How much do 3DMark Vantage scores depend on disk storage?

[BonzaiDuck]

These are all synthetic benchmarks we use to compare our newly-built systems. I always wind up paying the ~$20 for the "Advanced" 3DMark Vantage or whatever.

I was comparing some scores off the FutureMark web-site. Same processor, same graphics card, maybe same or similar chipset.

So I find that while my system is only tentatively over-clocked to 4.53Ghz, somebody else has theirs OC'd to 4.8 or 5.0 Ghz. My 3DMark score is -- say -- 12,000, and theirs is maybe 12,050. Hypothetically.

I see that I'm running DDR3-1600 modules 8GB at their rated speed; their modules are DDR3-1333, and I can't tell at what speed (if over-clocked). They're running a WD Caviar Black HDD. I'm running the same drive accelerated through ISRT on an SSD providing over 500MB/s for sequential read throughput.

Some of it could be memory. How much of it could be "persistent-storage" performance -- as in "HDD standalone," versus "SSD-cached accelerated HDD?"

 

[Lepton87]

Storage should have no effect on the score, every test should fit entirely in the RAM memory.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Storage should have no effect on the score, every test should fit entirely in the RAM memory.

So similarity in scores while disparity in CPU clock speed with same chipset and graphics card most likely due to my faster RAM, I would guess . . .