Low 3dmark scores... :(

Hi all
So I've been the proud owner of a 6860 for almost a year now, and I absolutely love it. However with new games coming out it's been starting to struggle (GTA IV) and I decided to run a 3Dmark06 test. Now reading through other people's results, I'm seeing 8000+ for 6860's. Mine scored a measly 6411. Now this computer is bone stock, no overclocking and still running a t5550. But it still seems like it should be higher. Will the new CPU + an overclocked GPU really raise my score by 2000?
Thanks in advance.

 

I think most 8000+ scores are done with an upgraded CPU,slight GPU overclocking and some driver tweaking. Even if you overclock your 8800M GTS with your T5550, you will not see huge score increases because of your CPU. My P-6831FX scores around 6400 with stock clocks too.

 

Its because you have a stock system. You can get to about 7K with a good driver/GPU overclock.

But to get any higher you're going to have to upgrade your CPU. T8300/t9300 is typically a good choice

 

Ok, thanks. I was worried there was something wrong with my system. I'm ordering a T9300 later this week, and I'm already running custom drivers from laptopvideo2go. Are there any better drivers that will increase performance more? And how should I go about overclocking the GPU, and what's the max i can overclock it?

 

not sure about your overclocks... all cards will OC a bit differently, so its all a bit trial and error when overclocking.

As to drivers i have 181.71 installed right now... but with altunity getting 12054 on 3dmark and me only having 11074 i have to bring my game up a bit and see what i can elk out of my 6860. Cant have that newer tech showing my up by that much

You should be very pleased with the preformance increase the t9300 gives you

 

Jesus, 11074? How much did you OC it? I'm assuming you're using some kind of external cooling as well? It's pretty incredible that with tweaking you can nearly DOUBLE the score.

 

Well i got 11146 now, but i did it with 650/950/1620 clocks and a X9000 @3.0gHz, and the new 186.03 Nvidia Driver, so it takes more than tweeking (your hardware matters too) but yeah you can improve your scores decently with a good driver and overclocks.

Also i benchmark with clocks WAY higher than i run normally. Gaming i typically stick with stock clocks for everything

 

Ok. I'm not necessarily looking just to increase my 3Dmark, I really just want better gaming performance. So I'm assuming that gaming with the clocks turned up is damaging due to the extra heat?

 

Yeah benchmarking is fun, but not the end all be all of computer power.

Just stick with the t9300, a good driver and you should be fine. You'll enjoy the preformance the t9300 gives you

 

The T9300 will be about the same as the X7800, when I had my X7800 it helped alot in games from the stock processor. Check out the links in my sig to see the difference between stock and upgraded.

 

I got my x7800 for 199 off of e-bay. It improved my overall performance a lot.

FPS jumped about 10-20 on average in TF2 maxed. No longer red fps.

I'm running it at 3.0 Ghz.

I enjoy it and think it makes a good difference. I can run my x264 rips with no problems now too!

I also overclocked my gpu to specs in my sig. I haven't 3d-marked it yet though.

Keep in mind I run everything maxed 16x AA 16x AF, even in the nVidia control panel.

 

Even when overclocked, my gpu load temps aren't much different from running at stock clock speeds. The 8800M GTS appears to be a very good overclocker. I use 625/925/1550 (core/memory/shader clocks), highest temps I've ever seen are the low 70's celsius.

Edit: I've always used nVidia's WHQL drivers (currently on 185.85). Except for the 186.03's that were released today... haven't installed those yet.

 

Alright, looks like I'll be overclocking and popping the T9300 in there soon. But still, it doesn't explain my abnormally low scores now. I ran 3dmark again making sure to close all background programs and scored a 6500. I was reading an article earlier about someone who had run 3dmark on a stock 6860 and scored 7300. What gives? Is my GPU worn out from a year of gaming? Should i reformat? I generally do a lot of housekeeping on my computer. I'm not the type to get viruses and whatnot. I also keep my HDD's defragged. Did I just get unlucky?

 

Probably turned off all of the software AA and AF in 3dmark.

 

I believe you are referring to a post I made a couple months ago. I think I was slightly overclocked when i scored 7300. Are you running 3dmark at 1200x800? Are you running your computer in high performance battery mode? i was using the 180.70 drivers.

 

I'm running the most recent nvidia beta drivers, set to 1280x800, or whatever the default is for the basic version of 3dmark. No overclocking. Stock T5550 CPU. It just seems low...

 

3dmark doesnt use AA or AF by default. When comparing scores you should use the default settings at 1280x1024 (in 06 or Vantage, 1024x768 in older) unless not possible then two systems comparing scores should be run at the same res.

CPU score is added into the mix for the total score. My scores jumped a few hundred points atleast if not more going from my P7450 2.13 @ 2.45 to my T9600 2.8 @ 3.22.