I typically consider 6+ hours of 2 instances of Prime 95 and Folding @HOME all running at the same time. I have a P4C (right now at 275 FSB stress testing it would boot upto 296 but I am slowly working my way up) so I need the multiple instances to get 100% cpu utilization. Occasionally 2 instances of prime will dip to like 98%, so folding takes up the last 2.
What do you consider "stable" and what tests it?
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Couldn't have said it better. However, if it fails to run my games and other stuff I need, I resort to stress testing to see what the culprit is.
I agree with WA261 - if your computer can handle a few hours of a modern PC game running at optimum settings I would argue that this is a sufficient test. However, if you're an avid gamer and overclocker running tests like Prime95 may be worth trying.
Think about ambient temperature. I remember overclocking my Duron 800 @ 1Ghz a year or so ago one winter. It worked great and ran all the stability tests (including Prime 95) until the summer came - case temps went way up and I had to clock back to 933Mhz for better stability.
Think about ambient temperature. I remember overclocking my Duron 800 @ 1Ghz a year or so ago one winter. It worked great and ran all the stability tests (including Prime 95) until the summer came - case temps went way up and I had to clock back to 933Mhz for better stability.
I prefer the stress testing method. If you think you are stable, and then you are in an intense solo matchup trying to win a Warcraft III tourny, you will be pissed when suddenly your "I-thought-it-was-stable" system crashes and you get a loss.
I believe the best test is 3dmark 2001 looping. It is much more prone to crash when things aren't just quite right. Unlike Prime 95 or memtest which I have seen oc systems pass but fail when running a strenuous 3d app. I guess in all its to each his own I guess.
I agree with Jeff...I run prime95, SETI, and 3dmark 2001 over night and if it is still there when I wake up it is good enough for me...I have seen my system pass 24 hours of prime, and 6 hours of 3dmark independently but when paired up it fails after awhile...
24+ hours of prime95 3 hours of looped 3dmark, ripping cds to mp3,ripping mp3 to wav,moving large files (45gb and up) and various games.
i dont believe in that "if it runs my games fine" crap.......its either 110% stable or just half assed.......and i dont do things half ass.
i dont believe in that "if it runs my games fine" crap.......its either 110% stable or just half assed.......and i dont do things half ass.
- Aug 22, 2001
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Well said.
As to stress testing for stability my favorites are F@H Gromacs and video encoding. I have had systems pass P95TT with looping 3D and memtest blow up less than an hour into a Gromacs. Thugsrook and Duvie have both had the same experience with passing P95TT, Looping 3D and memtest and have the system crash right out using DIVX encoding. The more I read and experience, the more I become convinced that the hardware enthusiasts community has many "urban legends" Be it "CPU burn-in", P95TT and memtest as the ultimate stress test suite, 2-2-2-6 timings being worth sacrificing higher fsb speeds for, or ASIII being the best thermal compound, all these defacto standards are fine but they are overrated and over-promoted.
I ran Prime along with 3dmark2k1se for 24 hours... I set 3d to go for 50 loops and each loop is supposed to take 10 minutes so that should have took 9 hours max, but it ran for 24hours and 3dmark still wasn't done.... Does this mean I have a problem? I stopped 3dmark after 24 hours by pressing esc and stopped prime's stress test torture test and it said I had 0 errors.
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Originally posted by: bjc112
Originally posted by: Vegetto
if you have a p4 with Hyperthreading
Ooooooh, that explains it.
Put that to good use and crunch some numbers with SETI@Home for TeAm AnandTech.
Or put it to even better use and crunch for the Folding@home team.
if memory serves me right, for 3dmark2k1se, there's a checkbox for "looping" and when ticked, it loops infinitely. there's also a user-entered number of loops, but that controls how many times each test is played before going on to the next test.
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