To make sure that your are benchmarking correctly (ie. achieving the maximum available score) there are a few things that need to be done. One of the most important aspects is CPU utilization and system resources. What good would it be if you would test a piece of hardware while a background utility is using up memory and is utilizing the CPU 10% every few seconds. You need to disable each and every-one of them.

Furthermore, we have used a GeForce2 card to demonstrate this benchmark guide. All driver related issues you'll notice here should be basically be the same on all videocards.

Take these steps seriously and do them properly before you start to benchmark.

1. Reboot your computer - By doing this you free all the RAM and Cache that is in use.

2. Close all open programs...

You want to free up as many resources as possible so hit Alt-Ctrl-Del to bring up this window... (don't hit Alt-Ctrl-Del twice or your system will reboot).

You will most likely have a lot of programs open. Shut down every single one of them except Explorer. Don't get scared if a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) pops up. It might happen with some lousy programmed USB driver software, just reboot and (unfortunately) leave that program open.