Weird performance of GTS 450 coupled with E2180

[mitsurudy]

Hello everybody,

This is my first time post in this forum. Pleased to meet you all.

So I have a problem with my new GPU. I recently changed my old XFX 8600GT with Zotac GTS 450,
My full specs:
- Processor Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz
- Motherboard Gigabyte 945GCM-S2C
- VGA Zotac GeForce GTS 450
- VGA Driver 275.33 WHQL
- RAM 3 GB DDR2
- PSU Ace Power 550 watt
- OS Windows XP SP2

Using my old card, I can get 3DMark06 score of 4900 - 5000 using default setting (can't remember the exact value).
Using my new card, I can only get 3DMark06 score of 8000 - 8100 with the same setting.
As you can see, it is very low for a GTS 450 card level. :-(
Heck, even using 9600GT I can get higher than that. Around 9000-10000 if I remember correctly.

More strangely, when I change the resolution to 640x480, the result is approximately the same.
I also try to use 1280x1024 with 8x sample AA and 16x AF. Still the same result.

FYI, I can run Witcher 2 using medium-high setting with quite decent frame rate.
In other hand, my old 8600GT can't even get decent frame rate using low setting.

Some people say it is my processor which bottle-necks the performance, but I still can't believe that.
Yeah, the CPU tends to bottle neck it, but I believe it's not that low because I can get better result using 9600GT.

I have tried to plug my VGA into another rig which using Intel i5 650 3.2 GHz.
The 3DMark06 score is 14900!

I'm really confused with this problem. Really have no idea of why it's like this.
Any help is really appreciated!

Thanks b4.

 

[hang-the-9]

If you are changing resolution and getting the same frame rates, the CPU is maxing out.

 

[renz496]

just try overclock your cpu first and see the result.