Low 3dmark06 score with 8800m GTX

When I received my Clevo (in my sig), it came with a T8100 CPU, and out of the box it scored ~8500 3dmarks (at 1280x1024, all defaults)

I upgraded it today to the T9300, and was expecting a modest increase in performance, but the score hasn't changed at all.

If you look at this bechmark, done on the same laptop as mine, you'll see I should be getting a ~500 point increase:



From here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Core-2-Duo-Penryn-CPUs.7876.0.html

I'm using the stock 167.43 drivers, what could be the problem?

Thanks.

 

By score, you mean your CPU or overall score?

 

Turn down some processes,run 3dmark after a restart etc.
Dude,don`t base the performance on 3dmark scores.
Run a game, like a RTS,or UT3,do a wprime benchmark,etc.
That`s where the T9300 shines.

 

Overall score. The CPU score did increase, but the other two seemed to decrease slightly and overall it came out roughly the same.

I've closed all unnecessary background processes, about 40 were running when I did the test, which is normal for Vista.

If I'm not getting a similar score as someone else with the same spec, then something is wrong.

 

definitely you should to test CPU scores with wPrime 1.55

 

If the individual score increased, that's what you should be looking at. 3DMark sometmies give random scores, try running it several times in a row. You'll see.

Lol. That's the problem. Everything thinks that 3DMark examplifies performance or power. Try running a game such as UT3 or CS:S and see if your FPS increased. Also try running a real benchmark program like SandraSoft (though you've already switched out your older CPU so you can't really compare the two now).

 

If you are using Vista, put your mouse over the battery icon on the lower right and see if you are in the HIGH PERFORMANCE mode and not BALANCED, or POWER SAVER mode. I hope this helps. God Bless

 

I am surprised that no ones saw this: "out of the box it scored ~8500"
stock driver? try 175.xx

 

Ok, I just ran it again in 'high performance' and plugged into the mains and got the following:

Overall: 8614
SM2.0: 3895
HDR/SM3.0: 3665
CPU: 2295

hmm, it still doesn't seem right.

 

I did try 175.63, but this reduced my score by about 300 points.

 

how about 174 or 169?

 

169.04 worked really well with the 8600m GT in my Dell, I suppose I could try it.

 

unse ntune to over clock it, I get 9231 with my gts
(fx3600, @ 660/980)

 

I don't want to overclock it, I should be getting better scores at stock settings.

 

It must be a driver issue, I just ran it using 174.82 and got 8801, which is a bit of an improvement, although still about 250-300 lower than expected.

Also, GPU-Z is showing my card as running at 383/301 instead of 500/800

 

How is the actual performance of the computer in playing games, video editing, etc.? Do you notice any improvements in that?

cause I mean, I would think you bought the computer for that and not to run 3dmark tests

 

It feels a bit sluggish compared to my old Vostro 1700 with the same spec except an 8600m GT. The WEI hard disk score is also lower than the Dell (4.8 vs 5.1) and Windows only recognises 3072MB of my RAM, whereas the Dell recognised 3582MB. I have not run any games yet.

Way to miss the point. If my laptop isn't performing the same as other people's with an identical spec, then something is badly wrong. I want what I paid for.

 

Maybe the driver is downclocking your card. But then you should be getting 5-6k points.
Give a gaming test, 3dmark means nothing. Same config works differently on different laptops,sometimes even in the 2-500 point margin.

 

I'm gonna try installing Vista SP1 and the 169.04 drivers.

I'm having some difficulty installing the drivers though, the installer is teling me that no compatible hardware could be found, even though I'm using the modded inf.

 

SP1 should not be a requirement to get over 9k.
But you`ll see over 9k with it. If not , I suggest a careful reinstal of the video driver(uninstal,reboot in safe mode,remove leftover with driver sweeper,install new driver,reboot,and test it again).

 

I can't get 169.04 to install, but I've installed SP1 and still no improvement, I just got 8789 so no change really.

I think my laptop must be broken, so I'm gonna ask Novatech for a replacement. I didn't pay £1200 + for poor performance.

