Should I care about this .DDS file corruption issue under 3dmark2k1?...

[moocat]

I get occasional "Path= C:/somedir/somedir/somefile.DDS file is corrupt" (sorry, don't remember the exact verbage) errors in 3dmark2k1. It seems to be random files and happens in the benchmark and in the demo. I'm running 140mhz fsb but when I take it above that I get these errors. I've tried several suggested tweaks to get rid of them but nothing has helped. That is the only software that seems to have a problem with a higher fsb.

I'm just not sure if it's safe just to ignore the errors but I'm leaning toward this analogy since every other piece of software seems to run flawlessly...

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this"
Doctor: "Don't do that"

I've seen a few posts on the MadOnion forums but no solution has been offered. I would think since they wrote the software that maybe they might offer some insight into why 3dmark is so finicky. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Any idea what might be generating the errors? HD to ram transfer? ram to proc? cache?

I can't get it to fail consistently so it's kinda hard to trouble shoot..or should I say just very time consuming to troubleshoot.

Any suggestions appreciated!!

 

[jfunk]

I only get those when I overclock my memory. I just turn down the memory till it stops.


Doesn't happen to me when I'm only OCing the video.


j

 

[moocat]

Yea, I figured it was either an error between the HD and memory or processor cache and memory. I'm using Crucial PC2100 with fairly aggressive settings but compared to how some people are getting away with running this ram I figured I was being conservative. Since I wasn't having problems with any other software I decided to try and bump it up a few more mhz. Now 3dmark seems to run fine at 145mhz fsb...I'll leave it there a few days and see what happens. I've read at least one account of a guy having failures at 140mhz but not at 141mhz. Go figure.

I wish I could afford a digital O-scope. I would love to see what the clocks on the mobo look like at various speeds and dividers.

 

[anime]

try to put your ram module on different slot. On my msi kt266a board--avoid slot2 like a plague.

 

[moocat]

I'm using slots 1 & 4 as recommended by the mobo manual. It seems the problem has gone away with the move to 145mhz fsb. I had the errors at 141 and 142mhz but 140 and apparently 145 is OK. Hmmm...should I be greedy and try 150