Results thread.

[Jeff]

Figure I'd start the "look what I can do"(aka "I'm sooo cool") thread. ;)

A64(200x10) & Xabre(250/230):
7902 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7385326

A64(220x10) & Xabre(250/230):
7994

A64(240x10) & Xabre(250/230):
8057 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7385375

A64(240x10) & Xabre(260/230):
8141 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7385414

Here are some of my other results...
A64(200x10):
200/200: 6570
210/210: 7081
220/220: 7394
250/230: 7902

[Holst]

WOW, higher than I expected allready.

I wonder if we can top 10K, I bet we can.

[Jeff]

I'm going to guess that 2x my initial score will win... or around 13k. :)

[[XC]thewildblue]

Well as we are putting in scores here are mine so far.

Barton 2500 @ 11.5x 217 Maze 4 straight water.

3.08 Drivers Windows XP
Directx 9

Card @ 265 Core and 265 mem with 268 for Nature.
All air cooled with just Ramsinks and a CPU cooler on GPU.

8961 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7385472)

Cant quite do 9k.

We need some volt mods.

By the way XP seems to be quicker than Windows 200 at this point. 8914 was best with 2000 Sp3. But I may still try more....lol

These are great cheap cards !

[[XC]thewildblue]

Wow Im 7th overall on the front page !!!


Bet that will soon change once everyone else gets their cards !

[Jeff]

Looks like you have a great card. My little guy craps out at 259/230. :(

Volt mods will get this guy in gear... or burried. :lol:

[saaya]

mine gives me artifacts above 230 memory, but i can bench at 270+ gpu with the zalman heatpipe on it :D

[NoStra]

Originally posted by thewildblue
Well as we are putting in scores here are mine so far.

Barton 2500 @ 11.5x 217 Maze 4 straight water.

3.08 Drivers Windows XP
Directx 9

Card @ 265 Core and 265 mem with 268 for Nature.
All air cooled with just Ramsinks and a CPU cooler on GPU.

8961 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7385472)

Cant quite do 9k.

We need some volt mods.

By the way XP seems to be quicker than Windows 200 at this point. 8914 was best with 2000 Sp3. But I may still try more....lol

These are great cheap cards !

Man! your memory is really fast...mine artifacts @ 230Mhz. Do you have a voltmod? ;)

[NoStra]

Originally posted by saaya
mine gives me artifacts above 230 memory, but i can bench at 270+ gpu with the zalman heatpipe on it :D

Mine does that with a default cooler, but my memory craps out just before 230Mhz :(

[saaya]

RB had the same problem and stuck some ramsinks on the memory and it does 250 now iirc

[Jeff]

Originally posted by thewildblue
Wow Im 7th overall on the front page !!!

Can you check to see what memory chips you have on your card? They should be Samsung and end in TC50, TC45, or TC40.

Just curious if you and I have the same chips.

[NoStra]

I think my GPU clocks are locked....there is no difference between 200Mhz @ the GPU or 300Mhz. :(

Can someone look at that?

[Jeff]

What are you using to overclock the GPU?

Try using the included utility if you are not already using it.

[[XC]thewildblue]

No volt mods.....

Im using a combination of powerstrip and the utility to overclock. My GPU goes to 300 but it doesnt seem to make a blind bit of difference. I think that both the mem and gpu need to be equal. Then again it could be a bug with powerstrip. My knowledge of "hacking" drivers is very limited.


Mine would artifact quite heavily at 250 before I put Ramsinks on. Now it artifacts at 260 but I can go higher and get a result. I have also put a sink on the back mosfet....Didnt notice much difference though.

[NoStra]

I can't use the overclock util with the 3.08 drivers, the slides are locked. Do you have to unlock them or should it work with the 3.08 drivers?

[Jeff]

My new high
8413: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7388532

And the 3.08 drivers work ok for me. Look at the first post in this thread and you can see the core overclocking affecting my score. Hopefully your card is also unlocked.

[NoStra]

I can overclock with the 3.11 drivers...but they are very slow...

With the 3.08 drivers I get witouth clocking the gpu (200/230 = ) a better score than with the 3.11 drivers and the card @ 281/230. Where did you get the 3.08 drivers? Maybe you have the hacked one?

I will try to uninstall the new 3.11 drivers and reinstall the 3.08... brb

[NoStra]

Jeff, what is the difference in performance between the 3.08 en the 3.11 with your system?

[NoStra]

I really don't get it... with the 3.08 drivers I only can clock my memory, with the 3.11 I can clock both. Why can Jeff clock memory AND GPU with the 3.08 drivers?

[[XC]thewildblue]

You should be able to overclock with the 3.08 using the 3dwizard proggy with should be included in the driver. Does your driver contain the whole package ?

Otherwise why not try installing the 53 drivers which does allow ocing, then uninstall (after overclocking first and a few reboots) and install the 3.08 again.

[saaya]

dont use powerstrip, its been a pain in the ass for me ocing the xabre, just change the max clock settings in the setup.ini of the driver, then uninstall the drivers and install them again with the modded setup.ini and you can select any speed in the xabre overclocking utility ;)

[NoStra]

Originally posted by saaya
dont use powerstrip, its been a pain in the ass for me ocing the xabre, just change the max clock settings in the setup.ini of the driver, then uninstall the drivers and install them again with the modded setup.ini and you can select any speed in the xabre overclocking utility ;)

I only have the Xabre308.exe file of 8.40mb. You have another version?

[Jeff]

Great tip Saaya! I changed the .ini file but didn't reload... if that does the trick, then :toast: to you sir! ;)

And NoStra... I did have the 3.0755 driver installed first so maybe that has something to do with it? :confused: You can get any of the drivers I've found here...

http://www.adventurevision.com/Xabre/

I'll add more Xabre software as I find it(or as people send it to me).

[NoStra]

I'm now downloading the 7.55 drivers....

But check this... http://xabregamers.dgwh.com/modules/mydownloads/

ALL the drivers, ALL the Xabre bios files you can get ;) including a windows flashing util.

[Jeff]

Alrighty then... :toast: I'll leave the file on my page too but the Xabregamers site has everything!

Thanks for the link!

[NoStra]

I tryed the 7.55. I can overclock with it....memory and GPU, but it is not as fast as 3.08 is. So I installed the 3.08 hoping the overclock option would stay. But it doesn't :(

btw...where in the setup.ini can I find the max clocks for the OC -util?

