benchmark

does anybody know what a good average benchmark rating is,

It depends on what benchmarking utility you're using. Take a look at www.futuremark.com. There you can download pcmark, a good general benchmarking util, 3dmark03, their new gaming benchmarking util which is visually impressive but has been critised as not giving a true benchmark, and 3dmark 2001, the predecessor to '03 and still one of the best. All have the ability to save and compare your score with others online. The demo versions are all free with only a few of the features disabled.
Hope that helps

alright thanks.

Hey man, If you want to get the most out of your card, see what API its using (DirectX) Heres a list:

3DMark2003 - DirectX 9
3DMark2001SE - DirectX 8.1
3DMark2001 - DirectX 8
3DMark2000 - DirectX 7
3DMark"99 - DirectX 6
CodeCreature Benchmark Pro - DirectX 8.1

...um thats about all I can think of, and theres alwats the PCMark series. If your card is runing a prefered benchmark it will run smoother, my card flies on DX8 test, but will present a slide show on DX9 test, so it helps to run applications that are suited to your card if you want to run games.

Hope that can help

dude i have this crappy s3 savage pro built into my mobo. and my benchmark was like 641. it said something about compatibility on like 7 tests

LOL, why bother benchmarking a card that old?
Anyway, also check out Aquamark. Very impressive looking, gives separate cpu and graphics ratings, and has an online area where you can automatically compare with other people who have similar setups, to see if you're getting the performance you should.