Low FPS and 3D Mark Results for Geforce 8800 GTX

Hello everyone,

I have just recently bought and build my own computer system. Included is my new Geforce 8800 GTX video card. My system is almost identical to the one listed here on TomsHardware as the Mid-Cost system. However, when I run the game F.E.A.R. and 3D Mark 06' I get low fps and Marks than the system listed on this website and others with a similar build. Could someone give me insight as to what the problem may be? The mid-cost system on this site lists it's fps on F.E.A.R. as around 180-190ish. No AA/AF. However I only get around 40-50fps. And 3D Mark lists scores around 13-15k for computers with similar specs. Here are my computer specs and Benchmark results.

Windows Vista
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.4ghz (my cpu seems to average around 50 C. Is that too hot for this CPU?)
2GB Cosair Dominator @ 1033mhz
Samsung SCSI 500GB @ 7200rpm
EVGA nForce 680sli MotherBoard
EVGA Geforce 8800 GTX (with 163.69 Forceware Vista 32-bit)
OCZ 700W PSU
Samsung 22" Widescreen SyncMaster 226BW

3D Mark Results

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 11031 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4521 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4872 Marks
CPU Score 3286 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 38.048 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 37.306 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 1.079 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 1.601 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 48.162 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 49.282 FPS


Thank you.

that seems exactly right if you ask me...

with the following specs i get just over 12,000 3dmarks

8800 ultra stock
Q6600 at 3ghz
680i
2 gig corsair ram
350 gig wd hard drive
ocz 700 watt psu

12k for your rig seems low to me.

I get 11k with:

Q6600 3ghz
2gb SLI Memory 800mhz 4-4-4-15-1T
7950GX2
2x WD3200AAKS RAID0

OCZ 600watt PSU

1k points difference between a £150 card and a £350+ card?

Yah, im the top guy with a 7950gx2 lol... unfortuantly I cant save it on there though since im using beta drivers.

Later on ill put my CPU up to 3.4 and my GPU to 540/1300 and see what my score is, should be about 11.5k - 12k.

Hi, I ran some FEAR Tests again using the In-Game Benchmark here is what I got.

Frames per Second: 30

FEAR : Maximum CPU settings
Maximum Graphics Settings with soft shadows off
Resolution: 1024x768
(Basically same setup as Toms Hardware's FEAR test)

I was using Core Temp 0.95 to get a reading of my idle temps Here it is:

Core 0: 61C
Coer 1: 52c
Core 2: 58c
Core 3: 51c

BIOS CPU Temp: 53C

Could a hot CPU really be affecting FPS that much? I would think that the CPU could perform even at higher temps. What could be the problem with my FEAR fps? Would a 10C drop really boost Frames up to 100 for FEAR? It's pretty frustrating that I spent $2600 on this new computer and boasting only 30fps at max settings.

I ran my 8800GTX OC and got 220 max FPS. I think yours should be much higher given you have a quad core.

If you have one core hitting 61 at idle it may be possible that you are getting hot enough under load to be throttling.

I'll repeat what I said earlier. In my opinion the q6600 or q anything available right now needs a better HSF than the stock unit.

Tuniq Tower, Thermalright 120 , ThermalTake Big Tyhphoon , and even my big and good OCZ VINDICATOR

What about vsync? If he's getting EXACTLY 30 frames, could there be some of vsync setting? (I know that normally vsync locks the system at 60, but mabe??)

I think that your 3dMark score is a bit low, but what is significant is the fact that your FEAR score is way too low.

1) First of all you should update your video drivers to 163.75 but first you have to uninstall completely the old ones. I think that Guru3D has a handy tool for this purpose. Better use it in safe mode, having already uninstalled your old nVidia drivers from Control Panel. I forgot to mention that before doing the update you should install the KB940105 update. Also try updating your M/B BIOS.

2) Another thing I noticed is that you are using a SCSI HD. I would try changing the slot of the SCSI controller in case something strange is going on with IRQ sharing between it and the 8800GTX. It's rare, but I would give a try.

My rig is a Q6600 at 3.4 (378x9) my Ram is at 756MHz 4-4-4-5 on an ASUS Commando board. My eVGA 8800GTX is mildly overclocked to 609 / 1900 and in Vista Ultimate 32 bit using 163.75 in 3dMark 06 at 1280x1024 noAA noAF and 69 running processes, I get:

3DMark Score 12941 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score 5255 Marks

SM 3.0 Score 5187 Marks

CPU Score 4936 Marks


Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 44.42 FPS

2 - Firefly Forest 43.168 FPS



CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 1.638 FPS

CPU2 - Red Valley 2.38 FPS



HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 48.468 FPS

2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 55.278 FPS


In XP 32 bit it scored 12,788


For your info, my CPU running Prime 4 cores, after 8 hours with closed case I have:
Core0: 64
Core1: 63
Core2: 66
Core3: 65

I'm at 3402 MHz G0 stepping at 1.3625 Volts using a ThermalRight Ultra 120 Extreme with an OCZ silver thermal paste (I don't remember the exact name).

Ok, I think like you guys have been saying, it may be my cpu throttling back due to high temp. I ran FEAR again with a 2.8ghz overclock on my cpu. And I received an average of 32 fps. But at 2.8ghz here is my idle temps

Core Temp: 0.95.4

Core 0: 75C
Core 1: 68C
Core 2: 67C
Core 3: 68C

Then when I load Prime95 and FEAR for a few minutes, here is what I get.

Core 0: 83C
Core 1: 73C
Core 3: 72C
Core 4: 77C

Could these temps be throttling back my CPU and bottlenecking my GPU?

Thank you.

I'm just using Intel Stock Heatsink and Fan