Geforce4 Ti4400 w/ 5500 3DMarks?

[ElDiabloGuapo]

According to the Madonion online comparison thingie, my score should be up near 7500, but I'm only getting 5500.
What I've got:
Asus A7A266
1.2 Ghz AMD Thunderbird
512 MB DDR PC2100
PNY Verto Geforce4 Ti4400 w/ 29.42 Nvidia reference drivers (oc to 300 mhz core and 620 mhz mem)
Viewsonic A90 19" (I'm using the NVrefreshtool)
Windows XP Pro w/ latest updates

Before overclocking, my score was closer to 5000. I tried overclocking to 300/640 but it froze during the low detail dragon-flying test, so I set it to 300/620 and the tests ran fine. Besides the overclocking I haven't really done any tweaking of the card, but that wouldn't get me 2000 3dmarks, would it? My AGP apeture is set to 64MB, and I think it's running at 2x or 4x. I could find out if it's important. Normally I'd think the processor was holding me back, but I think the Madonion online comparison only shows others with the same processor speed as me. Any potential problems jump to mind, or is this not very unusual?
Thanks in advance.

 

[ElDiabloGuapo]

Update: I just upgraded to the latest Ali AGP drivers for my Northbridge and set them to "Turbo" in the Ali AGP utility. No change, got 5591 3DMarks. Interestingly, the DXDiag 'Display' tab says that AGP Texture Acceleration is Not Available, although in the Ali AGP drivers readme it says that that doesn't always mean the drivers aren't installed correctly. I checked under System Devices in the device manager, and an Ali PCI to AGP Controller is listed as working properly and with the latest drivers. I'm stuck.

 

[Acer]

I think you are personally screwed with the Ali chipset. It is really a lackluster chipset. The other problem is your cpu is kind of low with horsepower. The next thing to consider is memory and the timings. I had the Iwill XP333 board that had the Ali chipset (1.4TB@1.6). I used a Radeon 8500 card on that board. At 185 FSB, I scored about 7500-7800.

I now have the same card as you on a sin-tel machine with Rambus PC1066. The cpu is 2.4 at 133 fsb. I can get 10746 at 133 and at default speed for the VC. If I up the VC to 305/690, I get 11426 (still at 133 fsb). So, it depends on cpu clock speed, kind of memory and timings set for the memory along with type chipset on the board. Probably if you up the cpu speed and get hi speed memory, you would increase your scores into the 7000 area.

 

[ElDiabloGuapo]

Thanks for the advice, but I was able to figure out the problem. I thought I'd post it here in case other people are running into the same thing. Apparently when you combine the 29.42 Detonator drivers with an ALi chipset you lose your AGP acceleration. The solution turned out to be a little convoluted, but here goes:
1. Completely uninstall the 29.42 and install an older version (I used the 28.90).
2. Install Rivatuner, go to the Power User tab, click the 'Open Matched Detonator Database' button on the bottom, then expand the /System tree.
3. Scroll down to EnableAliAGP, right click on it, and click on the yellow lightbulb. Hit Ok. Reset the computer.
4. Now AGP is enabled again (you can check it by running DxDiag and looking under the display tab) and you just need to update your drivers to whatever you normally use.

The whole point of installing the older drivers first is because Rivatuner doesn't yet work with the 29.xx Detonators. But once you set up AGP properly in an old driver set it will stay enabled when you update. My 3dMark score is now a respectable 8000! Huge jump for such a relatively easy fix.

 

[Actaeon]

Congrats on getting everything fixed.

BTW, welcome to the Anandtech forums.

 

[FalseChristian]

Yes, I'm glad your problem was fixed, too. And, valkommen to the forums!