CL3P20

Question for those of you that use IBT.. "what settings do you use for testing..and how many loops before you consider your CPU stable?"

I typically use Prime95 for my stress testing needs...but am curious to see how IBT stacks up in comparison, for stability testing. I would love to hear from those of you that have 'passed stability testing with "program X" '..only to fail IBT tests..etc...to help better understand if IBT will indeed "find" stability issues quicker than said programs.

2nd Q- In your experience is IBT a reliable test for NB stability as well..?


**So far, I have used IBT once.. ...completed 5x loops on 'standard' at sig'd settings...attempting to reduce voltages and re-run now..

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e8400:5.1ghz
e7400:4.5ghz
Q6600:4.4ghz
8800GS@1028mhz

TwoCables

My overclock was able to pass 12 hours of the Small FFTs, 8 of the Blend, 7 of the Large, in-place FFTS, and 8 passes in Memtest. But when I ran LinX with the most amount of memory I could get it to use, it wouldn't go longer than 5-7 runs.

After much experimenting, I discovered that I could get to run much past 50 runs by increasing both the vCore and the vDIMM. As a result, I now consider my overclock to be so stable that it could almost be used as a server.

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Mongo

I would really like to know this also. I have been doing 10 passes at Maximum setting on IntelBurnTest v2.3.

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CL3P20

...found this in the 'read me' file.. ...Im just not sure if I believe it yet..


Thanks for the RE: Twocables.. good to hear

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.:|Official|Volt|Mod|Squad|Member|:.

e8400:5.1ghz
e7400:4.5ghz
Q6600:4.4ghz
8800GS@1028mhz

joshconsulting

I believe it. I've found that 24h of Prime95 is roughly equal to 5 passes of BurnTest. I've had prime running for days stable, but it took a full .175 higher vCore to get Linpack stable for an hour.

Philbar71

^ yep. i only use IBT now. prime just takes too long. i consider my overclock stable when it can pass 10 passes on IBT using the most amount of free ram. so i figure that's the most i am going to ever stress it

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Virginia Overclockers Club

545MHz FSB http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=549789

TwoCables

CL3P20: I apologize, but this thread could turn into the most confusing thread you've ever seen. You're going to have people like me who simply state that it's absolutely best to avoid relying on just one stress testing program because Linpack uses the CPU differently than the Prime tests. And then you'll have people who will say "it doesn't matter. Just go with linpack because it takes less time."

I don't really have the energy or the patience to explain it this very minute, but all I can say is this: myself and a few others on here have done some very exhaustive study on this subject, and our conclusions have all become the same: an overclock can be rock-solid stable during 100 linpack runs with the most amount of memory possible utilized, but yet still one or more of the prime tests. But the same is true the other way: an overclock can be rock-solid stable to pass 24 hours of all the Prime tests, but yet fail linpack. So that's why I will always say that it's best to make the overclock stable for both linpack and prime.

Sometimes people will say "I made my overclock stable enough to pass prime for just 12 hours, and it passed 200 linpack runs". To that I always say "Nice. That means you happened to have tweaked it just right and you saved yourself some time by being lucky."

But the problem is this: if an overclocker only tests their overclock for like 50 linpack runs and then considers it rock-solid stable, they are almost guaranteeing that they will later run into problems due to instability. But they refuse to believe that since there aren't any problems right now. But I see at least one thread every 2-3 days where somebody is complaining because their once-stable overclock is now having all sorts of problems, and the most common question I see in those threads is "......so do I have to RMA something?"

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Greg121986

I have found that neither prove that I am really stable. I was 18 hours 45 minutes stable at 4.0Ghz and only 1.232v while using Prime95. That's less than my VID! I also made it through 10 iterations of the linpack test. But when I was playing games, they would always crash after awhile. How long it took depended on the game.

When I am trying to narrow down my voltage margins I usually run 5 instances of Linpack. I go until I fail one and then back to my previous setting. I will then run 10 linpacks. After that I run Prime95 for as long as I can. I prefer at least 15 hours, but sometimes I can't keep away from my PC that long so I don't finish lol.

Papa.Smurf

What I usually do is run a quick 5 run test as im overclocking to see how stable or unstable I am. Once I have my max overclock I usually just do a 10-15 run test and call it a day if its stable.

This method hasn't failed me yet, but since I reformat every few months I have yet to see ill effects of my OC being unstable.

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TwoCables

When you say 18 hours of Prime95, which test in Prime95 are you referring to? All 3? Just one of them? I need help here.

And by the way: 10 runs in linpack isn't enough. 50-100 is where it should be, and to get the most out of the linpack test, the highest amount of memory should be utilized (or, if using IBT, then the highest stress level should be selected).

So, what you're saying here tells me that the experience while gaming proves that the overclock wasn't really stable.

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