I need help with E6420/8600GT in 3dmark06

[calaveraOC]

Alright, something doesn't add up and I can't figure out what's wrong.

I have my E6420 OC'd at 3.2Ghz with 400fsb x 8 multiplier using 1.375v. (stock voltage is 1.337) anyways, I have run Prime2004 for 4 hours straight with no problems. Idles at 38~41, full load ~62. Using Zalman 9500AT but applied thermal grease that comes with the Zalman.

Besides the cpu voltage, everything else is set at normal. Memory runs at given 800mhz so I didn't see the need to up voltage there. basically MCH, pcie, FSB, DDR2 voltages were not upped at all. I did set my mem to 5-5-5-15 instead of the stock 5-5-5-18 though.

So I run 3dmark06 to see how my video card handles and I get poor scores below 3000!! WTF!?! Mind you, I got ~5300 with everything set at stock.

So what am I doing wrong? list of my setup is in my sig. Is my video card not getting enough power? It comes with 650/2000 from the factory and can handle upwards of 730/2100 with no problems from my experience.

[CrazyIrish]

Maybe your CPU is throttling? What temperatures are you getting?

[calaveraOC]

Idles at 37~41. Under full load it's roughly ~62. I don't think its throttling at all. I believe throttle happens when its above 85 or something? I have all that stuff disabled in the BIOS too.

[GTengineer]

Are you sure you ran the same benchmark settings? In the 3000's is what I would expect.

The 8600 is not a high performing GPU, in fact it runs games slower than my old 7600GT. Somehow despite being slower in real games it still manages to outscore the 7600GT in 3Dmark by about 25% but this is completely backward from real world gaming benchmarks.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=637&p=2

I get about 3000 something in 3Dmark too so you are within what is expected.

[calaveraOC]

no, if I run everything at stock I get around 5200ish in 06. you should know that mine's a 8600gt that comes overclocked from the factory at 650/2000. these are well known to get early to mid 5k's. (when OC'd at 730/2100 I get 5950, a little shy of 6k.)

I upped the voltage of fsb, pcie, ddr, mch by 0.1v and now it runs 3dmark06 fine. wtf? if I switch anyone of them back to normal I get poor scores again.

What I want to know is whats causing this lack of performance when using normal voltage? I mean, all I OC'd was my CPU. FSB set at 400, multiplier 8, voltage upped 0.05 to 1.38v. That's it. I don't see how this is having an effect on any other components.

Shouldn't my system be stable if my CPU passed the prime2004 test for 4 hours? I know for a fact that I should be getting 5k's with only my CPU OC'd.

[||Console||]

no, if I run everything at stock I get around 5200ish in 06. you should know that mine's a 8600gt that comes overclocked from the factory at 650/2000. these are well known to get early to mid 5k's. (when OC'd at 730/2100 I get 5950, a little shy of 6k.)

I upped the voltage of fsb, pcie, ddr, mch by 0.1v and now it runs 3dmark06 fine. wtf? if I switch anyone of them back to normal I get poor scores again.

What I want to know is whats causing this lack of performance when using normal voltage? I mean, all I OC'd was my CPU. FSB set at 400, multiplier 8, voltage upped 0.05 to 1.38v. That's it. I don't see how this is having an effect on any other components.

Shouldn't my system be stable if my CPU passed the prime2004 test for 4 hours? I know for a fact that I should be getting 5k's with only my CPU OC'd.


1) So if you change any of those your scores go back to being poor again ? any you tryed them all one @ a time ?

2) I dont have the mb so dont know for sure but I have seen where ppl say the strap on the p965 changes to the 1333 @ 400 fsb So that chould be a reason you arent getting the scores @ those speeds that you would expect . I think you need to go as far as 450 fcb before you get the sames level of proformence from the system .

3) 4 hours is not long enough 24 for is normal stable time .


Edit- You should try Boot at 399 then using clock gen or set fsb to over 400 and see if the scores are better .
And what ram do you have is it d9 based if it it try it @ 4-4-4-12 timmings

[calaveraOC]

1) So if you change any of those your scores go back to being poor again ? any you tryed them all one @ a time ?

2) I dont have the mb so dont know for sure but I have seen where ppl say the strap on the p965 changes to the 1333 @ 400 fsb So that chould be a reason you arent getting the scores @ those speeds that you would expect . I think you need to go as far as 450 fcb before you get the sames level of proformence from the system .

3) 4 hours is not long enough 24 for is normal stable time .


Edit- You should try Boot at 399 then using clock gen or set fsb to over 400 and see if the scores are better .
And what ram do you have is it d9 based if it it try it @ 4-4-4-12 timmings

1) yes. lowering either 1 of them gives me bad scores.

2) I'm sorry I don't really understand what that means. I'm a newbie.

3) for everyday use with some game plays I think 4hours is the minimum. yeah 8+ hours up to 24 would be better I agree.

4) its a cheapo 6400 available here in S.Korea. comes with heatsink though and if I try 4-4-4-12 pc won't even boot I think. my mem could be the weakest link?

[saladCzar]

If your FSB has a 50% overclock on it I would expect it to need at least a minor voltage increase. I run a different chipset but I can say that I needed a bump at around 1450qdr. I could certainly see that being at least a factor in your instability.