How big of an effect does your motherboard have on your computers performance? I recently purchased a Radeon 9800 and decided to run some benchmarks to test my new baby out. Using AquaMark (a popular 3D benchmark utility) I scored 22k. I had my friends with similar system (lower graphics card) run the tests as well. They scored around 20ishk. I was pretty dissapointed. The only notable difference is that my motherboard is a piece of shit, and they all use nForces. (AMD2400 and Barton2500 wouldn't make much of a difference).

PS: After overclocking my Pro to an XT my benchmark score went up 10k, however I am performing way below expected standards for a 9800 system.

Could the motherboard be the problem?

dude i have pretty much the exact same problem , i have a 9200 btw , how ever the fact that my crappy motherboard only support's 4x AGP and is on board makes it perform less then expected.

The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is the best motherboard I've ever owned, and what I use currently to run my ATI Radeon 9600 XT. I have purchased the same motherboard for coworkers and friends and it has performed for everyone. That is my recommendation for now.

[quote]The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is the best motherboard I've ever owned, and what I use currently to run my ATI Radeon 9600 XT.[/quote]

Cool, I have the same setup

I've had very solid performance from the ABIT NF-7S motherboard, which is an AMD (Socket A) board.

[quote author=KoRRuPT link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg60978 date=1085062064]
[quote]The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is the best motherboard I've ever owned, and what I use currently to run my ATI Radeon 9600 XT.[/quote]

Cool, I have the same setup
[/quote]

*off-topic*
my graphics card is a Radeon 9800 128 MB

So getting a better motherboard will lead to better performance?

[quote author=Noodlez link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg61057 date=1085100732]
So getting a better motherboard will lead to better performance?
[/quote]

Indeed.

Get a ATI Radeon of some kind. Not only are they excellent, but they have high resale and trade-in value when you decide to upgrade. Makes the cost of upgrading cheaper.

He's got a 9800 PRO. :)

Noodlez, as far as I know motherboard performance can impact performance. If your motherboard is a "budget" board, move up to something such as Grok's recommendation (if you've got a Pentium chip) or an ABIT NF7-S (or similarly recommended motherboard from a site like tomshardware.com).

www.pricewatch.com

Incase some of you aren't already familiar with it. You can find some truly remarkable deals. :)

[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg60967 date=1085049494]
The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is the best motherboard I've ever owned, and what I use currently to run my ATI Radeon 9600 XT. I have purchased the same motherboard for coworkers and friends and it has performed for everyone. That is my recommendation for now.
[/quote]

Do you get that message when you turn on your computer that sais "new cpu detected, press F1 for bios, F2 to continue"? Ever since I upgraded my mobo to the ASUS P4P800 Delux, I got that message on startup.

[quote author=Zeller link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg61177 date=1085205595]
[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg60967 date=1085049494]
The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is the best motherboard I've ever owned, and what I use currently to run my ATI Radeon 9600 XT. I have purchased the same motherboard for coworkers and friends and it has performed for everyone. That is my recommendation for now.
[/quote]

Do you get that message when you turn on your computer that sais "new cpu detected, press F1 for bios, F2 to continue"? Ever since I upgraded my mobo to the ASUS P4P800 Delux, I got that message on startup.
[/quote]

No. Just go into setup, don't change anything, then EXIT AND SAVE changes. That should write your current configuration.

[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg61200 date=1085239398]
[quote author=Zeller link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg61177 date=1085205595]
[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=6883;start=0#msg60967 date=1085049494]
The ASUS P4P800 Deluxe is the best motherboard I've ever owned, and what I use currently to run my ATI Radeon 9600 XT. I have purchased the same motherboard for coworkers and friends and it has performed for everyone. That is my recommendation for now.
[/quote]

Do you get that message when you turn on your computer that sais "new cpu detected, press F1 for bios, F2 to continue"? Ever since I upgraded my mobo to the ASUS P4P800 Delux, I got that message on startup.
[/quote]

No. Just go into setup, don't change anything, then EXIT AND SAVE changes. That should write your current configuration.
[/quote]
It should automatically save the settings.. maybe the battery powering his NVRAM is failing and it's losing settings across boots?