3D mark score,, you got to be kidding !!

Hi all, this is my first post, so go easy on me, am a bit green when it comes to oc and such.

To start off with, could someone explain to me what 3d mark is actually about,, ie/ how it scores ?? tell you why ...>>>

Just ran it,, score of wait for it,,,,, 471

Now,, i am not a gamer, and neither is my pc. However, i watch a lot of live tv,, via sky digi box and happaugue tv card, so i want to get the most out of my graphics, to prevent stuttering and artifacts.

The 3D mark said,,,,SM2.0 221
HDR/SM3.0 N/A
CPU SCORE 844

What does all this mean ??? I always thought that 3d mark scores where all in the thousands, why is my score so low ???
My pc is less than 3 months old,,
Spec is,,,,,Windows xp home sp2.

3.0ghz cpu, hyperthreading, with 64bit archetecture.

1.5gig ddr2 sdram. ( 1100 free )

over 200gb of free hardrive space, on two drives.

Creative audigy zx4 audio card.

ATI X700 se graphics (pci-e ).

Happaugue pvr 150 tv card.

Wireless network card - router.

So,,,my pc is relativly new,, relativly fast for my meager needs,, isnt a gamer by any means,, but is no way a donkey !!!!

Why such a low score !! i know the x700 isnt fantastic, but 471 score

PLease,,, any advice would be much appreciated.

That video card will get destroyed by 3dmark06 unfortunately. Just the new shader processes and the types of rendering that is done. You should try running 3dmark05 for a better representation of your system. Hope that helps.

Hi Vixro,,,
Many thanks for that,, much appreciated.
Have deleted the 06 version , and am in the proccess of downloading the 05 version at the moment.

Question though,,,2 actually !!

Why will 06 destroy my card !! how !!

And,,,why is the 05 version a better choice for my pc !!

I thought that with my pc only being a few months old, the most recent version of 3D mark would be the most appropriate choice .

Just wondering !! cheers,,

rxkevco said:

Hi Vixro,,,
Many thanks for that,, much appreciated.
Have deleted the 06 version , and am in the proccess of downloading the 05 version at the moment.

Question though,,,2 actually !!

Why will 06 destroy my card !! how !!

And,,,why is the 05 version a better choice for my pc !!

I thought that with my pc only being a few months old, the most recent version of 3D mark would be the most appropriate choice .

Just wondering !! cheers,,

Click to expand...

3DMark06 isn't going to literally destroy your video card, it's just an expression. When he mentioned "destroy", he meant that the card is not strong enough to run 3DMark06 at a good speed. 3DMark06 is much more graphic intensive than 3DMark05, and only the latest mi- to high-end cards can run its benchmark at a decent speed.

3DMark05 is not as intensive, and since the X700 was meant as a low- to mid-range video card when it first came out, this would gauge the video card's speed better.

Hi folks,,,
Thanks for the advice,,see, i have learnt something already

Just ran 3D mark 05. results are still quite deppressing though,, ( i think !!)

Here goes,, score was 1746

gt1 return to proxcon 7.7 fps
gt2 firefly forrest 5.5 fps
gt3 canyon flight 8.0 fps

cpu test score 3269

cpu test 1 1.8 fps
cpu test 2 2.7 fps

All the other tests were labelled as N/A.

How does this new result fair ??

rxkevco said:

Hi folks,,,
Thanks for the advice,,see, i have learnt something already

Just ran 3D mark 05. results are still quite deppressing though,, ( i think !!)

Here goes,, score was 1746

gt1 return to proxcon 7.7 fps
gt2 firefly forrest 5.5 fps
gt3 canyon flight 8.0 fps

cpu test score 3269

cpu test 1 1.8 fps
cpu test 2 2.7 fps

All the other tests were labelled as N/A.

How does this new result fair ??

Click to expand...

That sounds right. In terms of speed, your system is performing like it's supposed to be.

Looking at some peoples profiles on here, its not unusual to see scores of 10 and 12 k,,,, my measly score of 1746 is embarressing to say the least.

Do you think a better graphics card would improve the picture and stop the stuttering when watching live tv via my skybox>> tv card.
Have been told that a better card wouldnt help at all.

Any suggestions for a better card in the £100 region,, used that is.
I know the next generation of dx10 cards are out soon ( ??are already ), and as such, would drive down the price of the present dx9 high end cards.

Is it worth waiting, or should i just get on with it and look for another card now ??? I am disapointed with this card,,, i swear the old bfg 5600 nvidea card i sold off last yr was better than this x700,,,,or am i just imagining things !!!

