My 3DMark Scores

[DanGrease]

Well here are my scores for my new computer I recieved yesterday. I was really excited to try my machine out.
*Not Overclocked
- Pentium 4 3.2Ghz, 800MHz, with HT
- Kingston 2x512MB DDR PC3200
- Maxtor 160GB 8MB Cache, 7200RPM
- ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128MB
- Catalyst Driver 3.8 (Came with CD)
- DirectX 9.0b
- Windows XP Professional

Scores:
3DMark2001SE: 15814
3DMark2003: 5341

Are these scores oK for my system?
I am pretty new at benchmarking, so I am not sure what scores to expect from my machine. Any opinions?

dan

[The Real Bingo]

Probably getting the latest graphics driver will help that score out. I think it should be at least around 17,000 for 2001. I really dont go by those scores though; as long as it runs all your games smoothly you shouldnt worry.

[DanGrease]

I tried to install the latest driver, but it seems it can't update from the one you have, so you have to uninstall the driver you have installed, and then install the latest. I know this because I accidentaly installed the latest over the one I got now and it totally screwed up my computer giving me errors and crashes. I also heard you have to use a utility to clean the things left from the last driver until you install the latest, because or else it could cause errors to appear, and it could make your computer crash. Where can I get one of those tools, and should I get the latest driver and uninstall the one I have now?

dan

[DanGrease]

Got Driver Cleaner, and installed the latest driver for my video card (Catalyst 4.4) and did both benchmarks once again. Here are the results:

3DMark2001SE: 15638
3DMark2003: 5399

As you can see, the score for 3DMark2001SE decreased while the score for 3DMark2003 increased. Anyways, I am glad I didnt get any issues after uninstalling the driver like it happened to me before.

dan

[DigitalDeath]

The lowere score is probably due to ATI's default settings. I don't remember the settings from the version you had installed previously so I can't tell the actual differences. There are a few setting that I find changed when I update my drivers. One major thing is V synch is set to application preference. I don't think 3d mark (either verson) actually enables it when benchmarking, but forcing it OFF in the control panel always helps me...


- AthlonXP 2600+ (Non Barton) - Stock clocking
- Kingston 2x512MB DDR PC2700
- Maxtor 120GB 8MB Cache, 7200RPM
- ATI Radeon 9500Pro 128MB (Got this baby running @ 9700 pro specs w/ no adtnl cooling)
- Catalyst Driver 4.4
- DirectX 9.0b
- Windows XP Professional

Scores:
3DMark2001SE: 14962
3DMark2003: 4325

Also, these benchmarks are pretty much used to simply show a gain or decline in performance after I've tweaked or oc'd somthing(s)

[DanGrease]

Thanks for that information, might be helpful.
I do have the latest driver from ATI though, Catalyst 4.4

dan

[DigitalDeath]

You may also increase your performance by setting all setting to PERFORMANCE in the ati control panel. Reboot and run your benchmarks again. You should see a large difference

[DanGrease]

Would you might help me by telling me where and how to do that, since this is my first ATI video card, and I have only used Nvidia video cards before so I dont know much about ATI's driver and how they work. Thanks again.

dan

[Bizkitkid2001]

If all ATI card owners do that, then its kinda funny how they called Nvidia's 40.XX cheat drivers, since they pretty much did the same thing as what DigitalDeath said above.

Man, all these people contridicting themselfs.

[DigitalDeath]

If you go to your display properties, click on settings, then advanced. Choose the 3D tab. Slide the sliders to PERFORMANCE. I do this for both D3D and OpenGL. Also, you may choose the Custom check box then set those setting to all PERFORMANCE, and OFF.

Apply these and run your benchmarks