teh Forum

Time to start over anew with some hardware talk.

I am all upgraded. Here are my specs:

MSI 865 Neo2-PE (Platinum ed.) (link)
P4 3.2 Prescott
1GB Dual Channel PC3200
Radeon 9800Pro (not upgraded)
- just to finish off my specs I am also rocking an Audigy 2, onboard gigabit NIC, 250GB Hitachi and 160GB Seagate, NEC 16X DVD+/-RW +9, 2nd NEC DVD-ROM in a 420W powered Enlight ATX case.

First let me just say that I am not done upgrading yet because I have got to get a new fan. This retail Presoctt fan is fine while the side panel is off but as soon as I slap it on it goes up to hyper speed which whines to the point of making my ears bleed. And if that wasn't bad enough ias it cool down it slows and then heats and speeds so the whine is multi pitched. ahhh!

On with the benchmarks.

No real dramatic changes. It is obviously the video card that is pushing the numbers these days but the dual channel RAM, 8X AGP, quicker bus, and extra 400MHz did help a bit.

Pre Upgrade - Catalyst 4.9

3DMark05 Score: 2151
GT1: 8.1 fps
GT2: 6.3 fps
GT3: 12.5 fps
CPU Score: 2760
CPU Test 1: 1.4 fps
CPU Test 2: 2.5 fps

Doom3 High Quality score [2nd] = 47.4

3DMark03: 5656

I ran this little test to see how new drivers affected the scores pre-upgrade.

Pre-Upgrade - Catalyst 4.10

3DMark05 Score: 2134
GT1: 8.0 fps
GT2: 6.3 fps
GT3: 12.4 fps
CPU Score: 2812
CPU Test 1: 1.4 fps
CPU Test 2: 2.4 fps

Doom3 High Quality score [2nd] = 42.3

3DMark03: 5686
Game4: 37.4 fps
CPU Score 605

And then benched after I had upgraded but before reinstalling windows.

Post-Upgrade, Pre-Reinstall

3DMark05 Score: 2275
GT1: 9.0 fps
GT2: 6.6 fps
GT3: 12.7 fps
CPU Score: 3647
CPU Test 1: 1.9 fps
CPU Test 2: 3.2 fps

Doom3 High Quality score [2nd] = Corrupted by leaving Vsync on - score came out in low 30s

3DMark03: 5997
Game4: 37.5 fps
CPU Score 845

Finally I reinstalled Windows from scratch, which puts me where i am now.

Post-Upgrade, Post-Reinstall (cat 4.10)

3DMark05 Score: 2269
GT1: 9.1 fps
GT2: 6.5 fps
GT3: 12.7 fps
CPU Score: 3930
CPU Test 1: 2.1 fps
CPU Test 2: 3.3 fps

Doom3 High Quality score [2nd] = 49.9

3DMark03: 5973
Game4: 37.4 fps
CPU Score 843

Woo I like that Doom 3 score. I ran it 4 times trying to get that extra 1/10th. Interesting that the reinstall really didn't do anything (except make my scores go down) but it was overdue anyway.

Overall it is looking good. I'll likely bump up to the next gen of video card when one falls into my lap or when the big BTX upgrade happens sometime in the next year. In the meantime, bring on Half-life 2!!

Hmmmm... something doesn't compute...

My scores are higher than yours in 2 out of 3 at a level that seems consistent with our HW... but the 05 scores are all kinds of skewed. I'm not running the patched version. Is that it? Something is screwy here and I don't think it is HW. Chances are we have some inconsistent 3DMark05 setting.

BTW Kev - I installed this just for you:

Quake 3 Arena v1.32 (which came out October 2, 2002 ah-hem)
1024x768, All set to HIGH, Lightmap lighting, Geometric and Texture details at MAX, Textures 32bit, trilinear filtered.

SCORE 269.7 fps

Unfortunately my PC doesn't warrant any type of benchmarks at the moment. I'z po'.

Whoa there cowboy! You want your lighting set to lightmap. I got 188.9 with Veretex lighting. Even so, thats quite the impressive score. December 2002... It's new compaired to your benchmark cd... right?

I have and unpatched 3DMark05 as well. (Running V100 not V110)

I cracked it, and went with default settings, and ran ALL tests.

I deleted 3DMark 05.

My Doom3 score should be the same as before though. It pretty much stays locked at 60FPS in 1280 with plasma hack, and player shadow.

Sorry that should have read Lightmap. With Vertex on I scored 305.7 fps.

