Windows Experience score for i7 3770?

[dannyboy75]

Hi all

Just replaced my Intel P35 mobo & Q9550 with a Z77 mobo & i7 3770 CPU (non-k version). I didn't reinstall Windows as I'm lazy and figured I should be able to get away with just swapping the mobo & CPU.

Anyway it worked fine, no BSOD's or anything, and I've installed the correct chipset and usb drivers etc so all good. The only thing that's bugging me though, is when I ran the Windows Experience benchmark, it only gives my CPU a score of 7.2, which I'm pretty sure was the same as the old CPU.

The 3770k apparently scores around 7.8, so I would've thought mine should be around 7.6-7.7 as it's only 100mhz slower than the k.

Can anyone with a 3770 or similar confirm what their CPU scores on WEI please? I know I shouldn't be getting hung up on stupid artificial benchmark numbers, but it just makes me think something's not configured quite right. I've checked the BIOS and fsb/multi are set correctly (100/34) and I've changed turbo boost & hyperthreading from 'auto' to 'enabled' just to make sure on those. Not sure what else to check though really.....

cheers
Dan

 

[darren0000]

my phenom ii x4 850 8mb total cache scores 7.4, so im assuming you should be around 7.8 0r even max 7.9

 

[darren0000]

check to see if theres a bios update. mines was 7.3 and i done a bios update from 1.20 to 1.70 and it scored 7.4, worth checkn

 

[dannyboy75]

Thanks, I installed the latest BIOS earlier on but it didn't make any difference. Perhaps I might have to do that reformat after all.....

 

[cjny71]

I would try installing updated drivers before a complete reinstall.

I just upgraded from a P45/E8400 to a Z77/3570k on Windows 7 x64 by swapping out the MB/CPU/RAM. On boot only a couple of devices showed the yellow exclamation in device manager, but they were all new MB features (i.e. ASMedia SATA controller, Ethernet, new Intel features of the Z77 chipset). I went ahead and installed the latest drivers for the Intel Chipset, HD audio, SATA even though they showed as working in device manager. I rebooted between each driver install, and then installed the remaining missing drivers (yellow exclamation).

WEI on the CPU went from 6.4/7.0 stock/overclocked on the P45/E8400 to 7.8, memory from 7.1 to 7.9, and disk (SSD) from 7.3 to 7.9 (thanks to SATA 3).

Just my 2 cents...

 

[RetiredChief]

May be speedstep. with SB the cpu comes up in idle mode (Low speed) then jumps up speed up as work load increases. It may not be jumping up. Double check performance tap and make sure it is set for max performance.

 

[cjny71]

RetiredChief's reply gave me another idea; install and run the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) as the monitoring window will graph various CPU parameters such as clock speed, load, temps, and TDP. You can add Throttling to the graph. Run WEI assessment again and see if your CPU is getting throttle due to heat. If it is you will want to check that your heatsink is properly mounted.

 

[Raiddinn]

I would reinstall Windows.

Windows should be reinstalled after every motherboard change.

The OP is lucky the system even boots successfully.

If your system isn't performing like you think it should and you know you should be reinstalling then just quit being lazy and do it. At least that way you can rule out a corrupted OS as the cause of the problem.

 

[dannyboy75]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I just dug out an old hard drive and installed Win 7 on it (same build of x64 Ultimate), put all the drivers on, and lo and behold, CPU score is 7.7. So I guess that confirms it has to be a driver issue.

I'll revisit the system drivers I installed on my main drive this morning and see if I can resolve the issue that way.

Raiddinn - I take your point and, like you, I was surprised the OS even booted at all. In truth it's not just laziness putting me off reinstalling - I have an 18-month old son who takes up most our free time outside work, and also I only have 4mb internet, so it takes forever to download all those updates, Steam games, etc. But I may just have to bite the bullet if I can't sort these drivers out.

 

[Raiddinn]

All I know about your end is what you tell me.

I can see why you would be wary of spending a lot of time reinstalling when you have other things vying for the same time.

That, however, doesn't get around the problem that it should and does need to be done to guard against OS corruption and other problems like the one you are having now.

Reinstalling isn't just a stand alone thing here, its part of the work that was left half finished (replacement of components).

It sucks, but I would strongly suggest that you make time. Most of the downloaded updates aren't attended installs, so you can start 3 hours worth of Windows Updates in 5 minutes and then go AFK and do the family thing for the other 2 hrs and 55 min.

I have a child too, so I can both relate and verify that my money is where my mouth is. I worked through similar situations too.

 

[dannyboy75]

I found the problem in the end.

All day I'd been thinking that I'd upgraded from a quad core CPU to another quad core CPU, forgetting that the new one is hyperthreaded - so I should now be seeing 8 cores in Task Manager.

Had a dig around in msconfig > boot > advanced and noticed that 'number of processors' was ticked, and set to 4 (which would've been the correct number at the time). I must've ticked this at some point in the past.

Anyway unticked it, rebooted and I now have 8 cores in Task Manager, and WEI scores my CPU as 7.7

Thanks again for all the ideas and suggestions.

Dan

 

[13thmonkey]

run sysprep, it'll take windows to the out of the box config, and be a clean install. it's what some OEM's do, image a sysprepped version.

Look up instructions for sysprpe on line. You will need to re-activate all MS software.