyone got any sugguestions I'm at a loss. I've got the latest MB Bios BTW


Also you don't have to worry that the PCIe bandwidth is at 8x cause with a single card like 9600GT is enough but you should try the video card on another sistem and of course with another VGA on your mobo.

Even at 8x performance is great but you can understand that I want my moneys worth. If I cant get this board at 16x stable I'm going to return it for a SLI board.
 
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Keeping in mind those so poor scores (around 2000 points at SM2 & SM3)it's a conflict between VGA and mobo or maybe(it happens very rare but it happens that the VGA has some hardware problems)cause your cpu is far away from such a bottleneck area cause mine wich is almost similar (X2 4000+ @ 2,1GHz and a Gainward 9600GT all stock obtain 7400and if I clock the CPU at 3Ghz and the video card, it achieves 10k )
 
Also you don't have to worry that the PCIe bandwidth is at 8x cause with a single card like 9600GT is enough but you should try the video card on another sistem and of course with another VGA on your mobo.
 
So I was correct on my assumption that the VIA chipset it the bottleneck. As for the switch card, I dunno. I really don't take asrock to be some high quality stuff.
 
So I was correct on my assumption that the VIA chipset it the bottleneck. As for the switch card, I dunno. I really don't take asrock to be some high quality stuff.



Actually it's an ATI chip (ATI 480X) and it's a known fact that between older ATI chipsets and nVidia cards appear many conflicts and bottlenecks.
 
So in conclusion Darren you'll get out of this problems if you change the mobo cause now you find many good mobo for AM2 at exceptional prices and if I have to make a suggestion you find Biostar Tforce 560 or Gigabyte mobos at really good prices and you remain with asrock mobo and can make another pc with an ATI VGA.
 
After spending two days uninstalling drivers, re-installing drivers, flashing GPUs to different manufacture types such as EVGA, ASUS's and XFX bioses I finally called it quits and put back my old x1600 Pro.

I'm undecided whether to keep my motherboard and buy a 3870 or to keep my 9600 GT and get a new motherboard with SLI.

PS. would a SLI motherboard give me problems with a future ATI GPU?

Edit:

Thanks Ekklesis, I think I'll keep the 9600 GT as i've had it over a week now and therefore it would be difficult to return plus I would have to pay for postage. The motherboard I've had for only 2 days so return it shouldn't be too difficult and this particular company pick up faulty products free of charge. Whether I go SLI or not is based on my budget, I would like to reassurance of sticking in another card next year when games become more demanding but I only have around £50 to spend. The motherboard also needs good over clocking support, such as locking the PCI buses.
 
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After spending two days uninstalling drivers, re-installing drivers, flashing GPUs to different manufacture types such as EVGA, ASUS's and XFX bioses I finally called it quits and put back my old x1600 Pro.

I'm undecided whether to keep my motherboard and buy a 3870 or to keep my 9600 GT and get a new motherboard with SLI.

PS. would a SLI motherboard give me problems with a future ATI GPU?


SLI motherboards run well with ATI GPU's but my advice is:or to buy an 3870 but a better solution is to buy a mobo without SLI (just a Nforce 560 for example)and it's more cheaper solution than buying a 3870 and in that manner you'll have slightly better performance than with 3870
 
I've found two boards which I can afford both of which support SLI

Gigabyte AM2 nVidia MCP55P ATX 8Ch Audio GLan £55.29 inc vat

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...Mode=1&NavigationKey=11143,405090000,43850000

and

Asustek AM2 nForce 570 SLI ATX Audio Dual Lan DDR11 £63.37 inc vat

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...Mode=1&NavigationKey=11143,405090000,43850000

Both boards appear to have the basic expected features, unfortunately none specify whether you can lock the PCI bus or whether SLI works at a full 16x.

PS. theoretically would a 9600 GT work with a different type of Nvidia card such as 9800 GX2?


Edit 2: After a bit of searching around the Asus board has fixed PCI bus support unlike the Gigabyte board. I'm putting my order through within the hour unless someone else can find a better board within budget?
 
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If you really want a SLI mobo i recommend that Gigabyte model (GA-M57SLI-S4) cause in my experience with both asus and gigabyte mainstream models I found that gigabyte models are more better at OC than asus and I accentuate that I'm refering to mainstream models cause at high-end that situation is the same.No the SLI doesn't work with different GPU models and this mainstream chipsets(nForce 570SLI) are only offering single X16 PCIe mode or 2 x8 PCIe mode but I assure you that is more than enough for 2 mainstream models like 9600GT but two high-end models like 8800GTS or 9800GTX work fine,actually in real-life situations you don't feel the difference between two mainstream VGA in SLI both running at X16 or X8.
 
No the SLI doesn't work with different GPU models

In that case I think I'll skip on the SLI and look for a cheaper motherboard. PCI lock is important to me as I want to push my 3800+ X2 to it's peek.

Edit:

Indeed, I've heard of Biostars reputation and their quiet impressive from what I've heard. Unfortunately the website I'm ordering from Dabs.com doesn't sell Biostar's boards. If I order in the next couple of hours from Dabs there is a high probability my goods will arrive tomorrow :)

Edit 2:
i have a tforce 550 am2 and it runs great for me,and i've been able to push my cpu to its max and its only like 50 bucks!

Good to hear, does the tforce 550 have a bus lock?
 
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your cpu is definently a bottleneck, i would get an overclockable motherboard (biostar's are awesome cheap overclockiong boards, definently recommend em) and push that cpu higher
 
In that case I think I'll skip on the SLI and look for a cheaper motherboard. PCI lock is important to me as I want to push my 3800+ X2 to it's peek.



Well if that is what you want(I wanted the same for my X2 4000+ when I bought my mobo)the best mobo at mainstream that can OC exceptional is Biostar TF560 A2+ and all owners tell that the HTT can go up to 340-350MHz and that is really remarkable.


PS: actually all Biostar mobo are really great and more better than asus or gigabyte in the mainstream.
 
i have a tforce 550 am2 and it runs great for me,and i've been able to push my cpu to its max and its only like 50 bucks!
 
Darren you have here two cases and there are many more in which cheap biostar mobo's are able to bring amd X2 cpu's to the max frequency.
 
For example my rig based on a cpu almost similar to yours with a Biostar mobo and the CPU clocked to 3GHz and a GeForce 9600GT clocked achieve 10000 in 3DMark06 and I say that is fantastic for some components that are so cheap.
 
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