ADVICE? 9800 PRO 128mb: Low 3dmark2001SE Score-->9682? Why?

[peterpil]

Hi, would anyone offer any advice to this newcome? I would greatly appreciate it and will feel a lot less stressed...

I just bought an ATI 9800 pro 256bit 128mb card. My score with all detail settings on low in the Catalyst Control Center was only 9682 in 3DMark2001SE. This seems low, and I'm worried about the authenticity of the card.

Q: Is it my slow RAM coupled with the fact that my mobo only supports AGP 4x? Or should I genuinely be concerned.

Here are my Specs:

Mobo: K7T Turbo limited Edition (with Raid), 133Mhz FSB, 4x AGP (with latest bios, which is from 2002)
Video Card: ATI 9800 Pro 128b (with latest Catalyst drivers)
CPU: Athalon 1800+ @ 1.53GHZ.
RAM: 768 PC 133 DDR RAM.
Soundcard: Soundblaster Live! Value!
OS: Windows XP with service Pack 2

Deus Ex 2 : 1290x1024, HIGHEST settings except AA down to 2x. In outdoor areas drops down to around 20FPS, is this slow?
Doom 3 runs ok on ULTRA HIGH and 1290x1024 except for that damm lugging when changing area/walking into a room.
Vampire:Masquerade:Bloodlines: Runs FAST on highest settings indoors, but a choppy outdoors on 1290x1024 (prob around 15FPS outdoors).
Unreal 2: Don't know FPS, but must be over 40FPS at least. Runs like a dream!

The tests were done after defragmenting the hardrive, but NOT after a clean install. I've seen benchmarks on the 3dmark website with the same system as mine but at least 2-3 thousand points higher! If it is my RAM, is there any way to speed it up?? It will help with that lugging in DOOM which is definitely a memory issue from what I've gathered on the internet.

Thanks for any input!!

--Peter

 

[phascinator]

Wow those are like my system specs exactly. I would bet that the low score is because of the rest of your system. The slow ram and processor may have something to do with it. I was considering upgrading from a 9500 pro to 9800 pro but didn't for this reason. Then again I could be wrong. Faster ram would require a motherboard that supports faster ram.

 

[VenomXt]

being 4x AGp cuts the the card is drastically

 

[lancer]

what is the difference between 4x and 8 x techically?

 

[Mastershakes]

8x is double the bandwidth.

However I don't think any card out there is utilizing the full potential of AGP 8x

Your bottleneck here is the 133MHZ FSB.

It's like having an 10 line highway go to 2 lanes b/c of construction (the workers are waiting for you to give them the materials right now )

 

[LeeJend]

Yeah, MB/CPU is ancient.

KT133/KT133A Chipset on your motherboard is an antique. Your FSB has the life choked out of it. Newer systems are 333 to 400 Mhz FSB. Note your CPU is probably only good for 266 FSB.

The PC 133 RAM is NOT DDR. It is only SDRAM which cuts your memory bandwidth in half also.

To get any significant improvement will require new RAM (at least 512mBytes DDR @ 333/PC2700, ~$50) and at least a KT333 chipset MB (also ~$50).

To make the next jump will require a new processor w/ 333 FSB, new MB and new RAM totaling about $200.

Jump to state of the art AMD 64 would run ~$350. (400mhz ram, Athlon 939 socket MB and XP3000 CPU with effective 800 mhz FSB).

Watch your power supply rating as you go up in speed. It may need to be replaced also. And case cooling demands will go up (one intake and one exhaust fan minimum required).

 

[peterpil]

Thanks guys! You've made me decide to take the plunge and get a new mobo/CPU/RAM. If I spend a a few hundred, which is not that much, it might even delay me getting a whole new system for at least another year.


--Peter

 

[Electronic Punk]

See if you can post your ORB url mate and I will compare it to my old 9800 Pro 128 benchmark!

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7834405

Thats my score, but my other specs are alot higher (pretty sure I had my 3400+ in when I did this!)

 

[peterpil]

Here is the ORB Link, Electronic Punk: http://http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8517147

It would be good to see what your old scores were...

--Peter

 

[ShepsCrook]

Hey Peterpil, you might want to fix that link you just posted. Double http:// takes you to Microsoft.