I have an Athlon 1900XP system with 1G of RAM. It had a Gigabyte GA7DX
motherboard and a Geforce 3 Ti 500 card. When I would run the
benchmark Madonions 3dmark 2001 I would usually get a sore of
7100-7200. I had a problem with my system and I had to return it and
the motherboard was replaced with a Gigabyte GA 7VTXH motherboard.
Everything else is exactly the same. I now get benchmark scores of
5300-5400. I also have downloaded the latest Nvidia drivers.  Any help
on fixing this will be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

Hi! :)

There are a few things that can cause such a performance drop. A very
small performance drop might occur if AGP 4X is not enabled in the
system BIOS. I don't think, however, that something like that would
cause such a dramatic decrease in score.

The GA7DX was based on the AMD 761 chipset, using an AMD northbridge
and a VIA southbridge. The 7VTXH board uses a VIA northbridge and a
VIA southbridge. I know that may seem a bit confusing... A lot of
times, what it comes down to, is that the drivers for the motherboard
aren't quite right. Windows can almost always find an approximation of
the driver - at least enough to keep the system running.  However,
they don't tend to be the optimal drivers for the specific board. If
you go to http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 , you should see a link to
the VIA 4in1 driver pack. (You may also download it directly from:
http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/4in1438(2)v(a).exe ,
ftp://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/4in1438(2)v(a).exe , or
http://www.giga-byte.com/support/d_via.htm#via4in1) This 4in1 pack
will provide the optimal drivers for the 7VTXH board.

The steps to install follow :) :
1.) Save the above 4in1 pack to a safe place on your hard drive.
2.) Run the 4in1 pack executable file.
3.) Click Next until you are able to select Normally Install.
4.) Make sure the box for the AGP VxD driver is checked.
5.) Continue on, using the default settings, verifying that the
Install AGP4X/133 driver button is selected when it comes up.
6.) Click Next a few more times until it prompts you to restart the
computer.
7.) Restart the computer.

With any luck, this should help ease some of the issues you're seeing.
If you have any questions or this doesn't resolve your problems,
please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. :)

Thanks,
Andy

Are you sure you ran 3dmark 2001 originally?  If you ran 3dmark 2000
originally, then downloaded 3dmark 2001 on the new machine, that would
explain the drop in score.  3dmark 2001 has much lower scores, this
doesn't mean your machine is slower, it just means the benchmark
changed and you can only compare 2001 scores in relation to other 2001
scores, same with 2000 scores.

jard1-ga

Put in a good hour looking, your problem should be the other way
around! The GA 7VTXH motherboard uses the newer VIA chipset which is
the champion with the faster Athlons. I have to go with the notion
that it is a driver problem. The screen shots at

http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=142&PageID=2

actually show the Geoforce drivers you need, the motherboard drivers,
of course, you can only get from Gigabyte. Good luck.

Thanks for the tips so far. In response to badcrc, yes I'm sure I ran
3D Mark 2001 but thanks for the suggestion. I am about to download the
new drivers and see if that helps. I'll keep you posted.Thanks again.

I downloaded the Via 4in1 pack. It helped a little. 3D Mark score went
from 5300 to 5500. Still a long way to go though.

just an idea, but I've notice that your GA-7DXR has adjustable AGP
voltage, Im not sure what the GA-7VTXH AGP voltage is, but if the
GA-7DXR was set at the maximum 1.8V and the GA-7VTXH is at a lower
voltage then this will make your graphics card slower.  Im sure thats
right anyway, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

How would I check/adjust the voltage settings on my motherboard? Thanks.

Im sorry but I don't know, You could e-mail gigabyte to ask them what
voltage there AGP voltage on the 7VTXH, and then ask them what the
default setting on the GA7DX is, sorry I don't know any more.

Thanks again. I'll check Gigabyte.

I'm really doubting that the Voltage setting is to blame - I would
check out the AGP setting in the BIOS (4x or 2x) and also what the
window is set to (usually 64MB - I'd set it to 128MB or so).  Here's
my main question for you though - Did you reinstall windows after
getting the new motherboard installed??  I'd make sure you do that
first before anything else.

-Ryan

I did not reinstall windows after getting the motherboard installed.
It was sent back to where I purchased it, ABS computer, I assumed they
did everything they were supposed to. Maybe they didn't.
How do I check the AGP setting in the bios? I have no idea. 
Thanks again for your help.

Jeff