Benchmark speeds dropped

[richardd43]

Well, here is my tale of woe:

I had some kind of computer glitch and lost my file association plus a number of other items. I tried to do a repair with the install disc but the system would not recognize the installed OS. The system would boot ok so that was a surprise. I then tried to do an upgrade but that also failed.

I finally did a full system recovery from an image on another HDD and everything looked good.

I ran 3DMark06 and got a score of 5400 instead of 9700. I reset the bios and checked everything I new how and everything looked good. CPUZ and speedfan showed the expected numbers. I reloaded the BIOS and that did not help. Installed all new drivers and still had low scores.

I finally turned off the Vista HDD and turned XP back on. Ran 3DMark06 again and still had the same low scores.

That pretty much eliminated the software and the bios.

There have been no hardware changes except for the keyboard and mouse.

I am open to suggestions on this one.

[NickN]

Interesting problem

Assuming the BIOS is set up correctly especially in areas such as NB/SB communication bandwidth, memory timing, hypertransport multiplier, PCI bus speed, and all automatic clocking/timing features are indeed disabled for manual control, etc I would suspect either something running in the background, a driver problem or a hardware failure

[richardd43]

Except for the boot order I run the bios at default settings. I reflashed the bios with a new download so am thinking it is not that. My operating systems are on seperate HDDs in caddys so I know there is no interference there.

The video card is only a couple of weeks old so am wondering if that might not be the culprit. I am going to drag an old computer up from the basement and give it a try and see what happens.

[NickN]

Be careful about assuming default BIOS settings are correct. Many times I have seen default run memory at the wrong speed/voltage, Hypertransport at the wrong multipler, northbridge/southbridge communication rate at 2-4-8x instead of where it should be set, etc

[NickN]

also, make sure you have the most updated version of 3Dmark too. There are patches for those benchmarks which address newer video card and processor issues.

[richardd43]

I am indeed running the latest copy of Mark06. This is a fairly new replacement board so I do not have the old bios profiles we set up and when the computer went down it took my storage disk with it so I no longer have the files we were working from.

I ran Mark06 on an old computer with a AMD 3500 (2.2G) and a 6600 with a painful to watch slide show that scored 1708.

Installed new drivers and the 8800GTS and re-ran the test with a score of 5880. That is probably as good as it gets with this board. I would say the graphics card is good.

I am not a BIOS guru and had nothing to compare the settings to. If you can give me the basic settings that I have to be aware of I would greatly appreciate it.

[NickN]

This was on a xls report you sent me at one time


CPU Frequency       -----      250
CPU Multiplier       -----      13X
Memory Clock Frequency       -----      DDR2 800
PCIEX_1 Clock       -----      100
PCIEX_2 Clock       -----      100
CPU<-> NB HT Speed       -----      4xCPU Frequency
NB to SB HT Frequency       -----      200
NB --> SB HT Speed       -----      5xNB to SB HT Frequency
SB --> NB HT Speed       -----      5xSB to NB HT Frequency
CPU<->NB HT Width       -----      [ch8595]16 [ch8593]16
NB<->SB HT Width       -----      [ch8595]16 [ch8593]16

CPU Voltage Range       -----      1.55-1.65
CPU Voltage       -----      1.625
DDR2 Voltage Control       -----      2.1
HT Link Voltage       -----      1.4
NB Core Voltage       -----      1.4
SB Core Voltage       -----      1.6
SB PLL Voltage       -----      1.65
DRAM Configuration            
Tcl       -----      5
Tcrd       -----      5
Trp       -----      5
Tras       -----      15 (18 is max setting)
Width of DRAM Interface       -----      Auto
1T/2T Memory Timing       -----      2T
AI Clock Skew       -----      Auto

[NickN]

Here is a post where you were running 3DMark stable and the scores at the time


3DMark06 Scores

[NickN]

I just went over that thread and do not see any stock default settings. I will need to download the manual and look it over, then post back the proper defaults. Unfortunately I am heading out for the day so it may not be till later today or tomorrow night before I can look at this.


I recall you replaced the memory. I do not know what you put in or its specs but that will also play a role in how things are set up, even at default. I need to know the memory speed/ timing/voltage specs

[richardd43]

Well, an odd thing happened on the way to the forum today.

I reloaded the bios settings you just posted and fired up 3DMark06. FPS on the first test have been running 8-25. With the OC settings FPS ranged fron 22-50. At the end of the first test I could see the temperature graph (speedfan) and it had peaked at 60 deg.

I terminated the test went back into bios and reset defaults. On bootup I had an error: Bootmgr Missing.

After a couple of attempts to boot with no success I put the XP disc back in and everything booted OK. Reinstalled the Vista disc and it too booted.

It looked like the OC settings were kicking butt in Mark06 until I shut it down. I once again cleared CMOS reloaded a new copy of BIOS 0904 and ran the test with dismal results (5477). 0904 is what I was running when it was hitting 9700.

[richardd43]

I changed the BIOS 4 different times before I could get 3DMarl06 working correctly. Reloaded 0904 and it worked. I am about 1000 points low in Mark06 but it is a big improvement over being 5000 points low.

[NickN]

Sorry Richard. its been a cary few days and I have not had time to surf.


It sounds as I suspected, that a combination of BIOS and settings may have been the problem. I know you updated the memory product so the clock settings we originally worked out which were stable will probably need to be reworked for the new memory sticks.

[richardd43]

Well, after almost 3 weeks of fighting this problem I threw the Crosshair board out and replaced it with a Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe.

I would get  the problem fixed one day and the next it would be bad again. It would take a BIOS change to get the speed correct. Thought about RMAing the board but this is the third Crosshair board I have had.

Hopefully, after the first of the year AMD will have some decent CPUs out to replace my 6000. Am hopeing for a good (affordable) quad core.

[NickN]

Well well well

With the exception of not having support for the new SB700 southbridge due out in January, you are pretty much ready to convert to quad/ATi next gen hardware

[richardd43]

There was some debate about waiting until next year to buy, but I was tired of fighting the problem and these were in stock.

Yesterday I spent most of the day getting Vista64 to run everything. Had to do some surfing to get it all.

Put the XP disc in this morning, loaded the drivers from the support disc and it worked perfectly.

3DMark06 hit 9784 with all settings set at default. I am happy with the board so far.

But I still have one problem in Vista. 3DMark06 will not run. I am getting a OpenAL32 entry point error. It ran good on the original Vista load but would not run after I reformatted and reinstalled Vista. The DLL is there but it will not work. Any thoughts on that one?