Is version 26.6 Prime95 more realistic?

[PC-4LIFE]

Hi guys, basically I've been overclocking my i5 6600k quite a bit, just got my system built last week.

Now I've been using Prime 95's latest version to test my CPU stability, and one time the CPU reached 82C! People have been telling me version 26.6 of Prime95 is more realistic, so I'm running that and after overclocking my CPU even further my max temp is 66C!

There's obviously a difference between the 2 versions, but is 26.6 really more realistic or is that people just making stuff up?

Thanks

 

[BFG-9000]

For a long time, 26.6 was considered the last version that does not locally overheat and kill modern Intel processors! That's probably because it's the last version to not support AVX extensions for Sandy Bridge. First version to actually be stable when running AVX was 27.7, and 28.5 was the first version to support AVX2 and FMA3 for Haswell processors.

I don't know about more realistic but I can say 26.6 certainly does not test AVX, and by now it's really old because multicore support was only added with 25.3.

 

[CompuTronix]

Guys,

Stability testing and thermal testing do not necessarily involve the same approach. If you don't run apps that use AVX code, then there's no point in testing for it, since an AVX stable system may require a lower overclock to maintain stability at reasonable Vcore and Core temperatures.

Utilities such as Prime95 v28.9, AIDA64 FPU test, Intel Burn Test (not an Intel utility) and LinPack can push TDP above 120% when using Auto or Adaptive Vcore, which will cause unrealistically high temperatures.

Intel tests their processors at 100% Thermal Design Power (TDP), so when performing a thermal test, the goal is to replicate Intel's test conditions as closely as possible. I've tested every utility available, and there are no others that so closely match TDP test conditions than Prime95 version 26.6 Small FFT's, which is a steady-state workload that provides steady-state Core temperatures.

For stability testing, the most ideal utility is Asus RealBench, which provides a realistic AVX fluctuating workload with peak Core temperatures similar to P95 v26.6 Small FFT's. Asus RealBench: http://rog.asus.com/rog-pro/realbench-v2-leaderboard/

Also, you might want to read this Sticky: Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

CT