[Jeff]

Just open up the .ini and search for "250" and replace all those with whatever max you want. I chose 323 because I don't think any amount of voltage will reach that. ;)

[ojdr2001]

Jeff, how can I open the .inf you referred?

Thx

[saaya]

setup.ini , its located in the folder of the drivers

if the driver is zipped as an exe do this:

go to the drive you installed windows, documents and settings, your username, local settings (hidden folder), temp

delete everything in this folder.

start the driver exe, when the installations screen loads press alt+(lol dont know the name of the button, the one with two arrows on it :P) then switch to the temp directory, you will find a new folder, this is where the driver unzipped all files to.

copy the folder to the desktop or somewhere else so you can edit the setup.ini (open with texteditor-replace "250" with "323")

close the installation of the drivers.

start the setup.exe in the folder you copied out of the temp directory and install the drivers, the sis utility will now let you oc up to 323 or whatever you set as maximum oc. :toast:

[Jeff]

Or you can decompress the .exe install file(via WinZip or WinRAR) and change it then. I did that to the 7.55 drivers here...

http://www.adventurevision.com/Xabre/xabre30755-323.rar

The above maximums are 323. Just make sure to uninstall your current driver if you plan on using the above .rar files. (To use the .rar above you need to decompress it then run the included setup.exe)

[RichBa5tard]

Damn, I should never have given my card to piotke. It did 260/260 with plain aircooling. :)

[Piotke]

Originally posted by RichBa5tard
Damn, I should never have given my card to piotke. It did 260/260 with plain aircooling. :)

Wuv ya :smileysex

[NoStra]

Is it normal that I can't play Call of Duty and Need for speed underground?

[[XC]thewildblue]

Yeah I think that is normal.
On xabregamer forum I think it lists the games that dont run.
NFS underground is one with a problem.

[NoStra]

First Xabre200 = RIP. Without any voltmod!!!

I've got a §§§§ed up screen :(

[ojdr2001]

Thank you saaya for the lesson. Working fine now:) :)

Thank you Jeff for the file:)

Happy New Year

[Jeff]

Has anybody had luck flashing the BIOS? I think my A64 mobo is screwing things up since I can't flash via Windows or Dos.

I'm hoping the newer BIOS is the key to this 260 memory speed. ;)

Tonight I plan on trying the flash on one of my other boxes... will report anything good or bad then.

[[XC]thewildblue]

I tried flashing aswell, but no luck, admittedly I only tried in Windows, but I thought it aint broke so why try fixing it....think after I try my first volt mod attempts on this card that it will die...lol. Ive never volt modded a thing in my life.

The Bios attempt gave me some erase error.

Sorry to hear about that nostra, have u tried in a different mboard or anything ?

I just got myself a LAN PARTY ULTRA rev B so hopefully it will be an improvement on my NF7S ver 1.2 !

[Jeff]

What BIOS is your card running? (you can check is the display properties under the advanced tab)

[[XC]thewildblue]

From what I remember its 1.0.3 ???

Havent had the benchmark box on since Monday !

[ojdr2001]

Yep, the original BIOS in the card is 1.1.03

is there a new bios for ecs?

[[XC]thewildblue]

Yes looks like 1.04.02 is available.
Wonder if its worth it ?

ECS BIOS (http://www.ecs.com.tw/download/bios_v.htm?submenu_id=49&function_id=14)

[ojdr2001]

I've made some testing using the stock cooler + some ramsinks + 120 fan blowing inside my barebone. I´m using my barebone (digidice) for testing before I change the card to my bench rig. I'm using a P4 2,8C default.

I' m using the utility included in the drivers to oc the card and driver version 3.08

No vmods yet

I can bench 3dk01 at:

core: 290
mems:250

Max: 8.650 marks

The funny thing is the small increase of marks per Mhz in the core. It looks like that 290 does not really represent an increase of 45%

Another particularity it seems there is a close relationship between the increase of the GPU and the increase of mems.

An example: if I keep the gpu at default max in the mems without artifacts is 227. If I change the gpu to 270 I get 240 in the mems without artifacts.

I hope this card likes the cold and the voltage if I can find any voltmods

[[XC]thewildblue]

Yes I found the same with GPU not changing scores much, in fact I found no difference and with GPU at 268 and mem at 264 my score was down by about 100 points compared to being in sync.

[saaya]

some drivers only allow memory ocing and some only gpu ocing iirc, and some drivers dont allow ocing at all...

im using the 3.53 drivers i think since im playing c&c generals and this is the only driver that runs it 99% artifact-free :D

so the flash utility doesnt work for anybody?

[ojdr2001]

I just flashed my bios using winflash utility and 100% success on 1st attempt:)

I have now bios 1.04.02

Next I will check for any improvements

[Jeff]

What cpu/mobo did you use when flashing? Also, have a link the the winflash utility you used or is it just the one from the ECS site?

[ojdr2001]

Mobo is Abit IS-50 included in Digidice
CPU P4 2,8C

I have used both utility and bios files from ecs site. Please note that the correct model of the card is: AG200T8-D64

After decompressing the bios file, I chosed de E file

Looks like oc is worst with this bios at least with 3.08 drivers. Will try other ones.

[ojdr2001]

I have quickly played with bios 1.1.03 (original) and 1.04.02 and drivers 3.08, 3.09 and 3.53 and these are my findings

Best combination: no doubt 1.1.03 + 3.08

Bios 1.04.02 - poor overclocks

drivers 3.09 and 3.53 = 350/400 marks less than 3.08

[Jeff]

Thanks for letting us know. For the life of me I can not flash this card. I've tried a couple different rigs and no go. But seeing your results... I'm not going to give it another thought even. :)

Thanks again.

[saaya]

have you tried the xabre reference bios files?

http://xabregamers.dgwh.com/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=4&min=20&orderby=titleA&show=10

[ojdr2001]

Not yet...but I will do

EDIT: tried all of them and they are not good for oc. Mem clocks set at 166 in all.

Tried also one bios for xabre400 but no improvements.

[NoStra]

Originally posted by NoStra
First Xabre200 = RIP. Without any voltmod!!!

I've got a §§§§ed up screen :(

It stood up from death suddenly?! Here a small result with a medium clockt cpu and board.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7396895

8059

260/235 with no mods

[ojdr2001]

You used 3070 drivers? change to 3080 and you will have a boost of 300/400 marks

[NoStra]

With 3.08 I can't overclock!?

