GPU stress test in Win7 64bit - is OCCT still the way to go?

[Idontcare]

Googled around a bit, searched the forums a bit, and OCCT seems recommended enough but the last update was nearly a year ago...for Win7 64bit is OCCT still "the" program to use for stress testing GPU's?

I have an admittedly aging 8600GT...and recently made the jump from XP to windows 7 (clean install)...and am now experiencing shutdown lag (takes up to 10minutes sometimes) as well as the dreaded but never solved (from what I can gather) "my computer comes out of sleep/idle/LCD wakeup and subsequently locks-up for 3-5 minutes" and I want to verify this GPU is OK.

Related note - 8600 GT w/256MB GDDR3...is this enough for desktop work pushing 2x24" screens (1920x1200) in Win7 with aero plus all the usual windows eye-candy? I only ask because event viewer every now and then logs a "windows desktop manager - video memory responsiveness" event in the performance log.

Pretty much nothing about Win7 so far has me excited about upgrading from XP, but I'm sure it'll grow on me.

Thanks in advance for your help fellow AT'ers. Seems odd that we don't have a sticky in our video forum along the lines of "for you newbs, read this first to confirm your GPU doesn't suck".

 

[thilanliyan]

Nice to see you again IDC.

OCCT will put a huge load on the GPU so it probably is a good test. I also test with 3DMark Vantage though as sometimes my GPU will do fine in Furmark for example but fail in 3DMark. Those programs test 3D performance though...does it test 2D desktop stability? I have no idea.

 

[konakona]

some of us use furmark for thermal stability when overclocking, but there have been some reports of people killing their cards even with (allegedly) adequate cooling. Run it at your own risk, though most people are fine with it to my knowledge.

 

[ViRGE]

These days I'd go with FurMark over OCCT. The results are comparable, and it doesn't have that silly 1 minute timer.

 

[Sylvanas]

New drivers are usually the first port of call, give them a try (197.75 is the latest I think). There appears to be an issue with Nvidia (and some AMD cards) that when a 2nd monitor is connected the GPU has to run at full 3D clocks the entire time. Nvidia says it's a hardware limitation so there is every possibility your card may be running into instability being forced to run a 3D clocks all day (check this in GPU-Z).

Yes, Furmark is the absolute king of GPU stressing so you can try that (at your own risk it heats the cards up in some cases 10c more than is ever possible in games).

 

[MagickMan]

lately I've been using MSI Kombustor (MSI Furmark) and looping Heaven 2.0 for a few hours.

 

[Idontcare]

With Furmark is the program actively checking to see if computations are compromised (like Prime95 does for cpu) or is it one of those "run it till she crashes the rig" type programs?

 

[Sylvanas]

It tests for artifacts whilst running like most other applications. Although there's nothing saying you NEED to use Furmark (like Linpack) OCCT GPU test and MSI afterburner + Kombustor will work just as well. (The MSI programs or EVGA Afterburner are my preference, all I need in one application).

 

[spinejam]

Heaven 2.0 or Furmark / Kombustor. (both programs load my cards to 99%)



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[Idontcare]

Do the stress testers like MSI Kombustor and EVGA Afterburner only work with GPU cards made by the respective manufacturer?

Can anyone use Kombustor on any Nvidia or any ATI graphics card or is it tied to a specific selection of MSI video cards?

 

[konakona]

Yes, these programs work on all cards capable of running them, regardless of the chip maker or card maker. I think the EVGA one is called "precision" and afterburner/kombustor are both MSI's.

 

[spinejam]

Do the stress testers like MSI Kombustor and EVGA Afterburner only work with GPU cards made by the respective manufacturer?

Can anyone use Kombustor on any Nvidia or any ATI graphics card or is it tied to a specific selection of MSI video cards?

So far, I've used them on:

Sapphire HD4870x2
Asus 5770
XFX 5770

w/o incident.

They will work on nvidia cards too!

 

[Idontcare]

Thanks guys, waiting to see if my rig comes out of its latest "freeze on wakeup" situation before I start in with the gpu testing. Hardware worked flawless stable in XP...not blaming MS or Win7, just frustrating when an "upgrade" begins to feel like you've taken 10 steps back in exchange for a couple hundred dollars for the privilege.

 

[evolucion8]

OCCT wouldn't load both GPU's, only one of them would run at 100%, the other one at 0%, Furmark was able to load both GPU's, will try with Kombustor to see.

 

[Idontcare]

Kombustor worked great, temps went up to 94C but after 30minutes everything was still stable. So GPU is not the source of my issues.

My problem definitely appears to be Microsoft induced...the debug continutes.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out here.

Still seems odd there are no stickies relating to GPU stability/overclocking/etc at the top of the video forum.