Do you stress test?

[Carnival Forces]

Do you stress test your computers you buy that are pre-built ?

For instance, my friend just bought an HP laptop, and I want to know if I should TortureTest it or not...

 

[M11]

Burnin failure applies to everything. Mass-market manufactures have neither the time nor motivation to stress-test equipment properly before selling it. If it has to fail, then let it do so during burnin before anything or anyone relies on it.

 

[BlindedByScience]

My SOP (more or less in order):

- Memtest86+ - I like this one because for new builds, you don't have to have an OS installed.
- The drive manufacturer's diagnostics; DriveFitnessTest, MaxBlast, etc.
< Windoze install goes here >
- Prime95
- 3DM2003
- etc......

"Pre-Builts" are shown no mercy around B.B.S. Labs.........

Keep in mind that laptops DO NOT have the same thermal profile as a desktop, so I'd cut 'em some slack when it comes to Prime95, etc.....

But - for new hardware, you HAVE to test your system. I'm in the process of building a new box for my main system, and would you believe that I got a flakey stick of PC3500 from a very well known, reputable manufacturer? One stick would consistantly get Memtest86+ errors. Of course the manufacturer fell all over themself to replace it, but the point is that unless you test, you'll never know.

The tools are free for the download......just takes some time.

FWIW - B.B.S.

 

[Met-AL]

I stress test everything I buy.

TV's and home electronics...I leave them on continuosly for a month or so.

PC's....I run Memtest, United Devices, Prime and etc for a month or so when the PC is idle.


The majority of electronics items that fail are gonna fail in the first part of thier life. If you leave your TV on for a month straight and it makes it, more than likely you will get many years out of it past it's warranty. Nothing like a peice of gear dieing a month after the warranty expires.

 

[xdviper]

yeah i always test anything thats prebuilt. even toasters.

 

[Met-AL]

yeah i always test anything thats prebuilt. even toasters.

What is your process for stress testing a toaster?

I use the good old tried and true "dry your socks" method for stress testing my toaster.

 

[Carnival Forces]

Keep in mind that laptops DO NOT have the same thermal profile as a desktop, so I'd cut 'em some slack when it comes to Prime95, etc.....

FWIW - B.B.S.

see, that's what i'm worried about. I stress test my own systems, but i don't want to end up blowing this laptop up

even though it SHOULD run at full load fine (since it should be able to...) that doesn't mean it can ...damn mass manufacturers

 

[diablo111]

I would never buy a pre-built PC (except a laptop)...I build my own and also do it as a business...all of my builds and upgrades get stress tested, before it goes to the customer though

 

[Carnival Forces]

thanks for the replies...

let me rephrase my question:

Do you stress-test your LAPTOPS?
what happens when you do?
temps not an issue?

 

[Met-AL]

I don't own a laptop, but if I did, one of the things I would stress test is the battery. I would find out the characteristics of the type of battery it came with and cycle it. I wouldn't do this without checking, since there are some kinds of batteries that draining them completely dead can have adverse effects on their life expectancy.

I vaguely remember a review of a laptop where the reveiwer explained their testing methodology. They ran some sort of canned benchmark on it to stress test it "laptop style."

 

[KevC]

Lol. I didn't stress test my 600m. However, I did F@H basically 24/7 and this baby was running pretty much 60c the whole time ...

 

[Carnival Forces]

Lol. I didn't stress test my 600m. However, I did F@H basically 24/7 and this baby was running pretty much 60c the whole time ...

see though, you should Prime95 TortureTest it to make sure that the ALU is functioning properly (i.e. it can do math correctly) before you FAH it. They had to invalidate a bunch of answers once b/c people's proc's were wrong ...