[NoStra]

Originally posted by ojdr2001
You used 3070 drivers? change to 3080 and you will have a boost of 300/400 marks

For me 3070 is faster and the overclock util works ok. The OC util in 3.08 first didn't work at all, and now it freezes when you select a speed and apply it.

Does anyone know how I can delete ALL the driverfiles of the Xabre drivers that I have installed. It looks like some files are not deleted when you uninstall the drivers.

[GJ]

NoStra,that card is immortal!!??!??

[NoStra]

Originally posted by GJ
NoStra,that card is immortal!!??!??

I found out why he gives a §§§§ed up screen. If I run 1280x1024 @ 85Hz....the card will crap out after half an hour an give me a distorted screen. Does anyone have the same problem with the ECS Xabre200?

[NoStra]

A new result for me...

medium OCed cpu and FSB...but don't think I will get much more with more cpu power... there is almost no difference with 11x200

8483

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7402283

[Fewture]

Well..got the card running. Benched a couple of times and couldn't publish :( Changed multi and it worked..

8746 3dmarks (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7405330)

Clocks: 300/244

Card is not maxed and cpu Mhz kept under 2300MHz.

[JNav89GT]

can't get clocks past 250

8485 marks at 10x240 fsb 2:2:2:10 timings

will link final project once get card sorted

[JNav89GT]

pic

[Jeff]

Pretty sure I'm just going to be donating my card to the voltage Gods this time around. ;)

You guys with 300 core and/or 260-300 memory are just killing my poor little guy.

Great scores guys... keep it up!!! Now... who will be the first to break 9K? 10K??? ;)

[Fewture]

Originally posted by Jeff
Pretty sure I'm just going to be donating my card to the voltage Gods this time around. ;)

You guys with 300 core and/or 260-300 memory are just killing my poor little guy.

Great scores guys... keep it up!!! Now... who will be the first to break 9K? 10K??? ;)
I have an 80W TEC on it :P

[Jeff]

:D Good to hear. For some reason I was thinking it was probably "on air, with the stock heatsink removed, in a room that's 30c, with a 200w power supply driving a 386SX rig".

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[ojdr2001]

My first result, card cooled by chilled water. No mods.

9.077 marks

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7406043

[Fewture]

Originally posted by Jeff
:D Good to hear. For some reason I was thinking it was probably "on air, with the stock heatsink removed, in a room that's 30c, with a 200w power supply driving a 386SX rig".

:lol: :lol: :lol:

lol :D

[Fewture]

Originally posted by ojdr2001
My first result, card cooled by chilled water. No mods.

9.077 marks

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7406043

Nice!!

Clocks??

[[XC]thewildblue]

Congrats on breaking 9K ! The first of many no doubt.

Well done :toast:

[ojdr2001]

My best so far: 9.245 Marks (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7406166)

Clocks: 290/264 no mods yet

[MrIcee]

Welp, looks like I'll be looking for another MB to bench in the AMD 2300 Mhz and under class. Been running the excellent DFI Infinity Ultra and I knew there had to be a shortcoming to the board: it doesn't bench 3D worth a damn. It's great for the avearage Joe that wants to run 250/260Mhz FSB out of the box, but I think they softened alot of parameters to do so.

It makes lots of Sandra bandwidth but it doesn't translate into high FPS in Car and Lobby, similar to the Epox 8RDA+. I'm being smoked by you guys running Abit and Asus boards...and I ran 300/265, 10x230Mhz. My best was just over 7800 points. Most of you with the same combo are well over 8000.

Did a clean install of WinXP last night and lost my azz in score, lost 400-500 points, this running the volt modded gpu at 330Mhz. I'll be going back to a Win2000 later today and start looking around for another board.:)

Randi:D

[Holst]

Im just setting up an 8rgmi xp-1700 win2k and dx8.1 system for my first propper benching.

Starting out aircooled.. then ill move to water.. then pelt maybee even dry ice in a few weeks time :D

[Fewture]

Originally posted by MrIcee
Welp, looks like I'll be looking for another MB to bench in the AMD 2300 Mhz and under class. Been running the excellent DFI Infinity Ultra and I knew there had to be a shortcoming to the board: it doesn't bench 3D worth a damn. It's great for the avearage Joe that wants to run 250/260Mhz FSB out of the box, but I think they softened alot of parameters to do so.

It makes lots of Sandra bandwidth but it doesn't translate into high FPS in Car and Lobby, similar to the Epox 8RDA+. I'm being smoked by you guys running Abit and Asus boards...and I ran 300/265, 10x230Mhz. My best was just over 7800 points. Most of you with the same combo are well over 8000.

Did a clean install of WinXP last night and lost my azz in score, lost 400-500 points, this running the volt modded gpu at 330Mhz. I'll be going back to a Win2000 later today and start looking around for another board.:)

Randi:D

Randi,

I did a couple of benchies with the card. When I run the mem too high it tankes the 3dmarks. Nature goes up and all the others go down. Try backing off on the vgamem and see what happens.

My run was 300/244 and gave 8746.. on 10 x 229 i think.. If I run 300/250 the marks goes down..

[MrIcee]

I just tried that and lost 5-6 FPS off my Car and Lobby scores:)


Honest, this board is not doing well utilizing its bandwidth. Trying a couple other things as we speak. I'll be honest, Abit always made boards that benched the best in class, even if they needed mods to do so:)

Randi:D

[NoStra]

Originally posted by MrIcee
I just tried that and lost 5-6 FPS off my Car and Lobby scores:)


Honest, this board is not doing well utilizing its bandwidth. Trying a couple other things as we speak. I'll be honest, Abit always made boards that benched the best in class, even if they needed mods to do so:)

Randi:D

What drivers do you use? Can you give us a compare url?

[saaya]

310/310 should be 10K easily, cant wait to get my card ready for benching, got a couple of 55W tecs here, i think ill use them to chill some water since 55W is not enough for the gpu i think.

very nice work guys!

[Fewture]

Originally posted by saaya
310/310 should be 10K easily, cant wait to get my card ready for benching, got a couple of 55W tecs here, i think ill use them to chill some water since 55W is not enough for the gpu i think.

very nice work guys!

