Stability test utility for overclocked cpu

P4man

Senior member
Aug 27, 2010
254
0
0
Hi,

short version:
Im looking for an alternative to prime and everest to test the stability of my overclocked system, since strangely, those apps are stable while some games are no longer when overclocked.

Full story:
I have an old 65nm C2D E6400 that I decided to try and overclock and it does admirably, from 2.13 GHz to 3.3+ prime and everest stable at pretty much stock voltage.

Some games however, do crash at these speeds (seems stable up to ~3.2) and Im at a loss why.. well, aside from the obvious.

The obvious cause is the CPU, but like I said, I can run prime (64bit, 2 threads, maximum heat) for several hours, no problems. Same with Everest.

- I doubt its the RAM as memtest86 passes with no issues (despite having a couple of DDR-667 Dimms in the mix, running @410+ MHz).
- I doubt its the my videocard, since its not overclocked, its cool as a 4870 can be and its stable in furmark.
- I doubt its PSU, as I can run prime and furmark concurrently without issues. Antec 550W also should be enough for this setup.
- Since I can run prime and furmark as long as I want, I think I can exclude 'case' heat as problem as well; I would anyway, since everything is as cool as you can hope for given the specs and overclock; cpu sensor doesnt break 50C package / 65C in core running prime, videocard doesnt break 60C GPU in furmark, although VRMs get hotter than Id like, but no different than at stock cpu speed, and still quite a bit hotter in furmark where its stable as in the games where it crashes.
- I doubt its a PCI bus problem, as I have it locked at 100 Mhz

Dont know what that leaves, other than it being the obvious, ie, the cpu or FSB, perhaps chipset, and apparently something in games is taxing my cpu in a way that prime doesnt, so Im looking for an alternative before start increasing voltages.

In short, I want an app to reliably crash my machine :)

In case it matters, motherboard is a gigabyte GA-965P-DS4
 
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P4man

Senior member
Aug 27, 2010
254
0
0
Ah, I actually had that installed already for my videocard, just never realized it was a cpu stress test as well :). Ill give that a shot, thanks.
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,250
136
You could also try Intel Burn Test. I always use this one first as it'll error out very quickly if cpu is unstable. Just try it at default settings....Then up the runs, change memory settings etc.
 

john3850

Golden Member
Oct 19, 2002
1,436
21
81
I switched from furmark to Cinebench R11.5
Cinebench test only takes 40 seconds
Furmark was great for sli or cf
I ran few and got a score of 7.5
Crashed pc 20x willing trying for 7.9

2hrs of prime95 is nothing. try 24hrs and then crash in first game you play
Try a few hours of prime then 3d testing OCCT if your cooling good.
I like Cinebench because its fast.
 
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Elixer

Lifer
May 7, 2002
10,371
762
126
I find that you pretty much always run memtest overnight with oc'ed CPUs.
Once that reports no errors, then move on to OCCT and all the other ones.
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
OCCT is by far my favorite stress test.

It finds things within 1 hour that Prime95 takes 16 hours for.

I've never had a "unstable" PC if It passes 4 hrs of OCCT
 
Nov 26, 2005
15,194
403
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OCCT is the worst; even Anand, in an article, says it creates havock on your system. I noticed this even before he ever mentioned it.

LinX > Prime95 > OCCT
Memtest HCI > Memtest86

EDIT: " At an end-user level FurMark and OCCT really can be dangerous – even if they can’t break the card any longer, they can still cause other side-effects by drawing too much power from the PSU"

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4008/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580/3
 
Last edited:
Nov 26, 2005
15,194
403
126
O btw, if you are testing using LinX, be sure to right click the icon and select:"Run as Administrator" otherwise it won't work. To be sure, open up your task manger and see if your cores are operating at 100%