What's the best cpu stress test other than prime95?

Jay85 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:10

I've been using prime95 for yonks now but wanting to try something new. I'll be stressing a i5 3570K, don't know if that matters though or if certain tests suit certain cpu's better.

What recommendations would you give?

panyan · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:16

I use Intel Burn test on the extreme setting at max ram

wazza300 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:16

Intel burn test,max of 5 to 10 runs on maximum,keep an eye on temps though

pgi947 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:21

^As the two chaps above suggested, IBT, just don't do what some fools do and set it to do 50+ runs so they can say "look my OC is stable".

IBT will usually snuff out instabilities inside the first few runs, personally I do 5 at the most, but nothing will tell you if its truly stable until you start playing your usual games etc...and obviously keep an eye on temps at all times with IBT, it will churn more heat from your CPU then just about any game and even more then prime...

Jay85 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:21

I just did a test.. but my temps keep spiking upto 88c! and thats only on the high setting test with 4.6ghz overclock (I reset my overclock and set it all default, used turbo core and changed the multiplier on that instead and left everything else on auto).

Think i wanna stay away from IBT then lol

andy_mk3 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:25

IBT makes massive heat yes

Jay85 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:27

What about my heat question as above? Is it normal to have heat spikes like that while having everything on auto and only using the turbo core multiplier to overclock?

wazza300 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:28

Try and tighten/lower your CPU voltage/llc levels,that will lower heat,88c isn't too bad for ib but you could get it lower I'm sure

Jay85 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:32

I got it under 70c with manual voltage but was unable to get 4.7ghz stable for benchmarking however it was stable in prime95 :S

Jay85 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:42

4.7ghz run on standard... using turbo core multiplier only.

wazza300 · 7 Nov 2012 at 22:50

Can you lower voltages anymore? Amd is that a fixed voltage or with offset?

Jay85 · 8 Nov 2012 at 01:49

I did this using turbo core and everything else with auto.

My current overclock is 1.365V fixed using manual overvolting (no offset)
and a 75% LLC. Lowered my CPU PLL voltage too to 1.7v.

Kaapstad · 8 Nov 2012 at 02:56

Jay85 said:
I've been using prime95 for yonks now but wanting to try something new. I'll be stressing a i5 3570K, don't know if that matters though or if certain tests suit certain cpu's better.

What recommendations would you give?

Try 3dmark11 and 3dmark Vantage, they maybe gaming benchmarks but they are also very good at sniffing out unstable overclocks in a fraction of the time the normal stress programs often take.

Also if you are going to use your PC for gaming they are more relevant.

C64 · 8 Nov 2012 at 05:10

pgi947 said:
^As the two chaps above suggested, IBT, just don't do what some fools do and set it to do 50+ runs so they can say "look my OC is stable".

IBT will usually snuff out instabilities inside the first few runs, personally I do 5 at the most, but nothing will tell you if its truly stable until you start playing your usual games etc...and obviously keep an eye on temps at all times with IBT, it will churn more heat from your CPU then just about any game and even more then prime...

Not true i've have had fails well in to the double digits, not sure if it's still correct but you are meant to run it at custom the free memory you have and not the "available ram"

so i'd run mine stress level =custom 3200mb, threads =4

pgi947 · 8 Nov 2012 at 07:46

I said usually, not always

ubersonic · 8 Nov 2012 at 08:19

IBT is pretty naff TBH, its not as good as Prime95 for finding stability issues and it generates more heat, why exactly would you want to generate more heat than Prime95 which generates more heat than any real world application anyway.

Kaapstad · 8 Nov 2012 at 09:37

I have heard bad stories about IBT degrading CPUs.

zepzeppelin · 8 Nov 2012 at 09:58

Who can elaborate with me about experiences using AIDA64 Extreme Edition ? I've passed i5-3570k over 8 hrs with AIDA64, but only about 2hrs with Prime95 when Prime will stop working, or Worker 2 will stop, And also with OCCT I flunk with that also generally @4.5

How come AIDA64 runs so well with exactly the same settings? Is there something I should know? Also I was just going to buy OCCT, then I noticed the price tag $150.00 :eek:

Sod That!

steve258 · 8 Nov 2012 at 10:11

I use the latest version of IBT or Linx with AVX support as well as prime95. I found prime actually requires more voltage than Linx to stay stable. For example last time I tested my 3770K it could complete 4.8Ghz 1.37v Linx 50 runs on max. But I still can't manage to run more than 2 hours of prime 95 small fft without error (usually in core 2) even with 1.4V through the CPU, I think it's just a lot more sensitive to temp (80C seems to be the magic limit).

An usual one but I found F@H to be quite an effective stress test as well, if you can run prime95 stable you should also be able to run F@H no problem as well it seems.

Pabl0 · 8 Nov 2012 at 10:13

I use IBT for quick test and prime for stability, odd thing is it will pass both with good temps and no faults but battlefield 3 will crash after a while, so either its the overclock or the game, I increase voltage (prime stable 1.3v battlefield stable around 1.36v so a big jump.) just maybe it's the 12.11 beta driver.

Basically stability programs are good but using the computer as it's meant to to be used is a good test! Windows often will be odd if you have problems like programs not responding etc.