I use 80W and have to let the card cool down. 80W is enough, but it doesn't stay really cold. If I wait a while the whole card gets cold including memory :D

[saaya]

so it doesnt even get totally cold with an 80W tec? :eek:

[faruquehabib]

ok, finally got around to getting this card in a rig. i downloaded the 3.08 whql driver...it says its for the xabre 600...is this the one yall are using?

[ojdr2001]

yes it's 3080 but it says Sis Xabre series: for 200, 400 and 600 I guess...

[faruquehabib]

ok, i easily max my gpu @ 250. saaya said you can change the setup.ini file to make the oc as far as you want, but where do i find it? i did a search of my hard drive and it didnt find it. is it in the drivers? i dl'd the 3.08 driver off of the xabregamers website that was posted earlier. please give me step-by-step instructions on how to mod it. thanks! btw...my best so far is 82xx w/ 2.4c @ 2.8

[Fewture]

Originally posted by saaya
so it doesnt even get totally cold with an 80W tec? :eek:

Well, the TEC is on an ATX PSU, so it's @ 12V instead of 15 (??). Also, I think the waterblock isn't that good. If I leave it for a while it gets really cold..the memchips that is. So I think the core goes subzero, but thats guessing.. It will take the Vmod no problem, but then it won't cool the mem as much I'm afraid..

Edit:

I sold my 172W TEC...sucks

Edit:

The TEC boosts it by 50Mhz or so.. I think thats pretty good?? Anyone else with a TEC out there?

[Jeff]

My TEC should be here already... I'm hoping tomorrow at the latest(still have some hope for UPS tonight).

[ojdr2001]

I got mine today. I'll test it tomorrow:)

[ojdr2001]

Originally posted by faruquehabib
ok, i easily max my gpu @ 250. saaya said you can change the setup.ini file to make the oc as far as you want, but where do i find it? i did a search of my hard drive and it didnt find it. is it in the drivers? i dl'd the 3.08 driver off of the xabregamers website that was posted earlier. please give me step-by-step instructions on how to mod it. thanks! btw...my best so far is 82xx w/ 2.4c @ 2.8

You have to change setup.ini before you install the drivers. Decompress de original file and in the folder where the file was decompressed you'll find setup.ini. Change and save it and afterwards install it

If you give me an e-mail I can send you the modified setup.ini (with max clocks: 380). Than you only have to replace your ini file by this one.

[faruquehabib]

ojdr2001, pm sent to ya

new score: 2.4c @ 2.8...

84xx

250/250 clocks (no ramsinks, generic waterblock :D)

[Fewture]

Originally posted by MrIcee
I just tried that and lost 5-6 FPS off my Car and Lobby scores:)


Honest, this board is not doing well utilizing its bandwidth. Trying a couple other things as we speak. I'll be honest, Abit always made boards that benched the best in class, even if they needed mods to do so:)

Randi:D

There is some discussion about this on another forum. MrIcee stating the DFI sucks in 3D has some impact :P

To be honest I don't think it's the board. It could be but then it's only that board and not the DFI in general. I can reproduce your problem with my Abit by running the memory of the Xabre @ 265. Other then that there are DFI's in the ORB that putt up perfectly normal scores :confused:

[YoupY]

My first score:

8244 points with the standard heatsink / fan on the card

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7416528

GPU @ 240
mem @ 235

it's about time to Vmod the sucker and put an R507 Mach II on it

[charlie]

Has anyone benched one yet with like 4100-4200mHz?? I know they won't pick up "much" from the CPU speed, but curious how much...


C

[MrIcee]

Originally posted by Fewture
There is some discussion about this on another forum. MrIcee stating the DFI sucks in 3D has some impact :P

To be honest I don't think it's the board. It could be but then it's only that board and not the DFI in general. I can reproduce your problem with my Abit by running the memory of the Xabre @ 265. Other then that there are DFI's in the ORB that putt up perfectly normal scores :confused:

The only cards that seem to bench well with the DFI are ATI running the OS with DX9 from all the info I've gleaned through so far. Guy's running Nvidia aren't having great results either and the Xabre definitely doesn't produce good FPS numbers in Car and Lobby like our friends are producing here on Abit and Asus boards. In Lobby low running the same clocks and same drivers but with a member here at 217Mhz on his NF7-S and the DFI at 230Mhz with everything maxed we're looking at his 125FPS vs. the DFI's 102-103. In the Drago's and Nature I meet or exceed the performance of the other boards.

I've done multiple clean installs of both W2K and WinXP with both DX8.1 and DX9....WinXp was far worse for me also.

If I get my hands on a decent NF7-S I'll do side by sides for comparison.

BTW, I'm not the only one with this problem, once I brought it up many guys happy with the board as I am stated that they too noticed a video decline with their particular setups.

I get positive score advantage up to 265Mhz memory on my card...anything over 270Mhz reduces the score, any reduction below 265Mhz also reduces the score. I've tested that theory many times. BTW..I've hit 330Mhz on the core so far, but my scores are below 8000 because Car and Lobby suck.

Randi:D

[Fewture]

Originally posted by MrIcee
The only cards that seem to bench well with the DFI are ATI running the OS with DX9 from all the info I've gleaned through so far. Guy's running Nvidia aren't having great results either and the Xabre definitely doesn't produce good FPS numbers in Car and Lobby like our friends are producing here on Abit and Asus boards. In Lobby low running the same clocks and same drivers but with a member here at 217Mhz on his NF7-S and the DFI at 230Mhz with everything maxed we're looking at his 125FPS vs. the DFI's 102-103. In the Drago's and Nature I meet or exceed the performance of the other boards.

I've done multiple clean installs of both W2K and WinXP with both DX8.1 and DX9....WinXp was far worse for me also.

If I get my hands on a decent NF7-S I'll do side by sides for comparison.

BTW, I'm not the only one with this problem, once I brought it up many guys happy with the board as I am stated that they too noticed a video decline with their particular setups.

Randi:D

I just read another post of you.. Now this new info (to me at least) clears it up yes.. I agree it must be the DFI :toast:

With the info you gave initially it could have been the card. That's why NoStra asked the compare so we could put our score next to it and see what happened :)

[ojdr2001]

Faruquehabib, file sent.

[faruquehabib]

Originally posted by ojdr2001
Faruquehabib, file sent.

ok, i got the email. it is all text. now, what do i do with it? when i dl'd the 3.08 driver, it just dl'd to my desktop as a setup file and i 2x clicked on it, and it started installing the driver. so i did a search in windoiws for setup.ini, and it didnt find it. so i dont know what to do with it. any suggestions? thanks again for the email

[[XC]thewildblue]

You should be able to score over 8000 with the dfi and those clocks.

