Well I have suspected Windows XP's SP1 to be more of a problem than a fix and now they are confirmed.
I did some benchmarking with and without SP1 installed and the numbers are intriguing.
First off, my modest system - AMD Duron 1.2gh, 512mb PC133 and Geforce2 MX400 w/64mb memory.

3dmark 2000 - Prior to SP1

3dmarks - 4919
CPU performance - 413
Game 1 - low detail - 95 fps
med detail - 70.0 fps
high detail - 36.2 fps
Game 2 - low detail - 104.2 fps
med detail - 63.7 fps
high detail - 40.7 fps

Just to highlight the whole test.

3dmark 2000 - After SP1

3dmarks - 4763
CPU performance - 398
Game 1 - low detail - 87.5 fps
med detail - 66.7 fps
high detail - 34.1 fps
Game 2 - low detail - 100.9 fps
med detail - 62.0 fps
high detail - 38.2 fps

Not much of a drop in framerates but a drop nonetheless.

In concluding, I read somewhere that SP1 cranks down some system components to offer maximum reliability and compatibilty. It seems that 3d components are some of them. I am reformatting and not installing SP1. Also, I have noticed my sound card - soundblaster live - is now popping and cracking, it didn't do that before SP1. Anyone notice any similar problems after SP1?

i had the same thing until i did a clean slipstreamed install

What is a slipstreamed install?

A slipstream install is where you intergrate the installation of a service pack with the OS installation. Typically, this is done one of two ways; Either creating a new CDROM, or as a RIS image on a domain controller. Also, for the record, I too, have had the best luck with slipstream installs of XP/SP1. Do a forum search for 'Ultimate Slipstream Guide' for detailed instructions.

I just completed a slipstreamed install and everything works much better now. I will be doing some benchmarks on this install soon. Everything seems to be much better. Thanks for the help.

sweeet

Cool, let us know how the benchmarks come out.

Ok, the slipstream install completed without a hitch. Now here are some benchmarks. A little suprising.

Just to recap the last posting before the slipstream install......

3dmark 2000 - Prior to SP1

3dmarks - 4919
CPU performance - 413
Game 1 - low detail - 95 fps
med detail - 70.0 fps
high detail - 36.2 fps
Game 2 - low detail - 104.2 fps
med detail - 63.7 fps
high detail - 40.7 fps

Just to highlight the whole test.

3dmark 2000 - After SP1

3dmarks - 4763
CPU performance - 398
Game 1 - low detail - 87.5 fps
med detail - 66.7 fps
high detail - 34.1 fps
Game 2 - low detail - 100.9 fps
med detail - 62.0 fps
high detail - 38.2 fps

AFTER SLIPSTREAM INSTALL OF SP1

3dmarks - 4909
CPU performance - 410
Game 1 - low detail - 94.1 fps
med detail - 69.2 fps
high detail - 35.9 fps
Game 2 - low detail - 102.9 fps
med detail - 62.5 fps
high detail - 39.5 fps

The biggest difference was in raw polygons being thrown onto the screen:
High Polygon count went from 9623 mtexels/sec to 9865 mtexels/sec after the slipstream install.

Its conclusive that the slipstream install of SP1 is the way to go, but the raw framerates are a little better without SP1 being installed at all. On the other hand my system overall seems to run better with SP1. The drop in a few framerates are a small price to pay for a stable system.

When DX9 is cleaned up, I will run those too if anyone is interested so we can compare DX8.1 and DX9. I only have a Geforce 2 so the feature set of DX9 won't come into play, only if DX9 cleans up the NT Kernel for gameplay further.

wow might have to give that a go !

Someone of you have compared the performance using a RAID? I have a Promise RAID SX6000 controller with a RAID 5 arraid configured with 4 disks of 60Gb. each and one spare disk. and after installed SP1 i have noticed NO better performance... anybody have more info?

Thanks...