Low 3dmark scores

[Rawr87]

Hey guys, ive just built my new gaming rig, and was testing it yesterday with 3dmark 06 and 11 but i found out that my gpu scores are lower than average. I know usually u get slightly higher scores than 3d mark says average if your machine is working perfectly. My cpu scores are like that but for my gpu there is %10 difference. This is the rig

cpu: i3 2120
mobo: asus p8h61m le
ram: 4gb gskill ddr3 1333 cl7
gpu: msi n560gtx m2d1gd5
hdd: Samsung hd200hj 200gb
psu: ocz stealthxstream 600w

3dmark 06 : it says 21000 is normal but my score is 19500 other scores are slightly lower as well, except cpu which is higher.

3dmark 11: 4000 is normal but i get 3700 and slightly lower at other gpu related scores as well but difference is lower with them.

I have latest drivers, everything looks like it works perfectly but i payed alot for this machine and i really do want to get the most out of it. Can someone tell me what might be the problem.

Btw i didnt install mobo's vga driver. I think that is for sandy bridge only i already have dedicated gpu. Would it be harmful to install it?

 

[hang-the-9]

10% is about within error ranges. Run the test 5 times, reboot each time, take an average. Also, are you comparing the scores to the same CPU and RAM amount, and stock video card speeds?

 

[willard]

Not all cards are created equal, and there will be significant variance among even the same model cards, especially when overclocking is factored in. My guess is your card is simply slower than the average that people are running the tests with.

Think about it, for any given average value, there must be cards above and below, because if everybody was above, then the average would be higher. Your card simply falls on the low end of the curve.

I'd recommend overclocking and see how that changes things.

 

[alvine]

also make sure you have the newest nvidia drivers

 

[bystander]

Hey guys, ive just built my new gaming rig, and was testing it yesterday with 3dmark 06 and 11 but i found out that my gpu scores are lower than average. I know usually u get slightly higher scores than 3d mark says average if your machine is working perfectly. My cpu scores are like that but for my gpu there is %10 difference. This is the rig

cpu: i3 2120
mobo: asus p8h61m le
ram: 4gb gskill ddr3 1333 cl7
gpu: msi n560gtx m2d1gd5
hdd: Samsung hd200hj 200gb
psu: ocz stealthxstream 600w

3dmark 06 : it says 21000 is normal but my score is 19500 other scores are slightly lower as well, except cpu which is higher.

3dmark 11: 4000 is normal but i get 3700 and slightly lower at other gpu related scores as well but difference is lower with them.

I have latest drivers, everything looks like it works perfectly but i payed alot for this machine and i really do want to get the most out of it. Can someone tell me what might be the problem.

Btw i didnt install mobo's vga driver. I think that is for sandy bridge only i already have dedicated gpu. Would it be harmful to install it?

It's the other way around. If your system is at stock settings, 3Dmark almost always say your system is below average. 3Dmark is filled with lots of overclocked systems, and pretty much no underclocked systems. If you take the average of a database like that, you'll find the average is an overclocked system with higher than average scores.

 

[Rockdpm]

Yep, but is yours was 19500, and normal is 21000, it could be your chipset. It is...a lower end chipset on a...Micro ATX

 

[CaedenV]

don't get too caught up with scores, especially when you are within 10%. If it play properly then enjoy it, if it does not play properly then fix it. It is not like an i3 is going to be a power house of a game machine in the first place. Sorry, that came out a bit harsh, but the point is that this is a budget build, not a high end system, so you simply need to expect budget performance which will vary more than high end systems where things are binned higher, and timings run a bit tighter.

Also, no, you do not need to install the intel video driver if you are not using it. Installing it will not hurt anything, but it should not help anything either when using a dedicated gpu.

 

[Rawr87]

So you say 3dmark scores are not taken from stock machines but its the average of rigs that has been uploaded?

 

[ziuus1]

I used to pay attention to those benchmark numbers when I built my first gameing rig.

I found out that as long as my system can run the games I play at my preferred settings.

It was a good enough gameing rig for me. And you soon will see it the same way.

Custome built systems are sweet, for they are always upgradeable. If you find a particular component not meeting ur standards, you can always upgrade to something new and better within your budget.

Your benchmarks numbers are fine.

 

[willard]

So you say 3dmark scores are not taken from stock machines but its the average of rigs that has been uploaded?

Did you expect something different? Of course the average score is the average of the scores that were submitted.

 

[bystander]

So you say 3dmark scores are not taken from stock machines but its the average of rigs that has been uploaded?

I've seen variations of your post many times, and yes, they take their average from their database. Your i3 will score fine, as it's not easy to overclock, if you can at all, but everyone using stock settings gets below average scores on their GPU's.

 

[DEY123]

You should try OCing your card. I got a 3647 with the set up below, and I don't think I should be scoring what you have as I am running a 3 core PhenomII and a GTX460 on a MB that is 5+ years old.

OS: Win7 Ultimate (64 bit) PSU: Ultra X2 - 550 Watt
CPU: Phenom II X3 740 (@3.7GHz) MB: M2N-SLI Deluxe
GPU: GTX 460 1GB(core:825, Shader:1650, Memory:4100)
RAM: 6GB DDR2 - (CL4 @824MHz)