Yesterday I read this article on 3DMark03 over at [H]ard|OCP and today they have posted somewhat of a follow-up "Benchmarking Right". I have to say I agree with everything they have to say in there. Now, when I visited their site again later I found this:
NVIDIA has released the latest drivers, version 42.68 for all 3DMark03 testing and benchmarking. This driver will greatly improve your benchmark performance when running the 3DMark03. You can download the driver from this link. (File Size : 8.44MB) We received these drivers directly from NVIDIA, and it's available at their Press FTP.
I mean, is there anything more pointless to optimize your code for, hours of coding that could instead have been used to fix bugs and optimize the code for real games?!
Be sure to read the above articles and also Nvidias own words on how they feel about 3DMark (scroll down half a page) then post your comments right below.
UPDATE: I've read Nvidia's own lab report myself now and can thus confirm that the information posted at Hardware Extreme (linked above) is authentic. This information is however confidential so I can not give you the file, so don't even bother asking for it.