Prime 95 question

[Impaler]

Im just wondering if anyone can tell me if it is necessary to run prime for 24 hours consecutively. I want to know if it is possible to run for 24 hours total. Particularly for 12 hours twice.

I just wondered if there would be any difference as sometimes I want to check the stability but 24 hours of having the machine bogged down is a pain. On the other hand running it overnight for 2 days I wouldnt notice.

So will it make any difference?

 

[imported_RobJ]

Running it 12 hours twice will not give you any information about the stability of your machine over a 24 hour period. It will only give you information about the reproducability of your stability results from a 12 hour test. A 24 hour test will be a better indicator of long-term stability, since it is a more strenuous test.

 

[Impaler]

OK thanks, it was wishful thinking then.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Impaler
Im just wondering if anyone can tell me if it is necessary to run prime for 24 hours consecutively.

It is only up to you how much stability margin you want to have.
In fact, even if you can run prim95 for 24 hours consecutively, does not guarantee that you could run memtest overnight. If you cannot run memtest overnight, you still have an unstable system.

I want to know if it is possible to run for 24 hours total. Particularly for 12 hours twice.

It is not the same. If it was the same, why not go further and run it for only one hour but 24 times?
As prime95 runs longer, it changes the tests that it runs.

However, running it for 12 hours consecutively should be enough for a computer for normal use.

I don't overclock at all when I flash the bios. That is when I want absolute stability. Other than that, I consider memtest overnight and prime95 overnight to be sufficient.

 

[BW86]

i do the same as navid i jsut run memtest86 overnight than prime95 overnight

 

[Impaler]

I wasnt familiar with how prime works enough to say if time was the only variable or if 24 hours allows a good spread of all the tests. I guess its the latter.

I run memtest as well but not for as long. 24 hours is the maximum recommended time by prime so I was keen to use that. I think Ill just run it overnight once a month as a test. I know my system is stable I have let it go for 24 hours before. I just like to run it once every now and then to check for changes in temps (summer winter etc) and I think its a good way of judging if a component may be near to failing.

So I think Ill just go with overnight once Ive been through 24 hours once. Thanks guys.

 

[oldman420]

It depends on how stable you want your machine to be.
A machine that throws errors after 1 min is likely not good for much.
A machine that will do it for even 8 hours without error is most likely to be stable enough for mild gaming.
A machine that goes for 12 hours is stable enough to the point where i would consider it reliable.
If I were running a web server, or a machine that is critical i would say 24 hours is recommended.

Personaly test for stability by running 3dmark, hotcpu tester and p95 for 8 hours simultaneously

 

[cirthix]

overnight shoudl do, imho, you dont need 24hrs, more like 12 or so

 

[Concillian]

I always run Prime95 in the DAYTIME with a closed case and slightly less airflow than usual.

I want my computer stable in a worst case scenario, and overnight (when it's cool) is not a worst case scenario. Some people want to run on the bleeding edge of what they can,a and these people run Prime95 overnight and call it good. Personally, I want total stability, so I create a worse scenario than I'm likely to see on a regular basis and do my testing under those conditions.

 

[rogue1979]

I usually run Prime95 as long as the longest period I will push my computer. 4 or 5 hours is plenty. I have never had a machine fail Prime95 in a 24 hour period if it passed the four or five hour mark.

Prime95 is not the god-all of stress tests for stability.

I can pass Prime95 for 24 hours and then surf online, play MP3's, download and run the screen saver at the same time and get a 24 hour Prime95 machine to screw up. Same goes for a hot and heavy 3 or 4 hour gaming session.

If it passes Prime95 as long as you need to use it, and passes everything else OK, then you are stable.

Same with MemTest86. I have had it pass many cycles and still managed to produce instability in other areas and had to lower the fsb speed or slow memory timings down when I know the chipset is stable, the memory is not.

They are still good tools and I use them.