Should i stress test my new computer?

[samraptor]

ive built a new comuter and put it all together. (just waiting on the ram and graphics card in the post then i can use)

is it worth my time to stress test it? or is there no point to that? wount be ocing unless i think my fps could use a bump but ither way is it worth it to stress test?

my thoughts on stress testing is that whats the point on raising the temps up and over loading the components just to find out what temps they go to... if its going to happen anyway during a game. not like i can lower the temps if im not happy with them after i have stress tested.

also if im wrong then please tell me a sencible amount of time to stress test for.

 

[nna2]

if you aren't overclocking there is no need for stress testing
if your experiencing low FPS overclocking MAY help, depending on what the bottlenecking is

 

[Onus]

A limited amount of stress testing (e.g. Prime95 for a few hours) can tell you if you bought some bad RAM, before you have crashes in the middle of a match, or the middle of a 20-page paper. Other tests can help spot other possible defective parts (e.g. Unigine Heaven will stress your graphics card).
Stress testing that generates heat may also let you know if you need to add another fan or two to your case, or adjust the flow of the ones you have (generally front to back; side is also an intake, top also an exhaust).

 

[mesab66]

It helps a lot with builder confidence - especially for custom/own builds. Of course, you don't have to, but wouldn't it be good to confirm e.g. that you applied that thermal paste to the cpu correctly?
Stress testing, as a on-off run like this, will not harm your components - a batch of them has been stress-tested much more than this at the factory.

 

[steddora]

Absolutely! I stress test my system if I even change a card out or a hard drive. Put it this way. If say, Dell was going to build your system custom to your likes; do you think they'd toss it your way without stress testing it to make sure it's going to be stable?

I suggest running IntelBurnTest on the CPU right out of the box. Make sure to watch the temperatures of the CPU and if it starts getting out of hand stop the stress test. If you're at stock and the temperature gets to say 70C or so on a 3570k with the stock cooler, I wouldn't worry too much as IBT gets the thing hotter than anything we'll be doing with them. Now if it pushed into the 80-90 area I'd check the thermal paste in a heartbeat.

I'd also run the Heaven benchmark like Onus said. There's a perfect way to make sure your video card is going to run stable while you're tossing down bullets at opponents heads in Black Ops 2 or Battlefield 3.

Last but absolutely not least. I'd download and make a CD of Memtest386+. I'd test the ram probably overnight to make absolute sure. I usually run 8 hours worth of cycles on ram I just bought. Out of all the ram I've bought in my life; I've had too many show up with issues out of the box. I actually had a stick of Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 right out of the box not be able to run 800mhz stable at the rated 2.2v. I actually had to send that 2x1gb kit back because of one faulty stick. I've had a set of four sticks with TWO bad in the package before! I have built a LOT of systems for people I know; and the last thing I want is sending them a system with bad ram as it can be so frustrating to the "common" user.