PATHETICALLY low 3dMark score (141) HELP!

philormsbyphilormsby
edited July 2006 in Hardware
Hi all,

This is my first post here and as a newbie hope I can ask for some help.

I recently upgraded to a PCI GeForce MX 4000 (128mb) in my Dell Dimension 3000primarily in an attempt to speed up the screen redraw in Microsoft Publisher. I'm not a gamer so don't need a high performance card - just something better than the onboard graphics provided by Intel. The PC itself has a P4 running at 3Ghz and has 512mb of memory. XP Home operating system.

Well, having installed the card and the latest drivers, I didn't really see much of a difference. So, looking on the web, found 3DMark03 (my card doesn't support the 06 version and it suggested running 03). The score of 141 didn't mean much to me but looking on the web I see that others are consistently getting 4000+ and complaining that their graphics system is slow so it's clear that I have a major bottleneck somewhere!!!

So, what's the problem? I have no idea where to look - can anyone give me a little help - but type slow so I get it all! :-/

Thanks! Phil


Here's the details from 3DMark. Let me know if you need anything else and I'll be happy to provide it:-

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz 3.0 GHz
Manufacturer Intel
Family Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Internal Clock 3.0 GHz
Internal Clock Maximum 3.0 GHz
External Clock 800.0 MHz
Socket Designation Microprocessor
Type Central
Upgrade ZIF Socket
HyperThreadingTechnology Available - 2 Logical Processors
Capabilities MMX, CMov, RDTSC, SSE, SSE2
Version Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Caches
Level 1 8 KB
Level 2 1 MB



DirectX Info
Version 9.0c
Long Version 4.09.00.0904


DirectDraw
Version 5.03.2600.2180
Primary Device NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000

Display Device 1/1
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 Driver 9.1.3.1

Description NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Total Local Video Memory 128 MB
Total Local Texture Memory 128 MB
Total AGP Memory 181 MB
Driver File nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 9.1.3.1
Driver Date 6-1-2006
Driver WHQL Certified true
Max Texture Width 2048 px
Max Texture Height 2048 px
Max User Clipping Planes 0
Max Active Hardware Lights 8
Max Texture Blending Stages 8
Fixed Function Textures In Single Pass 2
Max Vertex Blend Matrices 0
Max Texture Coordinates 8
VGA Memory Clock 405.0 MHz
VGA Core Clock 249.8 MHz
PCI
Name NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Vendor ID 0x10de
Device ID 0x0185
SubSystem ID 0x00000000
Revision ID 0xc1

Total Physical Memory 502 MB
Free Physical Memory 300 MB
Total Pagefile Memory 1.21 GB
Free Pagefile Memory 940 MB

Memory Array 1/1
Max Module Capacity 0 B
Supported Speeds
Supported Types
Supported Voltages

Memory Slot 1/2
Installed Enabled Size 256 MB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot DIMM_1
Manufacturer <unknown>
Type 3DRAM
Type Details
Enabled Size 256 MB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 0 b
Memory Slot 2/2
Installed Enabled Size 256 MB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot DIMM_2
Manufacturer <unknown>
Type 3DRAM
Type Details
Enabled Size 256 MB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 0 b




Motherboard Info
Manufacturer Dell Computer Corp.
Model 0TC667
Version
BIOS Vendor Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS Version DELL - 8
BIOS Release Date 08/11/04
BIOS Properties Plug and Play, Flash
AGP
Revision 3.0
Rate 1x, 2x, 4x
Available Rate 0x00000007
Selected Rate 0x00000000
Aperture Size 32 MB
Sideband Addressing supported (disabled)
Fast Write supported (disabled)

Card Slots
Slot 1/5 (PCI)
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Order 1
Designation PCI-1
Type PCI
Characteristics
Data Bus Width 32 b
Details In Use, Long
Device Class Display Adapter
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Driver Version 9.1.3.1
Driver Date 6-1-2006
IRQ 21

Slot 5/5 (AGP)
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Order 0
Designation AGP
Type AGP
Characteristics
Data Bus Width 32 b
Details In Use, Long
Device Class Display Adapter
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Driver Version 9.1.3.1
Driver Date 6-1-2006
IRQ 21

Monitor 1/1
Name Plug and Play Monitor
Manufacturer (Standard monitor types)
Max Width 1600 px
Max Height 1200 px

Operating System Info
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP
Version 5.1.2600
Service Pack Service Pack 2
Locale US
Desktop Width 1280 px
Desktop Height 1024 px
Desktop BPP 32 b

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Your new video card is the bottle neck. It's the slowest card still sold in retail by any manufacturer.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    //edit: nm. looked up the original specs

    Saw this:
    Card Slots
    Slot 1/5 (PCI)
    NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
    Order 1
    Designation PCI-1
    Type PCI
    Characteristics
    Data Bus Width 32 b
    Details In Use, Long
    Device Class Display Adapter
    Manufacturer NVIDIA
    Driver Version 9.1.3.1
    Driver Date 6-1-2006
    IRQ 21

    Slot 5/5 (AGP)
    NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
    Order 0
    Designation AGP
    Type AGP
    Characteristics
    Data Bus Width 32 b
    Details In Use, Long
    Device Class Display Adapter
    Manufacturer NVIDIA
    Driver Version 9.1.3.1
    Driver Date 6-1-2006
    IRQ 21

    and assumed the onboard was MX 4000.

    At any rate, the PCI mx4000 is really no better than the onboard video. Do you have an AGP slot free, or only PCI available?

    I'd say that 3dmark score is accurate for that card.
  • philormsbyphilormsby
    edited July 2006
    No AGP port unfortunately - only PCI....

    So, there's nothing I can do to speed things up? Arghhhhhh.

    Thanks for the advice.

    P
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    you CAN get a faster PCI card, like this one, but you're not going to really see a huge improvement in your publisher redraw. Maybe you should focus on a higher end 2D card like a Matrox Millenium G550, if you really don't care about 3D performance.

    Remember, 3D mark is just that - a 3D benchmark. It has nothing to do with what you are looking to improve.
  • philormsbyphilormsby
    edited July 2006
    Remember, 3D mark is just that - a 3D benchmark. It has nothing to do with what you are looking to improve.

    Hmmm. Yes, that's the obvious answer isn't it... I guess I just assumed that adding a card would take the processing load off the main CPU and free up some memory so HAD to be faster. Guess I was wrong.

    I think that your thinking is right. Still, it's a budget PC and I recognize that - I don't expect a Kia Rio to keep up with a Corvette! Wondering if the Matrox card is worth 1/3 of the price I paid for the entire PC (with 17" LCD!) LOL.

    I'll see if I can find one in Best Buy and test it out - can always take it back if it doesn't do what I want.

    THANK YOU all for your answers. I'll let you know how I get on.

    Phil
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    That PC isn't necessarily a budget machine. The CPU and memory are definitely enough to push Publisher at a very credible clip. Perhaps some other tweaking is in order - even simple things like defragmenting the hard drive can help. I agree with you that the system is probably not valuable enough to spend $130 on a video card for it. You could always take the CPU, memory, and drives and put them on a good motherboard with an AGP or PCI-E slot, get a new PSU and case, and really have a good machine.
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