Thanks to you both for your advice,,really appreciated.
Cheers,, kev.

rxkevco said:

Looking at some peoples profiles on here, its not unusual to see scores of 10 and 12 k,,,, my measly score of 1746 is embarressing to say the least.

Do you think a better graphics card would improve the picture and stop the stuttering when watching live tv via my skybox>> tv card.
Have been told that a better card wouldnt help at all.

Any suggestions for a better card in the £100 region,, used that is.
I know the next generation of dx10 cards are out soon ( ??are already ), and as such, would drive down the price of the present dx9 high end cards.

Is it worth waiting, or should i just get on with it and look for another card now ??? I am disapointed with this card,,, i swear the old bfg 5600 nvidea card i sold off last yr was better than this x700,,,,or am i just imagining things !!!

Thanks to you both for your advice,,really appreciated.
Cheers,, kev.

Click to expand...

So long as you dont want to play the lastest games, and all that you do with it is watch tv, your current card is more then fine it is overkill.

Also if there are no games out right now that you are dieing to play upgrading now is pointless.

It seems to me that other things could be causing the slowdown. Such as a virus or spyware on your computer. Do you frequently run virus scan and spyware removers to get rid of extra things that shouldn't be installed on your computer?

seems to me the graphics card is more the issue than any trojan/virus/malware. ;-p

TTP said:

seems to me the graphics card is more the issue than any trojan/virus/malware. ;-p

Click to expand...

No, his problems with watching live TV on his computer have nothing to do with the video card.

Do you think a better graphics card would improve the picture and stop the stuttering when watching live tv via my skybox>> tv card.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies,
You have all been very helpfull, and i value all the opinions you have put forward.
Vixro, yes, i have norton antivirus, only run it once a week, along with spybot and adaware. Run them all once a week. Never had a virus or any adware to be honest. My new pc has a wireless router, so i suppose that has helped to keep the new pc clean.

I dont just use the pc for watching live tv, far from it.
I have nearly 60gb of music on one hardrive, a 7:1 audio system,,80gb of videos that i have transferred from old vcr cassettes onto another drive.
I use the internet for about 6-8 hours a day.
Its just a home pc.

The missus got sky+, so the old sky box was put next to my pc, and via the tv card, i can watch any sky channel on the pc, whenever i want.
Very handy for watching football matches in one room,, whilst the wife is watching some girlie show in another room.

My only gripe is,, i do get stuttering when watching live tv, or web feeds.
I dont get any problems watching a dvd movie,, its only the live feeds to the skybox.
Its all cabled up proper ,,, the only thing i can think of as being the weak link in the chain is,,, the x700.
Which is why i ran 3D mark in the first place.

I have been thinking about getting into gaming a bit,, as most of my mates are well into it, and keep trying to get me onboard, but nothing serious at all,,, just yet that is.

If i could be sure that a better card would help the tv problem, i would go get one at the next payday,, Been told that it wouldnt make any difference at all,,,, but surely a better card would show a better picture ????

rxkevco said:

If i could be sure that a better card would help the tv problem, i would go get one at the next payday,, Been told that it wouldnt make any difference at all,,,, but surely a better card would show a better picture ????

Click to expand...

Nope, even if you go from a X700 to a X1950XTX there is virtually no difference in image quality. You will notice a better image quality buying a new monitor.

I have a Dell ultra-sharp 20.1" lcd monitor,,,dont come much better !!!

Its the envy of most of my gamer mates,, one or two of them have gone out and replaced their old lcd monitors with one of these, so cant be that bad.

That is a good monitor for sure. Basically you would be fine even on integrated if you dont play any games. However if you want to get into games keep your current card and only upgrade when it looks like a slide show no matter what you do in a game you want to play. Upgrading your video card in your case would be like my grandma going out and buying a ferrari to drive to the supermarket.

Hi all,,,
Just ran 3D mark 05 again, this time with no internet connection, and all my norton antivirus disabled.
Got a slightly better score ??

Total score was 1857.

GT1.............8.2fps

GT2.............5.9fps

GT3.............8.5fps

CPU Score..........3403

cpu 1...............1.8fps

cpu 2...............2.8fps

Does it make that much of a difference having internet connection and antivirus disabled ???

1857 is crap! I got more than that on my 9600XT and 2.26ghz Celeron D!

try reinstalling windows and fresh drivers to get more points

What CPU do you have?

there seem to be no problem with your system if it's for watching telly. the bottleneck most likely is the software that came with the tv card (update or optimize it?) or the tv card might have a hardware conflict of sorts. google for that particular model, most likely there are ppl who had similar problems and might even have found a solution.