Furmark, Passmark?

[Mxster]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forums and this is my first post in Video cards. I had a question for the more seasoned players out there. Is there really a big difference between Furmark and Passmark? Furmark is freeware, but Passmark can sell for as much as $100 for the professional version.

The reason I am asking this question is because I bought a used 8400 GS off Craigslist. I was def a noob and not knowing a lot about graphics cards. This particular card was passive cooled (haven't had great experiences with 2 of these types so far). It worked fine for about an hour's use, then it would overheat and hard shutdown XP. I removed the heatsink and applied a fresh layer of thermal paste. This seemed to help, but now I'd like your advice on software to stress test graphics cards/video adapters.

Thanks.

 

[bigsnyder]

I personally am not a big fan of paying for benchmark software. I did pay $10 one time for 3DMark Vantage, but that is about it. I do know furmark is widely used so getting comparison data should not be difficult.

 

[Mxster]

I personally am not a big fan of paying for benchmark software. I did pay $10 one time for 3DMark Vantage, but that is about it. I do know furmark is widely used so getting comparison data should not be difficult.

Ok. That's cool. Thx.

 

[hyrule4927]

Unless I'm misunderstanding the question, Furmark is just a video card benchmark and stress test, while Passmark is a full system benchmark without much of a focus on gaming.

Also, I believe you can try out Passmark for free for a month. And if you want a more comprehensive gaming benchmark than Furmark or Passmark, all the renditions of 3D Mark have a free version.

 

[bigsnyder]

Also, I believe you can try out Passmark for free for a month. And if you want a more comprehensive gaming benchmark than Furmark or Passmark, all the renditions of 3D Mark have a free version.

True about 3DMark, but since futuremark crippled the free versions starting with Vantage, they are very limited with the variety of tests you can run.

 

[NTMBK]

Furmark is likely to melt your graphics card. http://www.geeks3d.com/20091209/geforce-gtx-275-vrm-damaged-by-furmark/

 

[Mxster]

Furmark is likely to melt your graphics card. http://www.geeks3d.com/20091209/geforce-gtx-275-vrm-damaged-by-furmark/

Oh crap! Thank you for thr warning, I didn't think about this possibility. Is Furmark one test for all GPUs? That would seem prettu stupid to test a high end card just like a low end one.

 

[hyrule4927]

I'd say Furmark is used as a stress test more than a benchmark. Kind of like Prime95 for GPU's, it's a good way to test if your cooling and overclock can cope with extreme (unrealistic, to be honest) loads. But, any such test is dangerous if your system can't handle it.