How much difference does a Graphics card make?

[Gusev]

Apperently a lot. Recently I had done a big upgrade on the core components of my machine. Put in a Gigabyte 965P DS4, Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz, Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-5400 TwinX (2x512MB) and a XFX GeForce 7300GS 256MB DDRII, 550Mhz, PCI-Express, DVI-I/Tv-Out. I didn't get the greatest of graphics cards I know because of the cost and the fact that i just needed one to get me to a point where I could install windows. I was amazed that with all that i still get a sub 700 score in 3DMark 2006. I am using Windows XP 64 Professional and have only installed Windows, Lineage 2 and the drivers. Is there something that I might have missed or is it the fact that I am using a "low end" graphics card that I am seeing such a low score? Any thoughts?

Edit - I am using a SATA Hard drive as well in the machine.

 

[OzZie]

Its just a score though.

The real measure is whether it plays your games at an acceptable frame rate with your choice of resolution and video options. Don't be too worried just because the score is low compared to people with x1900's and 7900's.

 

[Gusev]

To be honost I have only tried lineage 2 and the Titan's Quest demo. I have been trying to find some games/demos that are dual core optimized to see if it makes to much of a difference. In the future I am thinking of getting a SLI setup in the future and see if that makes much of a difference. It was though kinda dissapointing seeing 3DMark 2006 running at a max 2 fps though!

 

[Sir Random]

Did you remember to turn off AA/AF, and set "Image settings" to 'High Performance' before running 3DMk06?

 

[gord]

Thats too low.. surely?

You installed your motherboard chipset drivers yeh?

 

[TheVoice]

JUst found a review in which that card gets 722 on 3DMark06, and that's with the 128MB DDR2 version (which is suppsed to be slower), tested with an A64 4000 and GB of RAM.

 

[Gusev]

I have installed the motherboard drivers, i am sure it was the ones off the cd that came with the machine. I only have the free version of 3DMark 2006, is it possible to turn off the AA/AF settings and change the image settings? If it is I will retry the test and see what I get.

 

[Sir Random]

You need to turn off AA, AF, and set image quality in the Nvidia control panel, not 3DMk.

 

[Gusev]

How much of a difference does it make to the final score? Just a ballpark figure.