low 3dmark scores - don't know where to start troubleshooting

[shogunofnewyork]

Here's my system specs:

P4c 2.6 @ 3.315 (255FSB) (rock solid)
4 x 256MB OCZ PC4000
Abit IC7
Sapphire 9600 Pro @ 515/349 (seems stable - no artifacts)

Here are my 3dmark scores:
2001: 19950
2003: 1991

From what I've seen for comparable systems, this seems really low. I'm installed DirectX 9.0b right before running 2003 last night. I was running the 3.8 Catalysts and my drivers show v6.14.10. I tried reinstalling them and rerunning the benchmarks, but the results were the same. All of the advanced settings are at default. Any ideas?

 

[fredtam]

It is most likely the overclock on your vid card. Once you reach a certain point performance takes a dive.
What are your scores at stock speeds?

 

[Sammy5000]

What settings are set in 3dmark03 for AA and AS? How many samples/what resolution/etc. Finally, what are your temps?

Your 2001 marks are fine, and my guess would be that your mark03 settings are high.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Sammy5000
What settings are set in 3dmark03 for AA and AS? How many samples/what resolution/etc. Finally, what are your temps?

Your 2001 marks are fine, and my guess would be that your mark03 settings are high.

2001 is an indicator of overall system performance and does not stress the seemingly stable vid card. However when running 2003 the graphics card is highly stressed and if the overclock is too high performance will decrease significantly.

 

[MichaelZ]

lmao 19950 is low? great joke man...

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: i82lazyboy
lmao 19950 is low? great joke man...

No but 1991 in 3Dmark03 is.
Do you have the compare URLs.

 

[MichaelZ]

simple, like u mentioned b4, o/c to over the limit of the card will result in performance loss.

 

[REVNU]

The key is your RAM Timings!

I was getting scores in the 3200's with my Radeon 9700Pro before I decided to check my RAM timings. I am running 1 - 512MB stick of PC3200 Corsair XMS on an ASUS P4P800-D. The timings were at 2-3-3-6 and after I changed the timing to 2-2-2-6... My score immediately jumped to 4762! I know that it could be faster since I'm bottlenecking my system by not running another stick of RAM in Dual Channel Mode, but the score is pretty decent for a stock system and 1 stick of RAM. I'll be getting that extra 512MB stick soon... I'll let you know if that helps out the score anymore.

Still hard to believe that something that simple could make such a big difference....