Please help!

Hi all, I'm new to these forums and found this place whilst trying to find helpfull sites relating to my problem and hope some of you guys can help me?

Basically I think there is something I'm not doing in order to get the best performance out of my new hardware but don't know how, my knowledge of PC's is not great and don't know if I'm doing something wrong.

I have just upgraded my PC to:

Atlon XP2400
Gigabyte 9700 pro running cat 2.4 drivers
512 mb DDR PC2100 (same memory)
Asus A7V8X M/b (VIA 4 in 1 4.43 drivers)
XP Pro o/s

I run 3d mark 2001 se and get a score of just uder 12,000 with no effects turned on in my card. From what I have been reading on this card I should be getting over 13,000+ ?.

I ran 3d mark on my old hardware which was:

Atlon XP1800
Leadtek Geforce 4 Ti4600 (40.72) drivers
Asus A7V333 m/b (VIA 4 in 1 4.43 drivers)
same memory
same o/s

and was getting a score of 10,000+

The Ti4600 I sold to a friend is running 11,000 with windows 2000 o/s and an Atlon XP1900 so surely with my new processor and new 9700 pro I should be kicking arse?

Is it down to jumper settings on my m/b or bios settings? or the fact I did not do a full reinstall with new hardware???

I really appreciate any help and comments anyone can make with regards to this as at the moment if feels like I have wasted my money.
Thankyou.

Although you've not changed hardware significantly there will still be some differences that WinXP must deal with. I would do a clean install of WinXP. Others here can help with your 3dmark issues. Regards . . .

Thanks OS Wiz, a few other people I have spoken to recomended doing the same thing but I'd like to see if the other guru's can help increase my meazly 12,000 score. Calling Marc Daddy Calling Marc Daddy lol.

I agree with OS-Wiz. If you want, go to the Asus site and see if there has been a BIOS update. Check to see if the update would help you out. If the update just resolves conflicts with hardware you don't have then don't update your BIOS. When it comes to BIOS flashes, you should take the philosophy of "if it aint broke then don't fix it". And if you need some BIOS optimization ideas go to this link:

http://www.rojakpot.net/Speed_Demonz/New_BIOS_Guide/


It's not a complete product as of yet...but when it's done it should be a valuable resource.

However, if you can't wait for him to complete it then download his 6.5 guide.