How to Stress-Test CPUs and PCs (Like We Do)

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System: Measuring Power Consumption With Different Stress Tests

Our power-consumption results tell us how much waste heat is generated by the different combinations of stress tests. For extreme cooling and power supply testing, there’s really only one option: Prime95 with AVX. There are two viable choices for simulating realistic gaming scenarios, and those are MSI Kombustor’s combined CPU and GPU test, and OCCT with its Power Supply test.

The same goes for graphics card stress testing. Prime95 with AVX, MSI Kombustor, and OCCT give you everything you need.

Looking at total system power consumption, we see that the top results are almost 100W above the numbers we'd expect from normal gaming. The difference is primarily due to the fact that Intel's Core i7-8700 draws a lot of power during AVX-based stress tests.

A look at how much of the remaining energy is converted into heat by the system paints the rest of our picture. The voltage-converter losses, in particular, increase quite a bit. Don't just focus on CPU or GPU cooling; also make sure the motherboard's VRMs (voltage regulator modules) receive plenty of airflow when you run punishing stress tests.

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Summary
  1. Introduction and Test System
  2. CPU Only: Prime95 With AVX Or SSE
  3. CPU Only: OCCT With Four Options
  4. CPU Only: AIDA64 With CPU, FPU, Cache, Or Memory
  5. CPU Only: powerMAX With AVX Or SSE & Heavy Load
  6. CPU Only: Measuring Power Consumption With Different Stress Tests
  7. CPU Only: Measuring Temperatures With Different Stress Tests
  8. System: Prime95 & GPU
  9. System: MSI Kombustor & OCCT
  10. System: AIDA64, powerMAX & Heavy Load
  11. System: Measuring Power Consumption With Different Stress Tests
  12. System: Measuring Temperature With Different Stress Tests
  13. Conclusion: The Best Stress-Test Tools & Settings
About the author
Igor Wallossek

Igor Wallossek is a Senior Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware DE. He tests and reviews CPUs, GPUs, games and headsets.

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  • WINTERLORD
    Is this like a fancy water cooler im guessing? what about a typical AIO cooler. In fact i have a skyth fuma but may save up to get some kind of AIO water cooling been tryin to find decent reviews on decent water coolers both cheap and if needed high end. not no alpha cooler though lol
    Alphacool Eisblock XPX ($73.99 On Newegg)
    Alphacool Eiszeit 2000 Chiller
  • FormatC
    This is a high-end compressor cooler for up to 1500 watts heat input. It's a modified version from industry and mostly used to cool the head of powerful laser cutters. Why I'm using this one? To show, which program is able to do it right. If you have additionally limitations from coolers, thermal throttling and other funny things, you will never see the exact difference. I can keep a constant water temperature of 20°C to make all the test results comparable. ;)
  • Th_Redman
    What did you guys put on the hotdog after testing? A little mustard, ketchup, relish, sauerkraut...? LOL.
  • WINTERLORD
    is actually a great article one can resort reference too. Good Job!
  • aquielisunari
    I use Aida, Prime 26.6, Superposition, UserBenchmark, MSI's kombustor and I no longer use Heaven. I may be forgetting a couple. But something has always felt a little off. I finally see what it was. My build was missing a hotdog and its bun. I always do love learning from the pros. I placed it on a piece of parchment and instantly I notice a difference.

    I routinely check temperatures, loads and other info from my system. I also stress test with different CPU and GPU benchmark/stress test software. Thanks for the info. Page bookmarked.
  • CompuTronix
    As the author of the Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html - I can fully appreciate how much work went into creating this outstanding article, which has been sorely needed!

    Since most users test their rigs without a sense of scale for power and temperature, they can't compare apples to apples, especially when combined with major variables such as differences in ambient temperature, hardware configurations and software utilities. This article provides a perspective and some excellent comparisons.

    The Intel Temperature Guide differs in its approach toward the topic of processor Core temperatures and cooling with respect to Intel's TDP specifications, and distinguishes between steady workloads for thermal testing versus fluctuating workloads for stability testing. Nevertheless, our results are very similar.

    However, since Intel validates their thermal specifications at a steady 100% TDP, it's most appropriate to select utilities that don't overload or underload the CPU. The only utilities I've ever found that come as close as possible to 100% TDP are Prime95 v26.6 Small FFT's as a steady workload for thermal testing, and Asus RealBench as a fluctuating workload for stability testing.

    Although the topic of Prime95 (with and without AVX) was covered, I would like to have seen RealBench included in your test suite,since it's widely accepted as an excellent utility for testing overall system stability, and uses a realistic AVX workload.

    Otherwise, great work! I was very pleased to read this article!

    CT :sol:
  • cangelini
    111321 said:
    As the author of the Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html - I can fully appreciate how much work went into creating this outstanding article, which has been sorely needed! Since most users test their rigs without a sense of scale for power and temperature, they can't compare apples to apples, especially when combined with major variables such as differences in ambient temperature, hardware configurations and software utilities. This article provides some excellent comparisons. The Intel Temperature Guide differs in its approach toward the topic of processor Core temperatures and cooling with respect to Intel's TDP specifications, and distinguishes between steady workloads for thermal testing versus fluctuating workloads for stability testing. Nevertheless, our results are very similar. However, since Intel validates their thermal specifications at a steady 100% TDP, it's most appropriate to select utilities that don't overload or underload the CPU. The only utilities I've ever found that come as close as possible to 100% TDP are Prime95 v26.6 Small FFT's for thermal testing, which is a steady workload, and Asus RealBench for stability testing, which is a fluctuating workload. Although the topic of Prime95 (with and without AVX) was covered, I would like to have seen RealBench included in your test suite, as it's widely accepted as an excellent utility for testing overall system stability, and uses a realistic AVX workload. Otherwise, great work! I was very pleased to read this article! CT :sol:


    That's an awesome resource, CT!
  • WyomingKnott
    442003 said:
    What did you guys put on the hotdog after testing? A little mustard, ketchup, relish, sauerkraut...? LOL.


    Thermal compound. Why not? People have used condiments between their CPUs and their coolers.
  • FormatC
    Step 1 - Collect all what I need:


    Step 2 - Start the oven


    Step 3 - Enjoy!

    The benchmark:



    The complete review was so funny, but it was never translated :(
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