@Anrui: Hmmm, 200-300 tabs... How long does it take to have them all opened ? I for sure would give up on the way to the 1st 100 ;)

NetFlexx

@Anrui: hahaha, as I was reading the post I was thinking 'no doubt this is based on firefox 2'

cbiggins

When I fired up this program I found out my rig has a full size 747 inside the case

ras_d

I usually just go with Prime95 for stress testing. I recently did it on a laptop and stopped because the temperature probe was reading over 80 degrees.
Anyway, I'll check this one out as well.

m-unit

No need for Google translate, there is an English site [www.jam-software.com]

Junkan

i cant read the language it's in. i like cleaning out the pipes on my super computer but i want to read the directions first...

0zSpitt

Yeah, I like to open about 200-300 firefox tabs and a few instances of Adobe products. That, however, barely makes my quadcore sweat while it makes my P4 cry like a baby :)

Anrui

I agree with m-unit, use Prime95.

Prime95 is the standard in the overclocking realm, used to stress your cores at 100%. It uses your computer to calculate data and compare them to known values. If your processor and memory are stable, the values will match. If not, prime 95 will detect an error and stop.

Note that these stressing methods test primarily your cpu and memory (on an AMD setup) or your cpu, memory, and motherboard (on an intel chip) as opposed to your entire system. Although, you could make a case that those components are the entire system. One general warning about stress testing- this WILL create a lot of heat. Use Realtemp to monitor your system while you are using either Prime95 or HeavyLoad.

Here is a link [files.extremeoverclocking.com] to Prime95. You may also read this [www.playtool.com] guide. Make sure you select "Round off checking" in the advanced window or it will not check for errors.

jharris0221

I use Visual Studio Team Test Suite. This is a very comprehensive package of web application test tools that includes performance testing/load testing.

fleetwood

I just use Skype. Always seems to hog my CPU resources. ;)

playdoh

If you *really* want to stress your cpu, get your hands on the Intel tool named TAT. Nothing will get your Intel CPU hotter. But read about it a lot before you use it. Understand what it does, what you should not do with it, what readings from it you can't trust, etc.

mrknowitall

lol use Joost now that's resource intensive.

Internet-TV

Didn't Spock just ask the computer on the Enterprise to calculate PI and to not stop? What's good enough for the Federation is good enough for me. ;)

quail

I already know that my home system gets too hot when it's under stress, so I guess this tool isn't for me. My work system has survived simultaneously opening over 200 tabs in Firefox 2 (thanks to SnapLinks), though.

mDuo13

Lifehack?

strabes

@Internet-TV: i use to be able to get joost, now i can't. it wasnt bad, even the commecials weren't annoying...

0zSpitt

Hehehe, I like the headline XD

chareverie

@Charging_Mooses: There's lots of reasons to stress test your machine. This is just what I've been looking for to find out why my old gaming PC keeps intermittently rebooting itself.

HolyChimp

If I ever felt the need to stress my system (why?) I would just fire up some intense 8 player supreme commander

Charging_Mooses

@HolyChimp: I admit you are right. But for myself as of now, I have no need to stress my system. I hope you get your gaming rig running smoothly though.

Charging_Mooses

My old cpu starts 'screaming' even if I start a flash game! No need to 'stress' up this old man. LOL.

srtor

cpuburn for linux is beastly. It ramps up however many cores you have to 100% each.

syko21

Stress test...what do I do with the results besides sit back and go, 'hmph?'

Anyway, Crysis is just fine for making my computer go into seizures.

OX4

So, was this supposed to do something? I ran it, hit the little play arrow, and it made some neat little pictures but my baby ran just fine. Guess I'm good then, right?

