Do I have a bottleneck?

[D055]

First of all - a big hello & massive thankyou to this community, especially graysky. With gaming in mind, I've just built my 1st PC since the 90s and had my 1st go at overclocking.
All the answers to my problems have been found here, (until now!)...and my build seems a success.
It's a Q6700 @ 3Ghz, with 4gb 800Mhz DDR2, and a 4870 Toxic GPU.
Asus PW5 DH Dleuxe mobo. 750W power.

My 3Dmark is 15310 but, according to their website, is well below average for this kind of setup.
Could I have a bottleneck somewhere?
BTW - am using an old 80Gb PATA with XP.

Thanks, D055

 

[Guest]

BTW - am using an old 80Gb PATA with XP.

There is your first bottleneck, get a better larger sata drive and go vista 64bit so yiou can use all of your 4gb ram, also see if you can overclock the 4870 and check your memory timings are set correc tly in the bios, my asus mobo did not select the correct timings automatically, had to set them manually in bios with correct voltage.

Also I have long ago left 3dmark behind as it is just a pretty synthetic benchmark, I prefer to see how the system works in real world performance, and yours looks like you will have no problems at all, its a good system.

 

[D055]

Thanks moricon...
Yep - checked memory timings and did indeed have to manually set them.
I did wonder about the PATA, obviously the board is meant to run SATA. My excuse is I'm trying to do an eco-friendly build and use 'recycled' components rather than buying new (CPU was the exception). Easier to get hold of unwanted PATA's!!!
Although I do have a spare 2.5" laptop sata (it's a WD Scorpio blue). Do you think this would be better?


3DMArk06 point taken...Will load up Far Cry 2 once connected and benchmark a little on that.
Thanks again

 

[D055]

Just thought I'd add to this....

Added 250gb Barracuda drive with Vista64bit.
My 3DMark06 score dropped about 300points.
More importantly... Crysis frame rate dropped by average of 30% - both machines running same high/custom settings at 1490x900...making the difference between playable on the old & unplayable on the new....

So, whether it's Vista, DX10, a newer hard drive or all the above.....
..... Sometimes old is best, Recycle more!!!! Upgrading isn't always gunna fix things.