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Stability tests?
- Thread starter SkeeterUK
- Start date
ATI cards: run Furmark for at least an hour, then run Unigine Heaven loop (or folding@home gpu client) for at least one night when you sleep.
NV cards: use 266 drivers or earlier to run Furmark for at least an hour, then use latest driver to run Unigine Heaven loop (or folding@home gpu client) for at least one night when you sleep.
You might also want to try games like BFBC2 which are sensitive to artifacts. Also, identify the maximum OC - if the OC potential is still good, then it's a good sign to indicate less chance of artifacts.
NV cards: use 266 drivers or earlier to run Furmark for at least an hour, then use latest driver to run Unigine Heaven loop (or folding@home gpu client) for at least one night when you sleep.
You might also want to try games like BFBC2 which are sensitive to artifacts. Also, identify the maximum OC - if the OC potential is still good, then it's a good sign to indicate less chance of artifacts.
Running latest furmark at the mo, default stuff i just clicked burn in test soon as it loaded its 720p preset. 5 mins and its up to 71degrees at a fan speed of 60 which tbh i thought this cooler wouldnt go past 60degrees under load but i guess furmark pushes it further than other tests or gaming in general yeah?
How long do i let it run for and oh yeah using latest drivers 280.26.
Harmony, dont have bfbc2.
About furmark, its about 32fps is that good, cos some reason when watching the furmark donut it doesnt seem smooth like its struggling a tiny bit. Unless thats normal. Its like watching it at under 30fps but test says its erm 36 atm.
Test so far:
How long do i let it run for and oh yeah using latest drivers 280.26.
Harmony, dont have bfbc2.
About furmark, its about 32fps is that good, cos some reason when watching the furmark donut it doesnt seem smooth like its struggling a tiny bit. Unless thats normal. Its like watching it at under 30fps but test says its erm 36 atm.
Test so far:
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FYI, sine 270.xx drivers, it is no longer possible to disable power throttling in Furmark by GPU-Z on the GTX5xx series. I wouldn't trust any results on Furmark using any post 270.xx drivers on any nvidia cards. If with 266.xx drivers your GTX460 can still achieve the same stability in Furmark then I'd say it's safe to assume your results in Furmark with 280.xx drivers are valid.
You don't have to. I just mentioned a fact that nvidia has been cheating seriously in Furmark since the 270.xx drivers. Not sure if this affects the GTX460 or not.
Just loop test Unigine Heaven for a night if you are lazy.
No other test that i can do that doesnt take that long?
Cheating a burn in test, ok but i dont see how that makes nvidia looks better than ati, the benchmark i would understand as it is a score system but the burn in i dont think has a score system does it?
Thanks for the help so far.
Edit - 30 mins screenie of test. Just ended it as should be ok for stability for 30 mins i hope.
Cheating a burn in test, ok but i dont see how that makes nvidia looks better than ati, the benchmark i would understand as it is a score system but the burn in i dont think has a score system does it?
Thanks for the help so far.
Edit - 30 mins screenie of test. Just ended it as should be ok for stability for 30 mins i hope.
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No other test that i can do that doesnt take that long?
Cheating a burn in test, ok but i dont see how that makes nvidia looks better than ati, the benchmark i would understand as it is a score system but the burn in i dont think has a score system does it?
Thanks for the help so far.
Edit - 30 mins screenie of test. Just ended it as should be ok for stability for 30 mins i hope.
Because every pro/semi-pro review would test the power consumption and noise of a graphics card. In the old times Furmark was the nightmare for GTX480s. Also we had the GTX590s burnt in reviews. Then nvidia decided to cheat seriously in Furmark. Such move was very clever: the power consumption of the GTX500 series looked a lot better than that of the AMD counterparts in many reviews. GPU-Z used to be able to disable power throttling, however it no longer worked since 270.xx drivers. W1zzard said he's working on a new way to disable power throttling but I have no idea about the latest progress.
Now most reviews would use a set of games to measure the max power consumption instead of Furmark. According to my experience and my measures, Metro 2033 uses lots of power. The Witcher 2 is another candidate when I stress tested my GTX580s - even used more power than Metro 2033, and close to the pre-270.xx Furmark readings.
However the Unigine Heaven loop is still my favourite - it essentially takes no time - it only takes a whole night when I'm sleeping.
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If power throttling makes the stability test unreliable then k i mean i dont care really about the power it uses just as long as it doesnt artefact or crash the computer when im gaming.
Btw testing 675 to 800mhz overclock with furmark but if you say its not gona be stable after 30 mins by testing furmark then hmm guess i need to try Unigine but i doubt ill do a overnight thing.
Btw testing 675 to 800mhz overclock with furmark but if you say its not gona be stable after 30 mins by testing furmark then hmm guess i need to try Unigine but i doubt ill do a overnight thing.