 

8700-9000 is a good score.

there is no need to try to beat 9000 as long as your system is stable and fast.

if you want to reach the high benchmark scores, you must disable the resource hogs:
- disable System Restore
- disable Indexing service
- disable all background programs (especiall Antivirus/Firewall/Spyware suites)
- switch theme to Classic Mode
- disable Aero

 

Again, you're missing the point. When I've paid a premium for the most powerful mobile GPU on earth, I expect first-class performance.

With the current scores I'm getting I may aswell have stayed with my 8600m GT DDR2, which could easily deliver 4000+ when overclocked.

Already done all this, System restore and indexing is permanently disabled, I don't run antivirus software and only use the windows firewall.

I could try this.

 

Every system and every configuration is different.
Everybody here treats their system differently.
Some people use older drivers, some newer, some people prefer to tweak Vista others don't, different programs installed, updates, 32Bit/64Bit, etc...
It all makes a difference but I don't think your scores are too far off range for a 8800m GTX or too low to justify a replacement or RMA.

I understand you've hoped to get the same performance than others right out of the box but keep tweaking and testing different drivers and configs and you'll reach 9000, too.
Just give it some time and patience.

 

Oh man, that's the last straw. I just tried the Crysis Demo, and it struggles to maintain 25 fps at 1280x800 with all settings on high.

I thought this was supposed to be a 'performance' card!? The only performance I've seen from this card is 'poor' performance.

This plastic piece of crap is going right back where it came from.

 

*sigh* Some people....

 

Heres a hint for some people with vista. When you turn on your computer and it looks like it started up, sometimes it really hasn't, so leave it for like 10 more minutes. You'll notice that your comp starts doing some BS and your hard drive light will be lighting. Wait until it stops lighting, then run 3DMark

I only have like 26 processes but still, vista takes forever to finish loading. Don't get tricked by the first time it finishes loading, in like one minute, it'll start doing more crap, just leave your comp on for 10 minutes after a reboot, then run 3DMark. A lot of time after you reboot, TrustedInstaller process is taking up about 50% resources which can greatly affect 3DMark score.

 

ms500 , 1280x800, all high , 20 some fps sounds like a downclocking issue.
It`s not the card, it`s the drivers.
Change them!

 

I'm aware of this, and this is mostly due to superfetch which I have disabled. Also, most of the times I ran 3dmark06, the PC had been running for at least 30 minutes.

One last thing I could try is a downgrade of the BIOS, since mine shipped with 1.00.09b, while everyone else seems to be running 1.00.08.

Honestly, the only thing the Clevo has over my old Dell is gigabit ethernet, a DVI port, and a very disappointing 8800m GTX. All for £500 more, what a joke.

I may aswell have bought an Intel X3100 for all the 'performance' this over-rated card offers. I doubt the performance difference would be that big.

 

The only drivers that will install are the stock 167.43, 174.82, and 175.62. All other drivers from lv2go refuse to install, even with the modded inf, and yes, I've tried using driver cleaner.

174.82 gives me the best 3dmark06 score (8801), but 167.43 gives me a better FPS in Crysis, which is totally bizarre.

 

My money is on downclocking. And it might be due to heat.
One thing to note...maybe you don`t have the latest BIOS. That might help a bit.
Just PM Zfactor about it.

 

The laptop doesn't get very hot, the CPU doesn't go much above 40c and the GPU stays around 60c.

As for the BIOS, there's definitely nothing newer than .09.

 

because of economic inflation?

 

lol @ your comment

 

Don't get all dorothy on me, you asked for help, try these:

check to see that your running on high performance in your system tray icon

Turn off your virus scanner

try these drivers,

http://www.notebookforums.com/forum304.html

 

Already done this

I'll try this.

 

Okay, the 174.31 drivers from that site gave me:

8758 overall

SM2.0: 4018
SM3.0: 3703
CPU: 2297

hmm, I think I'll get in touch with Novatech to see if there's anything they can suggest.

 

Shoot, that is bad luck then. Do you have vista indexing service running? I'm thinking about other services running.

