Stress Testing from Linux Command Line

[bobross419]

I'm new to Linux and learning a lot setting up my home server; however, I would like to undervolt/underclock my CPU a bit. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment and the only good place for the server is in my bedroom. I currently have a P4 630 @ 3.0 Ghz that I think could run a little cooler.

The problem that I am having is how to properly run stress tests from the command line. I downloaded and installed stress and I have run a few instances of it, but it doesn't really seem to do much.

O/S: CentOS 5.5
Command - stress --cpu ## --timeout 10s

I keep bumping up the number of worker threads on the CPU and keep getting the same message:

"successful run completed in 10s"

I've also changed the timeout and receive the same message, except the 10s is replaced by the timeout time that I have set.

I've looked at Prime, but I didn't see any sort of Linux command line utility.

What are my options for stress testing modifications to clock and vcore for 24/7 stability?

In the GUI world, I would just run Prime95 and let it run overnight, but with the Linux command line I have no idea.

I did try using the resources listed at http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486495 , but I was unsure of some of them and whether or not they would even work on my computer.

If this would be better in the CPU and Overclocking please move it for me, I put it here because it is specific to Linux.

 

[bobross419]

Well, I think I may have figured out a solution to my problem. I was able to get Prime95 running from the command line:

$ mkdir mprime2511
$ cd mprime2511
$ wget http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/mprime2511.tar.gz
$ rpm -ivh mprime2511.tar.gz
$ ./mprime

It then asks a few questions about joining GIMPs or just stress testing, how many worker threads, and the test type.

It looks like it is up and running for me now. I guess this can stay around for future searches

 

[Toadster]

are there command line settings for prime95 in linux to maximize memory usage? we're trying to max out some systems without loading a GUI if possible...

 

[bobross419]

are there command line settings for prime95 in linux to maximize memory usage? we're trying to max out some systems without loading a GUI if possible...

Second option when running ./mprime as above:

Choose a type of torture test to run.
1 = Small FFTs (maximum FPU stress, data fits in L2 cache, RAM not tested 
much).
2 = In-place large FFTs (maximum heat and power consumption, some RAM 
tested).
3 = Blend (tests some of everything, lots of RAM tested).
11,12,13 = Allows you to fine tune the above three selections.
Blend is the default.  NOTE: if you fail the blend test, but can pass the 
small FFT test then your problem is likely bad memory or a bad memory 
controller.
Type of torture test to run (3):

If you use the 11,12,13 options it asks how much memory to use.

Also, not really sure if MemTest can be used to stress test a system's memory or not.

 

[bobross419]

Ya, select option 13 for the Type of Torture test then crank up the Memory. I set mine to 8000MB (8GB system) and damn near locked everything up to the point where I almost couldn't kill the workers.