If that is all there is to it, that is my kind of test. Push button, watch it either explode or not, stop. Love it.

derekhaltom

I open up firefox with tabs up the wazoo, plus word, photoshop, adobe reader (slowest thing in existance) and see if Stepmania runs even remotely playable. If it doesn't, it means my laptop's ready for its weekly reboot.

dunvi

@derekhaltom: Haha yeah, pretty much.
Try hitting play, letting it go for 2 minutes, hit pause... wait a few seconds, and hit play again for a minute or two. THAT stresses my comp out.

antmilla

Ohmigod! Yet another reason for me to believe Lifehacker is clairvoyant! I just built my first PC from scratch, and have been looking for a stress test to make sure I'm firing on all cylinders. I've done all the 3DMark-esque benchmarks, but I was really looking for a stability stress test. Though, I think I'm going to try Prime95 as a few others have suggested. Awesome.

LastVigilante

Run Adobe PS, ID, AI, SB, DW, Acrobat, FF3 w/lotsO'tabz, Outlook, Word, Excel, PPT, Suitecase, FileZilla, along with some bells and whistles and then you'll see how your computer stresses or not.

Either that or just use Orthos and Prime95 like your supposed...

ThaMofo

I personally prefer tools that tell what's not working the way it should...but each to his own! Till then, I'll let Crysis do the talking!

premankan

The equivalent for a unix system (typed at the command line)

> while 1 fork

You have time to enter a few commands before you'll have about a billion copies of this command running.

But whatever you do DON'T actually type that. And I never told you about it. I didn't write that. In fact you wrote it so you got what you deserved...

pcx339

@pcx339: My God...

What have you done?!?

Ender15

Don't forget the phoronix test suite for Linux. Also, if you want to measure performance in Windows, check out SiSoft Sandra.

nighttimestereo

@jharris0221:

Agreed, really Prime95 is the best solution. And as far as benchmarks are concerned, Sisoft synthetic benchmarks don't give you an accurate 'feel' for the performance.

If you're stress testing, you're doing it to figure out what is stable over a period of time.

Biggrz

does anyone know if there is any long term effects from overloading your computer too often?

petrarch1610

hm... i just ran a test with heavyload and my cpu made an incredible boost to 440% load?!?! somehow that doesn't seem right.

bobby.tables

I've heard ATITool is good for stressing videocards
[www.techpowerup.com]

Costermonger

I got a Thinkpad Z60m at work. Just booting it up and starting Outlook 2003 puts it on the distress zone...

apocalypsofacto

@pcx339: AHAHA! You have just unwittingly completed my scheme for world domination! Seeing as I figured out how to call cmd on the locked-down-tighter-than-shit PC's at my school, I can now brick any cpu on the network. Lolz.

bjacobel

A great way to test your computer's graphic capabilities is to download 3DMark. Its a very large download but its a great GPU benchmarking application.

nogills

Old Chinese proverb say: Tis better to have four gigs ram, half gig page file then other way round....

polara

I use the ultimate boot cd [www.ultimatebootcd.com] for testing new computers. It has complete range of system tests. For CPU it has CPU Burn-In, Mersenne Prime Test and StressCPU. Memory can be tested with Memtest86.

lmsr

I personally use Passmark's BurnIn Test. It is very customisable and can stress different parts of a computer set-up: CPU, Memory, 2D Graphics, 3D Graphics, HDD, Sound Card, Networking... the list goes on

Very handy, but not free.

[www.passmark.com]

austin316gb

I run 2 W.o.Ws while converting dvix files, .. I dont think my laptop likes me.

cHiCkenCOW

Ugh, no thanks. My computer struggles as it is.

(god, I need more RAM, a new hard drive, a new monitor, new speakers... it seems like my whole rig went when my warranty expired.)

codetony

What does it test other than my systems' ability to run tests? I have other tests that my computer excels at (breathalyzer, urine, eye, blood) that it can pass without inducing load.... It tests for "not crashing"?

tpbrisco

Rofl, did this and my laptop started screaming - then shut off cause it overheated...whoops lol, just like running any game that's demanding though, really - and yes, 3Dmark is brilliant! AMAZING graphics!

[owened.co.nz]

owenw