Best utilities for stress testing in 2020

[Regeneration]

New threads related to unstable overclocks and defective hardware pop up on a regular occasion. It is often asked how to stress test some component. Below you'll find my top picks after weeks of testing - updated for 2020.

GPU
Unigine Heaven
FurMark / MSI Kombuster
*GPUs tend to clock down due to power and thermal limits when running FurMark*
*Lower resolutions put more stress on the VRMs*

Video RAM
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark
*Set to maximum quality and run in a loop*

Memory modules (configuration, timings and overclock)
MemTest64
HCI MemTest (one instance per thread)
*Best run from safe mode without a pagefile*
Linpack Xtreme

Memory modules (physical integrity)
MemTest86

Processor
Linpack Xtreme
Prime95 small FFTs

Integrated Memory Controller
Prime95 custom run of FFTs from 512K to 1024K with 90% of RAM
Linpack Xtreme

Northbridge, bus and PSU
Prime95 custom run of FFTs from 512K to 1024K with 80% of RAM + LuxMark or FurMark running in the background at 720p.

 

[Regeneration]

After 25yrs of overclocking, I say play games and forget the prime95 why even bother installing anything but games? a smoother system anyways and thats the best stress test.

If i pass 8hrs prime and crash within 5mins of Overwatch? or i hit 90c in prime but 79c in Overwatch it means the games for me work better. I lost count where i ran prime etc said i was 8hr stable and games reboot my system in under an hour.

When it comes to tools and monitoring, Typically i do it once on a new build to find the optimals, Then i format without any tools at all. This keeps the system slimline and gaming optimal.

Some games are more demanding than others. It's better to spend a day or two to be done with it rather than having a BSOD suprise in the future.

If you pass 8 hours of Prime95 and crash within 5 minutes of Overwatch [due to unstable core] its probably AVX offset, LLC or C-states.