I'd download ntune and see what you get against a similar system with a set overclock and the same OP sysetm and video driver. It's hard to trouble shoot something thats not completely broken, your what 8% down from what you should be getting.

I'd be asking for a card switcheroo too esp om a high end gaming GPU

 

For what it's worth, when I upgraded to the 8800M card from my 7950GTX and installed the 174.74 (i think) drivers I had an average 3dmark06 score of around 8620 (max was 8626 once iirc).

This was a while ago so I don't remember exactly which versions, but I know at one point I tried some new drivers from lv2g and my 3dmark06 went down to around 8100. When I reinstalled the .74 ones it never went any higher than 8200. I had to use system restore to go back to before I even tried the lv2g ones in order to get back up to 8620ish.

I should note that this is with installing, booting into safe mode, running driver sweeper and driver cleaner pro, etc, so leftover nvidia crap shouldn't be causing a problem. Also, nothing else was installed or settings changed that could account for these changes. However, -something- is being left behind somewhere, else I would have gotten 8600+ again after reinstalling the .74 drivers.

I have since tried multiple drivers and it's been too long to use system restore now, so even with the newest Sager official drivers I installed today, I'm only getting around 8300 on 3dmark06. I'm probably just going to have to format and reinstall everything over again. It's been about 9 months, probably a good time to do it.

Anyway, I guess the point of this is, recently it seems that, at least in Vista, even with driver sweepers and cleaners, some setting or something is being changed that lowers your 3dmark06 score, so this might be what is happening with you. I'm pretty sure I saw a thread on here a few weeks ago of something similar happening to someone, who was also using Vista.

 

again, do not just look at the total 3DMark score.

you need to compare:
- SM 2.0 score
- HDR/SM 3.0 score
- CPU score

 

the real question is tho, how's is it for gaming? 3dmark score doesn't always reflect driver's performance

 

Oh yeah, I updated the other thread but not this one.

I tried windows XP x64 and 174.93 drivers, and got 9210.

 

True, but I don't do a lot of gaming. As long as I know that my hardware is performing, I'm happy.

I can always experiment with different drivers if I have problems.

 

True.

I just tried the FSB OC as Audigy posted in another thread (T7500 -> 2.5Ghz) and my 3dmark06 score jumped from 8300ish to 9300ish. Crazy.

 

Bioshock seems to run well now, I tried it at 1600x1200 with all settings on high and it was perfectly smooth, between 30 and 60 fps.

 

Tell me about it, the CPU plays a huge part in this. Just ask Audigy about his OCing,he OCed the crap out of his T7700 .

Na, I`m a cheap bastard

 

you will see me OC to 3.0Ghz soooooon

 

I just installed 175.70 from 167.44 and had never run 3dmark06 before. After I installed the 175.70 drivers and restarted out of safe mode I decided to run 06 right away. Anyway I think it gave me 8815 which didn't seem so bad, I am using vista 64. I bet if I tweaked some things I could get it higher but I doubt I'll bother. I went to 175.70 because I tried opening age of conan more or less and it said 167.44 were very unstable with the game, otherwise I probably would've just left them as they were. I just had the feeling that I sort of pounded my way through the driver update and 3dmark06 without paying much attention to settings and details. Quick question, I am paranoid right now about not having fully gotten rid of 167.44, but I assume if I got 8815 there is no way I could be having driver issues. I clearly see 175.70 in my device manager so I assume everything is ok

When I ran driver sweeper in safe mode and selected nvidia display, moved it over to the right box and clicked run sweeper, then clicked ok, it seemed to have done nothing at all. I had already uninstalled the previous drivers from add/remove programs, which removed display drivers so I'm guessing there was nothing left to delete, or I just couldn't see it deleting extra files

 

Harry, if you click the 'log' button at the top of driver sweeper it will show you what it removed. Usually it's just a file or two and a few registry entries, but they get removed so fast it seems like it did nothing

 

That`s exactly how it works,the leftovers were taken care of.
8800 is a very good score,some drivers can give you a bigger or lesser score,but gaming experience is what matters in the end.