Radeon 9700 Pro not up to par

[Kurt871]

I just ran a benchmark in 3D Mark 2001SE using my new ATi Radeon 9700 Pro @ 1024x768 and got a score of 4218. From what I understand, I should be getting a score of at least 11000, perhaps higher with the system I have. How can I fix this? Thanks alot. Here's the relevent specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (333mhz FSB)
Asus A7N8X nForce2 Motherboard
(Aforementioned) ATi Radeon 9700 Pro Video Card

Forgot to mention that I am running the latest Catalyst 3.0 Drivers and DirectX 9

[southrk]

lol, yes i think there is a problem there, espcially since i used to get the same score with my GF2 GTS. Make sure you are running at the default settings, and that in the BIOS it is set up as 4x agp. how much ram?

[Kurt871]

The BIOS is actually set up as 8x AGP, since both the mobo and card support it. I'm running 512MB DDR400 (duel-256MB).

[dackerman]

This is probably a very stupid reply, since I am not familiar with video cards or ATI cards for that matter...

But is VSync off? (it should be)

That really affected my performance on a Geforce card. Also, turn anti-aliasing off if you can.

Dave

[Phil1976]

Post your problem in the forums at rage3d.com - plenty of people having probs with their configs vs the Radeon (and believe it or not, many are nothing to do with the card).

Have you maxed the sliders on the control panel? IE are you running 3DMARK with AA on - this will knock your score down by around 3000.

Come to think of it - are you using the latest build - 3DMARK2001SE??? This was released to address issues relating to inaccurate scores.

Head over to rage3d - there is a forum dedicated to the Radeon 9X cards.

[Kurt871]

1) yes, i have most settings at max
2) yes, i have Vsync off
3) yes, 3D Mark has AA on
4) yes, I have 3D Mark 2001SE

Ill head on over there and ask around.

[edge345]

Reset the bios to setup default, check the page chipset features and put the agp to 4x and turn on fast writes. later you can try to activate 8x. install the ati 3.0 drivers.

[wolfie]

what do you have your fbs set at in the bios?
mines set at 166, i get low 14000's with one stick of 256 2100 ddr

wolfie

[Michigan]

if they tell you the answer over there at rage3d can you please come back here and post what was wrong.

[Kurt871]

edge345 - As I already mentioned, I have already installed the latest Catalyst 3.0 drivers.

wolfie - My FSB in the BIOS is set to 166mhz (as my 2600+ has a 333mhz FSB). I also have two sticks of 256 3200 DDR.

Michigan - If they answer, I'll be sure to post it here ;)

[Blakhart]

What are the mem timings set to?
Nforce2's suxor, Nforce1's roxor!

Heh.

[Kurt871]

Aggresive

[Jeradln82]

Hmm.. Try going into the BIOS, Go to "Advanced BIOS Features" and make sure the "OS/2 Onboard Memory 64mb" is DISABLED.

Then go to "Advanced Chipset Features" and double check that you have
AGP 8x support Enabled
AGP fast write Capability Enabled
Graphics Aperture Size set to 128m Instead of 64 thats default

Try giving that stuff a shot. On a more personal note: I love this Mobo, I have it as well. Really great board:D

[Kurt871]

OS/2 is disabled
AGP 8X is enabled
AGP Fast Write is enabled
Aperature Size is 64MB, but I already tried 128MB.

Good suggestions, lets keep em comin ;)

[Alienware_Dude]

Exactly what 3DMark settings are you using? The default is 1024x768x32, with no AA.

[Furius92]

What is USWC? My Asus manual says that it can greatly improve performance by some sort of caching. But it also says only some video cards support it. Do you know where I can find this information? And might that help you improve your score?

[Jeradln82]

Originally posted by Kurt871

3) yes, 3D Mark has AA on


Try running it w/out AA. I don't think thats your prob b/c you should still have a higher score even though AA is enabled. If I score 8194 w/my 9500pro you should get better score w/that 9700pro.

Don't know if anyone has asked this yet, too lazy to check..lol:
What Drivers are you using? I've heard that people who are using the 3.0 drivers w/directx9 are experiencing problems. Ya might want to look into that. ;)

I'll keep pondering for ya! :D

Edit: Just realized you state what drivers your using in your inital post! lol. If I were you I'd do some searches on 9700 pro problems with catalyst 3.0 drivers and/or directX 9.0

[Alienware_Dude]

Do games play choppy/slow?