Core2 System Concern

[s1moore]

I've been searching but haven't found any topics that really help with this. I recently spent the money to build a new system and am a little disappointed with the results. I'm coming from a P4 2.8 GHZ system with a Radion 9800 anda bunch of standard RAM. When I built my Core2 system I was expecting to get some pretty good 3D Mark results, but the best I've managed is 4216. Is this stanard for the system I have, or is something wrong here. I haven't done any overclocking yet, so everything is default values.

Gigabyte 965P-DS3
Intel Core2 Duo 6400
1GB (2x512MB) Patriot 5400 (4x4x4x12)
eVGA nVidia 7900 GS (Driver version 9.1.4.7)
Windows XP SP2

Any help/input would be appreciated

 

[Ayah]

What 3DMark?

 

[Kwint Sommer]

I am far from an expert on 3D Mark and the 7900 GS but as I understand the test it is limited by your CPU and largely based on your video card. Further, the 9800, although old, really is not that bad of a card and is capable of handling games like Half Life 2 so I wouldn't expect to double your old scores. I can't judge that score but it is largely informed by your video so, if there's a problem, it rests in your video card. Some programs also heavily test new features that not all video cards have and while they may offer excellent performance in most games they score very poorly on these tests. Check your drivers and see how you do on another test program.

 

[s1moore]

I ran the test using 3DMark06 Basic Edition (Demo). What are some other decent benchmark programs?

 

[Rottie]

maybe Sandra 2007 can help you with CPU?

 

[akshayt]

I don't thing that your score is that low. It is fine for your system. OC your CPU to 3.2GHz+ and oc your GPU, you should get 5000 or so.

 

[DetroitSportsFan]

You didn't mention your power supply. More than once, a mediocre power supply coupled with a power hungry, high end graphics card has led to less than spectacular results. This is especially true for the budget builder who chose to save the cash and use the old PSU instead of buying a new one. Make sure you have at lease 25 amps on the 12 volt rail. If not, it would be worth considering an upgrade.

As for benchmarking software ... if you really want to test the power in your C2D, then run benchmarks based on encoding and other highly intensive CPU tasks. You'll notice a huge boost in performance. Sisoft Sandra has some benchmarking tools that will show off the power in your new CPU.

Like the others said, 3D-mark is too GPU dependent to provide a good benchmark of what your CPU is capable of. It will, however, suck the juice out of a power supply in the attempt to supply the demand of such a hungry card under full graphics load. Perhaps your "disappointing" graphics score may be due to not having quite enough power? It's worth taking a look at the supply to see how many amps are available on the 12v rail. It's a rather common scenerio these days ... a high end graphics card starving because the PSU can't power it properly.

 

[lopri]

Umm.. hmm? What kind of score did you get with P4 2.8GHz / 9800Pro ? Isn't it around 1,000? Nominally speaking, your system is 4 times the strong as your previous one.

 

[TheSlamma]

Yes for 3DMark06 thats a good score.

3DMark is made to make you want insane video cards is all.

 

[s1moore]

Originally posted by: DetroitSportsFan
You didn't mention your power supply. More than once, a mediocre power supply coupled with a power hungry, high end graphics card has led to less than spectacular results. This is especially true for the budget builder who chose to save the cash and use the old PSU instead of buying a new one. Make sure you have at lease 25 amps on the 12 volt rail. If not, it would be worth considering an upgrade.

I have the Ultra Xfinity 500 with what appear to be dual 12V rails. The amperage on those are 16A and 18A. Any idea if total amperage is combined or just the highest value? Thanks.

 

[RamIt]

What were u expecting?
The highest score according to the orb with a p4 2.4 and a 9800 pro is 772.
Were u expecting 1000 times improvment?

 

[myocardia]

Actually, the total of the 12v rails is neither their total, nor the highest of the two. The only psu that you can add the two rails together is Seasonic. You actually have to go by what someone else (a power supply reviewer, for instance) says that they are capable of putting out in total. 16A and 18A is probably between 25A and 28A, in your case.

 

[cmrmrc]

seems about right although just a little bit low.... tech report reviewed the 7900gs paired with X6800 and they got 4600

 

[sanitydc]

your not getting much better than that without a bunch of overclocking, 7900gs is about the same as my x1900GT in most benchmarjs and I barely get into the 5400 range with ALOT of overclocking. check my siggy for details.

 

[legendma]

Originally posted by: s1moore
I've been searching but haven't found any topics that really help with this. I recently spent the money to build a new system and am a little disappointed with the results. I'm coming from a P4 2.8 GHZ system with a Radion 9800 anda bunch of standard RAM. When I built my Core2 system I was expecting to get some pretty good 3D Mark results, but the best I've managed is 4216. Is this stanard for the system I have, or is something wrong here. I haven't done any overclocking yet, so everything is default values.

Gigabyte 965P-DS3
Intel Core2 Duo 6400
1GB (2x512MB) Patriot 5400 (4x4x4x12)
eVGA nVidia 7900 GS (Driver version 9.1.4.7)
Windows XP SP2

Any help/input would be appreciated

That score is about right. I get alittle over 5500+ in 3DMark06 using the following:

GA-965P-DS3
E6400@3.3Ghz
2GB of Corsair PC2-6400 DDR2
eVGA 7900GT OC Superclocked
WinXP w/SP2

 

[legendma]

Originally posted by: s1moore

Originally posted by: DetroitSportsFan
You didn't mention your power supply. More than once, a mediocre power supply coupled with a power hungry, high end graphics card has led to less than spectacular results. This is especially true for the budget builder who chose to save the cash and use the old PSU instead of buying a new one. Make sure you have at lease 25 amps on the 12 volt rail. If not, it would be worth considering an upgrade.

I have the Ultra Xfinity 500 with what appear to be dual 12V rails. The amperage on those are 16A and 18A. Any idea if total amperage is combined or just the highest value? Thanks.

That Ultra X Finity 500W should be more than enough power. I also have that in my C2D rig with a E6400 overclocked to 3.3Ghz, 4 SATA drives, 2 DVDRW drives and 6 80mm fans connected.