Stability Test

[nlel1975]

I need a really good and thorough graphics stability test what do you recommend?

 

[nlel1975]

I need some advice guys, I ran 3D Mark 11 Advanced edition in a loop test last night and it run OK for about 15 hours then crashed to an orange screen with lines running down it.

The PC was unresponsive so I had to hold the power button for 4 seconds in order to reboot it. This was at 1150/1600 its good in some way that 3D Mark 11 found this instability but I would like to know what I should do now.

Was thinking of knocking 100mhz off both core and memory clocks then trying again ie 1050/1500.

What do you advise.

 

[nlel1975]

15 hours of 3DMark11...You have issues

The most I have gamed at would be 10 hours straight (sad I know) and there would have been plenty of time for the GPU's to cool off in that (loading times). I wouldn't worry about a crash after 15 hours to be honest. If you are though, do what Matthew said and knock 25Mhz off the memory. I would also do the core if I was worried.

Actually is was more like 12 hours... I have backed right down to 1100/1500 and will see if it goes for longer this time.

 

[nlel1975]

Crashing after 15 hours in 3DM11 I would class as rock solid stable!

I am a bit OCD about such things, I want it to run until I instruct it to stop not crash out after 12-15 hours leaving the PC unresponsive.

To me this is a sign of unstability and I am glad 3D Mark 11 found it in some ways.

 

[nlel1975]

You realise this is a far harder test for a PC than running Prime95

When I am benching I think its a major achievement to get the physics or combined tests to run for 12-15 seconds without BSODing let alone 12-15 hours.

Often if 3dmark11 freezes it has more to do with heat build up which after 12-15 hours is hardly a surprise.

I think your system is very stable and would say you should leave it as is.

I have been running it in a loop @ 1100/1500 since 11:30am this morning going to leave it running overnight should it continue to run between now and then and if it makes it until tomorrow morning then will consider it stable @ these settings.

 

[nlel1975]

I have been running it @ 1100/1500 since 11:30am this morning going to leave it running overnight should it continue to run between now and then and if it makes it until tomorrow morning then will consider it stable @ these settings.

I have been running 3D Mark 11 @ 1100/1500 in a loop since 11:30am yesterday morning so about 23 hours and its rock solid stable ie still running.

 

[nlel1975]

Heaven 3.0 on very high settings for 10+ loops followed by playing an intensive game for a couple of hours usually does it for me.

How do you loop Heaven as I don't have the Pro version and I doubt you paid $495 for it.

Would love to loop Heaven but can't

 

[nlel1975]

Just load it up and leave it

Ok I see you just load it up and let it run, and that puts enough strain on the GPU

 

[nlel1975]

Agree on Rossi's thinking.

I have found I can get heaven stability quite quickly (Max all the settings) but usually need a couple of nudges on voltage to maintain it in games. The Sleeping Dogs benchmark (everything maxed out, hi-res pack) has become another test I do after heaven stability has been gained as I have failed this before when heaven has been stable. Run the benchmark a few times, do a 3d mark vantage and 11 and then game on.

Now running Heaven with settings as advised for an hour so far. Going to leave it for a few hours but I have to say I was quite impressed with 3D Mark 11 which found an instability with my 1150/1600 clocks after looping fine for 13-14 hours then crashing out to an orange screen with lines down it and a totally unresponsive PC.

So I recommend 3D Mark 11 in a loop for a lengthy but thorough stability test.

 

[nlel1975]

Last night ran Heaven for 17+ hours until I quit and ran 3D Mark 11 for 23+ hours until I quit the night before. My 7950 is stable at 1100/1500 and I only lost about 300 3D Marks and a few FPS in Heaven from the previous unstable 1150/1600

 

[nlel1975]

I run a few loops of heaven, then proceed straight to games. Bf3 or bfbc2 maxed out, the latter will soon expose any instabilities be they gpu or cpu.

I prefer to leave the benchmarks expose any instabilities which they will inevitably do if left for long enough.

Cannot be bothered starting up a session of BF3 with the possibility of it crashing out on me at some point.

That would just pee me off.

 

[nlel1975]

Believe me, the quickest crashes youll get on bf3 will be down to ea or server disconnects.

But i understand your use of extended testing. I can remember playing bfbc2, the only game ive played in recent years that would expose problems with 12 hour stable p95 small fft and blend tests, or 50 runs of IBT/LinX on an oc'd cpu.

I use Prime95 to test my CPU overclocks but wouldn't use for a GPU overclock as I find Heaven and 3D Mark 11 more to the point.

I tested this PC as Prime95 stable when I first built it after running an extended Prime95 run and now its passed extended runs in both Heaven and 3D Mark 11 which proves the GPU is OK.

I can understand why people don't like doing extended runs as its much more fun gaming and could take ages to find the optimal overclock.

I am not going to push mine any further as I have reached a happy medium and besides the difference between what is now my stable overclock and what was unstable is not very much at all.

 

[nlel1975]

I use p95 on cpu, but not IBT/LinX anymore, ivy bridge cpu's generate massive amounts of heat with theese. For gpu, heaven and 3dm followed by games. My 670 is stable in both at 1320/7586. But for games ive knocked them back a few mhz. Thankfully havent had any issues. Just a shame that the nv 670's are voltage locked, as i reckon this card could do a bit more with a volt increase.

Not even going to attempt increasing the voltage on my card and I don't know if its even possible.

I am getting a considerable increase in performance from default 950/1250 to 1100/1500 without increasing any voltage and am satisfied with that.

I have set Board Power (Power control settings) to 20 so I don't know if that increases voltage at all or in fact what that means.