SOLVED: Where to Download Clean Prime 95 / Best CPU Monitor program

[Herkulese]

My new system is now complete, and I am ready to test it out.

System Specs:
Mobo: Gigabyte 970A-UD3
CPU: Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 CPU Heat Sink With Dual 92mm Noctua Fans
PSU: SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W
Ram: G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
System Hard Drive: Crucial M500 240gb SSD
Graphics Card: MSI ATI Radeon HD6450 1 GB DDR3 PCI Express
Case: DiabloTek Tital
Case Cooling:
- 1ea Noctua 120mm low front intake
- 1ea Noctua 120mm side intake
- 1ea Stock 120mm high rear exhaust
- 1 ea PSU exhaust
NOTE: All major openings have been covered to insure proper air flow through the box.

RESULTS: I am not sure that I am running Prime 95 properly or not, but here are the numbers so far.

All stock settings and with Safe Default BIOS settings, CPUID shows the 4 cores running at:

Idle: 28c to 30c.
Web Surfing, Downloading, Video Streaming: 35c to 38c
Running Prime 95: 38c to 42c

I down loaded CPU ID, and Prime 95, and when I installed them I ended up with a whole raft of other software that I do not want. It is pervasive, and a real PITA. I will reinstall windows when my second hard drive comes it, so that I can image the installation and save it for future use, so it will all get cleaned up then.

QUESTIONS: I would really like to know a couple of things:

I do plan to experiment with some OC'ing.

1) Where is the best place to download a clean version of Prime 95?
2) What is the best CPU monitor program, and the best place to get it from?
3) Are there other utilities that would be good to have?

 

[AntonioHG]

Not sure if serious, but:

1 http://www.mersenne.org/download/index.php
2 http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
3 Not really

 

[Herkulese]

Not sure if serious, but:

Not sure I understand this statement, but thanks a lot for the links.

BTW, what are the best settings tu use when running Prime 95?

 

[sm625]

Not sure I understand this statement, but thanks a lot for the links.

lol I'm sure I'm not the only one that got a laugh from it. But dont worry, if you dont get it then it just means you're not a geek.

BTW, what are the best settings tu use when running Prime 95?

Do large FFT for your main stress test run. Do small FFT also, for like an hour at the end. Set the prime95 torture test thread count to however many threads your cpu can handle at once. For a Phenom II X4 965, that would be four.

 

[Herkulese]

Do large FFT for your main stress test run. Do small FFT also, for like an hour at the end. Set the prime95 torture test thread count to however many threads your cpu can handle at once. For a Phenom II X4 965, that would be four.

Understood, so one thread per core then.
Thanks for the info.

How long to run the large FFT test?
I have seen 15 minutes talke about a lot.

 

[sm625]

All night long

 

[Yuriman]

I've had Prime throw errors at the 2-3 day mark. I've also had Prime95 run for a week, only to get a BSOD 10 minutes into a game (or emulator). It's good for getting "close" but not the final word in stability.

I prefer the .zip package of Prime over the installer. Small-FFT gives maximum CPU temperatures on my chip, but I've read that Large gives maximum overall system power consumption.

I use Core Temp and CPU-Z for monitoring.

 

[Herkulese]

I've had Prime throw errors at the 2-3 day mark. I've also had Prime95 run for a week, only to get a BSOD 10 minutes into a game (or emulator). It's good for getting "close" but not the final word in stability.

I prefer the .zip package of Prime over the installer. Small-FFT gives maximum CPU temperatures on my chip, but I've read that Large gives maximum overall system power consumption.

I use Core Temp and CPU-Z for monitoring.

Thanks, that is really helpfull, and I will check out these monitors.
When I clicked on the CPU-Z link it took me to the HWMonitor site. Are they one and the same?

Two More Prime 95 Question:
1) How long does Prime 95 need to run to see how hot the CPU is going to get?
2) Is temperature the mane culprit in CPU instability? In other words, if the temps are well with in legal limits, well the CPU be stable?

 

[Yuriman]

Ah, I posted the wrong link. This is the one you want: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

1) Depends on your cooling, but I'd bet no longer than 15 minutes. Just watch your temperatures and see where they level out.

2) Temperature is part of the equation, but within a reasonable temperature range, there will be a minimum voltage needed for stability at a given clock. Some clocks will not be stable regardless of the voltage you throw at it.

Example, I need 1.3v for 4.6GHz, ~1.35v for 4.7, ~1.4v for 4.8 (and I still have maybe 20c of temperature headroom at these clocks), but no amount of voltage will make my chip even post at 4.9GHz, above and beyond 1.6v.

 

[Herkulese]

Ah, I posted the wrong link. This is the one you want: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

1) Depends on your cooling, but I'd bet no longer than 15 minutes. Just watch your temperatures and see where they level out.

2) Temperature is part of the equation, but within a reasonable temperature range, there will be a minimum voltage needed for stability at a given clock. Some clocks will not be stable regardless of the voltage you throw at it.

Example, I need 1.3v for 4.6GHz, ~1.35v for 4.7, ~1.4v for 4.8 (and I still have maybe 20c of temperature headroom at these clocks), but no amount of voltage will make my chip even post at 4.9GHz, above and beyond 1.6v.

Thnks again,
BTW, which processor are you using to get to 4.8GHz?
Is that 20c headroom loaded in Prime 95?

 

[Yuriman]

The one in my signature, and yes, Prime95. Max temp for Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs is 105c.

 

[Herkulese]

The one in my signature, and yes, Prime95. Max temp for Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs is 105c.

I can't believe I missed that in your sig.
Sorry.....

So, is it a 3.4ghz or is it a 3.8GHz chip?
It is listed at Newegg as 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)

Even at 3.8, that is quite an overclock up tyo 4.8, and with thermal headroom.

Also with the Phenom II I have read that the core voltage should never go over 1.5, and should stay just under. So, I guess that would be the other limit for me, other than temp.

 

[Yuriman]

I can't believe I missed that in your sig.
Sorry.....

So, is it a 3.4ghz or is it a 3.8GHz chip?
It is listed at Newegg as 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)

Even at 3.8, that is quite an overclock up tyo 4.8, and with thermal headroom.

Also with the Phenom II I have read that the core voltage should never go over 1.5, and should stay just under. So, I guess that would be the other limit for me, other than temp.

3.4 is the base clock, but it will turbo to 3.8 on two cores, 3.7 on 3 cores, and 3.6 on 4 cores, stock. Turbo vs TDP is more relevant in mobile chips, where TDP will often decide how high it will clock - e.g. when the integrated GPU isn't drawing any power, a 2.2GHz / 2.8 turbo chip will spend most of its time at 2.8, but when the GPU begins to draw power, it'll scale the CPU back (to a minimum of 2.2?) to keep within its power budget. You can, of course, raise the power draw limits in bios (on desktop chips anyway).

Haswell, the successor to Ivy Bridge, is a little faster per clock but doesn't overclock as high on average.

Maximum voltage as I understand it generally follows lithography, with 22nm Intel chips having a max safe voltage of around ~1.3v, 32nm being ~1.4v, and 45nm being around ~1.5v. Nobody is publishing safe voltage limits anymore though, so these are really best guesses. Added voltage increases temperature rapidly, and temperature is what does the most damage to CPUs, so a higher voltage might be safer if you have better cooling. Nearly all chips will long outlive their usefulness if you stay under those values with conventional cooling.