My 7900 GT and falling 3D scores =(

[mojoRT]

Hey guys,

I have a P5N32-SLI SE, Core 2 E6600 @ stock, Corsair Value 2GB @ stock, and a BFG 7900 GT @ stock.

Built and installed Windows XP Pro along with stock motherboard drivers and 91.47 WHQL for the graphics. My motherboard shipped with BIOS 0204. I ran a couple of benchmarks, flashed the BIOS to 0401 (the latest non-beta BIOS) then formatted the computer and installed the same stuff.

Prior to flashing I get these scores
After flashing I get these scores

3DMark06
Overall: 4809 | 4403
SM2.0: 1910 | 1625
HDR/SM3.0: 1901 | 1810
CPU: 2032 | 2059

Super PI
22.656s | 21.922s

SiSandra
Memory B/W: 4660 MB/s | 5151 MB/s
Memory Latency: 103 ns | 90 ns

I guess the main change I am concerned about is the 3DMark06 score. I lost about 400 points after the flash with everything else the same. Is it possible that this new BIOS affected the graphics? ... or could it be something else? Could it be another software affecting this? Is this drop in score not significant? Do you guys have any suggestions or things you would like me to try out?

Thanks! :D

[Medion]

CPU and memory performance increased, but it looks like it may have "underclocked" your PCI-Ecpress. Yes, you can adjust your PCI-Express speed, at least on my mobo you can. Go ahead and see if that's the case.

[mojoRT]

CPU and memory performance increased, but it looks like it may have "underclocked" your PCI-Ecpress. Yes, you can adjust your PCI-Express speed, at least on my mobo you can. Go ahead and see if that's the case.

If that's the case, what is the default speed of the bus of the PCI-Express? My motherboard manual says it can adjust the frequency from 100 MHz to 148 MHz in 1 MHz increments.

[Daneel Olivaw]

100MHz is default

[mojoRT]

100MHz is default

and I think 100 MHz is the lowest I can go... well.. maybe i'll try flashing to BIOS 501 and see what happens.

[Crow_Nest]

Try flashing your BIOS to it's latest one, i had problems with my AM2 board before flashing. My 7900GT just didnt run right when i had stock mobo BIOS, but after flashing my Abit KN9 Ultra to BIOS 15 it runs great. I got 5200+ in 3DMark06 with stock speeds, 5990 was my highest once overclocked. Running on X2 3600+ (Stock), 1GB DDR2 PC6400 and 7900GT (555/1650 when i ran 3DM, its at 545/1600 now)

[mojoRT]

Try flashing your BIOS to it's latest one, i had problems with my AM2 board before flashing. My 7900GT just didnt run right when i had stock mobo BIOS, but after flashing my Abit KN9 Ultra to BIOS 15 it runs great. I got 5200+ in 3DMark06 with stock speeds, 5990 was my highest once overclocked. Running on X2 3600+ (Stock), 1GB DDR2 PC6400 and 7900GT (555/1650 when i ran 3DM, its at 545/1600 now)

5200+ at stock? Is it an eVGA or XFX?