Got my X800 Pro today...and

[reflekt]

I got my X800 Pro today. and one of the first things i did after installing was...benchmarking it.

I ran AquaMark3 and 3DMark03

I saw this one guy, from another forum, post his results with his X800 Pro and he came up:

AquaMark3: 60,000
3DMark03: 9,200

So I myself, ran the benchmarks, and I got a "dissapointing"

AquaMark3: 48,870
3DMark03: 8,315

Whats up with that...? In quick summary, my computer is composed of: 3.0ghz Pentium 4 HT, 1GB PC2700 RAM, Radeon X800 Pro, Windows XP.

I don't know whats up. Just a few days ago, I purchased an ATI retail 9800 Pro from Fry's. installed it in my computer, and I found it to just be alright. but it ran FarCry like crap. I tried to play the game at 1024x768 and I could tell the frames were not so great. And at stock, my 9800 Pro came up with AquaMark3: 39,592 & 3DMark03: 5,694

HOWEVER: after I overclocked my 9800Pro with Powerstrip, I continued to go up in score in Aquamark3 up to 41,765 at 429.75Mhz Core/ 364.5Mhz Memory. but for some weird ass reason...All of a sudden, After changing the overclock rates and running Aquamark3 again, I jumped down to mid 35,000 in score. and 3DMark03 went down to about 3500! I was so shocked. So I put the 9800Pro back to stock rates, then again ran Aquamark3 and 3Dmark03 and I then continued to get low Scores, but never back to my GREAT stock scores. So I was suspecting the culprit to be PowerStrip. So ok, after finding out that FarCry is unplayable (with everything set at 'Very High") and then also finding my card scoring lower and lower scores after attempting to overclock it. I was annoyed and just decided to return the 9800Pro , and today, purchased the X800 Pro.

So here I am now, scoring a AquaMark3: 48,870 & 3DMark03: 8,315.
What I'm wondering is...maybe Powerstrip has affected my computer in some way to have slowed my benchmark results down. or what else could it be? I should be getting 60k and 9.2k in my benchmarks too, but I'm not. so im just wondering...whats going on, and what can be done to fix this problem.

I've just overclocked my card to 525Mhz Core/1.1Ghz Memory and am gonna run 3DMark03 again and see the result.

Any help is GREAT APPRECIATED. Thanx guys.

 

[Bar81]

Play real games and compare the fps.

 

[Description]

Play real games and compare the fps.

 

[ronnn]

Did you remove all old drivers using driver cleaner?

 

[reflekt]

Initially, on this computer, it came with an ATI Radeon 9200. I then purchased the Radeon 9800Pro and uninstalled the drivers for the 9200 by just using the Device Manager and etc ( the way CNET described how to do it on their website). and for the 9800 Pro, I used Catalyst 4.5, and its teh same for the X800 Pro. so i dont know. I know people say that it probably or usually is a driver issue. but how can it be. I installed catalyst 4.5 twice. I even tried the new Omega Drivers, but I got a lower score on Aquamark3. so i used the Omega Driver cleaner, uninstalled it. and went bcak to catalyst 4.5.

what could be holding my computer back right now..? I mean, at first, when i FIRST installed my 9800 Pro, without any overclocking, I got some incredible results on Aquamark3 and 3DMark03. then after overclocking, the results went down.

 

[Ackmed]

Check your AA/AF and quality settings. Upon a new install of drivers, I believe they are on.

 

[reflekt]

After overclocking my card to 525Mhz Core / 1.1Ghz Memory

My 3DMark03 score went up to 9,648! what a huge difference? damn.


I'm still unsure of why AquaMark3 doesnt want to perform well.



Ackmed: what do u mean check my AA/AF settings? How should they be? right now, they are set at "Application Preference".


Thanx for the help so far guys.

 

[reflekt]

oh by the way,

Currently, under the "SMARTGART" tab in my X800 Properties...

The option of FastWrite is set to "ON". If I remember correctly, while installing the Omega Drivers, they suggested to keep it off. what does FastWrite even do...? and should I keep it on or turn it off.

thanx

 

[Ackmed]

Ap is how they should be set, if you want the highest score. If it isnt checked, then AA/AF will be on, slowing down the benchmark, and giving you a lower score. Same goes for the quality slider. I leave Fastwrites on, but I dont use Omega drivers either.

 

[Sylvanas]

fast writes is good it allows the card to talk directly to the cpu without going through other processess thus making data feed quicker. (or something along the lines of that)

 

[biostud]

Try not using Omega driver but cat 4.5

 

[dennisjai215]

why dont u just format ur computer and get it over with

 

[BugsBunny1078]

If you overclock too high you can have heating issues or voltage drop.The 9800 pro gpu has so much voltage to support a certain clock rate. then if you go over that it has not enough voltage to support it so it slows down.

 

[bandana163]

That's all right.

Your CPU is "only" a 3GHz P4, the other guy probably had an overclocked A64 or P4EE.

 

[Lonyo]

You have PC2700.
You'd probably get quite a bit better results with PC3200 or better.

 

[Bartokomus]

Lonyo's got it right i think; PC2700 = yech

 

[VIAN]

Those are some really low scores with the 9800 Pro and X800 Pro. I would reformat, if I were you.

 

[miri]

3.0 is a 800mhz bus processor. 3.0 needs PC3200, PC2700 is 333mhz ram. Wrong type of ram.

3.0C 800MHZ PC3200

 

[S4M33R]

You would definately benefit from 3200 ram.

 

[S4M33R]

And a clean reformat might give you another 500 pts.

 

[McArra]

Weren't X800 drivers BETA and 4.5 just some early and not good performing X800 drivers??

 

[Thor86]

I agree, it's probably your slower ram bandwidth, but also your cpu is only a 3ghz.

 

[reflekt]

you guys are right for one thing, my PC2700 RAM is just "so so". but it'll suffice for now, seeing as i just spent 400 on the X800 Pro. later i'll upgrade to pc3200.

Also, yeah, the other guy who is scoring some higher results is running an A64 at 3115mhz. He overclocked his X800 to 554mhz core/580mhz Memory. and got 11155 in 3DMark03.

I'm gonna stop complaining about getting "crappy" results, and just worry about playing a game. FarCry runs silky smooth now, with everything on Very High. so anyway, eh.

should i reformat hm....
so much work...lol

 

[ForceCalibur]

Fastest X800 PRo is like a phase change cooled/liquid nitrogen Overclocked Pentium 4 EE to like 4.5 ghz. Scores about 12000 on 3Dmarks.

 

[SickBeast]

I guarantee if you sell your old PC2700 on the FS/FT boards here then buy up some PC3200, the difference won't be more than $50 or so maximum.