Geforce 7800 GTX and Poor System Performance

I'm concerned about the performance of my Dell XPS 600 system. This is my
system configuration:

NVIDIA Geforce 7800 GTX 256MB
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Intel Pentium D 3.0GHz
2 GIGS Ram

I ran 3dMark06 1.1.0 and got a score of about 4100, putting me at the bottom
compared with a list with similar systems (the highest was around 20000). I
updated my video card driver and ran the test again (the new nvidia beta
drivers version 7.15.11.141) and saw no performance increase (I also ran the
program in XP SP2 compat. mode, disabled visual themes, ran as admin--all
with no change). I also disabled my sound card and ran the test again with no
increase in performance.

My bios and chipset are both up to date and I'm at a loss as to why my
system performance is at the bottom of the barrel. Any help would be greatly
appreciated.

Mike wrote:
> I'm concerned about the performance of my Dell XPS 600 system. This
> is my system configuration:
>
> NVIDIA Geforce 7800 GTX 256MB
> Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
> Intel Pentium D 3.0GHz
> 2 GIGS Ram
>
> I ran 3dMark06 1.1.0 and got a score of about 4100, putting me at the
> bottom compared with a list with similar systems (the highest was
> around 20000). I updated my video card driver and ran the test again
> (the new nvidia beta drivers version 7.15.11.141) and saw no
> performance increase (I also ran the program in XP SP2 compat. mode,
> disabled visual themes, ran as admin--all with no change). I also
> disabled my sound card and ran the test again with no increase in
> performance.
>
> My bios and chipset are both up to date and I'm at a loss as to why my
> system performance is at the bottom of the barrel. Any help would be
> greatly appreciated.

You don't say what it is at the bottom of the barrel against. Also, these
are benchmark tests and comparisons, you don't say if you actually see any
performance problems at all. Finally, don't most of those test also give an
indication of possible system bottlenecks and offer advice about what you
can do to improve performance?

--
Michael Solomon

Michael Solomon,

First, comparing my scores against other computers with Pentium D 3.0 GHz
processors and Geforce 7800 GTX cards, I am one of the lowest scores. I
realize my system will not compare to newer cards and newer Core2Duo
processors, but with I don't understand the large difference between systems
very similar to my own.

Second, my system isn't suffering any performance problems per say, but I'm
frustrated with the results of my benchmark and frankly, I expect better for
a $3500 computer system.

Lastly, I'm not sure about bottlenecks--I know3dMark06 tests your system's
performance and that's about it.

I guess I'm just unhappy to see my system performing so poorly when others
with almost identical systems outperform my own by a long shot. I've heard
people talking about drivers for Vista being the culprit, but I wanted to
inquire within this forum to hear what people had for opinions.

Mike wrote:
> Michael Solomon,
>
> First, comparing my scores against other computers with Pentium D 3.0
> GHz processors and Geforce 7800 GTX cards, I am one of the lowest
> scores. I realize my system will not compare to newer cards and newer
> Core2Duo processors, but with I don't understand the large difference
> between systems very similar to my own.
>
> Second, my system isn't suffering any performance problems per say,
> but I'm frustrated with the results of my benchmark and frankly, I
> expect better for a $3500 computer system.
>
> Lastly, I'm not sure about bottlenecks--I know3dMark06 tests your
> system's performance and that's about it.
>
> I guess I'm just unhappy to see my system performing so poorly when
> others with almost identical systems outperform my own by a long
> shot. I've heard people talking about drivers for Vista being the
> culprit, but I wanted to inquire within this forum to hear what
> people had for opinions.

Lavalys Everest tool used to do benchmark testing and pointed out potential
bottlenecks but it's no longer free. There's another one I used before
that, it was primarily for system tuneups and it did the same thing but I
can't recall the name. There was a predecessor to Everest made by someone
else but that's not the app I have in mind. This particular application did
tests on individual hardware and produced quite detailed results and it was
free. If I run across it, I'll post back.

I asked the question because you posted with no additional information
including the fact you were talking about benchmarks of apparently
comparable systems. Of course, in benchmarks, even if you're on top, you
don't stay there for long.:-)

There really are just too many variables in these tests and various systems
and sometimes all it takes is one variable that doesn't quite hit the mark
and brings the whole system down. I wouldn't worry too much. If I think of
or can find the test to which I was referring I'll post back.


--
Michael Solomon

Thank you.

PS: I didn't mean to come off offensive, I'm just a bit frustrated.

Best wishes.

"Michael Solomon" wrote:

> Mike wrote:
> > Michael Solomon,
> >
> > First, comparing my scores against other computers with Pentium D 3.0
> > GHz processors and Geforce 7800 GTX cards, I am one of the lowest
> > scores. I realize my system will not compare to newer cards and newer
> > Core2Duo processors, but with I don't understand the large difference
> > between systems very similar to my own.
> >
> > Second, my system isn't suffering any performance problems per say,
> > but I'm frustrated with the results of my benchmark and frankly, I
> > expect better for a $3500 computer system.
> >
> > Lastly, I'm not sure about bottlenecks--I know3dMark06 tests your
> > system's performance and that's about it.
> >
> > I guess I'm just unhappy to see my system performing so poorly when
> > others with almost identical systems outperform my own by a long
> > shot. I've heard people talking about drivers for Vista being the
> > culprit, but I wanted to inquire within this forum to hear what
> > people had for opinions.
>
> Lavalys Everest tool used to do benchmark testing and pointed out potential
> bottlenecks but it's no longer free. There's another one I used before
> that, it was primarily for system tuneups and it did the same thing but I
> can't recall the name. There was a predecessor to Everest made by someone
> else but that's not the app I have in mind. This particular application did
> tests on individual hardware and produced quite detailed results and it was
> free. If I run across it, I'll post back.
>
> I asked the question because you posted with no additional information
> including the fact you were talking about benchmarks of apparently
> comparable systems. Of course, in benchmarks, even if you're on top, you
> don't stay there for long.:-)
>
> There really are just too many variables in these tests and various systems
> and sometimes all it takes is one variable that doesn't quite hit the mark
> and brings the whole system down. I wouldn't worry too much. If I think of
> or can find the test to which I was referring I'll post back.
>
>
> --
> Michael Solomon
>
>
>