Westlake Village (CA) - If you were ever interested in how far you can push your system memory, then this week's Tom's Hardware coverage will provide you with some valuable information: In the next round of our stress test series, our engineers take a look at the capability of popular memory devices to determine what you can and cannot expect from such devices.

Starting Monday, Tom's Hardware will run a total of five memory models from GeIL, Kingston, Mushkin, OCZ and Samsung through a punishing test track. In each case we will compare two systems - one equipped with the memory we received for a recent review and another one with memory that we purchased. Our test engineers will increase the memory clock speed over time and monitor how well the devices hold up to our expectations.

As in previous stress test, you will be able to monitor the status of the stress test in real time. Besides data about the system setup, current clock speed, memory specifics, we will publish current information on the temperature of the Northbridge and Southbridge, the memory and the voltage regulator. A memory voltage chart and a statistics page will complement the test, which will run over the course of the next two weeks.

Tom's Hardware will also fire up an interactive version of its VGA Charts. An array of different benchmarks will provide you with instant information how a certain graphics chip and graphics card performs in very specific disciplines. Especially if you are in the market for a new graphics card, this new tool will enable you to find out how much performance increase you can expect from a graphics chip upgrade.

Be sure to check the Interactive VGA Charts when they go online Monday afternoon.