Upgraded my cpu and my 3dmarks score dropped

[rbjohnson]

Just upgraded to a phenom 2 x4 945 from an athalon 64 x2 and my 3dmarkscore dropped. I am also noticing a drop in fps in game.

My current 3dmark06 score:
3dmark score: 7453
SM 2.0 Score: 2918
SM 3.0 Score: 2742
CPU Score: 4272

My current pc specs are:

Ga-M57sli-s4 rev.2 with FHL bios version to support the quad core
6g memory ddr2
8800gt
phenom 2 x4 945
psu bfg 800watt

The strange thing is that my gpu scores seemed to have drop even though i didn't change them. i tried updating the video drivers and that made no difference.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm really stumped on this one.

Thank you,
Brian

 

[core i7 ownage]

Same CPU as me but I think score is somewhere around 7-10k.

 

[rsmith13]

If a game normally uses one or two cores and you went from a X2-6400 (3200mhz) to a Phenom II 945 (3000mhz) you have a drop of 200mhz per core in speed. I don't think many games use more than 2 cores. Older ones will only use one core.

 

[jennyh]

Yes his cpu score is normal but those 8800 scores are way off.

Remove the graphics card and reinsert it. Try another pci power adaptor too.

 

[loneninja]

If a game normally uses one or two cores and you went from a X2-6400 (3200mhz) to a Phenom II 945 (3000mhz) you have a drop of 200mhz per core in speed. I don't think many games use more than 2 cores. Older ones will only use one core.

You must be one of those guys who thinks a 3.6Ghz Pentium D can out perform a 3.0Ghz C2D. Phenom is a different architecture than the old Athlon X2 chips, its faster clock for clock. Wouldn't surprise me if a 2.6Ghz Phenom II or even slower could beat the Athlon X2 6400 in games that only utilize 1-2 cores.

 

[rbjohnson]

I'd suspect your AM2 mobo just isn't up to the Phenom 2. It may work, but I dont think you getting full performance from it.

Also are you sure you have Rev 2? I noticed there are different bios upgrades for AM3 cpu's, depending on which revision you have. For Rev 2 you nee the FHL bios. For Rev. 1 and 1.1 you need the F15D bios.

Did you notice this on the Gigabyte cpu support page?

*Note: If you install AMD AM2+ CPU on AM2 motherbord, the system bus speed will downgrade from HT3.0(5200MHz) to HT1.0(2000 MT/s) spec; however, the frequency of AM2+ CPU will not be impacted. Please refer "CPU Support List" for more information.

The FHL bios seem to be correct for my version but i did notice that they were beta bios

I have tried swapping the video card out with another 8800gt that i had when i was running sli, with no change in my 3dmark score.

im going to try swapping my 2 8800 into another pc and see if i still get the low score.

do you think it might we worth reformating vista?

Another symptom that im having is when i shout down my pc and turn it back on im lossing all my video settings???

Thank you all for the help so far

 

[B-Unit]

I would start by running a driver cleaner and re-re-reinstalling the graphics drivers before resorting to a full reload (Unless its been well over a year since install and it 'feels' sluggish, then u need a reload anyhow).

Start by uninstalling the nVidia drivers, then reboot into safe mode and run the driver cleaner utility (there are several, cant remember which Ive been using). To be extra safe, you may wish to reboot after this, uninstall the 8800GT from device manager, and then reboot into safe mode and run the cleaner again. This will ensure that you dont have an old/corrupt driver file causing the issues.

Again tho, if its been a while since you initially installed Windows, you may be due for a reinstall anyway. I know when I got my 940BE, I dropped it straight in without a reinstall coming from an X2 4400, and performance was horrid until I reinstalled Windows.

 

[rbjohnson]

re-reinstall of video drivers had no affect but it was a good shot.

I think something is wrong with these new bios that is affecting my video cards im going to try re flashing the bios

 

[rbjohnson]

Here are my 3dmark scores after re flashing the bios

does this seem about right for my system specs?

3dmarkscore: 10491
SM 2.0 Score: 4435
SM 3.0 Score: 3932
CPU Score: 4269

 

[bystander]

awesome, that's more like it.

 

[B-Unit]

No he has a 945. Thats a Phenom II

 

[rbjohnson]

Thanks for all the feed back guys. I am interested in getting a new video card to match the new cpu now that im running stable.

Ive always bought evga nvidia cards as ive had good luck with there customer support, however lately ive been having my eye on the ati cards. I know my mobo doesn't support crossfire, but i should be fine running one ati card right? i figure by the time i need another card ill upgrade my mobo for ddr3. I have a budget of around $300. And i was thinking about...

ATI 5850 1gig
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103085

or

Nvidia gtx 275 1.7gig
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130476

As i have never bought a ati card im unsure which manufacture i should be focusing on. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[notty22]

A suggestion. I saw this card announced on newegg a few weeks ago.
ECS NBGTX275-896MX-F GeForce GTX 275 896MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134086&cm_re=GTX_275-_-14-134-086-_-Product

It has a aftermarket cooler thats well reviewed. It goes for 50 bucks by itself.
Its 50 bucks cheaper than a 5850. If you want/need Nvdia seems like a good deal.

 

[rbjohnson]

so a 4890 is just as fast as a 5850?

still a little confused on the whole ati model number system

 

[B-Unit]

No, as fast as GTX275.

 

[obsidian86]