Trying to run a stress test to see if my 3.5Ghz overclock is stable 100%. Prime95 is not using all 4 cores at 100% or even close, should I take this as a good thing as in my overclock is fine and prime couldnt even crash it or should I be worried.

Not good, you want it at 100%, cos you're looking at stability, try running 2 stress programs, its the same thing.

It hasn't exactly been determined how to stress test a quad-core processor.
Running four instances of Prime95 will work. Not sure about running two instances of Orthos though..

Here's what you do with Prime95:

I used these exact instructions with stress testing my dual-core, and it works. I just modified the steps a bit for four cores rather than two. Hope it works!



1) Install Prime95

2) Create four shortcuts of the installed Prime95

3) You need to change the shortcuts so they run as different instances. Right-click one of the shortcuts, go to "Properties", then to the "Shortcut" tab. At the end of the target line put a blank space, and add -A1 (so it’s “ –A1”)

4) Repeat step three for two other shortcuts you created (but change the extra characters you put at the end). You should now have one shortcut that is not modified, and three other ones modified differently (A1, A2, A3).

5) Open all four instances (the four shortcuts).

6) On the top toolbar, go to Advanced > Affinity, and uncheck "Let program run on any CPU". Leave the 0 in the box for the first one, and put a "1" in the box for the second instance.

7) Repeat step six for the other two instances. You should now have four instances of Prime95 open, each with a different affinity (0, 1, 2, 3).

8) Go to Options> Torture Test > Custom > Memory to use in (MB). This should be 1/4 of your AVAILABLE system memory for each instance.

As an example, I have 1GB of RAM, a dual-core CPU, and Windows XP that uses 256MB of RAM while idle. This means that I have 768MB of available RAM. Now, I divide 768MB up in half for my two cores, so I set each instance to use 384MB of RAM.

As for your situation, just take about 256MB of RAM from your total memory, then divide that into four. Input that amount into each of your instances of Prime95.

9) Click OK and let it run!

Stress tests should be left for a burn-in period to test stability, preferably 12-24 hours. You should also run memtest afterward to test the RAM (I assume it's also overclocked). Then, you can run a few benchmarks to see how much of a performance gain you have.


Just ask for clarification if something is not detailed enough.
I sincerely hope this helps!

Ok great, ran multiple Prime95's and got 100% on all cores, took 4 seperate programs though sheesh, I'm wondering how much power I'm draining this thing is beastly

You're draining tons, no doubt about that. How's the temps like?

Wow... I want a quad-core... I'm only going to finally have a dual core to keep for good at my birthday... -_-

Oh you lucky @ss! (Said in a joking way) I wish my PC was good as yours!

Expensive electricity bills coming in your direction.

I guess thats the cost of having some serious computing power.

my idle temp is 18C and full load is about 32C. Energy isnt that bad, I have 2 roomates, they are apple fan boys so of course they dont pull near as much as I do, but we split the bills equally.

Well, the Core2Duos don't pull that much power... per core

When you've got 4..... I think that the power efficiency of the Core2 just negated itself

And if you've sharing bills with 2 roommates.... Whats stopping you from plugging in one of those new Thermaltake 1.2kW PSU, and powering up 2x4core Xeons, and quad 8800gtx?





Money.

How do you manage to keep that quad core beast @ 32C fully loaded? Using watercooling or what?

I'm using coolit freezone cooler http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.p...ask=view&id=81

He's using TEC watercooling, as in his sig (freezone). Given that cooler, 32C is pretty high, as its possible to go below freezing with that cooler (especially on idle).

Damn, you beat me to the answer

believe it or not this cooler is somewhat effected by ambient temps, not much, probably only about 10% or so, but I'm only running it on low power

all coolers will be affected by ambient temps. This is because, no matter what kind of cooling you use (except LN2), air is still the way heat is transferred our of your computer. You'll find that the closer your computer is to ambient temp, the bigger effect ambient temp will have on your temps. Elementary Physics.

Also, for those on water cooling setups, it IS still affected by air.... what cools your water? Try running your watercooling setups WITHOUT your radiators.... Running your WCS into your outdoor swimming pool doesn't count, it still increases your total surface area....

all coolers will be affected by ambient temps. This is because, no matter what kind of cooling you use (except LN2), air is still the way heat is transferred our of your computer. You'll find that the closer your computer is to ambient temp, the bigger effect ambient temp will have on your temps. Elementary Physics. /QUOTE/

lol you again technically reworded my thoughts. I ran my quad on high the first day and got -5C with it at stock voltages. Since my vga's are on fans and I'm constantly playing...something, I feared condensation as the cold and hot temps met, maybe a low and high pressure area, creating a cataclismic reaction, like a tornado, just kidding, but you get what I'm saying.

You can get condensation, which was why even though I could have easily used TEC cooling, after months researching on the subject, I decided that its not worth it.

However, I was thinking of much more powerful TEC coolers, I didn't think that getting 32C was worth using TECs... If I'd have built it, I reckon it'll permanently stay below freezing.

Ever thought of cascaded TECs?

no, not at all, that's a bit much for me. on a zalmans my quad ran at 52C on low, that was at stock voltages. overclocked to 3.5 with this at 32C in quite formitable I believe.