I dont have a compare but last week I changed to a DFi and I was able to get within 100 points of my NF7S@217 (8961)score with the zabre. This was with 9x250 ish good but dissapointing still. Im using the 31-12 Bios and a barton 2500+.

I will run some more when I get chance.

[NoStra]

Originally posted by MrIcee
The only cards that seem to bench well with the DFI are ATI running the OS with DX9 from all the info I've gleaned through so far. Guy's running Nvidia aren't having great results either and the Xabre definitely doesn't produce good FPS numbers in Car and Lobby like our friends are producing here on Abit and Asus boards. In Lobby low running the same clocks and same drivers but with a member here at 217Mhz on his NF7-S and the DFI at 230Mhz with everything maxed we're looking at his 125FPS vs. the DFI's 102-103. In the Drago's and Nature I meet or exceed the performance of the other boards.

I've done multiple clean installs of both W2K and WinXP with both DX8.1 and DX9....WinXp was far worse for me also.

If I get my hands on a decent NF7-S I'll do side by sides for comparison.

BTW, I'm not the only one with this problem, once I brought it up many guys happy with the board as I am stated that they too noticed a video decline with their particular setups.

I get positive score advantage up to 265Mhz memory on my card...anything over 270Mhz reduces the score, any reduction below 265Mhz also reduces the score. I've tested that theory many times. BTW..I've hit 330Mhz on the core so far, but my scores are below 8000 because Car and Lobby suck.

Randi:D

For the second time :)... Can we get a compare url and what drivers do you use?

[ojdr2001]

Originally posted by faruquehabib
ok, i got the email. it is all text. now, what do i do with it? when i dl'd the 3.08 driver, it just dl'd to my desktop as a setup file and i 2x clicked on it, and it started installing the driver. so i did a search in windoiws for setup.ini, and it didnt find it. so i dont know what to do with it. any suggestions? thanks again for the email

1- Download 3080 driver
2- Decompress de downloaded file to a folder of your choice
3- Look in this folder for the file setup.ini
4- Delete it
5- Copy the file I sent you to this folder
6- Click setup and install the drivers

That's it. Now you can raise the clocks of your card up to 380 using the 3D Wizard that come together with the 3080 drivers.

:toast:

[Nico]

Got my card on Monday :hehe: , thanks Saaya :thumbsup: .

So far I'm around 8400, couldn't get the setup.ini sorted. I ended up changing the max clockd to 350 in regedit. It was really easy, just open regedit, find= 'clk' and change the SIS bits that say 250 to 350. It seems the second set of 250's are the ones though.
One thing I'd did notice is the overclks don't stick after a reboot?

[MrIcee]

Originally posted by NoStra
For the second time :)... Can we get a compare url and what drivers do you use?

Here ya go boys, tell me this doesn't suck:D

7713 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7398250)

Check out the Car and Lobby scores:rolleyes:

You guys KNOW I know how to get the ultimate bandwidth out of a board...this thing just isn't making it for me. Multiple OS installs with both DX8.1 and DX9.0. Running dual channel DDR of course. Using the 3.08 drivers. Just beating my head against the wall.

Randi:D

[JNav89GT]

well Mr ICee, I'm getting about 8400 out of mine at 250/250 on my DFI at like 235 or so fsb. and 2350mhz on my axp non barton. So I think that about evens out our rigs a bit. I'd say something is amiss on your combo

Hell I got 7400 with this card at 225/225 on my bro-in-laws computer I just built him, giving him this card. Shuttle NF2 400, 2x256 at cas 2.5 3:3:6, running applebred(locked and no cache mod :() at 200fsb=2100mhz duron at default LOD.

[NoStra]

Originally posted by MrIcee
Here ya go boys, tell me this doesn't suck:D

7713 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7398250)

Check out the Car and Lobby scores:rolleyes:

You guys KNOW I know how to get the ultimate bandwidth out of a board...this thing just isn't making it for me. Multiple OS installs with both DX8.1 and DX9.0. Running dual channel DDR of course. Using the 3.08 drivers. Just beating my head against the wall.

Randi:D

Have you tryed another bios? Your nature score is great...should be a 9k5 score...

[MrIcee]

I started with the 12-31 and moved to the 12-10 as I was told it was great in 3D. Don't know what to tell ya....I've set it up like all other Nf2's I've had before....something is just not right.

Yeah...you are right about 9000 or better...I haven't pushed it hard yest and have hit 330 core. If this combo don't get it I have a new A64 on the way, and hope to soon procure a 2.4C for my Intel test bed. One of those should give the Car and Lobby scores I need to match Dragon and Nature.

Randi:D

[Jeff]

Just put the voltage to the Xabre and even though I'm using my 8RDA setup at 200MHz single channel... I increase my score to...
8663: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7429402

I'm pretty sure I'd be over 9k(closer to 9.1k actually) if I still had my A64. :(

At any rate, this card will be getting some major voltage tomorrow afternoon. The high temperature is only going to be 5f tomorrow so I think I should get a little better results then(unless I murder the POS).

[NoStra]

Originally posted by Jeff
Just put the voltage to the Xabre and even though I'm using my 8RDA setup at 200MHz single channel... I increase my score to...
8663: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7429402

I'm pretty sure I'd be over 9k(closer to 9.1k actually) if I still had my A64. :(

At any rate, this card will be getting some major voltage tomorrow afternoon. The high temperature is only going to be 5f tomorrow so I think I should get a little better results then(unless I murder the POS).

I got a tip for you Jeff....use DirectX 8.1 in stead of 9.0. You will gain a few points...

[Jeff]

Yeah, I just moved one of my crunchers into bench duty and it's got the wrong setup. I'll have to change over to 8.1 and Win2k SP2 soon. ;)

[Nico]

I don't notice much difference between Win2K and WinXP both with DX8.1

[Nico]

How's 9021 for stock air cooled Xabre200, Athlon under 2300mhz?

9021 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7434955)

[NoStra]

Originally posted by Nico
How's 9021 for stock air cooled Xabre200, Athlon under 2300mhz?

9021 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7434955)

That's very good! Think you have a winner card there :) My card will only do 265mhz/250mhz with many artifacts with a boxed AMDcooler on my xabre and heatsinks on the memory. 8420 with 2200mhz.

