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View Full Version : [Performance?] REXII / i7 965 EX / 2x GTX295 / 12GB Corsair 1866 C9DF / Vista x64



Akuma2000
02-05-2009, 03:04 AM
Hi All,

It's been 2 years and I've finally updated my rig with the latest hardware:

ASUS Rampage Extreme II (latest BIOS version)
Intel i7 965 Extreme
2x MSI N295GTX in SLI
6x 2GB Corsair 1866
Running on Vista x64

Everything runs with stock speed and stock cooling for now.
(will put watercooling on it and overclock a.s.a.p. when I get the waterblocks)

After installing Vista x64, it was hell installing the two MSI 295GTX cards!
The second card wouldn't start and 3D devices were unrecognized according to the device manager.
Also the cards made a squeeking noise on load. So I was really scared I had to sent the cards RMA.

Spent ours to find a solution for this problem and it was solved when I downloaded and installed the 185.20 drivers from Guru3D!

I've ran 3DMARK06 and 3DMARK Vantage with everything on stock settings.

Without PPU and Physx off.
3DMARK06: around 19 or 20K
3DMARK Vantage: 25.881 (GPU: 28.466 / CPU: 20.338)

These scores are quite dissapointing.
I had almost the same score with my old setup (Q6600@3.8, 2x8800Ultra,4GB).

So now I'm wondering if these scores are normal or below average for my setup.
(please mind, all speed @ stock)

Should I worry and sent the cards RMA or are these results normal and should I overclock a.s.a.p.? :D

Thanks for reading.

naokaji
02-05-2009, 04:28 AM
If you had trouble getting the second card to start, I'd suggest to remove one and see if the results are different at all with just one to verify if sli is working properly or not.

Akuma2000
02-05-2009, 04:42 AM
I tried that already (before I installed the 185.20 driver, which solved the problem).
With one card, it still got a "3D device" that's not recognised in device manager.
When I tried to update the driver through device manager and located the nvidia driver map, the installation would take ages and ends with the message that the driver couldn't be installed :S
Anyway, this is all solved by the 185.20 beta driver which I got from guru3D.

I'm just wondering if my 3DMARK06 and 3DMARK Vantage score is good for my setup (all @ stock speed).

BringerOdeath
02-05-2009, 11:05 PM
3dmark vantage looks about right for no overclock on the cpu or vid cards. 3dmark06 is strange though, with Hyperthreading on cpu, I get a much lower score. With HT off at 4.0ghz, I get about 28000 points! I think 3dmark06 has an issue with vista 64 and quad sli combined with the I7's hyperthreading!! Try disabling HT in the bios and see what your score in 3dmark 06 is!

Akuma2000
02-06-2009, 02:02 AM
Thanks for the reply. I'm glad my Vantage score is ok.
It's gives me a reassuring feeling that my hardware is ok, so I can take it all apart and install waterblocks on them :)

Indeed very strange with 3DMARK06 :(
I'm going to try it again when I've installed my watercooling setup.
Really hope my videocards are all right!

Bertross
02-06-2009, 02:20 AM
3D mark 06 does not stress the GPU enough to make the results shine, Vantage is your new benchmark. Even back in Australia our PC mags say 3dmark06 doesnt not show what the GTX295 or 4870x2 can do speed wise.

Akuma2000
02-06-2009, 08:24 AM
Yes I guess so.
Anyway, I took my setup all apart again and began installing waterblocks.
Here are some pictures if anybody is interested :)

http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00071.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00072.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00073.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00076.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00074.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00075.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00077.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00078.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00079.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00081.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00082.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00083.jpg
http://www.highflow.nl/forum/gallery/files/1/dsc00084.jpg