odd 3dmark scores with overclocking P4C800 E Deluxe

I started out with I believe the 1014 bios that came with the board. I was really (happily) suprised at a 5% auto overclock and a overclock on my FX5900 of 444core and 950 mem. that
I got a patched 3dmark2003 score of 6159!!

So i then tried auto overclocks of 10 and 20%

scores dropped by 300 marks on average also the cpu scores dropped from 721 down into the 600's

Tried the 1016 bios and the 1015
again scores are dramatically lower.

I am running the 53.03 drivers that are not approved by 3dmark
(I need them for Farcry)

In every case my system has been stable with stock cooling.

Its just that if my 3dmark scores go down whats the point?

Can anyone shed some light on this occurence? Is my hi score with the 1014 drivers and 53.03 Nvida an anomaly?and incorrect?
Thanks

My First build:
Wavemaster case
P4C800-e delexe P42.8c@FSB210 (5%)
Bfg5900@444 950 53.03drivers
WDRaptor 74GB 10000rpm
Liteon burner,Pioneer A06dvd burner
Crucial 2sticks 512 3200Ram
Antec380 Round cables Win XP home

Just a guess, auto overclock most likely sets your memory timings lower for a stable auto overclock. Overclock manually and keeping your memory timing as fast as possible. I have the same board, but am still collecting components for a new system, so it is still on the shelf. My Lan Li PC6077 black case will be here 04/02, so then I can start putting it together. Check out http://www.omegacorner.com/
for some alternative drivers for your video card. FPS is not everything. If you have Far Cry, you might like the drivers he writes for more texture on the Nvidia cards. He also writes performance drivers.

I had the same problem. Just try to set everything manually. AI sometimes decreases Vcore voltage. If that happens every benchmark is running till the end as normally but it looses frames because of partial instability that is hard to be noticed. When I set AI to 10% sometimes I had 1,500V!!! Idle and 1,488V load. Sometimes it was normal. Try AquaMark 3. It's easier to notice that problem using that benchmark. I hope that will help you.

Thanks Krm I will try that

First build:
Coolermaster Wavemaster case
P4C800-e delexe P42.8c@FSB210 (5%)
Bfg5900@444 950 coolbits
WDRaptor 74GB 10000rpm
Liteon burner,Pioneer A06dvd burner
Crucial 2sticks 512 3200Ram
Antec380 Win XP home

Lock AGP/PCI at 66/33
Disable spread spectrum
AGP voltage 1.6
Set Ram to 400 for 1:1, 333 for 5:4
Disable USB legacy support

I had a bit of trouble with my PCI modem when I ran at >=230FSB at 1:1 but I disabled spectrum and legacy at the same time and it fixed it.

P4P800
2.8c
TwinMos 2x256 PC3200
FX5900XT 3DMark 03= 5798