Low score (994), especially 2d vectors (0.2)

[Jimmyboy82]

Yes Dbo you are right on the money..

I don't claim to be sure its not the drivers to blame, just seems like drivers are very commonly used as scape goats or an easy answer if you will. It could just be as simple as windows sucking as an operating system or conflicting with other software. But I'm just happy I have access to performance test to be able to notice this little 2D problems and measure them.

BTW: Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) is the compositing window manager that gives you all those pretty effects in Windows Vista: Transparent windows, live taskbar thumbnails (that you can resize now), and even the Flip3D switcher that you can disable and replace with Switcher.


Anyway from what I can tell from experimenting a bit on my own, when it comes to windows 7 and low 2d solid and transparent vector scores, the culprits are Aero themes and "dwm.exe".

Either of these running can interfere with your 2d resource efficiency dramatically when it has to do with solid and transparent vectors. Disable them and you will note a considerable improvement.

dwm.exe can be disabled from services with out serious detriment to your system and of course aero themes are just a matter of preference.

Research on dwm.exe service for your selves before you do anything first, don't just take my word for it. Peace out hope this helps people.

[Dbo]

For windows 7 you might also want to go to control panel -> performance info & tool -> visual effects -> adjust for best performance. Took the score from a 2.5 to 9 with a gtx 670. Seems like windows is trying to smooth the lines or something.

[Chrysalis]

I see the same and I think its down to drivers.

Check these scores.



The amd system has a 7600GT and my guess is the lack of WDDM 1.1 on the card prevents the slowdown on newer drivers.

182.50 is a WDDM 1.0 driver.
275.27 is a wDDM 1.1 driver.

On the solid and transparent vector tests on any 1.1 driver the performance takes a nosedive.

The 'this computer' is the intel i5 system with a new GTX 460 in on the 275.33 drivers. The previous was same system with a 8800GT.

[inteluck]

nvidia chipset MB fixed problem

i put the same CPU phenom 940 and video card 4890 in a m3n78 nvidai based MB and my 2d results improved to around 4.0. The sever stutter I was gettring in GTA IV also resolved itself, I can now play it at 1920X1080 with 8x edge detect AA and AAA on, with frame rates over 30, never dippiong below 25. It looks amazing. This is without any OC on the CPU. It would seem the ATI chipset(SB700) was the culprit in my case.

[inteluck]

different motherboard 'true' pcieX16 with faster setting "m2r32 mvp"

tried same xfx 4890 with different mothewrboard on new windows7x64 installation. Got 2d result of 7 (solid vector) before installing ati drivers, and still a decent 5 after installing the catalyst 9.8 driver. This m2r32 is a much older motherboard than the m3a78 I was trying it with, but was a much better board for its day. 2 PCI-e slots, both claimed to be 'true x16'. The performance jumped massively from my best results from the m3a78. Don't know what this means .....

[inteluck]

changed MB, RAM, OS stil same result

I switched to an m3n-78 nvidia based chipset MB and Patriot RAM XP64 system, got even lower 2d score similiar to original post. I have googled extensively and think this is related to a particular hardware config in some 4890's. However I can play GTAIV at 1920X1080 30hz with settings all high or highest with generally fast framerates (occasional brief lag) so the card can perform well in the 'real' world.

[inteluck]

trying to post pictures of benches

could someone please help me post my pics of results? I have tried inserting link to my hotmail skydrive- but all I get is 2 red X's where the pics should be

[inteluck]

yes this is solid and transparent vectors respectively

[inteluck]

problem is hardware

Everyone is assuming it CAN"T be the 4890 that is the problem. Drivers, configuration, CPU limit, settings, all these causes have been eliminated. There is really only 1 constant - the Card. Depending on the batch, this card performs very poorly, with one batch XfX board with lots of capacitors in a line under heatsink) in particular being pratically 'defective' by design- 2 hardware components removed or changed to save money making this card perform on a par with the ancient 9600 in some catagories. The only good news is this card has satisfactory performance where it really counts- 3d complex. I have one of these xfx cards, and am going to put my old 2900xt in and run my bench and see what happens

[David (PassMark)]

Intelluck, your 3 short posts above somewhat contradict each other. You said you had a 3D problem, then say you don't. You say you got results of 2.3 for the 2 vector tests, then say the result was 0.8.

[inteluck]

low 2d bench w/4890 & phenom 940

I have a similiar situation albeit not as bad. 2d bench solid vectors .81 transparent vectors 1.2. Everything else is very high total score of 1550 or so......what gives 2d is holding me way back

[inteluck]

I have the same problem with performance in 2d and simple 3d graphics in windows 7 64bit- I will try an (older) vista 64 driver

[inteluck]

same problem not as bad- clue?

I get a result of 2.2-2.3 on 2d solid and transparent vectors- far lower than the other 4890 in the comparison chart, as well as simple and medium 3d scores are way lower than similar systems. My total score is 1550(other components are fast)- held back by poor graphics performance- way less than other similiar systems with the same card are reporting

[Daxx123]

Michael,

Thanks for the info!

I do agree with your data based on my own informal research. I have had a few people report their results and the only commonality with any of the systems that did poorly in 2D Marks was Windows XP. It would be logical that it is a driver problem under Windows XP, but you were able to trace it down the the exact driver change! GREAT!

Now I know my video card is not defective and I can wait for Windows 7 and all will be better.

Daxx123

UPDATE:

Downgraded my ATI drivers to version 8.60

solid vector score increased dramatically from 0.25 to 12.7
transparent vector score slightly increased from 0.20 to 0.93

Upgraded ATI drivers back to latest version 8.64

solid vector score plummeted back to 0.25
transparent vector score back to original 0.20

And there you have it! Like Michael (Passmark) said...drivers under Windows XP.

[Michael (Passmark)]

Low scores in the transparent vectors are somewhat normal for XP systems as the OS performs poorly in that regard.

We've had a look through the database of submitted baselines and it seems recently there's been a huge decline in the scores for the solid vector test on Radeon cards on XP. Looking closer it seems this has been triggered by a driver change on the part of ATI.

The results for Radeon cards on the solid vectors test takes a huge dive when the driver version is 8.612.0.0 or later. The driver version you are using can be seen in PerformanceTest or in the ATI control panel (information center->graphics software->Driver Packaging Version).

We are fairly certain that this is the problem you are seeing. If this is not the case then let us know.