3Dmark06 -> 5445 for HD3870 on Vista x64 !?

No the signature didn't fit.. so here it goes:

CPU: AMD A64 X2 4400+ EE (socket AM2) Box
MB: MicroStar K9A Platinum, ATI RD580/SB600, 2xPCIe-CF, 1394
RAM: GEIL 2x1GB DDR2 PC800 (GX22GB6400UDC) *BK
VGA: MicroStar RX3870-T2D512E-OC (PCIE, 512MB, 256bit, 2xDVI+
CASE: Thermaltake VC2561 MAMBO (VC2000 + 560W PSU 14cm fan)
DVD: LG SuperMulti GSA-H42L, Retail LightScribe B+W
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ES ST3250620NS - 250GB SATA3G 16MB
HDD: Maxtor One Touch III Turbo - 1.5TB RAID USB&FW800 16MB

560W

Msost likely the card isnt getting enough power. Amps on the 12v rail is most important.

Well since it came with the case then 99% its junk and cant power the 3870.

There should be a sticker on the PSU itself.

I'll let somone else recommend. I'm not into the whole crossfire/sli hype.

Ok.. thanks anyway.. I was wandering what it might be.. I'm very much into a software but PSUs are pretty unknown to me.

If the video card wasn't getting enough power the computer would freeze up or shut off, not slow down the frame rate. Everyone goes right to the power supply <sigh>.

First thing, You have 2GB of ram and are using a 64bit OS, 2GB is very low for 64 bit simply because your 32bit programs will use double the memory that they did in 32 bit windows because they are running in 32 bit emulation mode. Plus! its vista, so the combination of those two things (64bit Vista) that will lower your score by a few hundred points compared to 32bit XP.

Second thing and most important, that cpu you have is old, its a 2.2Ghz Athlon. Chances are nothing is wrong with your computer, you are simply CPU bottlenecked. Even though you have a 3870, you simply will not score the same as someone running a Core 2 duo at 2.4 plus these days.

FHDelux:

Ok.. but that low ??

3DMark Score: 5445
SM2.0 Score: 2291
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 2313
CPU Score: 1670

regards,
Kate

roadrunner: It's working in games but I got a feeling that there are bursts of fan and also the performance.. so it bursts for a while and sometimes the framerate goes down for a while and then again..

It seems like I have to buy a new PSU AND a new CPU..

Would be the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ enough because that's that higher ranked AM2 CPU here (Czech Republic) ?

roadrunner: But I never played the Hellgate London before with this card so I don't know how the card usually performs.. Oblivion worked just fine around 45FPS for four hours (terminated by me).

Ok.. I found the results on the FutureMark itself (shame on me).. Thanks to all.. I'm going upgrade..

On the other hand..

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
ATI Radeon HD 3870
Vista

9968 ?

I guess it will be PSU after all..

On the (goddess Kali's) other hand..

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+
ATI Radeon HD 3870 (PCI-e 2.0, 512MB)
Microsoft Windows Vista

5709 ? (either a bigger loser or the PSU strikes again)

I guess I'll definitely try a PSU first.. then I'll try one by one anything.. thanks guys..

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=246653

This Forum post has a ton of people running athlons and good video cards, you can see for yourself. Most of the people scoring 10k 3dmarks are highly overclocked. That 3600+ you mentioned is probably running at 2.6Ghz or so. Heres someone who has a 4400+ overclocked to 2.65Ghz and a 3870 and they score a 9700 3dmark06.

http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php? [...] 5drhu2.jpg

Im not gonna say if you were to get your CPU to 2.6Ghz you would match that score but you would probably pick up 1k - 2k in points.


Before Overclock:
http://img186.imageshack.us/my.php [...] defvv6.jpg

After Overclock:
http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php [...] defcp7.jpg

I'm running a 939 3800x2 Overclocked - 2.5 with 3850 256meg and scored over 9200. Of course the PSU is no peice of junk and the card is overclocked to 730/2000 so listen to the Roadrunner.

Did you ever try using different drivers? Some ATI drivers don't fare well in 3dmark, and if you're games are playing the way you want them too then why bother changing anything.

Also, if the PC isn't crashing during gaming then I don't think it is the power supply. You said you played four straight hours of Oblivion right?

San Pedro: Right.. just running around actually.. I played it for real two (afair) years ago.. the Oblivion was fine.. but it's ok, I will need a new PSU somewhen anyway so it doesn't bother me that much. All I wanted to know if it is the card or something else.. and it seems it's the latter

I have a similar setup same 3870 and a amd 4400 just slightly overclocked to 2.4ghz and I get around 8k. My questions is what are your ram timings set at? No one seems to have asked that question. My mother board (biostar) resorted to the highest latency settings, perhaps yours did the same?

You have the same problem I had with my Asus mobo. Look at your HT speed on cpuid. It should be 1000. For some reason mine was locked at 1x200 (1x front side bus speed), even tho I set it to 5x manually in the BIOS. A BIOS update fixed the problem for me. I'm not sure what caused the problem to begin with, but my score went from 6400 to 11800.

(Not sure if it affect the 3dMark but still it is something)

Yes, you can try to change that in the BIOS. I'm not sure of where it would be with that chipset, but it's safe. And yes, it will have a large effect on 3Dmark and the overall feel of your computer, (even tho anything over 600 doesn't really seem to matter that much) especially if your running Vista. Really, I just went through the exact same issue, only I'm running the Nforce 590 chipset. That is why I think it's odd that your ATI chipset would have the same deal. Good luck

P.S. I'm also thinking that my previous BIOS update may be what started my fiasco. I just never looked a cpuid until sometime well after I noticed my 3dmark score was low. I could also change the multiplier with Ntune in windows, but again, you have a different chipset. I don't know if there is any software for you mobo.

Yup. It will definately affect your score. Try settin it in Bios.

Ok.. I'll try.. see you in a moment..

So optimized bios is a no-no.. I've noticed that there's option in my BIOS (check the pictures) High Performance Mode.. which is always set to manual and it can be switched to optimized (but there's a warning for reliability so I never switched it). Can I go for it ?

inglburt: I reset the CMOS already because I've got one of my RAM faulty when I bought the configuration (already exchanged). Moreover I didn't installed the BIOS it was preinstalled..

I'm going to try default BIOS options now..