There's memtest86 for testing RAM, why not a boot disc to test CPU?

[Zap]

One of the more popular tests for testing RAM stability is memtest86, which boots from floppy/CD directly into the test.

One of the more popular tests for testing CPU stability is Prime95, which requires a Windows install and runs from Windows.

Wouldn't it be convenient to have a disc like memtest86 which tests the CPU like Prime95? Perhaps a single boot CD with both tests - the disc can boot to a menu saying "press 1 for RAM, press 2 for CPU."

 

[Thor86]

FYI, memtest stability doesn't mean it is Windows stable.

 

[Zap]

... right! But what about memtest and prime stability? Problem is that if you're just bench testing wouldn't it be easier to just boot off a test CD rather than do a Windows install?

Hmmm, just thought of something... perhaps Prime95 can be added to one of those Windows Preinstallation Environment "live" boot CDs, such as BartPE. Not as quick in booting as the memtest CD, but a lot faster than installing Windows just for testing stability (plus having to reinstall if you overclock too much and trash Windows).

If nobody's done that before, perhaps I'll try it.

Wouldn't it be great to have a PE boot disk with drivers and all the benchmark/test programs?

 

[srygonic]

Originally posted by: Thor86
FYI, memtest stability doesn't mean it is Windows stable.

So how do you actually test if your RAM is stable? This is like the only program I've heard of for testing RAM..

 

[Zap]

There are two versions of memtest86 with some differences that I'm not sure... Just Google for memtest and you should find it. IIRC both are available as either FDD or CD images. I always get the CD image. You burn it as an image (not just putting the file on the CD) and you end up with a bootable CD for testing memory. It boots into a mini Linux core with an algorithm that reads and writes to all your RAM addresses in a number of different ways. These are free downloads.

 

[MDE]

Google Ultimate Boot CD. It has Memtest and a bunch of other stuff on it.

 

[Zap]

OMG, UBCD has memtest and prime!!! What ya know, learn something new every day. Thanks MDE. I was thinking of doing something similar with PEBuilder, but this does the same thing and I don't have to do the work.

 

[srygonic]

Nice link MDE. Looks damn cool..

 

[Zap]

My first successful use of UBCD!!! I was messing around with my mobile P4 1.6GHz and had it overclocked to 1920MHz and undervolted to 1.15v setting (monitoring said it was running around 1.10-1.11v, default is 1.3v) and when I tried running the CPU Burn In on UBCD, system rebooted. Bumped voltage up .05v and it was stable for the time I let it run. Excellent!

 

[coomar]

thanks mde for the link