Stress Testing a system

Usually any major problems are immediately apparent other than memtest(which to be honest i only really use if their is a problem) just using the system find the most ridiculously intensive game you have(oblivion is good for this) turn it as high as it will go and let rip on it a few hours as a plus side it is also fun.

If you really want to run in the systems CPU prime 95 is good and 3dmark for the Gfx card ,but just play a game do what you normally do see how it runs if it can manage that then its not likely to have a problem.

PCMARK and 3DMARK are one of the best testing programs these days for CPU and VGA testings.

Soorena

Yeah that's fine, but what about a computer that doesn't have a video card (just onboard graphics)? All those game playing suggestions won't help with only 16MB of onboard graphics

One task I've found that is very CPU intensive is converting one video format to another. Just choose a large file, say a 100mb .mpg and convert it an .avi file. It will run the processor at nearly 100% for an hour or so. Depending on the system of course.

So would using DVD shrink (to make a legal backup, of course) qualify for that kind of testing, Tyger? I already have that... I might give it a go, it is quite an intensive process.

Thanks for your input so far!

DVD shrink compresses video files, it doesn't convert them to a new file.

I personally haven't used any free video converting tools, but I have to agree with Tyger, it's probably one of the more if not most CPU applications, HD to a different HD format being the most difficult test.
James

Alright well I now have a few 1GB .vob files from the movie I backed up. What free tool do you recommend to convert? I'm sure I could find a free one, but just looking for a recommendation here. James, you have mentioned you haven't used any free programs, so what pay-for one do you use? This is getting fun...

I helped a mate buy a new computer recently, and he just up and gave me this one! So I'm trying to get it running the best - and there were a few BSOD errors before, but I can't make the BSOD's come back, so I just want to test it to make sure all is good. Hopefully I can sell it and make a few $$$ to go toward my next build (or most likely, to go toward baby supplies).

It is, but I used Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 (at school, plan on buying it for my home computer in the fall, since I'm done high school now, yippie). You could probably manage to get a free 30 trial from Adobes wesite, other then that you can google it, I did it myself and it produces alot of results. That being said scan every .exe file with AVG (or whatever anti-virus program you have running) just to be sure it's safe.
James

I still got another year to go. You're a lucky one James. Try googling for free video editing software and it should give you some that convert but they put a watermark on it.

Soorena

Yeah building up the computer for computer sciences (and buisness during the other half the year) degree Should be interesting.
James

Edited by james_8970, 01 August 2007 - 09:18 PM.

I'm sure I could find a free one, but just looking for a recommendation here.

Thanks for your help

I'll see what I can find. I like to look for an open source program if possible, I'm bit of a fan. I'm not worried about a watermark, I'm obviously just going to delete the backup anyway (before I sell it).

And by the way, that Prime95 program is absolutely going off, it's just sitting there at the moment with the processor usage at 100% for the last few hours, no problems so far. It's only a Celeron 2.4, but still, it seems to be going alright...

Not sure if you know this, but Prime95 is used as a torture test for overclockers to check system stability and will run forever till stopped.
James

Prime95 is used as a torture test for overclockers to check system stability and will run forever till stopped.

Yeah, I figured it out. I've had it doing a few different tests now, it always reports (so far) 0 errors and 0 warnings.