Need help with new machine, dissapointing results

[caldezar]

I've recently upgraded my processor and video card, and I'm not seeing anywhere near the performance I should from my hardware:

Gigabyte S-Series MB with nForce 570 (GA-M57SLI-S4)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Asus 384MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO
2 Gig's DDR2 RAM (2 x 1Gig)
SATA2 HDD
Fresh Windows XP Home Install

I upgraded from an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and a 256MB 7600GT. However I really didn't see much of an upgrade in performance while playing Vanguard. I thought it might be software related so I flashed the BIOS, completely flattened the hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP Home. I'm STILL not seeing the performance I should. My 3DMark06 scores are as follows:

Running 3DMark06 in 1026x768 with 2 Sample AA:

Total Score: 5929

SM2.0 Score: 2388

 

[mikeynavy1976]

Have you updated our drivers (including chipset) and have you optimized the BIOS settings?

 

[royalcrown]

I hate to tell you this but your scores are roughly where they should be, you want higher scores, get a proper 8800 gt/gts my I get just under 9900 3d mark 06 default settings same res.

 

[caldezar]

It's my understanding that the 9600GSO is simply a repackaged 8800GS with 9 series options on it. This means it's not top of the line, but certainly not a bad card at all. I'm not expecting it to SCREAM through everything, but I certainly expected more than it's shown me thus far. But I also jumped from a single core 3800+ to a dual core 6000+. I certainly expected that to push my performance higher than it is. (although that wouldn't be reflected quite as much in the 3DMark score) With our machines close to identical, aside from the card, I am certainly surprised if the card jump from a GS to GT alone is enough to see almost double the score on yours vs. mine.

As for BIOS tweaking, I've never really played around with that before. I know enough about the BIOS settings to know I could get myself in to trouble messing with it. Any basic tips if I were to change a few things?

Another interesting side note about my video card is that I read somewhere that the 384MB is actually a software limited number, and that it's possible to unlock up to 512MB. I was a bit skepticle about the plausibility of that, but upon inspecting the card itself, I do see that there are 8 RAM chips on the card, instead of the 6 you'd expect to see for 384MB. Anyone know if that rumor is true?

 

[royalcrown]

I appologize about the proper card remark, i meant it towards Nvidia and their stupid idea to call an 8 series part 9xxx, I think that is misleading. I was gonna buy an 8800gs, till I found the 9600 was 10 bucks more, but then I read the 8800gt 512 review on www.anandtech.com and it changed my mind.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140

I decided on the gts for the big cooler !


I run mine stock, so i dunno about overclocking tips, bit it is easy to do I hear.

I get that score w stock everything btw, cpu stock speed too. But if you read up on the 8800gts 512 you'll see why my system scores so much higher. It crushed everything except the 8800gt and gts...

Don't feel bad though because with an e8400 I could get around a 50 percent increase in fps (according to the cpu charts). your card is a good match for your cpu, better than mine is. I got the cheap ecs one fyi.

 

[caldezar]

So I turned off the AMD 'Cool & Quiet' in the BIOS and updated my drivers. I ran 3DMark06 again in 1280x1024 and my score is 5880. I just can't get past this feeling wrong.

Something I've noticed is the CPU tests on 3DMark06 never reach higher than 1FPS on test one, and no higher than 2FPS on test two. Is this normal?

 

[royalcrown]

Yes, it is normal, the tests are too much for ANY cpu to get good fps yet.