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Mad as in onion


Guest spook
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Go Mad with an onion but expect to have trouble finding a free server for the 170MB download.

There's quite a bit of criticism saying the benchmark is too 'synthetic', that it doesn't reflect very well the reality of what demands modern games place on a system etc etc (a bit like the last 2 then). Direct X 9 is required, followed by new graphics card, CPU, memory, mainboard and a whopping 6 megawatt PSU to power it all, earmuffs and a refrigerated case to keep the sound in, and heat out.

But you're still gonna download it, aren't you? Too right you are. Purty graphics...

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From what you 'edited' it looks like a healthy 524 score for you....

I did 1095 :( and I am gutted :(

Maybe 3DMark2003 will come into it's own in about 2 years when the graphics cards have caught up abit??? The ATI9700 Pro cards are only doing 4-5000 unclocked...

P.S...Have you tried the Demo yet??? :D

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Yeah - I think it's all a big con, encouraging people to switch to graphics cards with functions the test will capitalise on, which are not being used or are particularly going to improve graphics performance in the 'real' world.

The Pro 9700 may well be the last card I buy - my rig actually got 1524, I used Paint but my job didn't reproduce very convincing numbers did it? :lol:

Well - getting a frame per second was a new experience, but the game demos were nice to look at. I wonder if Doom 3 is going to produce these kinds of results? What do you think Scarthy?

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I have just completed the test and have also re-run 3DMark2001SE...

I have altered the settings in the ATI Control Panel. I have set D3D and OGL to 'optimal performance' (drag slide to far left). Here are the results....

2001 - I got 8585 (8491 highest before = +94points)

2003 - I got 1148 (1095 highest before = +53points)

I will try a few more things and let you all know how it goes. ;)

spook - What settings etc did you use to get your score? I see you have a Ti4400 card.

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Hi Scarthy - I'm not venturing any further with this 3DMark just now. I didn't mention it before, but during the test (the 1st CPU one I think), the image split down the screen, say 2/3rds along, so I was viewing the left side of the screen from 2/3rds along to the right, and the right part of the screen from the left to the 2/3rd of screen mark. Confused? There's also image corruption at the base of my screen which won't go.

I've tried everything a bod can do in XP Pro to resolve this issue, but it's still the same. Can't play any games now, as running any kinds of 3D applications becomes impossible - all games are affected. Does seem I can run stuff in 1280x1024 okay though, but not in any other resolutions.

Be warned all! This onion might not leave a very nice taste in your mouth. I have looked through Futuremark's FAQs which are very scantilly clad, but no joy. I am faced with the better of lesser evils, and this is reinstalling the OS, unless someone can tell me how to uninstall Direct X 9 as a first experiment. I am really hoping no hardware has been permanently damaged - if it has I will be taking this issue up with Futuremark.

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Ordep - thanks very much!

Just what the Doctor ordered...

Just out of interest, I left computer switched off for the night - sans power - and though it booted through weird split screen, I am at the desktop now and it seems ok. Ran BF1942 demo for a bit, and that was ok too.

But... as we all know, it wouldn't be imprudent to think the problem sorted. I'll try your Direct X removal tool, Ordep, if on reboot, my computer is still playing silly buggers with me - thanks again.

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Yeah - that was a good read. I see that at the point of the CPU testing, screen resolution is forced at 640x480, something my monitor cannot support. Nice one Futuremark!

My comp still isn't right, after running that program. Evidently, I am going to have to put up with the probs remaining until I can afford to replace graphics card/monitor or both.

Well. It could have been a lot worse I suppose.

There will be plenty of other TFT users who will suffer the same due to Futuremark's lack of foresight and unwillingness to sort it out before it becomes a problem.

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For the benefit of others - this is what happened to my display during the CPU test, though of course it's a screenshot of BF1942 which I tried to play after running the test. Makes it a trifle difficult, despite the special effects:

post-14-1045420791_thumb.jpg

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Bloody hell Spook,

Are you serious, has it buggered up your graphics card & monitor....

I did read some were today, cant remember were, that 3Dmark 03 had a bug, and that a fix was coming out.

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Ordep, I wonder if that 'bug' was something that told the program to force the resolution, regardless of what the displaying monitor could support.

I'm not happy - this pic I posted was to demonstrate how 3D apps were running after the 3D mark 03 (CPU test). I've put a post here but in case it doesn't find it, it's 'Serious Split-Screen issue', and is easy to find throught the search facility (pages change rapidly). I am trying to get Futuremark to formally reply to my post, and request for assistance in fixing the outstanding problems regarding monitor and vga card.

