Suggestions about pc
I've found this site recently and so many of you are very helpful with ideas, help, and information.
A few days ago, I downloaded a benchmark for a game I plan on trying out. My score was considerably lower then what others had of similar setups. I built this pc and it was my first time doing so. I'm mostly worried that I did something incorrectly, or perhaps, forgot to install or change some setting that I should have. :o
I have:
p4 2.8 800fsb
asus p4p800
1gb pc3200 ram
Radeon 9600 pro
using dx9 and catalyst 3.7 drivers
I know the video card isn't so hot compared to many of the newer ones, but my benchmark score was 1k less then most with same setup as mine. My score was 3,254 while others with similar specs were getting 4400ish.
Any ideas of what I should check, or maybe drivers I should have that I don't?
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
A few days ago, I downloaded a benchmark for a game I plan on trying out. My score was considerably lower then what others had of similar setups. I built this pc and it was my first time doing so. I'm mostly worried that I did something incorrectly, or perhaps, forgot to install or change some setting that I should have. :o
I have:
p4 2.8 800fsb
asus p4p800
1gb pc3200 ram
Radeon 9600 pro
using dx9 and catalyst 3.7 drivers
I know the video card isn't so hot compared to many of the newer ones, but my benchmark score was 1k less then most with same setup as mine. My score was 3,254 while others with similar specs were getting 4400ish.
Any ideas of what I should check, or maybe drivers I should have that I don't?
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
0
Comments
Have you checked RAM timings in the BIOS? Those can change benchmarks by quite a bit. Change one and bench again to see if it helps or hurts.
Good defrag and scan disk cant hurt. And make sure to close other apps so they dont slow it down IE Virus Scaner.
Best 3200 RAM can be set to:
5,2,3,3
Next best to:
5,2.5,3,3
If the first two parms are now set to 6 and 2, try 5 and 2.5 or 5 and 2 (last set is fastest, smaller numbers are better). Note that SOME 3200 RAM is actually OC'd 2700 and you might get to play with timings if so to balance things so the RAM does not get out of sync. Also, unbuffered, unregistered, can be slower than buffered and registered if both are set up right for the ohter hardware present.
Also check and see if BIOS is in fact showing 2600 MHz for CPU at boot, sometimes the boot process sets a slower parameter set. Some of the ohters with your hardware may also be overclocking, and in that case if they did it right scores could be higher than yours, but OCing is not for a "first box" user as it gets complex balancing all the busses for real stability. Simply get the box stable first, then consider carefully OCing if you want to do so. Only some hardware combos will OC and specific RAM used and CPU batch code can make a difference in how OCable a box is.
John.
How many sticks of RAM do you have? If you have 2/4 sticks are they the same make/model of RAM? You need 2 or 4 identical make/models sticks of RAM to take advantage of the Dual Channel capability. If your comfortable with tweaking the BIOS, I think I can help. I have a similar system.
WinXP Pro
P4 2.4c @ 3.02Ghz 1008fsb
ASUS P4P800 BIOS 1009.008 07/21/2003
2x256 Crucial pc3200 RAM 3-4-4-8 Timings
Maxtor 40gig NTFS
Radeon 9800NP Flashed>PRO
DX9 and Cat 3.7s
Remember, these are my BIOS settings and I believe they're optimal. They run stable with my system but everyones system is different. If you change your BIOS settings, please write down your current settings first in case things go south. Since I have no experience with 2.8Ghz processors, you should leave your "CPU External Frequency" at default.
IDE Configuration (Disregard these settings if you have RAID running)
Onboard IDE Operate Mode: Enhanced Mode
Enhanced Mode Support On: S-ATA
Configure S-ATA as RAID: No
IDE Detect Time Out: 35
Primary HD (If you don't run a RAID)
Everything is at Auto except..
SMART Monitoring: Disabled
32Bit Transfer: Disabled
Advanced:
JumperFree Configuration
AI Overclock Tuner: Manual
CPU External Frequency (Mhz): 200 (mines at 252 but since your not OCing the CPU, let's just leave this alone)
DRAM Frequency: 400 (Forces pc3200)
AGP/PCI Frequency: Auto
CPU Vcore Voltage: Auto
DDR Reference Voltage: Auto
AGP VDDQ Voltage: 1.50V (This is my default. I suggest you leave this at your default)
Performance Mode: Standard
CPU Configuration
CPUID Maximum Value Limit: Disabled (Default)
Hyper Threading Technology: Enabled (I'm assuming you have a HT Proc)
Chipset
Configure DRAM Timing by SPD: Enabled
Memory Acceleration Mode: Enabled (MAM=PAT)
DRAM Idle Times: 16T
DRAM Refresh Rate: 15.6uSec
Graphics Adapter Priority: AGP/PCI
Graphics Adapter Size: 128 (If you have a gig of RAM, I'd set it to 256)
Spread Spectrum: Enabled
MPS Revision: 1.4
Onboard Devices Configuration (All my serial, parallel ports are disabled since I don't use them)
Onboard AC'97 Audio: Auto (Disable if you use a PCI sound card)
Onboard LAN: Enabled (Disable if you use a PCI NIC)
Onboard LAN Boot ROM: Disabled
Onboard Floppy Controller: Enabled
PCIPnP
Plug And Pray O/S: No
PCI Latency Timer: Leave at Default
Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA: Yes (This is important)
Palette Snooping: Disabled
PCI IDE BusMaster: Enabled
USB Configuration
USB Function: Set this to how many USB ports you actually use
Legacy USB Support: Disabled
USB 2.0 Controller: Enabled
Instant Music Configuration: Disabled
Power
Suspend Mode: Auto
Repost Video on S3 Resume: No
ACPI 2.0 Support: No
ACPI APIC Support: Enabled
Bios->AML ACPI Table: Enabled
APM Configuration
Power Management/APM: Disabled
Power Button Mode: On/Off
Restore on AC PowerLoss: Power Off
Everything else under here is disabled by default
Hardware Monitor (Take note of your temps and voltages, install the Asus Probe utility found on the Asus driver disk)
Q-Fan Control: Disabled (Enable if the noise is too much?)
Boot
Boot Settings Configuration
Quick Boot: Enabled
Full Screen Logo: Disabled
Add On ROM Display Mode: Force BIOS
Bootup Num-Lock: On
PS/2 Mouse Support: Disabled (Enable if you use a PS2 mouse)
Typmatic Rate: Fast
Boot to OS/2: No (Who uses this anyways?)
Wait For "F1" If Error: Enabled
Hit "DEL" Message Display: Enabled
Msg me if you are interested in tweaking your startup settings.
Wrong.
Best 3200 can be set to 5, 2, 2, 2. They use Samsung or Winbond 5ns chips for a native operating speed of PC3200.