RAM/Video Speed, 3DMark improvement?

[Evilotto]

Hi there,

Glad I found y'all as you seem to know more about RAM and system performance than most I've read out there.

I hope you don't mind me introducing myself with a question.

I'm running a

P4-3.06(HT) 800 FSB
A-bit IS7-G Motherboard
2x512MB Corsair XMS PC3200
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB
2xWD 8MB Cache 40GB SE in RAID-0
SB Audigy2
21" Trinitron CRT

I'm only pulling just under 6k on 3DMark 2003 and I see a guy on here with a 20,000+ Score?!

Also, Sandra tells me my memory bandwidth is =/< 1/2 my Processor bandwidth and suggests I check performance options.

The RAM is in Dual-Channel mode (according to the BIOS on boot) with current timings of 2,7,3,3. Is there anything I can do (except the obvious overclocking the busses), including filling up the other 2 banks of RAM that will significantly help performance?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[fondie]

the maximum score in 3dmark2003 is about 8.5k, and the best score with a radeon 9800pro is about 8k (and that's with phasechange cooling on the gpu), you may well be looking at a 3dmark2001 score there with that 20,000+. 3dmark2003 is very graphics card dependant, and therefore overclocking your graphics card is the best way to boost performance in that benchmark.

[Evilotto]

Thanks for the note Fondie. That certainly makes sense.

What do you think about the RAM? Should I bother putting in another gig of corsair? I'm really only concerned about speed, 1GB of RAM is enough to play Planetside and a couple other FPS, which is all that machine does anyhow.

Must... have.. more... speeeed!

[luke313]

1gig is overkill for most games tbh, only Planetside really utilises the full gig. Any higher than that is a waste unless you're using your rig as a server.

[fondie]

Originally posted by Evilotto
Thanks for the note Fondie. That certainly makes sense.

What do you think about the RAM? Should I bother putting in another gig of corsair? I'm really only concerned about speed, 1GB of RAM is enough to play Planetside and a couple other FPS, which is all that machine does anyhow.

Must... have.. more... speeeed!

1Gb is more than enough, Planetside is probably the most RAM dependant game there is at the moment (and i can't see any that will topple that position any time soon either), and even Planetside it will make no noticable (probably no) difference in performance.

[Evilotto]

Righto. Thank you both for the replies. I'll start looking into better cooling and overclocking to increase my performance.

As an aside, if any of you do play Planetside, my multi-game-club and Planetside outfit, Golden Triad, is always looking for mature gamers to join us. Drop by www.goldentriad.net if you are interested. You'll find me there as Bravo Commander - BR20 - GTSticky.

Regards,

Otto