When you need stability test, you do stress test. When you do stress test, you want to stress it to use as much power as possible.
Overnight thing is useful when purchasing graphics cards directly from OcUK - it's a higher level of stress than casual gaming, and has a better chance of detecting intermittent faults. DSR is the best way to avoid hassling with OcUK.
Overnight thing is useful when purchasing graphics cards directly from OcUK - it's a higher level of stress than casual gaming, and has a better chance of detecting intermittent faults. DSR is the best way to avoid hassling with OcUK.
Heres a 30 min of the 800mhz overclock.
Now testing same core but with mem from 900 to 1000mhz.
Then i will run some heaven testing for awhile.
Edit - Usually my case reports 30c, testing this with burn in and oc'd its reporting 44c lol. Hope im not going too far. Hope as well the temps go back to 30ish with normal use/gaming. As atm i duno how stressed the cpu is with furmark but coretemp is saying its in the mid 50s when usually its low 40s.
Edit - Seems ok for 30 mins.
Gona try some games and heaven benchmark thing now.
Now testing same core but with mem from 900 to 1000mhz.
Then i will run some heaven testing for awhile.
Edit - Usually my case reports 30c, testing this with burn in and oc'd its reporting 44c lol. Hope im not going too far. Hope as well the temps go back to 30ish with normal use/gaming. As atm i duno how stressed the cpu is with furmark but coretemp is saying its in the mid 50s when usually its low 40s.
Edit - Seems ok for 30 mins.
Gona try some games and heaven benchmark thing now.
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What settings are good for the heaven benchmark. I was getting about 20fps on most of heaven with 4x aa on and rest default i think. Sometimes i think it went to 30fps. Without vsync i didnt like the tearing. 
Also clouds to me looked weird in the corners of the screen kinda looked pixely shimmery, im guessing thats heaven tho not the gfx card.
Also clouds to me looked weird in the corners of the screen kinda looked pixely shimmery, im guessing thats heaven tho not the gfx card.On my GTX580s and HD6950s I've owned, in order to produce maximum power consumption in Unigine Heaven, I had to use:
API: DX11
Shaders: high
Tessellation: normal
Anisotropy: 16
Anti-aliasing: 4
Full screen: enabled
Vsync: disabled
It's very important to disable vsync if your card is capped at 60 fps (assuming your monitor is 60 Hz), otherwise it won't run at full load.
Everything maxed out in Unigine also does the stress, but it uses slightly less power and it's slightly easier to pass with oc. This is also true for the GTX580s, even given the fact that the tessellation in nvidia cards are supposed to be less bottlenecking.
API: DX11
Shaders: high
Tessellation: normal
Anisotropy: 16
Anti-aliasing: 4
Full screen: enabled
Vsync: disabled
It's very important to disable vsync if your card is capped at 60 fps (assuming your monitor is 60 Hz), otherwise it won't run at full load.
Everything maxed out in Unigine also does the stress, but it uses slightly less power and it's slightly easier to pass with oc. This is also true for the GTX580s, even given the fact that the tessellation in nvidia cards are supposed to be less bottlenecking.
Ta. I have sf4 tho didnt think he measured power consumption in the benchy it does. But ill give it a whirl sometime soon.
So far after hour and a half testing stock then oc one after the other on furmark it seemed ok, tested heaven a little bit (shadows look crap dont they then theres the tearing urgh) which looked fine apart from said issues got about 745 score using settings from the heaven benchmark thread 1680 res i think.
Testing world of tanks atm, not a huge gfx hore but testing it anyhow as i play mainly that these days. Doesnt go lower than 35 i think where as my 260 went to 25 sometimes i think. Tho hard to tell by playing the one map today on the 460.
One thing im wondering tho, was my 75 more or less temp in furmark respectable or was it too high? Fan did a nice job of keeping it 75 ish (went to 77max i think but fan kicks in to get it 75 in a short amount of time). Played wot and most it got was 66c i think for about 15 mins map round.
So far after hour and a half testing stock then oc one after the other on furmark it seemed ok, tested heaven a little bit (shadows look crap dont they then theres the tearing urgh) which looked fine apart from said issues got about 745 score using settings from the heaven benchmark thread 1680 res i think.
Testing world of tanks atm, not a huge gfx hore but testing it anyhow as i play mainly that these days. Doesnt go lower than 35 i think where as my 260 went to 25 sometimes i think. Tho hard to tell by playing the one map today on the 460.
One thing im wondering tho, was my 75 more or less temp in furmark respectable or was it too high? Fan did a nice job of keeping it 75 ish (went to 77max i think but fan kicks in to get it 75 in a short amount of time). Played wot and most it got was 66c i think for about 15 mins map round.
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