Low 3D FPS on Complex 3D benchmark

[Heckers]

Lately i have noticed my performance in games has been sluggish.
I reformatted my machine but the problem still persists.
I have the latest Catalyst drivers.
My specs
Intel Q9550
6gb DDR2 800
Radeon HD 6950

I ran the benchmarks and in the 3D section i noticed something strange.
Below is an image.
http://i40.tinypic.com/29wems.jpg

In all tests my system is the fastest, except for the complex one.
Any ideas why would happen?

[David (PassMark)]

The first two 3D tests are more CPU dependent than the 3rd and 4th.

Your screen shot didn't show it, but I assume the DirectX 10 result was also low?

Is the GPU over heating? Is it's fan full of dust? Do you have it in the best PCI-E slot for your motherboard?

[Heckers]

Hi, no the DirectX 10 result i beat all the other cards again. I scored around 40 fps on the test.
I played some games for a couple of minutes and let msi afterburner run to monitor the temperatures. The maximum it got to was lower 70 degrees celcius.
I only have one PCI*16 slot and its in there.

[David (PassMark)]

Are you using the default device driver settings?
You're not forcing higher quality from the driver?

[Heckers]

I think i have found the problem.
The card was picked up as PIC x2.
I have now installed a bios update and reseated/cleaned the contact points.
I managed to get double my fps on that test now.
The bios now picks it up as undetected though.
Im still looking to get it to work 100% but that is definitely seems like the problem.

Thanks for the help and i hope this helps someone else too.

[David (PassMark)]

Glad it is sorted out.
Was the indication that is was running at PCI x2 from a report in BIOS, or some Windows software?

[Heckers]

I went to check in the BIOS.
I have given up now. It just says undetected in the BIOS.
But will leave it there, its seems to perform better than x2.

[Heckers]

Im so confused.
Reseated and tried cleaning again. Still undetected, yet now im getting 60 fps on the test. It went from 20-40-60.
Im not complaining, just frustrating not knowing whats happening.

I think im gonna keep reseating the card untill i get 500 fps

[David (PassMark)]

From Wikipedia.
-=-=-
For PCI-E the lane count is automatically negotiated during device initialization, and can be restricted by either endpoint. For example, a single-lane PCIe (×1) card can be inserted into a multi-lane slot (×4, ×8, etc.), and the initialization cycle auto-negotiates the highest mutually supported lane count. The link can dynamically down-configure the link to use fewer lanes, thus providing some measure of failure tolerance in the presence of bad or unreliable lanes
-=-=-

So maybe some of your PCI-E lanes failed. Maybe due to bad / dirty contacts. Shame the BIOS doesn't report the correct value now.

But I just checked. CPU-Z display the video card "link width". So check that out and see what you are now running at. Should be x16 if that is what your video card and MB support.

[Heckers]

Yep, it says x16 now
Thank you for your help, much appreciated.
Hopefully this thread will help someone else.