How do I "stress test" a computer ?

[99Androidguy777]

How do I "stress test" a computer ?
I will be building a rig in the coming months, I really would like to know how to do this.
I often see "stress tested for 8 hours" in product ads for over clockers.
any help appreciated.

 

[Alex74]

Furmark/prime95 for testing stability+cooling. Prime95 is usually one you'll see for 'stress tests' on a CPU that's been overclocked.

3DMark/PCMark for general benches

 

[Deception]

Also Lynx or Intel Burn Test for CPU stressing (Max Memory setting and 10-20 loops), as it sometimes picks up on faults that Prime95 doesn't.

 

[olivier renault]

I run ATTO for SSD / HD, BootRacer for SSD boots, Unigine for GPU stress (using MSI AfterBurner for monitoring GPU load, temps, and fans, as well as FPS), Prime95 for CPU overclocking, and CineBench, CPU-Z, GPU-Z, RealTemp / HW Monitor.

Most are for sanity checks, making sure it performs as it should. I really don't like running Furmark, and prefer Unigine as it does load the GPUs 100% anyway without messing about with the power distribution. But apart from that Prime95 for overclocking stability, haven't tried Linx, Intel BurnTest, or OCCT, more tools that could be useful. In any case, Prime95 and Unigine are the two staples and give me good stability, although I am not pushing my components very hard (4.5GHz, and running GPUs stock ATM).

EDIT : A link to my current build, with benches and tests.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18335382