Help! Very low 3dMark score with 8800GT!

[d3lit3]

Hi,

I recently bought an Asus 8800GT (with the new cooler) to upgrade my computer. It runs games ok (but I was hoping for a bigger change from my old 7600GT TBH), so I decided to check if everything was alright by doing the 3dmark06 tests. And that's where I was surprised...

I got 6800 3dmarks on Vista x32, and 7500 on XP [Somewhere around 3000 with the SM2 and SM3 tests, and 1800 for the CPU test.]! With everyone getting 10000+, I'm kind of worried is something is wrong with my video card/mobo...

Here are my specs;

Case: Midtower Swing Silver 430w glass window
Motherboard: Gigabyte i945P/UDMA133/Sata 2/DDR 667
Processor: BOX Pentium D 3.2 Ghz 2mb Cache - 800mhz
RAM: Kingston DDR2 1Gb @ 667mhz
Hard Disc: SATA 250 Gb @ 7200rpm
Video Card: ASUS 512MB 8800GT Stock Speed
Monitor: Samsung Synmaster 193+

I know my CPU will kind of bottleneck the 8800gt, but not THAT much! I mean, even the guy in the link below got 9000 with an AMD Opteron!

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=185443&mpage=1&key=&#185443

Please help guys, I'm worried something is wrong. Btw someone said it might be my motherboard, something about it not having enough juice to power the 8800(?).

Help & thanks.

 

[d3lit3]

Oops sorry forgot to add, I replaced that PSU with a 560w ATX Favorite.

 

[Matt26LFC]

hey, no expert here, but u are running a Pentuim D and only a gig of RAM i shud imagine if u upgraded these you'd achieve nearer 10000

i only score around 2100 (CPU) and ive a core 2duo at 2.63 from 2.13

hopefully you'll get more replys, but i dont think u shud b scoring more imho

 

[d3lit3]

Sorry, forgot to add I have 2GB of RAM...

 

[keelintym]

Well, good news and bad news...

Good news? Your graphics card and CPU/Motherboard are performing on par with the score you're getting...

The bad news? Do a quick comparison search of your graphics card http://service.futuremark.com/orb/projectsearch.jsp and put in Pentium D for the CPU and 0 to 3200 for the speed... You'll find your XP score is actually very much in-line (and better) then those that have a similar setup.

Solution? Upgrade your processor to a C2D if your motherboard supports it... and if your motherboard doesn't support it? Upgrade both for a better score (and perhaps your memory as well if you have DDR1). And to clear the air on why the Opty was scoring so much better, well, the architecture is much better suited for games and even this upgrade would yield a better score (but a C2D would be a much better choice as its architecture is even better in most clock for clock comparisons).

Hope this helps!

 

[d3lit3]

Ok thanks, but on some forum I read some guy had a Pentium D 3.4 and an 8800GT and he got 9000...

 

[jjblanche]

Well, you can read pretty much anything. keelintym is on point.

 

[d3lit3]

Well, would overclocking my CPU to 3.4 help a bit?

 

[jjblanche]

Sure it would help...a bit.

 

[jjblanche]

Just out of curiosity, how old is that 3.2 (ie: when did you buy it)?

 

[quantumsheep]

Simple solution: get a decent cooler and overclock the hell out of that Pentium D. Will turn it into a bloody good (but power hungry) chip.

 

[IndigoMoss]

Yeah, like everyone else here is saying, it's your CPU. The Opterons score better, because they are better. All the Netburst CPUs sucked hard, I'd upgrade to a Pentium Dual Core if you want a very cheap, but ultimately much better solution. Just OC it to 3.0Ghz and see those numbers fly.

 

[Ironnads]

I'm kind of worried is something is wrong with my video card/mobo...

Here are my specs;

Case: Midtower Swing Silver 430w glass window

Help & thanks.

Yeah, (sigh) age old story ... it's the old "glass window" bogging your rig down.. I'd change it imediatly. As a quick fix you could try spraying it over with black paint..

 

[keelintym]

And the sarcasm just flies

As said before, overclock if you can for a cheap fix, but your long term solution will always be to get rid of the old P4 3.2 and toss in something much more serious <cough> C2D <cough>.

 

[purplerat]

Pentium D CPUs will definatly drag down your 3dMark along with all gaming performance. I have two systems, the one in my signature (actually I just sold it and am waiting for new parts) and another system with a PD820 (2.8 Ghz), 3GB DDR2, and a 8800GTS320MB. Compared to my main PC with lower clock speed (2.6Ghz vs 2.8Ghz), less and slower memory (2GB ddr vs 3GB ddr) and with almost identical GPUs (8800GTS 640 vs 320) the Pentium D system sucks. I never did any benchmarks between the two before I sold my main PC but it's not even close. Since I've been without my PC this week I've tried gaming on the Pentium machine and it's almost not even worth it compaired to what I'm used to. So ya I would recommend upgrading your CPU. I know it will be my next piority to upgrade my Pentium system. My board can't upgrade to a C2D so I'll probably go to a AMD X2 5000+BE and cheap motherboard for a total of about $175.

 

[d3lit3]

Ok thanks guys I'll buy a new CPU when I get the green . 2 more questions.

What frequency should/can I overclock my Pentium D to (so it doesn't explode)?

What's the safest way to do it?

 

[random1283]

For pentium Ds go with FSB ocing and try test it to the max it wont get damaged unless you screw with the voltage.

 

[d3lit3]

So should I OC it to 3.4, or 3.6?

 

[caspian21]

Everybody is correct, it is your processor. I have the same processor and graphics card and get 7400 on 3dmark 06. I was going to upgrade but when you run newer games in higher resolutions, the Pentium D 940 still doesn't cause much of a limitiation, certainly not to the extent it does in benchmarks. (Doesn't mean I don't want a new E6750 or Q6600 though!)

 

[d3lit3]

Well, I run games at 1280x1024, does it cause a limitation ?

 

[physx7]

To the OP,

Is your mobo a SLI one? Some other person on a forum had the problem with low scores with an 8800 gt. And it turned out he put it into the 8x or 4x PCI-E slot instead of the 16x slot.
Unless both of yours are x16 if you have SLI or Crossfire.

Just a suggestion........................

 

[caspian21]

I also run my games at 1280x1024 and don't have another rig to compare it to. I have searched all over for a decent benchmark but all the comparisons are done at resolutions such as 800x600 with low settings. Nothing like 12x10 with high settings like we are running with the 8800gt. Anybody have an idea what the difference might be on a newer game like Crysis? I am sure the OP also gets around 35fps on high settings with 10x12. Would this increase much with a better processor?

 

[d3lit3]

No, my mobo is old so probably it's not SLI.