Stress testing CPU of Mac in Windows 7

C

carrierPigeon

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
162
I have a Mac, which has a core 2 duo processor. Since I just got this computer, I was thinking about doing a stress test on the CPU. But, I wanted to go easy on it as it's an old processor. I was leaning towards using the Intel processor diagnostic tool https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/?product=36750

It's only made for Windows, but I could run it because I have Windows 7 installed using bootcamp. Bootcamp is a multiboot utility that lets me boot into Windows on the computer. You see, you can't run Windows directly this Macs because the EFI does not support Windows, or maybe it's an issue of drivers. When I load up Windows and run hardware monitor, the computer utilization gets up to 50%, or even a little higher. Mind you, this is with nothing else running. So, I am concerned that the CPU would get overworked by the Intel processor diagnostic tool. Is this ok to run, or should I try another avenue?
 
You can't really overwork a CPU. You can overheat them but that's only going to happen if your cooling solution isnt adequate.

May I ask what exactly are you looking to accomplish or gain out of this?
 
FlawleZ said:
You can't really overwork a CPU. You can overheat them but that's only going to happen if your cooling solution isnt adequate.

May I ask what exactly are you looking to accomplish or gain out of this?
Click to expand...
I suppose I am trying to figure out if the computer has an issue, because if so, I will return it to the seller.

I was reading some other threads on this forum where some were saying that some versions of prime 95 might overwork Intel 3rd and 4th generation processors. Maybe that would also apply to later processors (or additional processors) but perhaps at the time of the posts, such information was not widely known.
 
I'm very experienced with running Windows via Bootcamp on Macs from all different years. Tell me the model Mac you have and I may be able to help figure out the high CPU usage.
 
mothman said:
I'm very experienced with running Windows via Bootcamp on Macs from all different years. Tell me the model Mac you have and I may be able to help figure out the high CPU usage.
Click to expand...
It's the one on the left hand column here
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...i-core-2-duo-2.0-early-2009-nvidia-specs.html
It has 4GB of ram
I tested the ram (memtest 86+) and the hard drive so far. I also used Apple Hardware diagnostics, which seems to test various hardware.
I was mainly trying to do a quick test just to make sure no major problem.

Kind of off topic but I was surprised that when I opened up the machine there was almost no visible dust in there. But, first time for me opening up a laptop-like machine so maybe it's not surprising for someone that has been through that before. I didn't go too far in, though. There are a couple of screws that secure the optical drive, that are a pain because about 1/2 inch in front of the screw is something obstructing access to the screw. I should figure out some better tools for when I go back in there to replace the hard drive.
 
If you're in a native boot environment, like bootcamp, there should be no issues running stress tests.

I'd be more inclined to do a GPU test loop though, and memory tests.

It's rare for a CPU to fail with time, but both RAM and GPU's can (and historically have, especially with Nvidia GPUs) developed major issues over years. Especially in poor thermal environments, which many all in one mac's (and laptops) have.

The issues experienced with prime 95 and such are that they don't really parallel real-world workloads, and can lead to errors due to poor thermals and other various errors.
 
Arcygenical said:
If you're in a native boot environment, like bootcamp, there should be no issues running stress tests.

I'd be more inclined to do a GPU test loop though, and memory tests.

It's rare for a CPU to fail with time, but both RAM and GPU's can (and historically have, especially with Nvidia GPUs) developed major issues over years. Especially in poor thermal environments, which many all in one mac's (and laptops) have.

The issues experienced with prime 95 and such are that they don't really parallel real-world workloads, and can lead to errors due to poor thermals and other various errors.
Click to expand...

This. The mass majority of failures from Apple C2D systems back in those days, were from the Nvidia GPU's going TU. That would be the first thing I would test, using 3DMark, Furmark, etc.
 
