7600GS 512MB Performance Problem

[mdsharpe]

Hello!

I got a new 7600GS 512MB yesterday, and I am a bit concerned about my 3DMark06 score. Here is what I've got:

Vista Ultimate x86
NVIDIA Forceware 162.22 WHQL
3DMark06: 1460

I have been on Futuremark ORB and seen people with slower CPUs, in Vista, getting scores of over 2000.

Is there any reason for my bad performance?
There is one other thing - CPU-Z says my PCI-Express is only going at 4x but is capable of 16x. I have put BIOS settings to default but it doesn't change.

Help!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[oswold]

Have you overclocked the GPU? That might be how others are scoring higher.

I expect the X4 pci-e could be an issue, but the pci-e bandwidth should not be a problem with a low-end GPU.

Disabled all the background apps?

 

[Heyyou27]

I doubt that PCIe 4x would bottleneck a card as slow as the 7600GS.

 

[brick88]

well you do score less in 3dmark06 while using vista. plus the people ahead of you might have overclocked their card while using xp. are you sure ur not mistaking ur card with a 7600gt?

 

[mdsharpe]

hey thanks for your replies.
I haven't overclocked the card - I hadn't thought that that might be how others are scoring higher.
I am not mistaking the card for a GT.
I will stop worrying about the x4 PCI-Express

 

[mdsharpe]

well i have since uninstalled '06 and installed 3dmark05.
i have also updated my drivers to 163.11 beta - which has enabled pci-express x16.

still,
in 3dmark05 i get 2560

 

[randomizer]

Well, you are using Vista

Btw, please list all your specs, it makes it easier to diagnose a problem.

 

[mdsharpe]

Hi randomizer!

CPU: Pentium 4 3.0 GHz Hyperthreading
RAM: 2 GB DDR400
Mobo: Asrock P4VM890
GFX: GeForce 7600 GS 512 MB

 

[randomizer]

Well that system is hardly a high powered system for starters (but I'd love to have 2Gb RAM). Have you run 3dmark05/06 since you updated the drivers and enabled PCIe 16x? I still have a feeling it could be vista slowing you down as well. Could you post your results online and link the results here, that will give us alot of detail about your system and also comparisons with other similar systems?

 

[mdsharpe]

Well that system is hardly a high powered system for starters (but I'd love to have 2Gb RAM). Have you run 3dmark05/06 since you updated the drivers and enabled PCIe 16x? I still have a feeling it could be vista slowing you down as well. Could you post your results online and link the results here, that will give us alot of detail about your system and also comparisons with other similar systems?

Hi there.
I will try and do that later, but I thought I would mention something that I discovered with help from guys on guru3d.com - some of the pipelines on my card are closed. I have no idea why! But it is surely the cause of my slow performance!

 

[randomizer]

The pipelines are closed because thats just how they are meant to be, the manufacturer didnt make a mistake by doing that. It's how they make lower end cards without having to make totally new chips for them, they simply deactivate parts of more powerful chips. It is quite likely that the 3dmark scores that others were getting with the card are higher because they unlocked those pipelines, but I guarentee most people who upload their results would not have done that. It is an excellent way to boost performance significantly, but it is by no means guarenteed to be successful. It is possible that the deactivated (or 'locked') pipelines are faulty, meaning you may get artifacting or a completely screwed up card if you unlock them. It is also entirely possible that the locked pipelines are fully functional and just waiting to pump out some frames!

 

[blashyrkh]

Still guys, he is only getting 2560 in 3D mard05? That seems extremely low. Could winXP and Vista have such a huge gap? With my system which is sub mid-range (3800+ single core with 1GB ddr333 and a 7800GTX 256MB) i'm getting 7500 in 3Dmark05 and 8500 overclocked (in default settings). All that in win XP. Mate, try installing winXP cause it doesn't look like your system can handle Vista properly.

 

[homerdog]

As far as I know the 7600gs doesn't have any "locked" pipelines. It's identical to the 7600gt but with lower clocks. I could be wrong though.

 

[randomizer]

Yea but your card is far more powerful. Video card horsepower is important for 05 and especially 06.