Abnormal performance drop

[mrcleaver]

I just built a new system, and ran 3dmark05 on it. The first time I did it, I got 7500 3dmarks, which is what I expected since it's almost exactly the same as what my cousin's setup got (he has a nearly identical machine).

So, 2 days later, after installing some software, and very little drivers (this isn't quite overnight, but I never ran it during these 2 days) I noticed that my gaming performance really isn't all that great for what I got, especially when I compared my fps count with what the review on HardOCP typically had; so I suspected something was wrong.

So I ran 3dmark05 again... 5000 3dmarks. I uninstalled drivers and rolled back motherboard bios... things stayed the same, 4500 - 5000 3dmarks. I reformatted, still no change. What the hell happened? Any suggestions? My system specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ X2
2GB OCZ PC 3200 ram
Asus A8N-Sli Premium
2x 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE2
EVGA Nvidia 7800GT CO
OCZ Modstream 450w PSU

I am running the latest motherboard drivers from nvidia, the latest BIOS (rev 1009), the latest forceware drivers for my videocard. Additionally, I have tried (rev 1008, rev 1007 and rev 1006) bios for the motherboard. No change.

As a direct comparison, my cousin has a Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego, 1 GB less ram, and a BFG Tech 7800GT OC. He is consistently getting 7000 3dmarks and his frame rates on the opening test is about twice mine.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[montag451]

Uninstall NV IDE driver and reinstall the MS ones - don't restart the computer imbetween.

 

[mrcleaver]

I have never touched the Nvidia IDE drivers, I know full well that they cause problems. I should probably have mentioned that in my original post. I have also tried installing the processor drivers on the AMD site as well as try the Windows XP hotfix for dual processors. Nothing is changing.