Upgraded to 3800X & 3070 feel I'm getting a low 3DMark score...

[NF7-S]

...and after some advice.

First of all, Happy New year!

Long story short, in the old days (see username for a clue!) I used to know my PC stuff. These days I've just bumped along and never been too much into PCs outside just upgrading and moving on. So, I had a Ryzen 5 2600 with a 1060 and decided to treat myself to the biggest upgrade I've ever had (clue in the title!).

Anyway, what I always do is run a 3DMark to test where my PC sits, and usually I sit around average for the setup...however this time I'm sitting in the lower 10%. Initially doing a quick look around it seemed my 3800X temps were a little high (peeking around mid 80's) so after taking top off case (it's a small case in a cabinet) and a slight tighten of the screws (how do you know what is tight enough!?) I've managed to get a bit of improvement and it now peeks high 70's.

Score wise I was getting 13050 for the GPU and 8950 for the CPU on Time Spy with an overall 12210 ish. Now I'm getting 13100 GPU 9450 CPU and 12390 ish overall. I'm low on the overall score with the average setup like mine being 13020.

GPU 3070 Ventus 2X OC
3800X with A13X Artic freezer
8Pack XTREEM "EDITION" 16GB (2X8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C18 4000MHZ
1tb Crucial P1 SSD
ASRock B450 GAMING-ITX mobo

I appreciate it's the budget 3070 and TBH if these scores are right then fine, but I'm a bit concerned by being so low compared to similar specs. I have no ideas on RAM timings or anything like that, could it just be the way I've not set stuff up (I literally just plug and go). Essentially I just need to know, is this normal and what could I be doing wrong if not? I'm not interested in overclocking or squeezing every last drop out of my setup, just that there is not an issue that needs resolving.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice you might consider giving

 

[NF7-S]

 

[NF7-S]

You need to check what your ram speed is and maybe go into he bios and set xmp profile.

Download cpuz and check memory it will be double whats stated as memory is ddr meaning double data ram.

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

This doesn't look good! WTH is XMP!?

 

[NF7-S]

Xtreme memory profile.

The memory is runnig at 2400mhz i checked your motherboard and the maximum speed is 3466 mhz so you need to go into the bios on the motherboard and find dram settings. I would sugest 3200mhz first.


Look for xmp profile or docp and set a profile, do you know your way around a bios and how to troubleshoot.

Thanks, not really - I mean, I can have a gander and likely figure it out. So I have RAM that I can't even use to the full effect!?

 

[NF7-S]

Yes 4000mhz is quite high speeds that most motherboards wont reach, setting the ram will be in the oc tweaker but be aware sometimes it mite not work and you may have to reset the bios.

Yes but you should be able to get it to 3200/3600 easily with low latency.

Thanks, in the BIOS it allows me to go up to 6000!?

 

[NF7-S]

That's better now your st 3600mhz though the timmings are a bit high should be 18 22 22 42 at least , you could always have a tinker if your into that. Dram calculator is a good program

Re run your benchmarks again and compare results drop back and let us know the scores.

Thanks - I'm right at the average level now! GPU 13207 CPU 9800 and a score of 12552.

Not sure about the above timings...I guess I can have a look into it, many thanks

So my CPU temps are fine and not causing throttling or anything?

 

[NF7-S]

Your welcome

70c is fine and no throttling

Enjoy.

Well it peeks at 80 (just ran another test) and the score also dropped 13134 GPU 9432 CPU 12403 O/A

 

[NF7-S]

Above 75c it start to throttle so it Mite be worth looking at better cooling or case air flow

What case do you have and Is the cabinet the case in enclosed ?

It is small (Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Cube Case) and it is enclosed although I do have a fresh intact and exhaust in the cabinet to keep things a bit cooler.

The cooler is supposed to be pretty good but I guess it is just an air cooler, I might try re-seating it and making sure the paste is even as I did 'slip' a bit as I was installing...having said that I just realised the fans were set to medium - I just switched them to high and the temp went up to 76 and scores improved a little 13152 GPU 9720 CPU and 12490 O/A

 

[NF7-S]

This is what I got when I clicked 'calculate safe'

 

[NF7-S]

Your cooler is only going to be as good as the air it gets. With such a small case you cant expect amazing temperatures...something has to give

Open the cabinet and temps should improve further but the lack of airflow will keep temps higher.

Dram calculator you could get some good performance increase with those timmings if you can be bothered to try but it can take some effort.

Thanks, any suggestions on a cooler? I'd rather try to get to a situation where I'm not being throttled, but I don't really want to spend silly money.

I will look into the RAM timings, seems if there's some 'free' performance I may as well get it.

 

[NF7-S]

As i said before its probablly the lack of airflow being in a cabinet with the door shut. The cooler you have is not bad but you sre limited to coolers up to 140mm tall.

Opem the door runs some tests.

I appreciate that, however I do have fans to help mitigate that. The cabinet air doesn't get hot - the fans seem to be doing their job,

Just ran a test with top off and door open, it peeked at 78 but the scores are back on track 13171-9768-12516. Then I ran it with PC out of the cabinet (well, half out) and temps and score were lower! 13159-9679-12485! lol

 

[NF7-S]

To be honest your temps are not too bad on average checking some reviews, also thermal throttling can happen at higher temps than i thought.

Maybe a better cooler mite improve things but your limited to 140mm max height. Maybe a 120mm aio watercooler but they can be noisy.

Thanks very much for all your help. I think I'm close enough, might have a play with the RAM timings and see if I can get a bit more of a performance gain.