W3V and 3Dmark05

Hi,

After a less than inspiring experience with runnng Call of Duty 2 on my w3v (x600 64mb) I thought I'd try running 3dmark05 test on it (the free version).

I got a shockingly low score of 234! Comparable notebooks with the same gpu's obtained scores in the 900s.

I'm running all default drivers. The CHC is at max performance for the sake of the test. And I've played HL2 on mostly medium settings just fine & Doom3 on mostly low settings.

Any ideas on why there's such a huge gap between my score and other similar machines? am i doing something wrong?

Appreciate any thoughts on this matter.

 

You should be scoring around 900-1000 with the W3V. Something certainly has gone wrong with your system.

Have you tried calling ASUS Support?

 

Make sure CHC isn't underclocking your GPU... also, make sure you're not running any/many processes in the background (anti virus, etc)

 

Well, I turned off antivirus & turned off CHC and tried again. I had undervolted the gpu but i put it back on default settings before turning off the CHC.

I got, more or less, the same score.

I'm starting to get worried. Maybe I should contact Asus or something. any other suggestions?

 

I find that VERY odd... even my Z63a can score up to 200-300 points.
My gut instinct tells me this doesn't have anything to do with your hardware... it's more likely a software/driver issue.

Hmm...

 

Still, it's worth making a call to tech support/customer service. Can't hurt, at least.

 

If you don't change any setting, nothing you can do.
Please call

Asus Canada Service Depot: 1-888-678-3688

 

I called them earlier & the guy wasn't sure what the problem was. He figures it's software related esp since if the low score accurately reflected the state of GPU then I wouldnt have been able to run HL2 very well. In the end, he suggested updating drivers & maybe even the bios.

What I'd like to figure out is if the 3Dmark05 test result is indicative or an accurate reflection of my GPU -- i.e., is something wrong with my gpu or is it that I'm not doing something correctly?

Someone else suggested reformatting the drive starting fresh & see what happens then.

I suppose I will try out these suggestions but it's really annoying because apart from this unusual test score (...and the clicking HD) my W3V has been great.

 

haha, try setting powerplay to max performance or at least turn it off. i'm 100% sure it's software. asus tech support don't know much. they just know how to schedule a pick up... at least that's what i've found. also, if you want the benifit of an extra 10% boost, don't use asus drivers (requires some time to find a driver that works for you... i'm using the latest omegas on my x700 and dynamically clocking/powerplaying my gpu so i have low idle temperatures (40-50 degC) and great batter life (4-5hrs) however the afterburners kick in with 3d apps (i'm pulling in over 3000 points in 3dmark05). But it takes a LOT of time to get this all figured out, so if you don't put in the time you're not gonna get hte results. but with stock drivers and the high performance powerplay setting you should get 1000 points in 3dmark05 with your x600.

 

flaxx,
Yeah, I was expecting a score in the 900s.

Like I said earlier, with Centrino hardware control set to 'max performance' & stock drivers I still only managed a low 200s. I tried again with the CHC & anti-virus off and still got the same score.

I'm not interested in doing these tests for their own sake...I just figure the unusually low test scores mean something ain't right. I'm going to update the drivers when I get home tonight.

 

forget about CHC... setting it to max vs. dynamic makes no difference. besides you're testing gpu and not that much cpu. as i said you have to change powerplay. I'm 60% sure that's your problem. You're running it on "max battery" or "balanced" and you should run it at "max performance". It's part of your display settings.

 

I changed the ATI properties to maximum performance and then turned off CHC & anti-virus and ran the 3dMark05 again.

I got 750 or thereabouts. Which is a lot better than the 200's I was getting before...but still short of the 900's that other people were getting.

Does that mean the people who were getting 3Dmark05 scores of 900-1000 all had this stuff turned to maximum,etc?

I still haven't updated the drivers either. I'll do that soon.

Big thanks to all those who replied with their thoughts/suggestions.

 

Yeah...it's most likely a driver issue now.
I'm sure with Omegas or other modified drivers, you should be getting 900ish.

 

as long as CHC is set to dynamic you don't need to do anything except turn powerplay from max-battery to max-performance... (and then back when you're done). auroraS said it, the remaining 200 points can probably be acheived by more efficient drivers.

at stock settings and asus drivers i got around 2400 points in 3dmark05, but with the latest omegas (still at stock frequency), that number jumped to around 2620.

 

I installed the latest video drivers off the Asus site & then tried the test again with the ATI 'max performance' setting.

Scored a 933.

I'm just glad it wasn't some sort of hardware problem.
Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.

 

Good to hear, Monkeypants
Glad it worked out for you.

 

yeah that powerplay is usually to blame, glad you got it sorted out.