Underachieving 3dMark03 Results...

I have suspected this for a few weeks now. I've got my system up and running - everything is hunky dory except the proformance I'm seeing isn't what I'd expect: I refer you to awaham's review of the XFX 6800 GT here

he is getting:

3D Mark 03 score = 10,600

Doom 3 1280 @ 4AA @ High Quality = 46.2 fps

compared to the results I've had:

3D Mark 03 score = 6,500

Doom 3 1280 @ 4AA @ High Quality = 29.5 fps


My set-up is as follows

AMD 64 3500+
Asus A8V Deluxe WiFi Edition M/B
2 x 512 Mb Corsair Value, sync'ed and set in dual channel configuration
XFX Geforce 6800GT 256Mb OC'ed (registry patch from XFX site)
Samsung Combo CD-R/DVD Drive
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb SATA
Samsung 160Gb 133UMDA

A few points to note:

My samsung drive needs to be formatted XP loads really slowly on it but is fine once all the tray icons have appeared....odd. However this is my old drive and I now use the Seagate SATA drive as primary which also has XP installed.

I am currently running AC97 on-bound sound, but I have a SonicFury 5.1 (I only have 2.1 setup) Is it worth me installing the SonicFury?

A few things I've noticed:

When installing the graphics drivers Windows XP reckons they aren't signed and pops up that warning dialogue. I click continue anyway, of course...but should I be seeing this? This happens with both the latest drivers from the Nvidia site and also the drivers supplied on the CD.

When trying to install the Geforce Tweak utility it can't find a Geforce based card in my system! What's going on here then!

I also tried Doom 3 @ 800 @ No AA @ Medium Detail and only achieved 35fps.

.....something is seriously wrong with my set-up if these results are anything to go by. I'll happily reformat to correct any issues but I got the same score since I last formatted the SATA (2 attempts) and got similar results each time in 3D Mark 03.

HELP!

PS.

I have also turned of AGP fast write in the bios and I'm runnning Nvidia forceware 61.77 - score is still around the 6500 mark.

You should be scoring 12000+ marks.
What speed is your card set to ?
Have you installed the latest mobo drivers ?
Are you sure you don't have AA or AF set to forced as opposed to application controlled.
Have you used CPU-Z to check your system ?

I altered some Bios settings and installed the VIA 4in1 driver set - I'm now getting 10,918 ....ok it's not 12,000 but it's close enough for me. Doom 3 is smooth! :rockon:

I've the same motherboard, same CPU, same amount of RAM and an X800XT-PE and I can pull 13,100. Its a little low, not seriously though.

What OC do you have on the card?

there was your problem then ;) the 4-in-1 drivers make a huge difference. Not having them installed is akin to not having the nforce drivers installed with a nforce chipset mobo - its a bad idea ;) Windows' built in mobo drivers are designed for stability and compatability with lots of chipsets - whereas vias are tuned for via chipset boards

The OC I applied was a registry hack provided from the XFX website - still can't get Geforce Tweak to work :|. I'm not sure what the hack does exactly....can anyone recommend other OCing utilities that I might try?

I can't really help you with your system, but we do have almost identical configurations (only real difference is the make of graphics card and the fact that I'm running a 2MB cache IDE HD).

Compare your 3Dmark03 score against mine here. I get 11,430 running all of the tests.

Try Riva Tuner

I get 11149 with setup in signature ;)