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Stress test help


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Hi I am just wondering how to use the system stability test and read the reports. I have started the test with all ticked: stress cpu, fan, cache, memory and local disks, but couldn't find any instruction on how to read the report, or how long it would take to test and what happens at the end of the test etc. Can you please give me some idea. Thank you.

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1) If you would like to stress your system to reveal a potential hardware flaw or instability, then enable all tests in the System Stability Test window, and press Start. Let it run for a few hours. If it doesn't display any error messages, Windows also runs fine, and your computer doesn't reboot, doesn't lockup and doesn't shut down, then your computer is considered very stable.

2) If you rather want to stress your system from a thermal point of view, to reveal potential cooling issues, then only enable the FPU test in the System Stability Test window, and press Start. Let it run for a few hours. Watch the temperature graphs, where the motherboard temperature should stay below 55-60 Celsius, and your CPU temperature should stay below 80 Celsius. In case you have an Intel processor, then should also watch the bottom graph where the Throttling activity should stay at 0% all the time. If the Throttling graph shows any non-zero activity, it means your processor is overheating. In case your computer restarts, shuts down, locks up or throws a BSoD while running the thermal stress test, then your computer is overheating.

Regards,

Fiery

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  • 5 months later...

I just purchased and used AIDA64 for the first time yesterday. My primary reason for doing so was the System Stability Test. I let it run overnight (about 6½ hours total) and nothing appeared to change. Both graphs were straight lines. No messages of any kind. CPU temperature never exceeded 70°. How do I know that the test ran correctly? Also, how trustworthy is the test? I ask only because if I run Prime95 (in "Blend" mode which "tests some of everything, lots of RAM tested") it will error out (Windows error that the program shut down) in about an hour to an hour and a half. The Intel Burn Test will not even run for two minutes before it errors out (which I don't believe). I would like to trust the AIDA64 result (obviously) but need some assurance it is reliable. Since building my machine on 12/23/2011 I have not had any issues. No BSODs, spontaneous restarts, or any other kind of visible issue (aside from error messages in Windows' event logs but I've never seen a PC that didn't have some of those).

Thanks for any input.

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The AIDA64 System Stability Test (SST) can produce the following results:

1) No visual feedbacks -- it means everything went well. In your case this happened I guess.

2) AIDA64 displays an error message on the SST user interface, and the SST window becomes red -- it means AIDA64 revealed a hardware flaw that isn't serious enough to make the computer or Windows crash, but it's still considered an instability issue.

3) AIDA64 throws an application error or crashes; or Windows throws an error message -- just like #2, it is an instability that doesn't necesserily cause a system lockup.

4) Windows throws a BSoD; or the computer locks up / reboots / powers off -- serious instability is found, but of course AIDA64 cannot provide a feedback about such issues.

Please note that there are several modes in which the AIDA64 SST can operate. If you only have "FPU" (together with "GPU" with the upcoming AIDA64 v2.20 release) test enabled, SST will drive the system to its maximum temperature by executing such code that stresses the execution units of your processor (and GPU) to its maximum throughput. There are instable systems that only becomes instable when you run this kind of SST.

Another mode is by executing all possible subtests of the AIDA64 SST, by having CPU + FPU + cache + system memory + local disks (+ GPU) all enabled. In such case thermal stress will not be maximum, but the workload will stress all components of the system. In several cases the instability can only be revealed by running this kind of SST.

Please also note that instability is unfortunately not something you can accurately measure. It's not like universal truth of "2 + 2 = 4" :) Some instability can be revealed by a specific approach, by running a specific workload on the system. Some workloads may reveal a certain instability in seconds or minutes, while with other workloads it will take hours or days to reveal the problem.

Regards,

Fiery

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Thank you very much, Fiery. My situation was #1. I had everything but "stress local disks" checked. I might try the "Stress FPU" option by itself later to see what happens. Thanks again.

Make sure to upgrade to AIDA64 v2.20 once it becomes available (less than 24 hours from now). You'll then be able to activate FPU+GPU stressing to drive your computer to maximum power draw and maximum temperatures.

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Make sure to upgrade to AIDA64 v2.20 once it becomes available (less than 24 hours from now). You'll then be able to activate FPU+GPU stressing to drive your computer to maximum power draw and maximum temperatures.

I prefer to use the .zip version. Can I simply extract the new version into the same folder that I placed version 2.00 into? Will I need to reactivate with my license code?

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Can I simply extract the new version into the same folder that I placed version 2.00 into? Will I need to reactivate with my license code?

Yes, you can. By performing the upgrade that way your existing license and settings will be retained. BTW, the built-in Automatic Update feature would perform the upgrade the same way automatically.

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  • 1 year later...

I've run a system stability test in a brand new Lenovo T430 and tested only in a termal point of view by just enabling the Stress FPU test.
My temperature sensors don't show motherboard, only CPU temperature and I just run it for 5 minutes and CPU temperature was at 86ºC .....

 

is this normal?? processor is a  I5-3320M...

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For laptop, notebook and tablet computers it is absolutely normal to have only a CPU temperature reading.  As for 86 Celsius, yes, it is also normal for mobile computers that do not have a large chassis that would help to draw the heat away from the CPU area.  Mobile processors are designed to operate at temperatures up to 100-110 Celsius.

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