Very Low 3dmark Score.

[kmrivers]

Hello. I have been putting together systems for some time now. I have never really tried to squeeze performance until now. So i figured hey ill run some benchmarks. Which was a bad idea because my score made me want to cry. I ran 3dMark and scored a 989. The reason this bugs me is because my specs make me feel i should pull much much higher. So without further wait... here are my specs.

Motherboard: Soyo KT400 Dragon Platinum
CPU: Athlon XP 2800+ clocked at 2.20Ghz
RAM: 512MB DDR PC2700 - my memory is cheap and i plan on putting some Corsair, OCZ, or Mushkin within the next few weeks.
Video: Geforce FX5900SE clocked at 415 Core and 715 Memory.

I think that should suffice. The rest doesnt really matter. This is one of my older systems hence the somewhat ancient motherboard. 2 years almost. I am running 3dMark 2005 v 1.1.0. DirectX 9.0c or course. I would like to know why this score is so low. I know the memory is not top rate. But i just dont feel i should be that low. Any help would be awesome. Thanks.

 

[NuNuNYC]

Hmmm, make sure you have the most optmized GeForce drivers, not always the newest drivers. One good all-around driver are the Omega drivers. As for your RAM, you can lower your timings in your BIOS, OC your mobo/vid card even more...

Keep in mind you're using 3DMark2005. As you start to use the more current versions, your benchmark ratings go down. For example, you won't get 989 and 3DMark2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2003, it'll be something like 10,000, 2004 will be 5,000, and 2005 will be 989. Just giving an extreme example.

 

[imported_Phil]

Try running 3DMark '03; low scores are entirely normal for '05 and that score seems about right for the system you have. With roughly the same config but with a 9600 Pro, I'm getting a slightly lower score; if you have a 5900 SE then IMHO, this is about what you can expect from these components.