How do You test if your overclocked CPU is stable?

[Nickel020]

What programs do you use to test if it's stable and how do you determine what speed you will run it at (i.e. run it at the highest speed it doesn't crash at or lower?)?
I just switched my Motherboard from an ECS K7S5A to a MSI K7N2-L and figured that I could overclock my XP 1800+ (Palomino) a bit before it gets time for a new CPU in a couple of months.
Thx for any advice!

 

[screw3d]

Do a search and read more of the forums.

You'll discover that most people uses Prime95, SETI@home, Folding@Home or SuperPI and let it run for some time (24 hrs mostly). Google to find links for these programs!

 

[skyking]

take a look at the faq at the top of the overclocking forum.

 

[Nickel020]

Thx!
I already looked at the FAQ and got Prime95 but I was also wondering how you actually do your testing. Do you just run Prime95 for 24 hours and if it hasn't crashed by then/before then it's stable? Should I look for anything else other than system hook-ups that indicate that I've overclocked to much, something like graphics glitches that start to appear when you clock you graphics card too high?

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: Nickel020
Thx!
I already looked at the FAQ and got Prime95 but I was also wondering how you actually do your testing. Do you just run Prime95 for 24 hours and if it hasn't crashed by then/before then it's stable? Should I look for anything else other than system hook-ups that indicate that I've overclocked to much, something like graphics glitches that start to appear when you clock you graphics card too high?

under options in prime95, you'll see an option called torture test

just run it for as long as you want... preferably 6+ hours...

 

[Jeff7181]

I've decided I don't like Prime 95. I ran it for 24 hours with no errors... and still got crashes in games. I'm not blaming that on Prime 95, I'm just saying, Prime 95 tests the CPU... when you fire up a beast of a video card along with it, more problems may surface... if you really want to stress test, loop a few benchmarking programs overnight... like say... PCMark2002 and 3DMark2001, and maybe even Prime 95 at the same time. That'll surely use every part of your computer... except your sound card... so maybe instead of 3DMark2001, loop a Quake 3 demo or somethin. I use EA games to stress test because I've found they're the least stable games I've ever played... so if an EA game runs fine, you're good to go.

 

[Shimmishim]

yeah prime isn't the best test but it'll help you determine if your o/c is unstable pretty fast..

prime will fail within the first couple of tests if the o/c is unstable... so it's good for that much at least

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Perhaps not always on C1 stepping P4's though. I think that's what it was anyway.

Btw, anyone ever use the burn in wizzard in sandra? I've used that a couple times but it drives me nuts. I set it up to loop through everything except floppy, cdrom, and lan but as soon as I fire it up it lags like there's no end. Hell, it takes me a minute just for the task manager to open just so I can kill it. Not sure if it does that for everyone or it's just me.... I've never encountered any instability... Go figure.

 

[human2k]

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