Buying second hand system - what quick stability test would you run?

Soldato
Joined
9 Jul 2003
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9,595
Hey

I'm going to look at a second hand pc this weekend and was wondering if its worth running a quick stress test before handing over the cash.

Anything you'd recommend to run that won't take long, sort of a quick torture test.

I know for proper stability a much longer check needs to be done but I was thinking more to see if it overheats quickly and turns off.

Thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2013
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8,393
I'd probably take Asus RealBench on a USB drive and run the stress test for 10 minutes. If it survives that's a good sign that it's relatively stable, even if later you find you may need to increase Vcore a bit, or reduce multiplier.

I wouldn't want to put it through something like Prime, to have it crash and put me off what might be a decent purchase regardless. Any "real-world-stable" PC should arguably survive a few minutes of RealBench.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
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10,712
If the pc you're buying hasn't been tricked out then what are you testing? A parts list will tell you most of the story and then you want to check nothing is damaged.

CPU stress testing is mostly an overclock checker, not a diagnostic tool for every component.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
9 Jul 2003
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9,595
Thanks, sorry forgot to say its a laptop.

I've had laptops turn off or throttle themselves under normal use due to the cooling losing its effectiveness (dust I'd imagine) so just a quick way to rack the temp up.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Apr 2003
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13,513
If it's a laptop and it's being sold by the average user - the fans probably haven't seen the light of day or experienced any compressed air since it's very first boot - so it will probably be clogged with dust.

So you'll may freak out the temps with whatever stress test you run - and the problem could just be blocked vents/fans - as you've already suggested (easy fix). If you're buying it direct from the guy's house you'll have a better than average chance of having some recourse if it were to have problem within a few days of buying it - very dependent on the seller.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Feb 2017
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1,016
I use Prime95 to test system stability.

The laptop should be plugged in & will attempt to throttle down if it gets too hot - make sure the fans vents are not occluded.
 
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