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Low benchtest results with new Athlon 3800+ X2 and GeForce 7600 GS
Edit: Title is wrong. Should read GeForce 7600 GS.
I just built myself a new PC, relatively budget but hoping it would be an upgrade from my gaming laptop (Dell Inspiron XPS Gen2). Upon finally getting an Asus motherboard to work (I've had a lot of problems with the CPU fan connector failing, two M2N4-SLI mobos in a row) I've installed Windows XP, drivers, and run some tests to see how well it does within the 14-day warranty.
The answer? Badly. On a 3DMark06 test, it benched a shocking 1835 - service.futuremark.com/orb/resultanalyzer.jsp?projectType=14&XLID=0&UID=8576583 - link to results. Under half as fast as the top CPU of its type. Before I send yet more stuff back to DABs, I thought I should post here in the hope of help and advice. System specifications with links to hardware are at the end of the post.
I've Flashed the BIOS, installed the latest nVidia graphics drivers, installed the nForce BUS drivers that came with the motherboard disk. It's running on a non-authenticated version of Windows XP SP2 (not going to go to the effort of authenticating it unless it works). Direct X 9.0c has been installed.
On the 3DMark2006 tests, it starts off at 12 FPS in Tachyon, dropping to 4 for the fight scene. In the 3rd test (CPU only) it gets 0 FPS - about one frame every two seconds displays. It really, really chugs. Horrendously so. And it's a fresh install of the OS so that isn't an excuse. I turned off anisotropic settings and anti-aliasing and got a nominal improvement (about 1FPS on average).
I've enabled PCI-E in the BIOS (or set it to primary boot driver). The HDDs are striped RAID, so shouldn't be a problem.
Currently my thoughts have been along the lines of:
a) maybe the comparison CPUs were overclocked? But, 1835 is still woeful and amongst the lowest for its class, they can't all have been overclocked.
b) maybe I need a 64bit OS to get decent benchmarks, given the CPU?
c) maybe Inno3D make crap graphics cards?
d) maybe ASUS make crap motherboards? The CPU fan doesn't work, and my original plan of installing Mandriva One with Metisse failed because the ASUS bios is not compatible with Linux's ACPI thinger (to get it to load I have to run it with the noacpi command, I don't know what acpi does, but I don't want to live without anything so crucial that having it causes the machine to not boot into Linux). Given I've already returned one mobo to DABs with a blown CPU fan plug I'm reluctant to try again - on the other hand the returnable 14-day warranty on other stuff like the 3D card will expire/has expired. If I want to get a different GFx card, I'll need to act soon.
If anyone knows a comparable motherboard, compatible with the hardware listed below, which supports PCI-E graphics card and has built-in RAID drivers, and supports Linux, I'd be grateful if they could post it.
System specifications (couldn't include links because I don't have 5 other posts):
Asus M2N4-SLI motherboard (currently running the CPU fan off the Chassis fan power socket, as for the second board in a row, it blew). Bios is flashed. DABs product 45M4.
1 gig DDR2 Corsair RAM - DABS product 3RZJ.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 2GHZ processor - DABs product 4D18.
Inno3D NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS 512mb DDR2 PCI-E graphics card - DABs product 47B3.
SWEEX 5.1 channel PCI sound card - DABs product 49KQ.
Two Maxtor 7200 RPM 80gb hard drives in a striped RAID configuration - DABs product 4C0F. The RAID is done by the nForce 4 RAID setup built into the motherboard.
It's powered by an Akasa 550W power supply - DABs product 43FW.
There are also a pair of old hard drives (storage only), a CD burner, a DVD burner, and a floppy drive in the machine. But 550w power should be enough - I've certainly not used up all the connectors.
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Originally Posted by Ephesians
