3DMark06 help

[tomF]

I'm in the process of upgrading my setup and have picked up a GTX 295 (mostly because I got it incredibly cheap on a lucky RMA). I will be running an i7 975, Rampage 2 Extreme and 6GB Corsair DDR3 1600 RAM within a few months, but until then I wanted to see how the card handled on stock setting with my current gear with no overclocking. I was a tad shocked at how low the score was compared to what I was expecting.

Current setup:
Asus P5Q mobo
Intel q6600 @ 2.4 MHz
BFG Geforce GTX 295
Corsair 750W PSU
Antec 902 case
4 GB Ram
My scored came out as the following:

3DMark Score 12503

SM 2.0 Score 4628
SM 3.0 Score 6224
CPU Score 3463

I know I shouldn't expect anything spectacular with the chip at 2.4, but I must admit I expected more than 12.5k.
Also, I'm running Windows 7 64 bit. Prior to switching from XP to Win 7, I hit 13k on 3DMark. I was under the impression the OS didn't impact on the score?

Just wondered if anyone had any tips on why this score seems so low? and if so, what can I do to raise it (without overclocking, as the setup won't be running for much longer)?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[cjl]

3dmark is stunningly CPU dependent (much more so than games are). I can change my score from 17k to 27k just by overclocking. I wouldn't worry about it unless it also underperforms on games.

 

[tomF]

Thanks for the info!
So far games have been pretty good. Mirror's Edge runs on highest with AA without a hitch. I have found it a tad jumpy at times on Crysis on very high though. I'm hoping the i7 975 will sort that out though.

 

[Maziar]

+1 to what cjl said,3DMARK benefits from a faster CPU,when i OC'd my Q6600 to 3.4 i saw a great performance increase in 3DMARK,but 3DMARKS isn't important as games,getting good frames in games is important.
Also about Crysis on very high,well Crysis isn't very well optimized and you have a good CPU and a powerful GPU,PM me and i will recommend you some optimized Crysis config which will look more realistic than Very high and gives you more FPS too