Whats the point of 3Dmark scores?

The reason I ask is because I am told that the score realy doesnt reflct the ability of a given machine to play games. There are some truley high scores being posted by m17's. Most of them eclipse m17x scores due to the m17 being able to be overclocked when using whitebook BIOs. But it is argued that a m17x with either of the two faster ecu and twin 9800gts will be able to play most (not all) but most games better then a m17 that has crazy high 3dscores. So what does the 3dmark represent? And why is it so valuable if it doesnt reflect the ability of a gaming system to play games? Thanks guys, just another day in the COC. July cant come fast enough!!!!!

 

Because the score is supposed to reflect a computer's ability to play games. That's it's purpose, even if it doesn't really do it.

 

You can compare scores with others and see if youre in the supposed score range.. check if your system performs as its supposed to.
Or you can try and get the best score out there
3dmark06 does show your systems capabilty but it doesnt use quad core support and uses dx9 and so on so it doesnt max it out as it should.. but similar systems get similar results..
For instance i used it to compare to others when i swapped processors..

 

....but when you run it, it is ran in the lowest resolution correct? Well who wants to play a high end game on a high end system in low resolution? Just wondering.

 

I rather use the term "default resolution"
But yes.. we can only compare systems if we all run at the same resolutions.. someone with a 1650x1050 or 1440x900 res cant use 1920x1200 so it makes sense for all to use the lower one.. And the scores are better

 

hahha could point Hellcry...

 

It's more like a pissing contest because unless your scores are way off to indicate a problem it's useless. Plus there are other diagnostics tools to detect issues. It can be considered a good sales tool if you look at it from that angle.