[wimpie007]

I haven't really been folowing, have the classes changed to amd<2300Mhz in stead of amd<2500Mhz? That would be good, since I probably can't run my dlt3c up the 2550 it has reached before anyway :D
So far, the best stable oc with it is 11*150 :( (Damn, I'm running short on time here :stick: )

[Nico]

Originally posted by NoStra
That's very good! Think you have a winner card there :) My card will only do 265mhz/250mhz with many artifacts with a boxed AMDcooler on my xabre and heatsinks on the memory. 8420 with 2200mhz.

Yeah it does have some artifacts alright :D , but I have to contend with 35c + ambient temps, so It's going pretty good for the original cooler and some AS2 paste.
I'm looking forward to Vaporising it with some mods :hehe:

[wimpie007]

I'm going shopping tomorrow for some thermal paste and a few fans to be modded... :banana:
I might even buy a dozen, they're always usefull :D
Then contact one of my friends for the voltmod...
Mean while, testing my 1700+

[YoupY]

My latest score:

9301: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7436959

[KingInge2000]

Lol, i raised my HT from 10*200 to 10*230 and my score gained about 100 points?

[saaya]

yepp i already told you guys that fsb and cpu power dnt matter much to those cards, wich is why this card is somewhat perfect for a videocard oc competition since it really is about ocing the card and not a fast system :)

ocing the card increases the performence pretty good though, i get ~6500 default and ~8500 oced to 270/240 iirc

thats a very nice boostfor the % increase in clockspeed if you ask me.

[KingInge2000]

So, 275/245 with stock cooling.
A64 @ 10*235 GHz 2-2-2 gives me around 8300 Points.
XP and 8.0.

Will try W2K and 8.1 fpr 9k.

Do those cards get hot enough that H20 will give me higher clocks?

[saaya]

they run very hot! pretty much like a geforce3

[wimpie007]

I was checking the mounting holes the other day, and it appears I can mount my modded Barton 2500+ boxed cooler, which cools my R9800SE atm
look here for some pics (http://users.pandora.be/gerard.sas/wimpie/Mod/Deel4/Radeon_HSF_mod/)

[saaya]

i decribed the mounting holes in my xabre thread in this section. some people said the holes are compatible with geforce 1/2/3 holes... and geforce 4 as well?

[Holst]

Ok, finally got around to puttin the card into a box.

This is NF7 @ 11x200
win2k SP2 with DX8.1 (benching drive, no tweaks just a fresh install)

Best clockst at stock (everything even cooler) are

231/275 scoring 8286, which I think is ok for those speeds.

I can get the memory to run higher, but I got major artifacting.. and I was scared I might hurt it before anything else was ready.

Im still ill with the flue so im not working tomorrow so ill fit the watercooling, and do some voltmodding.. If I can ill get a propper VDIMM mod worked out.. although I may need some bits from work to complete it..

Looking at hingings score (and my own FSB testing) CPU and FSB make little difference. For some reason Im having problems getting high FSB's atm. I think its my PSU although I have a replacement on the way.

[Holst]

Originally posted by wimpie007
I haven't really been folowing, have the classes changed to amd<2300Mhz in stead of amd<2500Mhz? That would be good, since I probably can't run my dlt3c up the 2550 it has reached before anyway :D
So far, the best stable oc with it is 11*150 :( (Damn, I'm running short on time here :stick: )

CPU speeds are as stated in the rules sticky... 2300mhz..

this was done as it was felt that almost everybody on socket A will be able to get close to 2.3gig where as 2.5 may have been a little too much for some peeps...

[GJ]

Mine won't oc the GPU,only the ram(i can move slider in powerstrip,but it still works the same at 372mhz...ram is working cause it gets me artifacts),cant move either of them in the xabre utility...and i use 3.08 whql

[Holst]

have you modded the .ini file to give you higher max clocks?

I forgott and had to do mine in regedit, but I can OC both the core and ram... (at least my score goes up when I do)

[KingInge2000]

Originally posted by Holst
have you modded the .ini file to give you higher max clocks?

I forgott and had to do mine in regedit, but I can OC both the core and ram... (at least my score goes up when I do)

I can klick on the symbols for gpu and ram to change the max. clock option.

[GJ]

For some strange reason,that 3d utility always crashed when i click ok,sometimes when i just click apply.I edited everything to 250 manually in regedit,sliders are still still.Will try to flash to xabre 400 and see if it works then.

[NoStra]

First install 3.03, then 3.0755 and then 3.08.....and you will notice that the slides DO work. I have the same problem if I install the 3.08 drivers on a clean windows...they just won't work...the only thing they do, is crash...

[Nico]

Just got the Vapo up and running, only got one run out of it though. Hope I haven't killed the card, cause I was just rebooting for another run and the screen went black when it was almost in windows.
Anyway, I finally got the 9203 that I was expecting at 270/270.

Anybody else had weird stuff happen when super cooling there Xabre200?

[MrIcee]

nico:)

I haven't had black screens, but I'll have the screen darken and get line fuzzy in Windows or on a reboot. Powering off and back on seems to alleviate it.

Randi:D

[Jupiler]

First test with my card.
270 GPU /235 mem is about max I can do.
Just using the stock cooler, with no thermal paste used.:D To bad the memory won't go higher without big artifacts.

8403 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7457836)

[NoStra]

Originally posted by MrIcee
nico:)

I haven't had black screens, but I'll have the screen darken and get line fuzzy in Windows or on a reboot. Powering off and back on seems to alleviate it.

Randi:D

What you describe, I only get that when I run above 1280x1024 @ 75Hz... The max is 1280x1024 @ 75hz....when you set it @ 85Hz it will get a weird screen with many dark lines after half an hour running..

[wimpie007]

mine will undergo testing tonight or tomorrow...
I'm having some strange problems with my R9800...
all of a sudden my 3dmark scores have dropped +-8000points :confused:
I think there's something wrong with the chipset drivers :)

[MrIcee]

Originally posted by NoStra
What you describe, I only get that when I run above 1280x1024 @ 75Hz... The max is 1280x1024 @ 75hz....when you set it @ 85Hz it will get a weird screen with many dark lines after half an hour running..

This happens to me after an hour or more at 1024x768 @ 60hz.

Randi:D

[wimpie007]

so whatever your res is, it keeps giving these faults?
'cause I was planning to put that card in my brother's new applebred rig after the competition...

