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Need thoughts on stress testing a new build...

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Cheers everyone... hope you had an amazing weekend.

I put together a new build over the weekend. The OS has been installed, and thus far the system seems to be "working as intended".

With that said, I was wondering what recommendations this community has with respect to "stress testing", "torture testing", or "burning in" a new build...

One quick note... at this point, I do not intend to overclock my machine. My build is already overkill for it's primary use (WoW, internet) and I am not knowledgeable enough to feel comfortable tweaking my machine.

prudent specs are as follows:

Case: Lian Li Lancool PC-K62
CPU: Phenom II 965
MoBo: MSI 790FX-GD70
GPU: XFX Radeon 5830
RAM: Kingston HyperX (2x2GB) DDR3 1600
PSU: XFX 650W Modular
HDD: WD Caviar Black 500GB

I downloaded prime95, and CoreTemp last night along with CPU-Z, but am open to other sugestions you have regarding testing the performance, stability of my overall build.


At this point, the parts are purchased and the machine is together so critiques on which components I could/should have used is a moot point... I really appreciate the guidance I have received from this site thus far, and I look forward to your thoughts on this topic. Thanks a bunch.

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don't know where the hell bant is coming from, but generally there is no need to stress test a system at stock settings.

so long as everything works, it should be running as it was deisgned to. ive never heard someone say you should be running multiple memtests before installing an OS, thats ridiculous.
a 12 hour CPU torture test on a stock CPU? you are wasting people time mate. if it works, its gonna be fine at stock clockspeeds.
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Is this for your own use or someone else's use? If it is for your use then just set it up and use it.

If it is for someone else, then I would say go ahead and run some tests on it. At stock speeds I don't think you have to test it all that long. Run it for an hour maybe and then let them have it.

This PC was built for my own personal use... primarily for gaming (WoW) and surfing the internet.

As I mentioned above, I made the decision to run the machine stock because I'm not sure there is a tangible benefit to overclocking this machine given its primary function. Additionally... system stability/reliability are important to me.

It's a bit of a bummer to see such conflicting opinions on this issue... I ran Prime95 on the machine for just over 2 hours, and my CPU temps were between 59 - 63C degrees celcius... with the 63C occuring while I had IE open while prime 95 was running... when I closed it down it went back to 59-60C.

Anyways... I appreciate the input... just wish I could walk away feeling like I had a difinitive answer to my questions... no worries though. Take care guys.

If you want to force early failures, there are ways to do that.

I have burn-tested many critical systems ... I do not consider my own systems to be critical, tho.

911 and Comm, etc. ... worth it to make bad things happen early.

= Al =


Try installing AMD overdrive. It has integrated monitoring consoles, stress tests and overclocking tools. Actually, you should try overclocking with it once just to see how easy the tool makes it - just pull a slider and apply settings.

Running memtest on a new system is always a good idea; even if you are not overclocking or pushing it, you need the memory to be 100%; I would say two passes minimum, preferrably at least 4. 8 is for people who want to be really sure.

Same thing for Prime95 - your CPU needs to be 100%, and if it errors out then it will cause issues down the line.

For stress testing, I would say that Memtest for memory, Prime95 for CPU, and FurMark for GPU testing are the standards.

elel said:
Memory is the only thing that I see coming bad from manufacturers with any regularity.


HDDs ... PSUs ... Hit and miss ... I used to see a lot of CRTs go, after about a year ... whisle. whine, snap, crackle pop!

Let's not even mention notebooks ... batts ... psu ... hdd ... gpu ... disp.



I have another question for the experts...

My memory is rated at 1600, the MoBO says it supports 1600, yet in my bios, hardware monitor, etc. it seems to be running at 1333.

Is this something I should concern myself with given the function of this computer?
Should I manually adjust it, and if so, will I be exposing myself to any stability or reliability issues in doing so?

Overclocking & making significant adjustments within the BIOS are just a little outside of my comfort zone, but I'd be willing to give it a go if its justified, and someone is willing to break it down sesame street style and give me a little guidance.

Take care

eja78 said:
I have another question for the experts...

My memory is rated at 1600, the MoBO says it supports 1600, yet in my bios, hardware monitor, etc. it seems to be running at 1333.

Is this something I should concern myself with given the function of this computer?
Should I manually adjust it, and if so, will I be exposing myself to any stability or reliability issues in doing so?

Overclocking & making significant adjustments within the BIOS are just a little outside of my comfort zone, but I'd be willing to give it a go if its justified, and someone is willing to break it down sesame street style and give me a little guidance.

Take care


Some Mobo/CPU setups require OC, to do that ...

Easy/Harmless way to find out (immediately) is to go into your BIOS Memory Timings page(s) and manually enter (type it in) the exact rated memory timings that came published with your ram kit documentation (data sheet) or printed on the packaging of your RAM kit.

THEN YOU *MUST* ... [SAVE] ... those settings, before (or upon) exiting the main BIOS menu screen(s).

After your computer reboots, reset the computer and re-enter the BIOS, to confirm that your "factory spec" timings have been retained.

There is currently a "stress-test" thread, floating on this forum's main page, which discusses various "overnight stress tests" which will validate the stability of your accelerated timings.

PS ... If it does not run stable at 1600 ... Up your RAM voltages by a few hundredths.

Have a nice day !

= Alvin =

Thanks for the laugh Alvin... I was wondering how I managed to miss the thread on stress testing... turns out... I created it.

Hope you guys are having an amazing day... I appreciate your input.

I have no idea how to adjust voltages, etc... and I'm honestly not sure I want to mess with things too much if I run the risk of making my system unstable, and or too hot...

I do fairly well putting together a PC, and installing software but tweaking the stock settings is a bit outside my wheelhouse.

Increasing the Ram Voltages (conservatively) will (most assuredly) make your system MORE stable ... NOT LESS ! !

It is almost like "blood pressure" ... For instance ... adding MORE MODULES ofen requires (a lil bit) more voltage ... like adding a second sprinkler to your garden hose ... and, likewise, ... faster speeds and tighter CAS means you need a lil more voltage to "drive" or "push" that. ... sometimes not ... but often, yes. It is much like trimming the idle speed on your lawn mower's carbuerator ...

... it is like ...

= ... =
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