--Vid Card Blues--

Howdy,

So I finally got together the rig listed in my sig this weekend. Lets just say that I am deeply disappointed in the results.

With no OCing done except the factory CPU Core Clock OC on the video card of 470, I 3DMark05'd at ~7850.

I was told on HardForum and elsewhere that I should be hitting 8000-9000ish with the setup. I was also under the impression I could run BF2 at 1280/1024 with everyone on high but i'm getting some graphic lag and chunkiness.

Taking the advice of some others here, I went ahead and OC'd the processor to 2.45ghz and the video card to 500/1300. After these changes (system remained stable), I got absolutely NO INCREASE on the 3DMark05.

That being said...

Where is the bottleneck? Processor or card? Is there a bottleneck at all? Is there a problem with my RAM or Power Supply?

I am currently thinking of eating the restocking fee and sending it back for an ATI X1900XT. An Opteron 170/175 is in future plans but after M2 comes out and I see a price-drop. What types of increases should I see with that videocard upgrade alone?

Thanks in advance for any help!

--Dev

I would say processor is the bottle neck...

I ran my Main Rig system bone stock when I first got it, and I only got 8,200ish (2.2GHz on the CPU, and 470/1300 on the GTX)...

I wouldnt go by the scores in the 3dmark05 official thread, as alot of those scores are with rigs overclocked... Its pretty difficult to find stock benchies around these forums, maybe some others with similar setups (3500+ and an nF4 board w/GTX) could drop their clocks and see where it sits.

Would you say that I wouldn't see any substancial increase whatsoever with an X1900XT?

Thanks,
Dev

I find it hard to believe that you cant run BF2 at 1280x1024 with full settings. When i had my 7800 GTX i could run at 1600x1200 at full settings, yes i know my processor is more powerful but still. In addition to that that 3Dmark Score sounds right for your rig. I was getting in the low 8000's with mine at all stock.

when i got my X1900XTX my 3Dmark score when from about 8400 all stock to 9800 all stock. I could not overclock the 7800 GTX far enought to touch my X1900XTX stock.

Also I have seen that most ppl are getting X1900XT's with the 1.1 ram which means it is the same card as the X1900XTX and all have flashed the successfully.

3DMark is just a benchmark. Nothing else. Do you like the way it plays games? No. Thats all that matters. If I got a 1000 in 3DMark03 with the rig I'm building, but the game performance was OMGWTFBBQ, then I'd be happy.

when i got my X1900XTX my 3Dmark score when from about 8400 all stock to 9800 all stock. I could not overclock the 7800 GTX far enought to touch my X1900XTX stock.

Click to expand...

Should I experience a boost of that magnitude, even with a 3500+? I mean not "9800" caliber scores, but more like a 1400 point increase?

If in fact the scores I was getting sound dead on, how come I didn't see any increase after the OC?

--Dev

3DMark is just a benchmark. Nothing else. Do you like the way it plays games? No. Thats all that matters. If I got a 1000 in 3DMark03 with the rig I'm building, but the game performance was OMGWTFBBQ, then I'd be happy.

Click to expand...

I agree, but I didn't like the way it played Battlefield Maybe that is the true benchmark...I had troubles at 1280x1024 with full specs + AA. That shouldn't have been the case.

Your doing something wrong in a big way.
First off...F 3dmark...you can't play that game anymore. Its either 3dmark or gaming...you choose
2nd
People BS when they say oh yeah dude I'm running at very max with 300fps...so don't stress, take your time and go through articles online and do some tweaking, thats [H]alf the fun of being a geek.
But if you plan to waste money on a 3dmark computer and that makes you happy, thats cool too but I would think gaming is more importain
If you have tweaking questions after being stuck or something, then you come in the forums and say "WTF" hehe then we all gather around your rig and help you solve your tweaking problems.
So get to tweaking!
If you have any questions you want answered asap [email protected] and I will do my very best to help you.

PS
You aint gonna bottleneck a 3500+ for sometime heh

Push that processor to 2.8GHz, then we can talk.

coffee33 said:

Your doing something wrong in a big way.
First off...F 3dmark...you can't play that game anymore. Its either 3dmark or gaming...you choose

Click to expand...

3Dmark is an excellent utility for measuring performance among similar setups. Different brands, now that's a bit different, but since the OP is comparing his rig to other 3500+/7800GTX rigs 3Dmark is a great troubleshooting utility.

Devorikk said:

Should I experience a boost of that magnitude, even with a 3500+? I mean not "9800" caliber scores, but more like a 1400 point increase?

If in fact the scores I was getting sound dead on, how come I didn't see any increase after the OC?

--Dev

Click to expand...

I have a friend that has an 1900 XT-X and a 3500+. Both stock he gets a 9431 in 05. BTW The CPU is a bottleneck for sure. With an FX-60 I get 11K. With an FX-60 at 3GHz I get 12K. The performance scales in games too. With a XT-X the more CPU I give the card the higher my FPS in games so the cpu is the bottleneck.

sac_tagg said:

Push that processor to 2.8GHz, then we can talk.


3Dmark is an excellent utility for measuring performance among similar setups. Different brands, now that's a bit different, but since the OP is comparing his rig to other 3500+/7800GTX rigs 3Dmark is a great troubleshooting utility.

Click to expand...

Yeah its good for finding problems or at least knowing you have one but what most don't understand people cheat hehe I use to, you know driver hacks?
I just didn't want him to freak out thinking something bad was happening to his set-up cause its fine...just needs to tweak it up a little.

hahaha, ouch. i only picked up about 3800 on 3dmark 05, and like 935 on 3dmark 06.... =*( YOu shouldn't worry about it, but if it lags your games, i'd bet it might be your processor cause it can't be ram lag cause you've got 2GB of it.... and it can't be your graphic card since that's a 7800GT... i'm takin an educated guess and sayin the processor is your bottleneck

Well the good situation here is that I get to take back my current card with no restocking fee now, so literally I'm dropping a c-note more for the X1900XT, which I should have purchased in the first place.

Coffee you're absolutely right. Yes I was freaking out over 3DMark scores, haha, when I really shouldn't have been. I get this card in approx a week and will set it all up, in which at that point if I'm not happy I'll definitely take you up on your offer about tweaking

Appreciate all the feedback so far,

--Dev