how did you measure the 1%?
I guess I should have just stated the overall hash rate increase,
350 -> 356
300 -> 304
obviously the increase is because the gpu no longer has to render the desktop
I did a measurement on the influence of the dummy plugs on hashrate. Result: No significant influence (-0.7% with plugs removed).
Measurement: 3 5850 cards. Two miners on each card summed up. Two measurements before removal of plugs, two measurements after. Phoenix with flag -a 128 for measurement averaging. Waiting time between measurements ~2 min.
I am quite reliefed that with this result I do not have to look for a way to make the cards work without dummy plugs on win xp.