What should I be looking at when stress testing?

[polskidro]

Should I be looking at the load % or the cpu usage?
Because my cpu usage dips a lot even without overclocking.

 

[weberdarren97]

I'm confused. CPU usage is load percentage.

You should be looking at clock speed and temperatures. If your program shows thermal throttling, keep an eye on that as well.

 

[timeconsumer]

Really you just need to be sure that under load your CPU doesn't lock up and that it doesn't get too hot. What program are you stress testing with?

 

[polskidro]

Really you just need to be sure that under load your CPU doesn't lock up and that it doesn't get too hot. What program are you stress testing with?

I've tried both prime95 and intelburntest with the same result. My clock speeds keep dipping from the usual 3800 to like 1200-1400. And my temperature never went past 56 celcius so I don't think temperature is the problem.

 

[weberdarren97]

Really you just need to be sure that under load your CPU doesn't lock up and that it doesn't get too hot. What program are you stress testing with?

I've tried both prime95 and intelburntest with the same result. My clock speeds keep dipping from the usual 3800 to like 1200-1400. And my temperature never went past 56 celcius so I don't think temperature is the problem.

Could be a power delivery issue. What is the make and model of your motherboard and power supply?

Is this an AMD system or an Intel system? What CPU?

 

[timeconsumer]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

 

[polskidro]

I'm confused. CPU usage is load percentage.

You should be looking at clock speed and temperatures. If your program shows thermal throttling, keep an eye on that as well.

I use a program called "Open hardware monitor" and it shows my clock speeds dipping from 3800 mhz to 1200-1400 but the load % stays at 100% constantly. Also my temperature doesn't go above 56 celcius.

 

[weberdarren97]

I'm confused. CPU usage is load percentage.

You should be looking at clock speed and temperatures. If your program shows thermal throttling, keep an eye on that as well.

I use a program called "Open hardware monitor" and it shows my clock speeds dipping from 3800 mhz to 1200-1400 but the load % stays at 100% constantly. Also my temperature doesn't go above 56 celcius.

What's your CPU? What's the make and model of your motherboard and power supply?

 

[polskidro]

I'm confused. CPU usage is load percentage.

You should be looking at clock speed and temperatures. If your program shows thermal throttling, keep an eye on that as well.

I use a program called "Open hardware monitor" and it shows my clock speeds dipping from 3800 mhz to 1200-1400 but the load % stays at 100% constantly. Also my temperature doesn't go above 56 celcius.

What's your CPU? What's the make and model of your motherboard and power supply?

CPU: AMD FX-4300
PSU: LC420H-12
Motherboard: ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX

 

[polskidro]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

 

[weberdarren97]

I'm confused. CPU usage is load percentage.

You should be looking at clock speed and temperatures. If your program shows thermal throttling, keep an eye on that as well.

I use a program called "Open hardware monitor" and it shows my clock speeds dipping from 3800 mhz to 1200-1400 but the load % stays at 100% constantly. Also my temperature doesn't go above 56 celcius.

What's your CPU? What's the make and model of your motherboard and power supply?

CPU: AMD FX-4300
PSU: LC420H-12
Motherboard: ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX

AMD CPUs don't have their thermal sensors as close to to heat producing internals as Intel CPUs do. This means that the temperature at the sensor is less than it is at the actual hot parts. Because of this, these CPUs are coded to throttle at 55C instead of 95-015C like Intel.

This is a behavior called thermal throttling. Basically, your CPU is slowing down in an effort to reduce heat output and keep itself from dying of overheating.

Are you using a stock cooler? How many case fans do you have and what size are they?

 

[weberdarren97]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

 

[polskidro]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

I've tried 4 different programs now, I really don't think that's the problem. And my voltage always stays between 1.26 and 1.27v

 

[weberdarren97]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

I've tried 4 different programs now, I really don't think that's the problem. And my voltage always stays between 1.26 and 1.27v

I just took a look at your motherboard's product page. Only 3 VRMs and none of them have any cooling. If your CPU is actually getting the voltage it says it is, I bet it's fluctuating all over the place.

