Very poor 3DMark06 SM2/SM3 performance with GTX 260 216 SP

[Pride82]

My problem is very lousy Shader 2.0 and Shader 3.0 performance in 3DMark06 (v1.1.0).

Graphics card is Gainward 260 GTX 216 SP Limited Edition 894 MB.

RIG

E6750 @ 3.2GHz (also tried without OC, only real difference is CPU score, not Shader 2/3 score)
2x 1GB 4-4-4-12 800MHz DDR2 (800MHz without and with OC)
Antec NeoHE 550W

RESULTS

ForceWare 180.84 SM2.0: 4449 (stock clocks)
ForceWare 180.84 SM3.0: 4346 (stock clocks)

Best results I have reached are these.

I have also tried 181.20 drivers, which gave few hundred less points on both shader tests.

I tried 185.20 as well, but with those I couldn't even get to Windows XP login screen, since after "XP loading screen" there weren't any signal coming to my display.

...thing is, I had 4850 1GB OC (factory OC) which performed better.

What on earth is going on? I was expecting to see around 6000 points for shader tests.

Is it possible that GPU isn't getting power through both PCI-E 6-pin connectors or something? What would happen if only one of those was attached (although I have two, but if there's an issue)

Best result this far in overall 3DMark06 score is 10422 with E6750 @ 3.2GHz and GTX 260 (216 SP), which seems like approx 3-4k less than it should be.

[Pride82]

I managed to isolate the issue, but I don't know how to fix it! Please help me out! :bounce:



My motherboard is Asus P5K. There aren't direct controls to PCI Express bus, only possibility is to lock it to 1x or then not. And it sure isn't locked to 1x.

I tried upping PCI Express from 100MHz to 105MHz. No help.

I also tried enabling PCI Express Spread Spectrum, no help.

[MpG]

Good catch on the PCI-E x4 - probably your problem. Your motherboard uses the P35 chipset, which only offers PCI-E x16 in one slot - usually the one closest to the CPU. I'm guessing that you've got your video card in the other slot? Try changing it to the slot closest to the CPU - not sure, might have reinstall video drivers, not 100% positive on that.

[Pride82]

Aye, that fixed it. :)

SM 2.0 Score
6552

SM 3.0 Score
6937

Stock clocks. Im happy puppy. :)