I wouldn't do a reformatted install, I would do a "repair install".
Anyone know how you do this with Vista.
I am very familiar with it in XP.
I've never done a repair, so I couldn't tell you. But I'm wondering if a
repair will do the trick or not. Since, a repair may only put it back the
way it was, prior to the upgrade. Though I guess if Vista is smart enough,
it might detect that it now has a different processor and update whatever it
is, that needs to get updated.
I was using XP only, when I upgraded from a 3800+ to the 4800+ X2 and all I
did was drop in the chip off I went. I'm sure Vista is suppose to work that
same way. It would appear obvious that Something did jive right and so there
is a problem.
I don't think you answered this, or I missed it. But your config does look
something like this right ?
http://images1.filecloud.com/401970/vista_cpu.jpg
Did you try the obvious already and un-install and re-install 3Dmark03.
There is an AMD driver, that's suppose to help optimize for dual cores. I
don't know that Vista needs it, but I just installed it for the heck of it.
It didn't crash or kill anyone, so you might give it a try and see if it
helps anything. You can get the update at.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_13118,00.html
I re-ran 3dmark03 and 06 after installing the patch and it didnt' seem to
make any difference. I might even suggest that if you already installed it,
you might try un-installing it.
Since someone doesn't think 3dmark03 is a valid test, you could try using a
program like SANDRA XL, which is officially supported by Vista, regardless
of your video drivers. From there you can compare you score with other CPUs,
they don't have a 3800+ listed, but they have a 4000+ and 3200+, so you can
get a feel for how close you are
http://images1.filecloud.com/402032/sandra.jpg.
You can get the freebie at
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=177
Finally, I have to ask. Were you doing any overclocking of the 3500 ? If so,
did you reset yor system to the system defaults when you switched. I seem to
think I was doing that when I upgraded and instead of kicking me to the
defaults, it kept the settings I had, which were technically slower then
what the 4800+ was suppose to run at 11x multiplier instead of 12x. If you
were OCing, then you probably should try setting the BIOS back to system
defaults and running the benchmark again.