[MrIcee]

I believe mine is induced by the high gpu voltage and phase change cooling. At stock volts it should be just fine in your brothers computer:)

Randi:D

[Nico]

It's baack!, must have just frozen the core or got some moisture where it didn't like it. It's still low 30's ambient with around 85% humidity due to all the rain we've had.
Seems to be tracking fine up to 280/280 for 9514 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7459659) and the best I've managed so far is 9669 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7459678) but I think I'll need to do some volt mod's to get higher as it will run good clocks but scores start dropping again.

[MrIcee]

Excellent job Nico:toast:

Great to have you back in the fray after the false card death:)
Great numbers you're putting up there indeed, keep sqeezing that puppy !

Randi:D

[Nico]

Originally posted by MrIcee
Excellent job Nico:toast:

Great to have you back in the fray after the false card death:)
Great numbers you're putting up there indeed, keep sqeezing that puppy !

Randi:D

Thanks :D , I sure I can muster a little more out of it. I seem to get better results in sync but I don't know how much more I could possibly get out of the memory even with some mods.

[Holst]

Its amazing that you can get your ram so high... mine is topping out at 245, and its killing my scores...

The guys with very good ram clocks also seem to be cooling there cards.... I think ill have to get the 226watt pelt out of the closet.

[Holst]

Some ofthe ram mods ive been working on have had an effect.

Just beat 9000 marks at 260/290 clocks... I think I may be able to get quite a bit more, as I still have some things to try out.
Ill reveal details later on :P

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7461927

[MrIcee]

Here is my latest "non-bugged nature" submission 9,997 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7462436) I just missed a legit 10,000 as this nature score was 1 fps less than a previous run. This run done at 2300Mhz and 345/263 on the Xabre.

Holst you are doing a great job there my friend:toast: I await your Vmem mod...as it may assist in providing a few hundred extra points overall, depending on how high the memory will clock with additional volts.

Onwards and upwards my friends !!

Randi:D

[Epsilon]

omg
3 points away

well, have it another go then :)

[saaya]

so 10.5K is the max without new memory chips it seems eh?

btw, is it possible to solder bga memory on a tsop card? :D

[Nico]

Originally posted by Holst
Some ofthe ram mods ive been working on have had an effect.

Just beat 9000 marks at 260/290 clocks... I think I may be able to get quite a bit more, as I still have some things to try out.
Ill reveal details later on :P

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7461927

Holst,

My mem was at 270 - 274 before I added heatsinks, now its at 284 - ?. 120mm fans blowing over the card will help, as I was measure 50c plus on the ram at 250 :slobber: .

[|RickY|]

here is my test bench:

85**marks
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7463632

mems@ 254
core@ 280 (2.25v)

stock cooling

i think its a bad score...
i tryed with win2k and dx 8.1 and the score is the same...
i expect 9k with this clocks when i compare to my great friend :) (ojdr2001) with 9.2k with 290core/264mems

going to bench with r404a kryotech on core

regards :)

[wimpie007]

Impressive scores around here, and so close there Mr. Icee
Keep it up!!!
I'll go for a new win2K install I guess... :)

[Vlad Draculea]

i am getting points

[Nico]

Vmod time :D , 9872 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7465413) I'm running 320 and 324 so far, but haven't got the scores yet. we'll get there with a bit more fine tuning.

[MrIcee]

Originally posted by Vlad Draculea
i am getting 7632 at 280/240 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7465000 is that normal?? i get horrible scaling i think because at stock i get 6200 and at 255/240 i get 7504 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7434420

That looks about right based on the fact you are running a KT266A board , 2x AGP and Windows 98.

Win2000 +SP2 is good for 300-400 points, especially making it's difference in Car and Lobby.

Running at 4x or 8x AGP will also make a couple hundred point difference.(You may be at 4x AGP already)

Doing a great job indeed, keep up the great work !

Randi:D

[MrIcee]

Originally posted by Nico
Vmod time :D , 9872 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7465413) I'm running 320 and 324 so far, but haven't got the scores yet. we'll get there with a bit more fine tuning.

Woohoo my friend:toast:

Damn great benching there Nico !! Looks like you are running Lobby low first?? That boards making great lobby numbers indeed in the low test and also in Car low. You get the card clocks up and you'll be over 10,000 easy.....keep on squeezin' it:thumbsup:

Randi:D

[MrIcee]

Just took down my previous 2 scores published and replaced them with this 10,016 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7467380) . Changed the memory timings from 2-2-2-8 to 2-2-2-5 and regained the lost 1 fps in Nature along with a slight increase in Car low but tenths decreases in a couple of the other tests. Needless to say no bugs this time and a legit 10,000 for the Xabre.:)

Randi:D

[Nico]

Originally posted by MrIcee
Woohoo my friend:toast:

Damn great benching there Nico !! Looks like you are running Lobby low first?? That boards making great lobby numbers indeed in the low test and also in Car low. You get the card clocks up and you'll be over 10,000 easy.....keep on squeezin' it:thumbsup:

Randi:D

It's just a standard run in order. I don't know how to change the order or pause between test:( , If someone can tell me how it will make for some colder latter test.
These gpu's sure pump out some heat as my temp probe on the back of the board goes from -10c ish to 13c ish.

[MrIcee]

Nico:)

After opening the 3DMark bench, on the left side you'll find "selected tests". Click on "change" and you'll open another page. You'll see all tests checked off here: to the right bottom hit "clear". At the top of the page hit the tab"custom" You can now select and run any game test one at a time. When all game tests have been run you'll get your final score as usual.

Good luck my friend, this should assist your benching indeed:)

Randi:D

[Nico]

Originally posted by MrIcee
Nico:)

After opening the 3DMark bench, on the left side you'll find "selected tests". Click on "change" and you'll open another page. You'll see all tests checked off here: to the right bottom hit "clear". At the top of the page hit the tab"custom" You can now select and run any game test one at a time. When all game tests have been run you'll get your final score as usual.

Good luck my friend, this should assist your benching indeed:)

Randi:D

Thanks heaps :thumbsup: , I will give it a try later.

[wimpie007]

Since my windows failed again, tonight (finally) win 2k install for the xabre (thing got a bit stressy around here last week...)

[[XC]thewildblue]

Well I had a quick go today and broke 9000

9006 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7504599)

Using 267 on mem and core no v-mods...as I havent figured out how ( Im carp with electrionics).