Bad power delivery leads to a bad experience. You need a motherboard that offers more capable power delivery systems if you want to continue using that CPU. Or, instead of putting more money into your current machine, you could either wait for benchmarks on the upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 or just switch to Intel.

 

[polskidro]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

I've tried 4 different programs now, I really don't think that's the problem. And my voltage always stays between 1.26 and 1.27v

I just took a look at your motherboard's product page. Only 3 VRMs and none of them have any cooling. If your CPU is actually getting the voltage it says it is, I bet it's fluctuating all over the place.

Bad power delivery leads to a bad experience. You need a motherboard that offers more capable power delivery systems if you want to continue using that CPU. Or, instead of putting more money into your current machine, you could either wait for benchmarks on the upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 or just switch to Intel.

I'm guessing getting a fan/heatsinks for the VRMs wouldn't help either?

 

[weberdarren97]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

I've tried 4 different programs now, I really don't think that's the problem. And my voltage always stays between 1.26 and 1.27v

I just took a look at your motherboard's product page. Only 3 VRMs and none of them have any cooling. If your CPU is actually getting the voltage it says it is, I bet it's fluctuating all over the place.

Bad power delivery leads to a bad experience. You need a motherboard that offers more capable power delivery systems if you want to continue using that CPU. Or, instead of putting more money into your current machine, you could either wait for benchmarks on the upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 or just switch to Intel.

I'm guessing getting a fan/heatsinks for the VRMs wouldn't help either?

No not really.

Even if you kept them cool, there's still not enough of them to get good voltage regulation at load because there's on 3 of them. What has to happen is one gets the voltage as close to the target as it can and then passes it on to the next to clean it up a little more. A 4+2 VRM power delivery system is my minimum recommendation for FX chips.

 

[polskidro]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

I've tried 4 different programs now, I really don't think that's the problem. And my voltage always stays between 1.26 and 1.27v

I just took a look at your motherboard's product page. Only 3 VRMs and none of them have any cooling. If your CPU is actually getting the voltage it says it is, I bet it's fluctuating all over the place.

Bad power delivery leads to a bad experience. You need a motherboard that offers more capable power delivery systems if you want to continue using that CPU. Or, instead of putting more money into your current machine, you could either wait for benchmarks on the upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 or just switch to Intel.

I'm guessing getting a fan/heatsinks for the VRMs wouldn't help either?

No not really.

Even if you kept them cool, there's still not enough of them to get good voltage regulation at load because there's on 3 of them. What has to happen is one gets the voltage as close to the target as it can and then passes it on to the next to clean it up a little more. A 4+2 VRM power delivery system is my minimum recommendation for FX chips.

I just thought of something else. Do you think downclocking my CPU could help? So that I can lower the voltage aswell.

 

[weberdarren97]

Which version of Prime95? 26.6 or 28.9? I usually advise people to stress test on version 26.6 with small FFTs.

28.10.1.0 And I did the small FFTs test. It starts dipping after about 2 minutes.

After 26.6, the newer versions push the CPUs unreasonably hard and sometimes cause voltages to go unreasonably high. Try switching to version 26.6 before assuming it's a hardware issue.

I've tried 4 different programs now, I really don't think that's the problem. And my voltage always stays between 1.26 and 1.27v

I just took a look at your motherboard's product page. Only 3 VRMs and none of them have any cooling. If your CPU is actually getting the voltage it says it is, I bet it's fluctuating all over the place.

Bad power delivery leads to a bad experience. You need a motherboard that offers more capable power delivery systems if you want to continue using that CPU. Or, instead of putting more money into your current machine, you could either wait for benchmarks on the upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 or just switch to Intel.

I'm guessing getting a fan/heatsinks for the VRMs wouldn't help either?

No not really.

Even if you kept them cool, there's still not enough of them to get good voltage regulation at load because there's on 3 of them. What has to happen is one gets the voltage as close to the target as it can and then passes it on to the next to clean it up a little more. A 4+2 VRM power delivery system is my minimum recommendation for FX chips.

I just thought of something else. Do you think downclocking my CPU could help? So that I can lower the voltage aswell.

Yes this will reduce VRM load, but I'm sure that you understand that this will prevent the CPU from achieving its advertised speeds.