New Build: Torture Test?

[AWaldo]

Hello all,

I've just pieced together my first desktop and I'm looking to test out the stability well before I do some mild overclocking.

PSU: XIGMATEK 750w

MB: ASRock Z77 Extreme4

CPU: I5 3570K

CPU Cooler: Hyper 212

GPU: Gigabyte 7950

RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengeance

SSD: Samsung 850 250GB

HDD: WD Blue Caviar 280GB

OS: Windows 8 Pro

Boots right up, no issues so far in normal use; I do intend to use it for gaming soon. Mainly looking to test overall stability of system and to push the graphics card: it was a return so I got a great deal on it at Microcenter, but now I need to make sure it's in decent shape.

So far I've run prime95 blend for 6 hours without error just as an initial check. My intent is to run furmark to test the gpu and prime95 large in-place to push the CPU. Would small FFTs work to test the ram well? Any other recommendations for tests to run or for a good program to track temperatures as I run the others? How about for how long I need to run each to get a good metric?

Thanks for any help you can give; these forums have been essential to me being able to put this thing together at all.

 

[mikerockett]

Tbh you've covered the ones that i would normally use, Prime95, Furmark i'd also use memtest86 to make sure the memory is running well.

I think length of time varies from person to person, personally i'd say the 6 hours you've done is enough, some people like 24 hour runs.

If it's brand new and nothings gone wrong in 6 hours of extreme tests i would say it's safe to say your components are ok.

With regards to software usually your mobo will come with monitoring software for voltages and temps, Catalyst control centre can also tell you your gpu temps and clocks in the overdrive section.

 

[wanderer11]

Personally, I think you are worrying too much. You already tested the cpu and know that is good. You could use memtest x86 to test the RAM if you wish. You could download msi afterburner and run kombustor to test your gpu and see the temps it gets to. Another good metric would be playing your favorite game.

 

[AWaldo]

Ok, so 8 hours overnight of Prime95 yielded no errors, max temp was in the low 60s C.

Did 30 min of furmark without any artifacts I could see, hit max GPU temp of about 70 C. I'll run memtest today.

Do those numbers look decent for a starting point? A little worried that I'm already hitting 70 on the GPU without any OC.

 

[wanderer11]

Do you have the fan setting on auto? Try to manually set it to 40% or so and see how that does. I wouldn't be worried about 70C.

 

[AWaldo]

Tried it again at 40% and it stayed below 70. But, I've started to see a few flashes and artifacts when looking through pictures and when running Skyrim. And then Skyrim started CTD frequently. No mods on the game at all and no error messages; the temperature never got above 60c either.

Is that just a faulty GPU then and is there some way for me to test it directly for errors like Prime95 does for CPUs?

EDIT: Hmm, and now the whole screen is tinted yellow during some games and the temperature is never getting above 60-65c

 

[wanderer11]

So all games artifact or just Skyrim? Skyrim flashes a lot with my 7870 on anything newer than 12.8. If all games do you should RMA it.

 

[AWaldo]

After a decent amount of testing, it was most games. Even Civ 5 on high details was frequently CTD.

Going to return the card and get another. Thank you all for your help.

 

[AWaldo]

Best answer selected by AWaldo.