GA-VRXP L2 cache... problems benchmarking

[Guest]

I have a Gigabyte GA-VRXP motherboard and a Athlon 2100+ with a 512mb DIMM of PC2700 memory (OCZ Samsung). I went to www.pcpitstop.com and it said that my BIOS was reporting that my L2 cache is disabled. Now, they said that it could be possible that the BIOS was reporting it wrong, but I want wondering if this could be a possibility.

My problem is that I don't have the option in my BIOS to enable/disable the L2 cache, so my instinct tells me that it's already enabled and working. However, my computer suffers in a few benchmarking utilities... in particular, PCmark 2002 (madonion.com) and Sandra SiSoftware 2002 (memory benchmark in particular). In PCMark, my cpu and memory both have certain scores that are REALLY low in comparison to others with a similar setup (There are plenty of instances where I see 1.0ghz athlon's & P4 1.0ghz's outscoring my 1.74ghz athlon). In Sandra 2002, my memory is only scoring at speed comparable to PC2100 memory... and even then, the float buffered bandwidth test is scoring 100mb/s slower.

Maybe I'm just being a big baby about this, but I expected a little more out of my setup, I guess. My games run great considering I still have a GeForce GTS 2. So, maybe I shouldn't complain. Any comments about the L2 cache or anything would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Jeff

"You tried so hard and failed miserably... lesson is... never try"
-Homer Simpson

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Hey, cool poster name.

Ok, well first off, i've got gripes with Gigabyte. I read about their dual bios setup, and decided to investigate. After careful research, i've concluded the risks and so called "benefits" of the setup aren't worth it. I'm making an educated guess here that your Bios, whether it is the primary or secondary was flashed incorrectly, or even worse, both incorrectly flashed. You might have to reset both of the Bios to fix the problem. Yeah, your setup is good. Gf2 GTS with an AXP and PC-2700 shouldn't score bad at all

"When there's a will, there's a way."

 

[Guest]

I have the BIOS currently flashed using the F6a BETA version. should I flash it again back to the F4? I'm thinking that this may be the problem. I'll do that and check back in a few. Thanks a lot for the advice! It's been driving me nuts!

"You tried so hard and failed miserably... lesson is... never try" -Homer Simpson

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Hmm...does it say if F4 flashes the primary or secondayr Bios?...it can get a little confusing. Try reflashing a few times to see if that fixes the problem. Oh, also make sure you run WPCPUID, which can tell you if the L2 cache is active on the AXP.

"When there's a will, there's a way."

 

[Guest]

I reflashed to version F4, and it says so when I boot up. My memory score was much better in Sandra, and my PC mark 2002 score (CPU) went from 3800 to 5179! Thanks a bunch! About WCPUID... I can't download it from H-ODA.com or whatever the name of the website is. It says I have an access error whenever I try to download it...

"You tried so hard and failed miserably... lesson is... never try" -Homer Simpson

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Try going to www.voodoofiles.com and do a search, they have archives of popular computer programs. 5179 sounds a lot more accurate, glad it worked out.

"When there's a will, there's a way."