A7M266, Low SANDRA/3DMARK scores SOLVED!!

[akidd]

I hope this helps someone else, I've seen lots of posts about similiar
problems. Hopefully ASUS will do something.

(system and BIOS details at bottom of message)


I just built a new machine (details below) on a ASUS A7M266 with 512MB of
crucial PC2100 CL2.5 DDR. I registered Sisoft Sandra Pro (version
2001.3.7.52) and ran all the benchmarks. I was happy with all results
*except* the memory benchmark.

I got:

INT ALU/RAM Bandwidth 489 MB/S
Float FPU/RAM Bandwidth 621 MB/S

The reference AMD 760 PC2100 CL2.5 DDR (K7) listed in SandraPro gets:

INT ALU/RAM Bandwidth 537 MB/S
Float FPU/RAM Bandwidth 700 MB/S

Running 3DMARK2001

I got:

Overall 3700

I've seen much better scores on the madonion.com site for hardware similiar
to
mine.


I assumed this was just cheap Crucial ram not being up-to-snuff. Later I
ordered 2 sticks of Corsair CM64SD256-2400C2 (PC2400, CAS2 XMS2400) and
replaced the Crucial sticks. Although I can happily run at 1450mhz now and
reliably set to 2-2-2, my Sisoft Sandra scores are exactly the same.

I read posts all over saying various things. "Sandra mem benchmarks suck",
"your scores are really good", "your scores really blow", "A7M266 board rev
1.03 sucks (I have 1.04 stencil on the MB PCB)", "make sure Superbypass is
enabled (it is)" but really nothing helpful. I've also reproduced this with
EVERY bios release (starting at released 1003) upto and including 1004 beta
003-A.

Someone vaguely mentioned a "problem" with USB devices on the A7M266 on one
thread I read. With nothing left to try, I unplugged my USB device (my
satelitte modem), restarted the system and re-ran the benchmarks.

The results were very interesting:

INT ALU/RAM Bandwidth 678 MB/S (vs 489MB/S before)
Float FPU/RAM Bandwidth 867 MB/S (vs 621MB/S before)

Well above the reference board in SandraPro, exactly as I expected! I then
reran 3DMARK2001:

Overal 4349 (vs. 3700 with USB device plugged in)

I now STRONGLY suspect there is a problem with the ASUS A7M266. If you are
having low scores on any benchmarks, unplug your USB devices and try again.
If that resolves it, write ASUS and lets get this fixed!!!!


Windows ME
AMD T-Bird 1.333 @ 1.49 (40-44C loaded temp)
GlobalWin fan WBK38 (6800RPM)
Artic Silver II pasted
Corsair PC2400 CAS2 - 512MB
ASUS A7m266 - bios 1004 beta 003-A - See details below
6 System Fans
nVidia stock GeForce 2 Ultra 64 Meg
SBLive 5.1 Soundcard
1 75 gig 7200 RPM IBM Desktar
Plextor Plexwriter 16/10/40
Toshiba PC-DVD 48x CDRom 16x DVD
Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theatre 3500 5.1
Enermax 350 Watt PSU
IIyama Vision Master Pro 510 22' Monitor
Lian Li PC-60 All Aluminum Case
3Com Ethernet 100 3com NIC
Logitech Infrared/wireless mouse

 

[akidd]

character limitation for posts, here are the bios settings.


BIOS SETTINGS: (format thanks to stormyandcold)

MAIN
LEGACY DISKETTE A [1.44M,3.5IN]
>KEYBOARD FEATURES
BOOTUP NUMLOCK STATUS [ON]
KEYBOARD AUTO-REPEAT RATE [12/SEC]
KEYBOARD AUTO-REPEAT DELAY [1/4SEC]

HALT ON [ALL ERRORS]

ADVANCED
OPERATING FREQUENCY SETTING [USER DEFINED]
CPU CLOCK MULTIPLIER [10.0X]
SET SYSTEM OPERATING FREQUENCY [DEFAULT]
SYSTEM FREQUENCY [145MHZ]
SYSTEM PERFORMANCE [TURBO MODE]
SPREAD SPECTRUM CONTROL [ENABLED]
CPU LEVEL 1 CACHE [ENABLED]
CPU LEVEL 2 CACHE [ENABLED]
BIOS UPDATE [DISABLED]
PS/2 MOUSE FUNCTION CONTROL [AUTO]
USB LEGACY SUPPORT [AUTO]
OS/2 ONBOARD MEMORY >64M [DISABLED]

