Wooot, another 2 pages in topic
Well, I didn't think about high FSB problems with KT333... My last experience with Socket A was almost three years ago (before I switched to P4+875P platform), and for VIA chipsets it's almost four years (with EPoX 8KHA+ as my last mobo on these chipsets), so I'll need to recover some knowledge from backup
))
Regarding the statement "And about the higher scores with 3DMark2001 and faster CPU's --> Some CPU speed is being calculated 'into' the final score. When using a faster CPU you'll always get a higher score. Even if the graphics card won't go any higher anymore"
That's not exactly true. 3DMark2001 don't _calculate_ CPU power into final score. Score is counted as following:
(CL+DL+LL)*10+(CH+DH+LH+N)*20=SCORE
C = Car Chase
D = Dragothic
L = Lobby
N = Nature
L = Low detail
H = High detail
But some tests gladfully react on CPU power. That's most true to Car Chase Hi, which is almost CPU test, but also for Car Lo... Also, both Lobbys are xtremely sensitive to memory bandwidth, I even use Lobby Hi as a test for memory sticks
Dragos looks like to be complex tests and Nature is strictly GFX-sensitive.
That's make 3DMark 2001 (not 03 or 05!) an excellent SYSTEM test and the best proving ground for benchmarkers - to get a decent score you should create a system without any weak points. CPU power, FSB speed, memory timings and of course graphics power - everything make the difference. Of course, with GPU of the past (i.e. GF2 or VSA-100) there isn't so big difference between aircooled or phase-change cooled modern CPU just because videocard will be a bottleneck, but still it will help to get one or two hundreds more points...
Aaaahhh.... Good ol' days with overnight 3DMark01 benching sessions looks like to return for me soon
)) And for the first time with 3dfx hardware!
Usually I get myself to Futuremark absolute TOP-10 with each new hi-end card since Radeon 9800 Pro but last time I seriously benched this summer (FX-57 + 7800GTX SLI)... In addition, I still own world records for FX5900XT (27800 points), PCX5750 (20002), PCX5900 (22200) and few other older cards
So to add 3dfx WR will be an honor to me