3DMark06 Scores?

[Noc0de]

Hi All

I'm a bit concerned by 3DMark06 scores are a bit poop for my system.

I've got a:

Q6600 @ Stock
8800 GTX @ Stock
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
4GB PC8500 @ 800Mhz
Windows Vista 64Bit

I'm getting:

3DMark Score 9140 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 3727 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4046 Marks
CPU Score 2736 Marks

I don't think this score is particularly good for my system even if it is only running at stock. Also, the CPU score seems pretty low? The CPU test looks to run like a complete dog, whilst the graphics tests look to run fairly smoothly.

I'm running all the latest drivers for the mobo (chipset, sata, lan etc) which I downloaded from the gigabyte webpage, I'm also running the ForceWare 158.24 drivers.

Any thoughts? Is this score poop? Is there an issue with the CPU score?

I do plan to overclock, but I've literally only just built this system and finished installing all the latest drivers, so I was going to leave it a while before I do. I would have thought stocks speeds to have been faster though?

Anyone got a similar system on Vista 64Bit to compare with?

 

[Noc0de]

So is it just the CPU scores that are looking low?

Is it possible my CPU is throttling and if so, why?

 

[Noc0de]

Hmmm, I've just been looking at my CPU in Everest:



and



I don't think the CPU looks hot enough to be throttling.

The multiplier seems to be 6 x 266 (1596Mhz), and when stressing it a bit seems to go to 7 x 266 (1862Mhz) but doesn't seem to hit 9 x 266 (2394Mhz) to reach it's 2.4Ghz stock speed.

I had a look in my BIOS for the "CPU EIST Function" which is apparently the SpeedStep option but it's not there and the mobo manual says it should be.

Any thoughts? I wonder if I'm getting poop results because my CPU is running a lot lower than it should be?

Help

 

[Noc0de]

The only things I can see are these 2:

CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)
Enables or disables Intel CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) function, a CPU power-saving function in system halt state. When enabled, the CPU core frequency and voltage will be reduced system halt state to decrease power consumption. (Default: Enabled).

CPU Thermal Monitor 2 (TM2)
Enables or disables Intel CPU Thermal Monitor (TM2) function, a CPU overheating protection function. When enabled, the CPU core frequency and voltage will be reduced when the CPU is overheated. (Default: Enabled).

---

I'd be suprised if I have to disable both of these? The first one sounds to only decrease the frequency and not the multiplier. The second one sounds like a good idea to have enabled, but I don't think my CPU temps are high enough to bring this to bear.

 

[Noc0de]

Yeah, I was a bit reluctant to turn anything off that might throttle upon temperature alone, simply because it looks like TM2 will throttle if u start to cook your CPU which is a good thing. I can't envisage it would ever throttle on stock speeds, particularly if my temps aren't that high (which they shouldn't be on stock).

I'll try turning the C1E off though and see if that makes a difference.

Interestingly, when I looked in my BIOS it had the multiplier set to x7 so I guess thats why it was going between x6 and x7. Now I've changed the multiplier to x9 its going between x6 and x9. But as I said, I'll turn off C1E and see if it stays at x9 all the time.

Thanks for all the help so far! I'll let u know how I get on.

 

[Noc0de]

Well, I've made sure my multiplier is firmly set at x9 and that C1E is disabled.

The multiplier seems steady down at x9 and clock speed @ stock 2.4Ghz.

Here's my new results:

3DMark Score 10784 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4454 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4580 Marks
CPU Score 3436 Marks

I don't think thats too bad for Vista 64 Bit, Q6600 @ stock (2.4Ghz) and 8800 GTX @ stock?

 

[Noc0de]

I've got a Noctua NH-U12F currently with one fan on it, but I've got another winging its way to me in the post

I've also got 2 x OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit.

Any advice for overclocking? (as I'm clearly a n00b from my posting today so far )