Hey everyone, I just recently had my computer built JUST yesterday with all the parts I've finally assembled. The final build is

Q6600 @ 2.4
EVGA 8800GT KO
GA-P35-DS3R MOBO
4 Gigs Cruicial Ballistix DDR2 800 RAM (just gettin ready for Vista)
500gig HDD from Western Digital SATA
700Watt OCZ PSU
Windows XP Professional 32bit

Now when I got it back, I was expecting mind blowing speeds and graphics, I'm comign from a 3.2ghz Pentium and a 6800GT AGP video card and so far, my games are running relatively the same FPS. I downloaded the 3DMark06 benchmark application, and I'm only using the trial version, but I'm posting a score 4389. Now, would that score be higher if I got a registered version and it did more tests? I don't know, but my spider sense is tingling on this one.

I've downloaded all the up to date drivers for the motherboard and graphics card. All the other drivers are up to date, but I think those two are the most important. If there's any info you need, just ask and I'll try to get it to you as quickly as I can. Thanks for your help!

You should be getting at least 9500 in 3dMark06. And that's on the lower end (underestimating).

Download CPU-Z (It's free), and check that everything is registering properly.

You should be seeing over twice that score. I get just under 12000 with a 2900XT. You should also be scoring higher than me on the CPU portion. Here is the link from mine:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=3256902

That should give you an idea of where you should be starting.

Wow, and I was complaining of getting 4500 with my 7900GS KO

Well, I think you would be better downloading all your drivers and burning them to a CD. Then format your PC and install windows again, install all your drivers+windows updates and then install your antivirus, antispyware security suites etc. Finally install 3dmark and run to see.

Dont install beta drivers, I suggest you stick with WHQL.

Ok, so I'm NOT going crazy then. How can I tell if it's my CPU vs. my video card? I'm using onboard sound if that makes any difference in the 3dMark. And it sounds like it shouldn't matter if I'm just using the free version of 3Dmark either. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your replies.

Trial makes no difference. The default test is exactly the same.

Techgeek, quick question, I was comparing our mark scores and on the AGP rates (I know we use PCI-E) but yours says (Current/Avaliable) 16x/NA while mine says 1x/NA. Does that mean anything or is that only in relation to a AGP slot which my MOBO doesn't have. Also it doesn't state my video cards core & memory clock speeds even though I read through Ntune that the core is 675, while the memory speed is 975. I hope I'm not getting paranoid and have to send in the mobo OR the gpu. I'm gonna die

Last time I saw something like this was because windows does not recognize the additional cpu cores automatically. You should check that (can use the task manager to see the loads of each core, if you only see 1, you have a problem).

I had this problem with my build: q6600 ga-p35-dq6 8800gtx...

at first it was problems with power (850watt antec quattro true power had faulty negative 5v line) so once that unit was replaced it went up to 8-9k. if your psu was faulty you'll get a message upon boot saying your gfx card isnt getting enough power or something so i dont think this is the problem you are having.

then at around 8-9k i thought it was slower than i was expecting from my 8800gtx, so with a combination of overclocking cpu(3.33ghz) and 8800gtx (648mhz core/1022x2 mhz mem) i stopped trying to tweak at a satisfying 14k 3dmark06 score.

if you want a good performance in games, dont get a q6600. you will either need to put up with cpu being a bottleneck or overclock it well beyond its default clock with aftermarket cooling. even at 3.33ghz my cpu is still bottleneck of my computer.

also ensure your 3dmark06 settings are at default.

Umm...my X2 4200+ @ 2.7Ghz and Radeon x1800xt 256mb scores higher than that...so yes, there is most definetly something wrong with your computer.

1x would lead me to believe the bandwidth on your pci-e lane is not at 16x.

Post a CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshot.

I have a VERY similar system to the TC's (I'm running 64-bit Vista, 550W PSU, and a 320GB HDD), and I get around 11,922. So, yes, there is certainly something wrong.

I appreciate your replies. Umm, my task manager shows 4 cores running so looks like the CPU isn't the thing in question, however (I'm a noob and trying to figure out how to post images on here) but on the CPU-Z program, when I went to the mainboard tab and on the graphic interface, it said 'Link Width x1' and 'Max Supported '16x' So maybe something isn't right with the pci-e configuration or something. If you have any quick hints as to how to post a screen shot, that would be great

Alright, so it's something definitely wrong with either my mobo or video card. I was going over Techgeek's and my scores, and my CPU score was higher than his, but my video card tests blew chunks. So definitely something is wrong with the connection somehow. The bandwidth on my GPU-Z reads 62.4GB/s, but I have a feeling it has somethign to do with the Link Width 1x.

I would try reseting the BIOS to default. Then test to see if that helps?

Whatever it is, please post in this thread what the problem was, and what fixed it when you find out.

Is the PCI-E slot running @ x1 or x16 according to GPU-Z? Cause another guy in these forums says his is stuck @ x1 in his computer, and every other card he plugged in worked at full x16 except the 8800gt. So it could be a faulty card. If indeed the PCI-E says it's running at x1, try to set it a x16 in the BIOS; if that doesn't work, RMA the little guy.

If that's the problem, that makes a lot of sense. I was going to suggest checking the ram settings in bios to make sure it's running properly.

go to bias and manul set your pci express to 100 or 101, do not leave at auto. this problem happened lot when people overclock their cpu.

That is a good idea, but his CPU is at stock 2.4Ghz according to his OP. Plus I don't think the PCI-E slot goes below 100Mhz, I think it just starts to climb dangerously higher...