This was @ 9*248 on DFI LPB using Jan 21st BIOS.

I had a quick look on the orb and some results ppl have a 16bit z buffer where-as others have 32bit. Have some ppl been changing something ?????

[MrIcee]

My runs were done with 3DMark set at default, one test at a time.:)

Randi:D

[wimpie007]

7425 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7507785) , having psu problems I guess...
For the explination of the problem, check here (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28017) at the bottom...

[wimpie007]

7457 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7508023)
First artifacts are starting to appear...
Going to do some runs to see what the highes possible clocks are...
Tonight I'll ask one of my friends for a little help on the Vmodding ;)

Edit: must be the memory quitting on me...
The sinks I used aren't good enough...
They'll do 250, when it's cold enough...

[Nico]

Tried to give my score a bit more of a nudge. Unfortunately It looks like 10k is going to elude me, I cracked 9913 twice and 9905 and 9903. That was with a portable A/C unit in the room (dropped the room temps to 22 - 25c), modded PSU 3.5v on the 3.3 rail. My GPU doesn't like anything over 2.25vgpu, as in locks up were lesser volts pass. The ramsinks actually are cool to touch so I think the GPU is really putting out some heat and maybe the Vapo isn't making as good a contact as it could?

[luihed]

Finally I get to play with this card..... so far most she will do is 270/245 on air and stock volts...... for people thats done the vgpu mod, where are you guys measuring the vgpu and also is there a guide somewhere for the voltmods?............. Ive looked everywhere and the only guide I saw was teh VDDQ by Holst? Thx....

[wimpie007]

I haven't done the gpu Vmod yet, it maxes at 293~297 now
mem maxes at 243 or so...
Time for the soldering iron ;)

[TheDogFather]

Originally posted by thewildblue
I had a quick look on the orb and some results ppl have a 16bit z buffer where-as others have 32bit. Have some ppl been changing something ?????

I'm one of those people that ran in 16bit.

I'm brand new to this, and know nothing. I was just looking at other peoples scores and noticed people running the z buffer on differant settings, I tried searching to find out what it does, but still don't know.

Is it like resolutions, the lower you set it the higher your score or is it differant for differant set ups ?

I tried it at differant settings, and 16 bit gave me the best score.

I don't know if its wrong to do this or what ?

I figured its no good running a differant res or changing any of those other settings, because people will never see your score, but other than that anything goes, its about getting as far up the table as you can.

TDF.

[Nico]

TDF,

I think in keeping with the spirit of the competition, the test should be run at default settings. The only tweaks in 3Dmark itself would be test order and pausing between tests, although I haven't found any advantage in that myself . Tweaking operating systems, drivers, bios and hardware is where its at ;) .

[TheDogFather]

Originally posted by Nico
TDF,

I think in keeping with the spirit of the competition, the test should be run at default settings. The only tweaks in 3Dmark itself would be test order and pausing between tests, although I haven't found any advantage in that myself . Tweaking operating systems, drivers, bios and hardware is where its at ;) .

Yeah sure, I think the rules say at default, but we're using a seperate version of Madmark for the comp.

On the ORB, its anything goes right ? And right now I'm at 9020 tied with Holst and infront of thewildblue. ;)

So what does Z-buffer do, and does 16bit allways give a higher score ?

TDF.

[charlie]

I agree...if it's on the ORB, it's OK...
If FM accepted the score, it's all good.

C

[[XC]thewildblue]

Lol from what I remember when doing Radeon 7000 benching the 16bit z buffer was good for around 200-300 points in the 3,000 region, but it may be different with these cards.

I only noticed coz I was checking who was above me lol.

The thing is, it is a change from the standard settings so do we or dont we include it as standard ?

[TheDogFather]

I think the rules for the comp say standard settings, so no I guess.

But on the ORB, whatever gets you the points.

I was pretty impressed, my first ever benchmark got me on the first page for Xabre cards, and the more I fiddled the more people I overtook.

That was just my first steps, wait till I start running. ;)

TDF.

[[XC]thewildblue]

Right done a quick bench with 16bit z buffer and I gained over 500 points.......so it does make quite a difference.



9551 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7522974)

So which do we go with ?

[MrIcee]

Originally posted by TheDogFather
Yeah sure, I think the rules say at default, but we're using a seperate version of Madmark for the comp.

On the ORB, its anything goes right ? And right now I'm at 9020 tied with Holst and infront of thewildblue. ;)

So what does Z-buffer do, and does 16bit allways give a higher score ?

TDF.

On the ORB, anything goes with your system but you are supposed to run 3DMark at default settings. Running 16 bit anything will absolutely give you a higher score...so does running 640x480 resolution instead of default.

Those of us competing in 3DMark for years have lived by benching it in 2 configurations: the standard default bench(official)...or low res 640x480 with everything set at 16 bit(for fun).

In essence, you are not really tied with Holst or The WildBlue, as you are not running the same, default benching parameters.

My 2 cents is that we stick to the default 3Dmark bench as you would if you were normally competing. If you guys want to deviate from whats considered default, then we better set the record straight as those of us who have already benched will need to re-adjust to the new configuration.

Randi:D

[TheDogFather]

So youre saying that you should allways run at all defaults, the only thing you can change is the test order ?

I'll follow what ever you guys say, like I said I'm brand new to this and have everything to learn.

But it does trouble me a little, that the ORB could show you in whatever place, when there could be 4 people higher up than you, that ran in 16 bit, and your loosing places to them. People won't know unless they search through the details.

Like Tom Holck has the absolute highest score, but it doesn't show up without people changing the search parameters.

This 16bit stuff is right there, do you know what I mean. By sticking to this rule, you could be loosing places to someone that either doesnt know or doesnt care.

That seems a little unfair. would have been better if Futuremark had seperated that out, like they have other nondefault settings.

I notice the 9800xt's seem to be 24 bit but these Xabres are 32bit so what is it that sets the default Z-buffer ? I kind of expected it to go the other way, getting higher with newer cards.

TDF.

[Nico]

If you are going for your highest possible score then by all means use 16 bit, but it isn't compareable to the scores around you and won't be a legimate run for the comp which does appear to be run on the Orb. It's like including an obviously flawed run, which a few have had and taken down to keep it a fair comp. I guess come judging time the top runs will be scrutinzed to some degree as we all want to be playing on the same field to find new tricks and push the boundaries. :)