CHIP CONFIGURATION
ONBOARD PCI IDE ENABLE: [BOTH]
SUPER BYPASS FUNCTION: [ENABLED]
SUPER BYPASS WAIT STATE: [ENABLED]
AGP 4X SUPPORTED: [ENABLED]
AGP FAST WRITES: [ENABLED]
AGP COMPENSATION: [BYPASS]
AGP SIGNAL DRIVING: [AUTO]
WRITE RECOVERY TIME: [AUTO]
SOFTWARE DDR PDL DELAY: [AUTO]
DDR SLEW RATE: [AUTO]
DDR COMMAND DRIVING: [AUTO]
DDR DQS DRIVING: [AUTO]
DDR MAA & MAB DRIVING: [AUTO]
SDRAM CONFIGURATION: [USER DEFINE]
SDRAM CAS LATENCY: [2T]
SDRAM RAS PRECHARGE TIME: [2T]
SDRAM RAS TO CAS DELAY: [2T]
DELAYED TRANSACTION: [DISABLED]
PCI TO DRAM PREFETCH: [ENABLED]
AGP TO DRAM PREFETCH: [ENABLED]
I/O RECOVERY TIME: [MEDIUM (8BCLKS)]
GRAPHICS APERTURE SIZE: [256MB]
VIDEO MEMORY CACHE MODE: [UC]

I/O DEVICE CONFIGURATION
ONBOARD FDC SWAP A&B: [NO SWAP]
ONBOARD SERIAL PORT 1: [DISABLED]
ONBOARD SERIAL PORT 2: [DISABLED]
UART 2 USE INFRARED: [DIABLED]
ONBOARD PARALLEL PORT: [378H/IRQ7]
PARALLEL PORT MODE: [ECP+EPP]
ECP DMA SELECT: [3]

ONBOARD PERIPHERAL RESOURCE CONTROL
ONBOARD AC97 MODEM CONTROLLER [DISABLE]
ONBOARD AC97 AUDIO CONTROLLER [DISABLE]

PCI CONFIGURATION
SLOT 1 IRQ [AUTO]
SLOT 2 IRQ [AUTO]
SLOT 3 IRQ [AUTO]
SLOT 4/5 IRQ [AUTO]
PCI/VGA PALLETE SNOOP [DISABLED]
PCI LATENCY TIMER [32]
SYMBIOS SCSI BIOS [AUTO]
USB FUNCTION [ENABLED]
PRIMARY VGA BIOS [AGP CARD]

PCI/PNP IRQ RESOURCE EXCLUSION
IRQ 3 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 4 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 5 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 7 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 9 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 10 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 11 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 12 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 14 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
IRQ 15 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]

PCI/PNP DMA RESOURCE EXCLUSION
DMA 1 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
DMA 3 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]
DMA 5 RESERVED FOR LEGACY DEVICE [NO/ICU]

PCI/PNP UMB RESOURCE EXCLUSION
RESERVED MEM BLOCK BASE [NO/ICU]

SHADOW CONFIGURATION
VIDEO ROM BIOS SHADOW [DISABLED]
C8000-CBFFF SHADOW [DISABLED]
CC000-CFFFF SHADOW [DISABLED]
D0000-D3FFF SHADOW [DISABLED]
D4000-D7FFF SHADOW [DISABLED]
D8000-DBFFF SHADOW [DISABLED]
DC000-DFFFF SHADOW [DISABLED]

POWER
POWER MANAGEMENT: [DISABLED]
VIDEO OFF OPTION: [ALWAYS]
VIDEO OFF METHOD: [DPMS OFF]
HDD POWER DOWN: [DISABLED]
SUSPEND MODE: [DISABLED]
PWR BUTTON < 4 SECS: [SOFT OFF]

POWER UP CONTROL
AC POWER LOSS RESTART: [DISABLED]
PWR UP ON EXTERNAL MODEM ACT: [DISABLED]
WAKE ON LAN OR PCI MODEM: [DISABLED]
AUTOMATIC POWER UP: [DISABLED]

HARDWARE MONITIOR
ALL ON DEFAULTS

BOOT
PLUG & PLAY O/S [YES]
RESET CONFIGURATION DATA [NO]
BOOT VIRUS DETECTION [ENABLED]
QUICK POWER ON SELF TEST [ENABLED]
BOOT UP FLOPPY SEEK [ENABLED]