3DMark06 Question

**[SU]Magikfingers** · 01-10-08, 10:50 PM

Okay, here's a good one. I'm probably doing something wrong.

First off - my system stats:

CMS Stacker 830 Case
Intel Core 2 Extreme Q6800 Quad Core 2.93 ghz running @ 3.2 ghz
Vigor Gaming Monsoon thermal electric processor cooler
2x eVGA 8800 GTX 768 meg Superclocked in SLI (GPU running @ 621 MHz)
Soundblaster Fatal1ty Pro Gamer audio
2 gigs Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 RAM
2x WD Raptor 74gb in RAID 0
1x WD 320 gig data drive (All SATA obviously)
Sceptre 20.1" monitor

Now. That being said.

In another thread I posted up I was getting 12938 or something like that on 3DMark06. I was told that was pretty low for this system.

Keep in mind, the games I play (Primarily TF2, COD4, Crysis, and the BF series) all run glass - smooth with no issues.

My question is:

In the nVidia control panel, I have SLI showing enabled.

However, in 3DMark06, it's only showing a single GPU.

What's up with that?

And .. anyone have some ideas of what the optimal settings (Memory timings, etc) should be in the BIOS to make this thing even faster?

As I've stated, I'm a bit gunshy about over clocking, I've literally smoked a processor before, (Yeah, it was a 486, so what?) so I'm not necessarily looking to push the envelope so much as just make this thing fly faster than it does now.

**...bigdog...** · 01-10-08, 10:51 PM

do you have the bridge plugged into the cards?

do you have SLI enabled on your motherboard/BIOS?

**...bigdog...** · 01-10-08, 10:52 PM

and dude....you have GOT to login into futuremark, publish a recent 3dMark with your setup, and put the "dynamic compare" URL into your forum profile here. Makes life so much easier.

**...bigdog...** · 01-10-08, 10:52 PM

it will look like this.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=2296655

**...bigdog...** · 01-10-08, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by [SU

Magikfingers ]And .. anyone have some ideas of what the optimal settings (Memory timings, etc) should be in the BIOS to make this thing even faster?

at your specs, optimizing memory timings would be like putting a bigger muffler on your ferrari. Great....another 20 HP. Wahoo.....!??

In your case, messing with your timings isn't worth the stability risk. At my best, I was able to squeeze out another 3-5% 3dMarks by jacking up my XMS timings to 2-2-2-5.

Sure...it could 3dMark....but it crashed like a mofo. So I went back to "by SPD" or "auto".

**[SU]Magikfingers** · 01-10-08, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by ...bigdog...

Originally Posted by [SU

Magikfingers ]And .. anyone have some ideas of what the optimal settings (Memory timings, etc) should be in the BIOS to make this thing even faster?

at your specs, optimizing memory timings would be like putting a bigger muffler on your ferrari. Great....another 20 HP. Wahoo.....!??

In your case, messing with your timings isn't worth the stability risk. At my best, I was able to squeeze out another 3-5% 3dMarks by jacking up my XMS timings to 2-2-2-5.

Sure...it could 3dMark....but it crashed like a mofo. So I went back to "by SPD" or "auto".

That's basically my attitude. I just was wondering if I was missing something blatant.

And ..

Ask and ye shall recieve:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4631603

I'll take stability over a few extra horsepower any day.

Kind of like my Durango - Yeah, that thing's got a Hemi in it. All stock at 340 horses - sure I could put more on it and get it up a few more, but why? It already smokes everything in it's class, and there hasn't been any trouble in it in the year and four months we've had it.

**[SU]Magikfingers** · 01-10-08, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by ...bigdog...

do you have the bridge plugged into the cards?

do you have SLI enabled on your motherboard/BIOS?

Oh, and yes, and yes.

**[SU]Magikfingers** · 01-10-08, 11:28 PM

Hahaha!!

I tweaked my bios a bit - pushed the processor up to 3.47 ghz (my processor has been OC'd to about 3.7 safely)

3DMark06 score went from almost 13000 (129xx) to almost 16000.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4632373

Yay me.

Now if I could figure out why it's only showing a single display card in the details ...

**SapiensErus** · 01-10-08, 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by [SU

Magikfingers ]
Now if I could figure out why it's only showing a single display card in the details ...

How big is your monitor and what is it's maximum resolution?

Although you may have "enabled" SLI in the Nvidia control panel, you have to go tell programs to use it now that it is enabled. It may be that if your display is not high resolution it defaulted to "single-GPU" mode because at 1280x1024ish you actually LOSE frames when running SLI.

if you open the Nvidia control panel, select "3d settings" and you will get "global settings" and "program settings" tabs. Under these tabs you will find SLI mode configuration. i recommend not setting your global, but instead tweak the settings for each program.

If you look through the programs listed under the "Program Settings" you will find "3dmark06.exe" select it and go edit the SLI configuration. I have had the best luck with Alternate Frame Rendering 1, but really high resolutions seem

Also under these tabs you can find settings for AAx16, Af, all kinds of goodies.

On a related note I just now ran 3dmark06 for the first time.

using "Single GPU"
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/re...0&UID=13323507

Using "alternate frame rendering 1"
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/re...0&UID=13323616

I lost nearly 3000 marks by running in SL

holy shit! But I noted mine does not say anything about the second card there on the site (although I may be overlooking it, my first time using 3dmark...)