Pyro's Updated 3dmark01/03 Guide

[Pyro]

First, this guide is for all 3dmarkers. The hardcore enthusiast and the typical average joe 3dmarker. Alot of the information provided below is not exactly necessary and some tweaks hardly increase performance. Use what you can.

If you don't want to reformatt/install the OS again, then skip this section. For best results it would require a reformat, this is not necessary, but I recommend it.

Before installing your OS, go into BIOS and Load failsafe defaults. Then set your 1st bootable device to the cd-rom. While installing the OS and important programs/updates I like to keep everything at default. I've had problems with programs, especially 3dmark2001 when installing with "tweaked" BIOS settings.

Installation Process:
1. Clean Format - Create 2 or more partitions. One smaller partition around 5gb for the OS only. Make the other partition(s) use the rest of the available space and make that for everything else(music, games, programs, etc.) Pretty much never save anything to the OS partition again except Windows Updates/related programs. I like to do this because it keeps the OS drive clean and everythings alittle more organized.

2. Install OS - Windows 2000 is faster for 3dmarking than Windows XP when you use an Amd CPU. Windows XP is faster than Windows 2000 if you use an Intel CPU.

3. Install Motherboard drivers
4. Windows Update
5. Install DirectX 8, 8.1, or 9
6. Install VGA drivers
7. Install 3dmark2001 and/or 3dmark03
8. Install 3rd party programs

Now scandisk and defrag your harddrive(s). Or analyze and defrag your harddrive(s) if your using XP. Then restart your computer, now continue on.

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Afew your done installing your OS and main drivers/updates, etc. Its time to tweak the BIOS, which is quite simple.

Here are 2 BIOS optimization Guides:

Rojakpot's Definitive BIOS Guide
LostCircuit's BIOS Guide

Afew main things you definitely want:
1. Enable all CPU Caches such as CPU Level 1 Cache, CPU Level 2 Cache.
2. Enable Quick Power On Self Test (POST)
3. Usually set the AGP Aperture Size to half the amount of your RAM. Example, if you have 256mb of RAM, set it to 128. Though experiment with different settings. Expect a slight performance increase at the most, nothing special.
4. Set AGP Capability to 4x mode.

I recommend tweaking as much of the BIOS as possible. If you have any questions about certain settings just post here. But Rojakpot's guide should answer it all.

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Alright, after your done with tweaking the BIOS its time to speed up Windows. Try afew of these.

Blackviper's XP Service Configuration Guide
OverclockersClub XP Services Removal Guide
Database of 2000/XP Tweak Guides
Tweak3d's multiple OSes Tweak Guides
Techspot's multiple OSes Tweak Guides
NTFS.org's XP Tweak Guides
TweakXP's Tweak and Tip Database
Tweaktown's XP Tweak Guides

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Alright, we've tweaked the BIOS, and Windows. Now its time to tweak the video card settings. But first, scandisk and defrag your harddrive(s). Or analyze and defrag your harddrive(s) if your using XP. Then restart your computer, now continue on.

1. Disable antialiasing and v-synch.
2. Enable AGP 4x, fast writes, and sideband addressing(sideband is not really needed though).
3. Set level of anisotropy to either Bilinear or Point sampling. All of these setting can be changed using programs such as Rivatuner, coolbits, GTU, and NVmax.
5. Set Best Performance in Mipmap levels.
4. Make sure the desktop and the color depth are the same as the 3Dmark settings which run at 1024x768 with 32 bit color default. Set the monitor to 60hz refresh rate.
5. In Rivatuner, go to PowerUser, and set LODBias to 15. Then go to the DirectX section and set it to 15. *Performance results vary*


Again, just set everything to max performance. Make sure antialiasing, anistropic filtering, and v-sync are disabled.

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OC'ing Tips:
1. Make sure you have adequate cooling. If your CPU's already running at 40 degrees celsius, you won't get to far. I had to drop my CPU temp to around 0 degrees celsius for major OC'ing.

2. Go up in small increments. No more then 3-5 mhz for core or memory per step for VGA oc'ing. Make sure you have it set so that if you have a failed OC, your default settings will load up after boot or you'll have to clear CMOS and reset BIOS settings.

3. With overclocking FSB, go in 1 or 2 mhz increases. OC'ing ability will depend alot on your RAM manufacturer and quality. I pray you have AGP/PCI lock. With OC'ing CPU mhz only go up .5x on the jumpers. For example, 10x133 equals 1.33 ghz or 1333 mhz. So a 10.5x133 equals 1.39 ghz or 1396mhz. The jumpers are either on the mobo itself or in BIOS. You can use programs in Windows to also change CPU settings though I would stick with the other 2 options. Only change the jumpers while the computer is off if the jumpers are on the MOBO. You can get to the BIOS screen while holding the delete key at boot(I know its the delete key for most MOBO's).

4. You can also check the stepping of your CPU by looking at the surface of the CPU chip. Sites on the web compare different CPU steppings with overclockability. Though that would mean having to remove your HSF which can sometimes be a pain.

Creep's Overclocking for Beginners Guide

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Download links:

Windows:
Windows Update
Direct X
Windows 2000 Service Packs
Windows XP Service Packs

Motherboard drivers:
Intel Chipsets
All Via Chipsets
AMD Chipsets
Ali Chipsets
SiS Chipsets

Video card drivers:
Ati
Nvidia
Kyro/Kyro II
3dfx Original
3dfx 3rd Party
Matrox
Guru3d
A large database of beta and WHQL video card drivers. You'll find any vga driver your looking for here.
Reactor Critical
Another database of numerous video card drivers.
3DChipset
Database of beta and WHQL Nvidia, Ati, and Matrox drivers.

Tweak Guides:
Futuremark's 3DMark01/SE Team Tweaks
Extreme Overclocking's 3DMark Team Tweaks
Maximus Nickus's Tweaks-The Definitive Guide

Tweak Utilities:
Rivatuner
Geforce Tweak Utility
Powerstrip
Radeonator
Rage 3d Tweak
Powertweak
Cacheman 5.11
Fresh Diagnose
Sisoft Sandra
WCPUID
Guru3d
Guru3d contains many of the tweak utilities/tools mentioned above and so much more.

Benchmark Programs:
Guru3d's Benchmark Download Category
Contains lots of benchmark programs from 3dmark01SE to Codecreatures Pro to Vulpine GLmark.
Futurmark's Download Section
Contains the 3DMark and PCMark series downloads., patches/updates, etc.
MajorGeek's Benchmarking Section
All kinds of benchmarks, too much to list.