Getting lower 3DMark score when overclocking

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by +15 MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same unusual
results. Any clues?

this happened to me, and this is what was causing it for me...

Sometimes, I found that powerstrip (or is it the card itself?) doesn't seem
to like certain clock combinations and resets to the defaults (or lower).
When this happens, the screen goes black for a second of so. When I
re-applied the same clock settings, all was okay. I wonder if that is
happening to you?

Check the actual clocks that powerstrip is displaying (Performance Profiles
Configure) after the benchmark when you get odd results. If they are at
the default or lower (sometimes they can even be 'undefined' and the sliders
are all the way down) then you need to reapply the settings and try again.

S

"Daniel Czajko" wrote in message
...
I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by +15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same unusual
results. Any clues?

If you can clock it even slower, maybe you'll turn it into an 9900 or
something?

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by +15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same unusual
results. Any clues?

Your card is too hot and as a result you get lower scores.
Cool the cpu and ram down.

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 01:34:11 -0000, "stu" waffled on
about something:

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by +15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same unusual
results. Any clues?

Your card is too hot and as a result you get lower scores.
Cool the cpu and ram down.

Unless the 9700pro has automatic overheat detection and clock step
down circuitry (like the P4), I don't think you'll find this is true.

Excesses of temperature cause digital noise. In memory this will show
up as image/data corruption. In the processor it results in crashes
and lock ups.

OP: I've found in the past the repeatedly running 3dmark will actually
give a lover and lower score (certainly did with 2001se). I suspect
it's not tidying up very well after itself. I always do a full reboot
before running it.

D0d6y.
--
MUSHROOMS ARE THE OPIATE OF THE MOOSES

"Dodgy" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 01:34:11 -0000, "stu" waffled on
about something:

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card
to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by
+15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking
at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why
the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several
times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same
unusual
results. Any clues?

Your card is too hot and as a result you get lower scores.
Cool the cpu and ram down.

Unless the 9700pro has automatic overheat detection and clock step
down circuitry (like the P4), I don't think you'll find this is true.

Doesn't sound right, does it.

But it is. I didn't believe it myself, but some months back I also
discovered this to be true: Overclock your card too far and your scores
drop.

Chip.

On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 16:36:35 -0000, "Chip"
waffled on about something:

"Dodgy" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 01:34:11 -0000, "stu" waffled on
about something:

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card
to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by
+15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking
at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why
the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several
times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same
unusual
results. Any clues?

Your card is too hot and as a result you get lower scores.
Cool the cpu and ram down.

Unless the 9700pro has automatic overheat detection and clock step
down circuitry (like the P4), I don't think you'll find this is true.

Doesn't sound right, does it.

But it is. I didn't believe it myself, but some months back I also
discovered this to be true: Overclock your card too far and your scores
drop.

I can't believe it's due to heat though... More like the on board
oscillators can't make the grade and miss beats.

D0d6y.
--
MUSHROOMS ARE THE OPIATE OF THE MOOSES

"Dodgy" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 16:36:35 -0000, "Chip"
waffled on about something:

"Dodgy" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 01:34:11 -0000, "stu" waffled on
about something:

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the
card
to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The
unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by
+15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not
overclocking
at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get
higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know
why
the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several
times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same
unusual
results. Any clues?

Your card is too hot and as a result you get lower scores.
Cool the cpu and ram down.

Unless the 9700pro has automatic overheat detection and clock step
down circuitry (like the P4), I don't think you'll find this is true.

Doesn't sound right, does it.

But it is. I didn't believe it myself, but some months back I also
discovered this to be true: Overclock your card too far and your scores
drop.

I can't believe it's due to heat though... More like the on board
oscillators can't make the grade and miss beats.

Maybe. That sounds plausible.

Chip.

The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by +15
MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same unusual
results. Any clues?

Your card is too hot and as a result you get lower scores.
Cool the cpu and ram down.

Why is it faster at +25 then? Before giving incorrect advise read the entire
message.
Have a nice day!

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:41:08 -0500, "Daniel Czajko"
wrote:

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using powerstrip 3.4, I overclocked the card to
various levels and ran the 3DMark03 build 340 benchmark. The unusual
results that I get are that when overclocking the Core and Memory by +15 MHz
and +15 MHz respectively, I get lower scores than if not overclocking at
all. And if I overclock the card to +20/+20 or +25/+25, I get higher
results than with stock settings (as expected). Does anyone know why the
lower score when overclocking at only +15+15? I tried this several times
over and over, with VPU Recover and without, still with the same unusual
results. Any clues?

Several times but if you just did everything the same, it's not going
to help. For example, did you turn on powerstrip before doing all
benchmarks (Even stock)? If not, this might be affecting it. Did you
always run the +15mhz after doing stock? Again this is might affects
things. What you should do is do turn of comp, and do cold boot after
10 mins and try it at +15mhz then stock. Then turn it off for 10 mins,
do a cold boot and try at stock then +15mhz. Then turn off for 10
mins, cold boot then try only +15 mhz. Then turn off for 10 mins, do
cold boot then only 0 mhz. Then repeat cycle at least once.

Of course, you probably don't need to do it this many times but since
you are already doing it a lot of times, you should try a better way
of doing it.