3D marks, drivers and performance

[-lynx-]

Just wondering waht the relationship between all of the above is:

I managed to convince my MD that without Dell Inspiron 8000 for me the company's going to collapse . When the PIII 1GHz, 128MB DRAM and GeForce2Go 32MB had arrived I tried all sorts of available drivers trying to get the best out of it.

12.60 topped the performance charts with 1860+ 3D marks when running 3D marks 2001 under DX8.0a. 12.90s were a bit slower and newer batch - 14.20 - hosed 3D marks down to 1700s... Now there's even newer version - 14.70 but the reviewer say that it "loses a few more 3D marks"...

Can someone explain why the newer drivers appear to be worse/slower that the old ones? Unless 3D marks is not necessarily a most objective test? Is there a link between AH FR and 3D marks?

I just can't see the point in them working to worsen the performance?

[Fishu]

Phew.. you get less 3d marks than I do with celeron 566@850 and Radeon.
I get 2500 with this combo..

Must be that magic word "Dell" aka "Brand maker"


Anyway..
Those are leaked drivers right?
If so, those are beta drivers you see.. they try something and if they blow it, performance drops.
AH and 3D marks has fairly comparable results.
Though, AH doesn't use T&L even nearly as much as 3D mark 2001, which also relies more on benefits of DX8 than AH.

[SKurj]

Don't trust what the 3Dmarks tell you in relation to FPS in game....

I recall visiting a review recently which compared many nvidia driver releases in 3dmark2001 and game benchmarks.  A higher 3DMark score did NOT neccessarily mean higher in game frame rates.

Also, reformat, run 3DMark, and I bet you will see a large increase in 3Dmark scores...
A fresh installation can make a big difference.  I went from 1900 absolute max to 2300 with a reformat.  Yet no difference in game that I could tell (Q3 benchmarking)

SKurj

[Fishu]

SKurj,

Many people thinks wrong 3D marks usefulness..

It's perfect tool to check if system is running ok.
If system can't get 3d marks on a par with other (not those top place g33k tw34k systems) similar systems, something is definately wrong.


This is what happend to me during summer:
I was getting lock ups in 3D mark 2001 and once when I got it through, it gave me only 1800 pts, when best so far had been 2470.
Since I keep windows registry backups, I did import newest one from month back and after that I got best 3d marks to that date; a bit over 2500 pts.


If it doesn't give enough points for the system, something needs fixing.
Thats what I believe.

Many just tends to think that it's only use is to get brag points.

[Staga]

3329 in 3D-Mark 2001.
First try with AMD 1,4Ghz/512mb DDR/Radeon 64. Gotta start tweaking it  

Edit: Added
Link

[ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: Staga ]

[SKurj]

Well not to burst bubbles... but  3Dmark is not exactly impartial...  Its a commercial device.  Granted most gamers are running GeForce products these days, but think about this for a moment...
If I were marketing a new video card, and needed a way to boost sales...  Do ya think a few hundred thousand $$ tossed at the 3dmark developers would help?  


Nuff said +)

SKurj

[Staga]

Actually 3D-Mark 2000 was made for some PC-Magazine and 2001 is sponsored by some PC manufacturer.

Anyway its best way to compare your system to others. Just like Fishu said its quite usefull to check if your system is running like it should.

[Staga]

Lynx that thing is a laptop?

Gf2Go is "underclocked" (143core/166Memory)Mhz version of GF2 family with lowest core and memory speed of them all (It's hard to have enough cooling for a "Real" Gf inside of a laptop. Also "fullsized" Gf2 would drain your battery empty in less than 10 min I believe  

In category of laptops that computer sure rocks (I wish I could have one too  ).

[38ruk]

4439 3dmark2001 1.3 t-bird 512 megs win ME radeon 64 with 7075 drivers ,radeon tweaker overclocked 240 core,237 mem, t-bird fsb at 140