What Mac OS are you running ? (Did you clean install or are you running what it came with. That machine will run El Capitan) and did you install the Bootcamp Win 7 ? 32 or 64 bit...……..I have had instances with a 2009 MacBook Pro with high CPU usage where re-installing the Graphics driver cleared the issue. You can get the GeForce 9400M driver from Nvidia, the older Apple version aren't available. Also if you did just install Win 7, run Apple Software Update and see if it updates any drivers.
 
mothman said:
What Mac OS are you running ? (Did you clean install or are you running what it came with. That machine will run El Capitan) and did you install the Bootcamp Win 7 ? 32 or 64 bit...……..I have had instances with a 2009 MacBook Pro with high CPU usage where re-installing the Graphics driver cleared the issue. You can get the GeForce 9400M driver from Nvidia, the older Apple version aren't available. Also if you did just install Win 7, run Apple Software Update and see if it updates any drivers.
Click to expand...
I am running OSX 10.11.6. I clean installed it; it came with a version that did not have the Apple hardware diagnostics, so maybe the seller installed it from a CD instead of downloading it.
I installed Windows 7 64 bit. Windows 7 seems to be the only operating system that you can install on this (perhaps there is a workaround not talked about by Apple).
The CPU usage jumps around from around 10% to 65% after the new install.

Thanks for the tip on getting the GeForce driver. I'm finding that Apple doesn't make things easily available (Apple Hardware diagnostics, Versions of programs that work with 10.11.6 in App Store, etc).
 
mothman said:
What Mac OS are you running ? (Did you clean install or are you running what it came with. That machine will run El Capitan) and did you install the Bootcamp Win 7 ? 32 or 64 bit...……..I have had instances with a 2009 MacBook Pro with high CPU usage where re-installing the Graphics driver cleared the issue. You can get the GeForce 9400M driver from Nvidia, the older Apple version aren't available. Also if you did just install Win 7, run Apple Software Update and see if it updates any drivers.
Click to expand...

I reinstalled Windows because the default that OSX allocated for Windows 7 (32GB) isn't enough if you install all non-optional updates (admittedly I could have gone through them and hand picked updates but figured it wasn't worth my time).

Installing the video drivers seems to have helped. The driver version that first got installed was a little old.

I have been having problems booting into Windows. I get a black screen after the Windows animation finishes. I seem to be able to get it to boot to Windows on about 10% of attempts.

I am not sure what you mean when you say to run Apple software update. I don't see anything new in the "update" part of the app store. There were 4 updates total available, 2 of which I got, the other 2 I do not plan to get (one has to do with file types from certain digital cameras, the other has to do with remote desktop). No new software updates showed as available once I set up Windows 7 using Bootcamp assistant.
 
Though your machine's EFI is 64 bit I did see that the Max Windows was 7 32 bit. Are you saying that bootcamp assistant auto installs the Win 7 32 bit or do you provide the iso for it to install. What I meant by 'Apple Software Update' it's on the Windows side, I think you'd find it in all programs, it updates bootcamp drivers. Hey also are you familiar with the Win 7 Convenience Roll-Up ?...…...Here's a link to check out...…..https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-for-windows-7-sp1-and-windows-server-2008-r2
 
mothman said:
Though your machine's EFI is 64 bit I did see that the Max Windows was 7 32 bit. Are you saying that bootcamp assistant auto installs the Win 7 32 bit or do you provide the iso for it to install. What I meant by 'Apple Software Update' it's on the Windows side, I think you'd find it in all programs, it updates bootcamp drivers. Hey also are you familiar with the Win 7 Convenience Roll-Up ?...…...Here's a link to check out...…..https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-for-windows-7-sp1-and-windows-server-2008-r2
Click to expand...
Thanks, I didn't realize that the only available OS is Win 7 32 bit. I had installed a 64 bit version. Now I have to create a Windows 7 32 bit DVD (apparently, you can't use a USB drive as the Windows installation media for my model, according to a poster on the Apple forums). I will check the Windows side for the software to update the drivers.

I had found a support article written by Apple that said to install AMD drivers just like you would if you were on a Windows machine. My computer was not the specific model that Apple was talking about in the article and my onboard video is not AMD. So, I wrongly went with that method.
 
Arcygenical said:
I'd be more inclined to do a GPU test loop though, and memory tests.
Click to expand...

Is a GPU loop test the same as bench marking? I also couldn't find much info on the differences between bench marking and stress testing. It seemed that search results were talking about either one or the other.

Is there a test that I can do that would help confirm that the video is in reasonable working order without much risk to causing a lot of wear to the GPU? The computer is about 9 years old so the motherboard (including on board components) could fail at some point in the relatively near future. I am looking to get about 4 years of life out of it at this point. I am not going to do any gaming or video editing on it.

Novabench didn't seem to have much data (from other users of my vid card), the GeForce 9400M. Although there were some similar models listed that might have more data.

With Heaven benchmark, I didn't see any benchmark data from other users of my video card.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top