Worried the over-stressed components have put paid to my gaming exploits in the long running, the old bench marks are showing 10% or more reduction in overall performance - my rig isn't going like it used to. The boot up BIOS displays for VGA card, RAID and MOBO are all corrupted - the monitor won't display them right at all.

There's a longer post over at Futuremark's message boards, under the user 'Litigator', which I chose on the spot and thought might be an appropriate title if I don't get any joy from them - they should help, in my opinion, they are bound even with free products to ensure they do not cause serious hardware damage. Most users expect taking due care and using the software correctly limits any possibility of damage being caused to your system, provided of course, you are not deliberately overclocking components. They have a link to this board - I am hoping the request that I put a picture up will prompt a response from them, or someone else perhaps, who can help.

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Thanks Ordep - you're a dude!

Think I've worked out the problem, following from what appeared to be a very unhelpful rant from this guy over at Mad Onion's site (linked). Having tested monitor and viewed the support site, it should have been perfectly capable of supporting a screen resolution of 640x480, as that guy pointed out, it's a standard requirement. Never having the need to go any lower than 1024x768, I'd not noticed the 800x600 lowest resolution limitation offered by my monitor was iffy. I plugged my laptop in to the monitor instead, and lo and behold, 640x480 was offered, so it wasn't the monitor at fault, and by now we all know, it must surely be my VGA card.

Can't think why it didn't strike me as strange the lack of 640x480 support when it clearly states that my card does support it, so I am hoping it's simply the case that I take it back, the boys test it, and say also that that's odd that it's not displaying that resolution. Else, I am in test pan alley, and will be forever trying to figure out what is wrong with my system... if it's not the VGA card. Only had it since, well, 4 months is long enough, but at least it's well within cover. Should be allright in changing it - the shop are far from being nazi-ist about exchanging duff equipment.

I'll keep you posted.

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Wow, interesting read spook. The biggest problem with 'puters I find is that when things go wrong then tracking down the culprit is so damn difficult. At least you have an avenue to explore for a solution. Good luck with it. :)

On another point every time I visit this thread for some reason it doesn't fit the screen horizontally. :( I have to scroll across to read each line of the posts. Anyone else experience this?

pcangry.gif

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Now were on page 2 its OK. I suspect it's something to do with attached picture files as I've noticed there is another thread in the Off the Topic section which is behaving in the same manner. :blink:

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Sorry guys... I forgot to shrink the images down in size. I could remove them I think, so I'll do that maybe. It shows okay in 1280x1024, which was what it was shot at, hence you need to have your monitor up to that and IE6 or whatnot open full page. A pain, I know...

But, I'm glad I've gotten this far - the extra bsods on boot up and random blackouts may well be due to that card, I've been getting them for a while but just didn't know what to make of it - so many things, like Mundy says, such a pain in the butt. I may renew the PC, as there are quite a few upgrades I fancy at present... hmmm.

Athlon XP Barton core is out, 2500+ is less than £140 so is tempting... ATi Radeonm is tempting... and so is the PC3200/2700 ram... Well, I can dream I suppose...

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I'd leave it as it is spook, your attached picture may assist someone else in the future. :)

As for screen resolutions I've just changed mine to 1280 x 1024 and yup, your right spook it fits nicely :D only prob is now I need a magnifying glass to read the writing. :lol: As for upgrading spook, the new specs sound great... until next month that is! :blink:

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Yeah, Mundy - things are a changing pretty fast. Been a year, so I may just upgrade... I'm certainly tempted by the Barton.

I shrank the original BF1942 pic so that it would fit nicer, and removed the onion one since I have lost the original pic. Now, it all looks much better and you can put that magnifying glass away... ;)

Ordep and myself are just playing the BF1942 demo right now (19:25pm) so if you would like to come join us, I'll check back in and post the server name: MONCHO

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Sorry Mundy, kept trying to get onto any half decent server, but out of all those attempts, only managed 2 servers, and both pinged so badly, it just wasn't worth doing.

Maybe one of us could try the create game thing agan, just report back in here maybe, with the server name. Think it needs to be restricted to 4 players for unhindered operation on the side of the person hosting, I've tried 6 players and found it slows down quite a bit my end, XP 1900+, despite the 0 ping. Anyway... me and Ordep, we both had a flying lesson together, couldn't get the parking right though.

Was a bit too quiet with just the 4, think the opposition weren't up to much though... oh yeah, remembered something. There are now servers running with auto boot for high pingers. With my connection (ADSL), I sometimes creep above the 200 limit or whatever, sometimes much worse, and been booted a couple of times. Makes you wonder why you got broadband... it's just that some servers block high pingers from joining, so hence the problems getting on sometimes...

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