I'm pretty literate when it comes to computer equipment, but some stuff I just never had to learn about. Benchmarking PC's was one of them. Recently, Ive become interested in building a performance system and so I thought I should start with learning about how this all works. I downloaded the trial copy of 3dMark05 and ran the tests. I scored 2965 and then 2956. This surprised me a little as I read about other people's scores and they all seemed higher. I don't have a slouch system. It's not great, but for some reason, I thought I would get better performance out of it. Here are my specs...
Pentium 4 3.0 Prescott Socket 478
Asus P4S800D-X Mobo
3gigs of PC3200 400mhz Ram - 2 Corsair 1 gig sticks and 2 Kingston 512k sticks
BFG 6600GT AGP Factory OC'd
Antec 500w Smart Power 2
Now, I'm perfectly fine if someone tells me that this is a scrub system. I know it's not top of the line. But I think it could be considered above average. Is 2956 an above average score?
Also, I realize that AGP systems and socket 478 Intel chips are not prevailant any longer. So, when it comes time for me to spend on these parts, I know I'm looking at a PCI-e Mobo, DDR2 Ram, a 7 series NVidia card or an 800 series ATI card. I guess I'm just trying to understand how the 3DMark05 benchmarking works and why my system scored so low compared to other's systems. And is there a way to get more performance out of my current configuration that I am not aware of (overclocking would be one, but I have only read articles on it recently and have not tried it)? Any help in understanding this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
homeyfoos
Pentium 4 3.0 Prescott Socket 478
Asus P4S800D-X Mobo
3gigs of PC3200 400mhz Ram - 2 Corsair 1 gig sticks and 2 Kingston 512k sticks
BFG 6600GT AGP Factory OC'd
Antec 500w Smart Power 2
Now, I'm perfectly fine if someone tells me that this is a scrub system. I know it's not top of the line. But I think it could be considered above average. Is 2956 an above average score?
Also, I realize that AGP systems and socket 478 Intel chips are not prevailant any longer. So, when it comes time for me to spend on these parts, I know I'm looking at a PCI-e Mobo, DDR2 Ram, a 7 series NVidia card or an 800 series ATI card. I guess I'm just trying to understand how the 3DMark05 benchmarking works and why my system scored so low compared to other's systems. And is there a way to get more performance out of my current configuration that I am not aware of (overclocking would be one, but I have only read articles on it recently and have not tried it)? Any help in understanding this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
homeyfoos