what's with this low r9600 3dmark score and bad performance?

[pummer]

so i'm building a computer for a friend. it's an xp2600+ barton w/ sapphire r9600. i've got the (multi-locked) barton OCed to 12.5x176 very stably. at stock GPU speeds, and with Cat 3.10 omegas, i'm only getting 1806 3dmarks. at 346/219 i get 1954. what gives?

 

[snvpa]

Id say chipset or agp drivers are not installed/ though that mem clock is very low is the card a 9600 se by any chance.

 

[pummer]

all the drivers are installed correctly, mobo is an abit nf7 and i'm not getting any "?" in device manager whatsoever. card isn't an SE i don't think. This is the card. Since it ranges from AGP 1x/2x/4x/8x i'm thinking perhaps i don't have agp 8x enabled and it's on a lower setting. where would i check this?


EDIT: just looked around in graphics properties, and on the SMARTGART tab it was set for agp 4x. switched it to 8x, rebooted as was instructed, and now after the windows splash screen but before the login screen i lose signal to the monitor. this is probably because i still have it OCed to 400/220. any way to unoverclock the card? I've tried starting windows in VGA mode to no avail.

 

[snvpa]

thats definately an se card as all 9600 non pro's and pros have a heatsink w/ a fan on them. Id return the card and tell newegg they don't have the v/card listed as an se to avoid the restocking fee. silversinksam could probably help you out with this if there were any problems but you basically got duped by false advertising. Return it and get a 9600 non se or if you can afford the cash a 9600 pro from the refurb section would only be like 20 bucks more. sorry to hear about your luck but you certainly were misled. keep me informed.

 

[pummer]

finally got it to work by using the "last known good configuration" option in the F8 menu. on this setting, in the graphics drivers the clock was back to 324/202 (which is default), and the AGP speed was back to 4x. I then re-chose AGP 8x but left the speeds where they were, and rebooted. It booted into windows, but the AGP was still 4x. I changed to 8x and rebooted yet again, and i was faced with another lost signal.

what the heck is going on?


EDIT: didn't see your post. All markings on the card lead me to believe this is in fact a 9600, as nowhere on the card does it say SE. Also, Windows recognizes it as a "RADEON 9600 SERIES." I got pretty much the exact card pictured, so i don't really think there's too much I can do if in fact this is technically an SE, and this is what i picked out without paying too much attention as the best value in the list of cards marked as 9600s on newegg.

i really hope what's going on isn't what you think.

 

[snvpa]

no it is going on as all 9600 non se cards use bga style ram where as your card does not. the clock speeds are what set off alarms for me.
edit: Well maybe I'm incorrect It appears that se's and 9600's use the sam speed ram. My question is what then sets them aprt, maybe core clocks then. either way, your scores sound about right, for those speeds.

 

[pummer]

no it is going on as all 9600 non se cards use bga style ram where as your card does not. the clock speeds are what set off alarms for me.

there are plenty of other cards marked as 9600s on newegg that use 325/400 speeds.

also, to disprove your ram theory, here's even a 9600pro that uses non-bga http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-221&depa=1


i'm not trying to go against what you're saying, as you're probably right. i'm just pointing things out as i come across them, as i'm really trying to find out the issue here as well. looking back i was stupid for even buying this dvi-less card.

maybe the reason it won't overclock well is that the ram is 5ns? just throwing issues around here...

 

[pummer]

Alright, i figured out my noobish problem of not being able to get it to agp 8x -- there's a BIOS setting i neglected to look at before. Problem is, i'm getting 3dmarks of 1786 unoverclocked even on agp 8x. WHAT GIVES

 

[q149]

AGP 8x is not gonna really do anything for you..

That card is clocked at 324/202 and it's probably 64bit..

The dosen't look too far off, just make sure everything is set on performance in the drivers.

 

[Yuriman]

That *might* be an SE, but I have seen plenty of 9600np's without a fan. With a pro model you can only expect about 2800 with default clocks, so that doesnt seem too terribly bad. Also, most of the se's i've seen come with 333mhz ram.

 

[Shade00]

Both the 9600np and 9600se have passive cooling. They also both use TSOP memory and are clocked at 325/200. The difference is the bandwidth; the 9600np has a 128-bit memory path, while the 9600se has a 64-bit memory path.

 

[Supertrucker]

that 9600proEZ is not the same thing as a "real" 9600 pro, the EZ marks it as having slower ram but they get to call it a pro because of the core clock being on par with pro speeds

 

[Axis]

Run dxdiag.exe and make sure that agp is enabled and all tests run OK. If everything is OK there try unistalling all video drivers and then after reboot uninstall all mobo/agp drivers.

Reboot then install mobo/agp drivers, reboot then install CAT 2.7 ATI drivers.

Those have been the best for me sofar.

 

[pummer]

Run dxdiag.exe and make sure that agp is enabled and all tests run OK. If everything is OK there try unistalling all video drivers and then after reboot uninstall all mobo/agp drivers.

Reboot then install mobo/agp drivers, reboot then install CAT 2.7 ATI drivers.

Those have been the best for me sofar.

do you mean 3.7?

 

[pummer]

to the top

 

[SupraMan]

I think your problem is "maybe" the omega drivers.

Omega drivers are more for visual instead of performance.

 

[Steven4563]

its the card its properly a SE 64bit mem

whats the code on the memory then maybe someone can help u out

 

[harryinny3]

It looks like a 64Bit Bus card.

But try setting your AGP speed in bios There should be an Auto or 4x/8x setting in bios Under chipset settings? Also make sure its booting in AGP mode through bios also. I would venture to say its a SE, because my kids 9600pro gets 3300 in 03 with a 1.8 cele @2.0. So theres something going on with your card for sure. My guess is still that its a SE with 64bit memory bus.

Harry

 

[pummer]

Re: It looks like a 64Bit Bus card.

But try setting your AGP speed in bios There should be an Auto or 4x/8x setting in bios Under chipset settings? Also make sure its booting in AGP mode through bios also. I would venture to say its a SE, because my kids 9600pro gets 3300 in 03 with a 1.8 cele @2.0. So theres something going on with your card for sure. My guess is still that its a SE with 64bit memory bus.

Harry

i did set it to 8x agp in the bios. that's not my problem anymore.

memory is:
Elixir
N2DS25616BT-5T
10100BPY

 

[^wargod]

i have that same card on the same mobo, w/o overclocking it i got like 2500ish in 3dmark, after i overclocked it to 410/270 i got 3180 :]

also i had your same problem, my card was staying in 4x mode, but only after i swapped it back into my NF7 from my crappy old compaq (had to RMA my mobo, so i figured i'd use my 9600 in my old comp :q) no matter what i tried, couldnt get it back into 8x. so i uninstalled my mobo drivers and vid drivers, reinstalled, worked. try it if you havent