Is this strange?

[boshuter]

I had to do a reformat the other day so I decided to play with my FIC 9800pro a little. I kept raising the video mem and core settings then running 3dmark2001 just to see what effect each had on the scores. Everything was fine until I had the card maxed out. I then tried to go up 2 fsb with my cpu and it ran the test, BUT I lost points! Is this normal? I am at about the limit my cpu will run the test, so I assume it's because of that.

System: 2.6c, Asus p4p800deluxe, 2X512 corsair XMS PC3500, FIC9800pro.

Ok, I started out running 260fsb, 5:4 2-2-2-5 timings

stock video card settings= 338/337

338/337 - 18987
338/351 - 19165
338/360 - 19178
441/360 - 19928
450/360 - 20112 (getting mild artifacts at this clock speed)

Now I raised the fsb to 264 (3.44ghz)
450/364 - 20872

Here is where it got strange (at least to me;) ) I wanted the extra 128pts to break 21k so I raised the fsb to 266 and ran the test.
450/364 - 20252 :confused:

Am I just at the limit of my cpu? BTW, temps are not an issue for the cpu/mb, it never got over 35c during the test. The video card is another story, I'm sure better cooling would give me a little better core speed.

I was just curious as to why I lost so many pts going up 2fsb. If nothing else, these scores do show the effects of the gpu/mem speeds relative to performance in this particular bench.:)

[dbwillis]

hmm, dont know, maybe the vid card was gettinghot after all the tests and was starting to show it?

just a guess though

[RotorHead]

Looks like your pretty much maxed out, but 20K is great score nonetheless. http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

You might be able to get the GPU up a little more with some better cooling.

As for the score drop, I was going to suggest messing around with your memory timings but I don't think your going to get any better then what you have.

[boshuter]

Yeah, I'm not complaining about the score...... I'm very happy with it.

I let the video card cool down at least 30min. between runs, so I don't think that was the reason for the drop. Just seemed strange that the extra 2fsb did that. Almost like some kind of cpu throttling?

[NeoShowtime]

If your artifacting in 2k1 at those speeds, run 2k3. Im sorry to say but I think youll have to pull back. Using the DX9 shaders really puts the core into work.

[boshuter]

Originally posted by NeoShowtime
If your artifacting in 2k1 at those speeds, run 2k3. Im sorry to say but I think youll have to pull back. Using the DX9 shaders really puts the core into work.

Don't be sorry ;) I had no intention of leaving it like that, it will run stock speeds after I get through playing. I ran 2k3 and as you said, I had to pull back, it probably would have run it at 450/360, but it's not worth the risk.

441/360 (again getting occasional speckles in certain tests, most noticably in "troll's lair" and "nature".

260fsb - 6556
264fsb - 6562

again not much gain with fsb, but not unexpected in 2k3 ;)