Q3A as a benchmark needs to be retired as of now.

Agreed. I only posted it, because we were talking about q3 benchmarks the other day.

These benchmarks are done with 3DMark05 1.1.0

Catalyst 4.10
Catalyst 4.11

Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2250MHz
MSI K8T Neo2-FIR
1 GB PC3200 Ram (2.5-3-3-7)
Radeon 9800 PRO w/ Catalyst 4.12

Damn dude, those scores look gooooood. I think your bottleneck has officially moved to your video card. Me wants a 6800.

Guess I better add my new bits here too. (I don't have benchmarks though. Perhaps I'll run a couple tonight.)

AMD A64 3800+ @2.52 GHz (I'm guessing this would be around a 3900+ if that existed.)
MSI K8N NEO2 (NForce 3 250 Ultra) (Strange board, it has a Gbit network interface, AND a 100Mbit)
2GB Infineon PC3200
BFG Tech 6800 GT OC @ Ultra Speeds (400c / 1100m)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Wireless Nic

I can say that once I got it working with 2GBs of RAM, and bumped up the clock a little, Doom 3 never drops below sync at 1280, Ultra detail, 4X aniso, with the plasma lights and player shadows on. Good stuff indeed. My video card is basically a 6800 Ultra, and it is still the bottleneck right now.

Yes please, post the benchmarx0rz!

Well, for starters:

Doom 3 @ 1280x1024, ultra detail, 4x aniso, weapon lights and player shadows on, etc.

58FPS average.


I don't have 3DMark 2005, so I may or may not provide results for that. I may run 03 though.

Whats your Doom 3 1024 default score (2nd run)?

I don't play in 1024. Also, since D3 doesn't allow more than 60 FPS (internally) it wouldn't matter much. So, if I decreased by one screen size (to 1024,) it would stay pegged at 60. Interesting how adding a GB of RAM helps though in Ultra mode. Ultra mode was intended for cards with 512MB of onboard RAM, (based on the amount of texture data it takes to uncompress normal maps, etc.) When I run in Ultra mode with 1GB, I get stutters and hiccups. Add the second gig, turn up cache amount in the .CFG, and it's smooth as silk in 1280. I DO need to drop anisotropy to 4. I feel that 8 is overkill. 4 looks perfect. I also do not use AA, as I feel it suX0rZ the performance for not much visual delight.

I ran 3DMark 2003 a little while ago (default non-cracked settings.) I got something in the 12000 range, (low 12000 like 120XXish) Sorry, I'm totally sick, and I "accidentally" took WAY too much cough syrup. I'll run it again tomorrow and give you an exact number. Don't think I want to download and run 05 though.

05 might give us a way to actually judge how your system is outperforming ours'. 10, 7, and 13 fps leaves a ton of room for improvement.

Ok, I'll download it right now. But I expect you to go to that System Shock thread, and get SS2 from the link, and start playing. I know it has nothing to do with this, but I've been playing through both games again, and I just find it so strange that you haven't played through them. (It's a little tricky to get working on HyperThreading systems, so the easiest thing to do is just turn it off since you mostly don't use it, play SS2, and then turn it back on.) There are fixed .EXEs too, but after fracking around with that for so long (and actually succeeding,) I realized it would have been better to just turn the fucking HT off for a couple days. Luckily I don't have to worry about HT now. WEEEEEEE!!!!!! Anyway, I'll get 05 right now...

Downloading all the latest 3DMark versions...

3DMark 05 score...

3D Marks - 4756
Return to Proxycon - 21.1
Firefly Forest - 13.9
Canyon Flight 23.5

CPU - 4593
Test 1 - 2.2
Test 2 - 4.3

I wanna play too!

but I don't really have any games...how can I benchmark my pc??

3DMark 03 - 11850

This was higher when I ran it a little bit ago. Don't know what changed. Oh well...

3DMark01SE - 23140

I am currently in windows at 275x9 = 2.475 GHz

This proc is ridiculous!

What are your other settings? RAM timings, HT settings, Voltages, etc. That's totally cool. I'd like to try and tweak mine up a bit too..

Oh, and 3DMark2000 - 21948

Oh, and 18.5 Reality Marks.

I can't get 3DMark 99 to run. (Sucks, because I like that one.)

I was hoping I could go at least another 6 months without looking at my computer as a slow, outdated space heater, but you jerks just ruined that for me. Thanks for nothing, jerks!

You are of course, most welcome. They all heat the room equally well.