HELP! 3dmark dropped thousands in vista vs xp

[wolfsheim23]

Ok I have a dual boot Vista Ultimate 32 and XP Pro 32. Both ran pretty equal 3dmark06 scores of around 11xxx then something I installed or did in the Vista load has dropped my FPS considerably down to around 7000
and I didnt catch it at first, only after noticeing alot worse gameplay in vista about 3 weeks since my last 11k score in Vista. Im trying to uninstall things to figure out whats doing it. Ok here's my specs.

CPU: e8400 Oc'd to 3.6
MOBO: ASUS P5W DH (Flashed and ran great)
Video: ATI 3700 (tried stock in both XP and Vista, still huge gap)
OS: Vista Ultimate 32 SP1 with all updates

So I tried installing yet another Vista install on another drive. I now have 2 Vista installs and 1 XP Pro. The fresh Vista has my great 11k 3D Mark Scores back again so there is definatly something in my other Vista that dropped everything. Im still trying to either find the update in the new install that drops my scores or to remove what is doing it in the old Vista. I want to keep the old Vista rather than reinstall all my programs. I just created a new one to test. I have SP1 in the old and not in the new so I need to get that installed on the new one and see if it effects it. I have the same VIdeo Drivers on both. Catalyst 8.8 Driver 8.522
Although on my old Vista there were some ATI drivers my windows update installed that are not on my Update History. Ive uninstalled most every program I put on old Vista in the last 3 weeks.
So anyone else have an issue like this?

Its not just 3Dmark thats bugged, my games FPS in Fraps is much worse as well. The very starting test in 3Dmark06 should start in about 70fps and its only around 40, but it is 70 in the new install. Tests in games that test fps like Company of Heroes in much worse too. My FPS is definatly effected drastically by whatever it is. Thanks for any help!

 

[wolfsheim23]

oops I meant ATI 3870..

 

[krazyk12]

try a restore, scan for viruses, spyware, check for any processes that look suspicious.

 

[wolfsheim23]

Restore was my first plan, but for some reason I didnt have Restore turned on. Ive since made restore points so nothing is blocking it. Its too bad I didnt have any restore points from back then. Ive tried looking up all my processes and couldnt find anything suspicious, I even tried shutting them down one at a time, down to mostly barebones drivers and services. Still got the same poor results.

I was able to duplicate my poor results though in my XP by going into my Catalyst Control Center and forcing on my AA and other graphical quality settings. As you have to do that in Warhammer online to get any graphical improvements. It definitly lowered my 3Dmark score around the same margin. But I dont have those force enabled in Vista and I reinstalled the drivers many times. Ive tried a Driver Cleaner to start over, but Vista insists on installing its own ATI driver that I suppose was part of the ones Windows Update downloaded. It automatically detects my card and throws that driver in when I reboot after clearing all the old ATI drivers. That could be whats doing it somehow. Even when I update the driver it could be using parts of that one.

 

[wolfsheim23]

!!HOLY PHRACK!!

I finally found it, and man Id been wasting so much time uninstalling things trying to get my FPS back to normal. It was a silly thing, and something I cant believe I didnt see in a forum somewhere when searching for a solution.

It was my Power Options setting. I must have been just looking around a few weeks ago in Vista checking out its differences from XP and I set my power plan to Power Saver instead of High Performance. I didnt think much of it later. I think I did it just to set my Hibernate to be on or something. There isnt much specific Info about what it would do. Hell it totally trashed my FPS! Soon as I set it back to High Performance, my FPS in the initial test in 3DMark jumped back up to 70 at the start, from as low as 40 before. So aparently the Power Saver option does not realize you actually NEED that extra power in gaming and just strangles it to death.

Well now I have to reinstall all kinds of updates and some programs I thought might have caused it. Itll take me about 5 hours or so to get things back to the way they were after dozens of hours spent trying to figure out what was wrong. I hope this saves someone else some time. Maybe.

 

[johnyeah]

Power savings strikes again.

Too bad I didn't see this post earlier, I would have told you to check the power options (same thing happened to my friend and yeah, it took me a long ass time too before I realized what's was wrong).

 

[Thundordan]

!!HOLY PHRACK!!

It was my Power Options setting. I must have been just looking around a few weeks ago in Vista checking out its differences from XP and I set my power plan to Power Saver instead of High Performance. I didnt think much of it later. I think I did it just to set my Hibernate to be on or something. There isnt much specific Info about what it would do. Hell it totally trashed my FPS! Soon as I set it back to High Performance, my FPS in the initial test in 3DMark jumped back up to 70 at the start, from as low as 40 before. So aparently the Power Saver option does not realize you actually NEED that extra power in gaming and just strangles it to death.

I've got the same 70 and 40 FPs problem, only after scrutinizing the power options making sure everything is at max and after a reboot, NO CHANGE

I also want to mention that although in Vista x64 and Seven x64 I get under 40 FPS, in XP Professional x32 I still get 70+.

All the abovementioned OS' have the same drivers installed..dsfsd