Why do you run Prime 95?

mmj_uk · 21 Jan 2013 at 14:11

Because when you buy a CPU it's guaranteed to be stable at a particular speed, Intel etc use high tech machines to inspect/test dies and bin them. When the end user overclocks the only way to test if it is still stable is to run a test like Prime95 that uses the processor as efficiently as possible.

The only people who have a problem with tests such as Prime95 are those who like to overclock their CPU to unstable speeds and then delude themselves/rave on about having a 'golden chip' on forums because it doesn't crash under a bit of gaming.

Kaapstad · 21 Jan 2013 at 15:43

OLDPHART said:
Any system can fail due to heat build up ie: in the case, bad ventalation easy to solve. But by testing your CPU stabilty it helps save time and cut guess work out, don't forget it could be your GPU or GPU's causing the system fail. But not forgetting that it could be your mobo, memory, psu, you don't know until its working all together under load.

Thats my whole point Prime95 is a waste of time, systems have GPUs which produce heat, this is something Prime95 does not test for.

Kaapstad · 21 Jan 2013 at 15:50

mmj_uk said:
The only people who have a problem with tests such as Prime95 are those who like to overclock their CPU to unstable speeds and then delude themselves/rave on about having a 'golden chip' on forums because it doesn't crash under a bit of gaming.

Don't look at me, the highest I run my CPUs for 24/7 and gaming is 4.0ghz which is default for one of my PCs and a 100mhz oc for the other using the RIVE.

JonJ678 · 21 Jan 2013 at 16:05

Crashing implies error but error does not imply crashing. Using your computer and waiting to see if firefox falls over is not exactly thorough testing.

If your computer can't do prime95, it can't do maths. Maths is important to computers. It determines whether a .jpeg file corrupts when you're writing it. It determines whether Word manages to open a file without breaking it. Using a computer that can't get the maths right implies your files will rot over time.

j.col · 21 Jan 2013 at 16:16

Kaapstad said:
Thats my whole point Prime95 is a waste of time, systems have GPUs which produce heat, this is something Prime95 does not test for.

but using a program like intel burn test will take your cpu's temperature a lot higher than a game,
this way you are stress testing the cpu while running at 100% and the max heat generated from the cpu at the overclock speed, which will be higher than while at gaming.

also regarding gpu's that produce heat, isnt that why we use good cases that have a good air flow to remove the excess heat?

Something Else · 21 Jan 2013 at 18:26

i stress test to ensure a few things

the overclock ive got is stable
ensure my cooler is attached and working properly
i enjoy it

PaulyD · 21 Jan 2013 at 18:45

JonJ678 said:
Crashing implies error but error does not imply crashing. Using your computer and waiting to see if firefox falls over is not exactly thorough testing.

If your computer can't do prime95, it can't do maths. Maths is important to computers. It determines whether a .jpeg file corrupts when you're writing it. It determines whether Word manages to open a file without breaking it. Using a computer that can't get the maths right implies your files will rot over time.

I can not agree with this enough.

My RAM was unstable and bf3 kept crashing. I often had to do repair installs as well which often resulted in downloading upto 4gb each time to get it working again.

The errors you write might not cause a BSOD but they will in time corrupt your files/OS.

bainbridge · 22 Jan 2013 at 22:33

Once I have the required overclock I do a couple of runs of IBT and an hour on P95 and that is enough for me.

Hotwired · 23 Jan 2013 at 05:45

sam690 said:
I guess this is a stupid question, but why do people stress test their CPU with whatever programs to see how stable their processor is at maximum load?

Stability check.

Overclocking is putting the chip outside what the manufacturer says is ok for joe public to run their chip at with the lousy stock cooling.

So when you overclock you stress test for as long as makes you happy to run that overclock for whatever you do on your computer.

I've got a 46% overclock and my final overclock after much fiddling, testing, re-fiddling, testing again was checked with an overnight run on IBT then Prime the next night.

No system instability noticed, runs at 30ish idle, 40ish under load, 60ish when stress testing. Ambient high teens.

If you want the gain and take the risk of overclocking to any significant extent, it makes sense to make sure your overclock isn't so fragile it might well die on you in the middle of work or a raiding session.

Beefed up cooling and stress testing is the way to do it right.