First time user of Prime95 for stress testing - questions

[lookin4dlz]

I've run this twice on my new system, once for an hour and once for 1.5 hours with no problems. Last night I was going to run it all night, but when I checked it this a.m. the computer had locked up. Re-booted the computer & tried again, and it locked again within minutes of starting Prime95. The next time I re-booted, I closed down Norton Anti-virus auto-protect. The only other program running is MBM. When I left for work, Prime95 had been running for 45 minutes.

Does NAV cause that much of stress on a computer? The first two times I ran Prime95, I was doing some other minor computer work (reading text files, opening Winzip files, etc.) with no problem.

Another question deals with the vcore when running Prime95. I noticed that MBM showed my vcore had decreased! What would be the cause of this? My power supply should be fine, it's an Antec 400w.

Thanks for any input

 

[fluxquantum]

can you tell us more about your system specs?

 

[SupermanCK]

1) Prime95 is a test for CPU...
2) NAV sucks...it does take up resources...but it won't have any effect on your testing...best to have it on just like your normal day operation.
3) Your system is unstable...might need to up vcore a bit...
4) Vcore decrease because while running prime95, CPU is running at 100% full power, it will draw most of the current to the CPU...therefore you will see a decrease in voltage running thru it.
5) You should be able to run prime95 while you are doing anything, surfing, gaming, mp3 playing..etc...
6) The length of running prime95 depends on your usage of your computer. Test time = Everyday usage time.

 

[lookin4dlz]

Thanks for the advice!

fluxquantum here's what I'm running:
ALBATRON PX845PEV PRO
512MB Corsair XMS2700 @ 2.5, 3, 3, 7 DDR400
P4 1.8a thermal pad only (yeah, yeah, I'll get the AS on later ) @ 150fsb
Radeon 7200 64MB, latest drivers
Creative Soundblaster 5.1, latest drivers
4 hard drives
DVD-ROM
Two CD-RW's
Generic PCI winmodem
External USB DSL modem


SupermanCK here are my specs under Prime95.
vcore 1.66-1.68, was about 1.71 on a 1.775 bios setting w/o P95 - can only go up to 1.8 in bios which will be about 1.74 actual, temp 39C-41C, memory and AGP @ default voltages.

My previous two Prime95 torture tests were rather short, but no errors. I just did the short tests before I loaded any programs (MBM was installed for the first two tests since then I've installed Office XP, Kazaa 2.0, Diet Kazaa, Norton Utilities, Norton Antivirus, Zone Alarm Pro, DSL modem drivers and Sisoft Sandra). After installing all of this stuff & w/ NU running, the computer locked within minutes & without NU it was had done for 45 min. before I left this morning.

 

[THUGSROOK]

short test doesnt mean much~
1 hour is a good start~
5 hours is better~

you need to understand that prime95 WILL eventually crash your system ~ the point is how long you can run BEFORE it crashes

i dont concider my system 100% stable (usable) if it cant go 10 hours......

 

[lookin4dlz]

Thugs, didn't know P95 will always crash your system! I'll post whether it's still running when I get home at about 5:30 Eastern.

 

[lookin4dlz]

Ok, it ran for 5 hours with one error. The highest temp reported during that time on sensor 1 was 49C (avg 41C) and on sensor 3 was 56C (avg 45C). So, apparently Norton Anti-virus in autoprotect mode did have an adverse affect. Would those temps be high enough to cause a P95 error or do I need to look at reducing my fsb by a notch or so? Thanks!

 

[MichaelD]

I run Prime95 Torture Test for a minimum of 12 hours, with no crashes, before I call an overclock stable. This is with NAV/MBM and my UPS shutdown software running in the background.

 

[lookin4dlz]

Hmmm, I'll run it at a lower fsb along with NAV to see what happens. Thanks.