Should prime95 really be used?

[Michael Warren]

Well you have a dual core so you can run prime on one core while doing w/e on the other core.

 

[Xstatic]

Well you have a dual core so you can run prime on one core while doing w/e on the other core.

What difference does that make? I thought single cores could multitask just as good as dual cores? And when you prime with dual cores you prime both at the same time not 1 at a time.

 

[Michael Warren]

What difference does that make? I thought single cores could multitask just as good as dual cores? And when you prime with dual cores you prime both at the same time not 1 at a time.

I have heard of people running the single core original version of prime and testing both cores seperatly. You might not know this but prime utilizes 100% of the core that you are running it on so you cant really do much but let it test. I can normally surf the web or do w/e while running prime but thats because I have 2 gigs or ram and my OS isnt clogged up with junk.

 

[Michael Warren]

Wow who told you that single cores can multitask better than dual cores. I cant believe that you believed them. LMAO

 

[brakezone]

Single cores can multitask fine until you have two processes that request as much CPU time as is available.

Failing the blend but passing the other tests may be a sign of memory or memory controller instaiblity.

 

[Nexus Realized]

Wow who told you that single cores can multitask better than dual cores. I cant believe that you believed them. LMAO

I'm pretty sure he knows that dual core multitask alot better than a single core...besides the purpose of this forum is about information just in case he didn't know that, so I really have no idea why you would be laughing your as* off at him assuming he didn't know

 

[Michael Warren]

I know that he was being sarcastic I was just playing along. I believe that single cores can multitask just fine but eventually when processors start to get really fast HDDs will become the bottleneck in some things.

 

[Trypt]

A question: Will p95 eventually crash no matter what clock you're using?

In my system, the second core fails after about 24 hours in any overclock past 2.6ghz and with any voltage. The first core seems to go on forever but I have never tested past 48 hours.

Most people on here are happy if their system passes 8 hours of p95 or something like that. So, should I be worried about my 2nd core failing after a full day?

 

[rseven]

I don't think it's supposed to fail at all, but I think the priority 10 would eventually kill a system as it stresses things to the max. I have never gotten an error later than 16 hours and i have Primed for as long as 27. At some point you need to draw the line as you can't run Prime for a week unless computer is being used for a Moon mission!

 

[inkfx]

I used to not like Prime because my 3400+ would never pass it at anything above stock speeds, no matter what. I had my 3400+ at 2668mhz 24/7 and played games and ran every program without a problem, never one BSOD. Now that I have this new proc I have been using Prime but havnt done that much testing.

 

[squads]

I figured i'd mention that my rig right now is dual prime stable but I can't run 2 instances of superpi. It errors immediately when I run 2 (each assigned to a separate core), so I think there might be some problem running 2 at once with a dual core. Anyone else run into this problem?

 

[hawtrawkr]

I figured i'd mention that my rig right now is dual prime stable but I can't run 2 instances of superpi. It errors immediately when I run 2 (each assigned to a separate core), so I think there might be some problem running 2 at once with a dual core. Anyone else run into this problem?

you still only have the one memory controller even with the 2 cpus when you run 2 instances of superpi it puts a tremendous strain on the memory controller and that might be exposing some instabilities. try backing it down 5htt and see what happens or at stock speeds even it should be able to run both to a point but the numbers wont be stellar.

 

[hawtrawkr]

I can normally surf the web or do w/e while running prime but thats because I have 2 gigs or ram and my OS isnt clogged up with junk.

actually thats because its running at a low priority so when you go to do other things prime just gets put on the back burner while your doing whatever else your doing. if you set your priority that prime runs at higher it will put more stress on the cpu and all but cripple your system as the prime calculations will take priority over anything else.

 

[Rattle]

i think the amount of ram it uses by default with 2 gb of ram leaves enuff left over to do most tasks lag free regardless of priority even when cpu is 100% utilized

 

[The Coolest]

It's really a personal preference and determined by what you use the computer for. I don't run my computer at anything that isn't 24 hr prime stable, but that's because I fold 24/7. If it's crunching something for 12 hrs, and prime fails after 2, well you can see the problem. For people who only game and use the internet or whatever, a few hours is more than enough.

Again though, the longer it's prime stable, the less chance you will end up corrupting some random important Windows file down the road.

I personally believe in a 100% stable system even if it means I have to back off from an overclock I REALLY wanted.

'nuff said.
I fold 24/7. And I write programs. I can't allow my system to be anything less than 100% stable. Getting a crash when you're half way into writing something and not having it saved, or get the whole file you're working on corrupted because of an unstability is something I do everything I can to avoid.

 

[Jakalwarrior]

My computer works just fine when running prime.....I don't know about yours.

It works but it defeats the purpose. If im running WOW with some MP3s playing and prime is only getting 30% clock time, whats the point?

 

[RoadWarrior]

something to think about is this. i myself dont know of anyone who has run prime95 for 24 hours without an error and couldnt run a benchmark or failed a superpi calculation etc etc etc.

Well you do now, hi!

I wasted 2 weeks "priming" one rig on and off. overnight runs, 24-36-72 hour runs. Solid as a freaking rock in prime95, but couldn't get through more than one pass of 3DMark2K1, I could also lock it up within 5 mins by running Toast and Sandra benchmarks at the same time. I therefore mistrust prime95 as an "ultimate" stability test. If it fails, you've got serious issues, but if it passes, it doesn't mean squat. Not saying 3DM is ultimate either, I've seen that run where other benchies fail. I myself don't bother with it now, I prefer looping other benchies while toast is running, seems more severe. I'll also note that every AMD XP rig I've got here, if it will load win98SE without throwing a registry error when overclocked, it will run prime95. I could have claimed OC glory back in the day by a screenie of 24hr prime95 on an aircooled pally @ 1.9G, but I didn't because I knew it didn't work worth crap for anything else at all, (Explorer would keep bluescreening for fricks sake) "stable" was back down at around 1766.

IMO prime is outdated and a waste of time for determining true stability, use something more intense in the first place. On my CPUs it runs about 8C cooler than Toast and 5C cooler than folding gromacs, to me that's not a sign of something that stresses your CPU to the max.

Road Warrior

 

[speed bump]

I have to agree with RoadWarrior

personally with my current CPU and overclock I didn't run any synthetic benchmarks other than superpi 8m to see if it was stable. Then I loaded up some unreal and went on a gaming binge, my computer has not crashed once and I didn't waste my computer cycles trying a program that I know could run all day and still not show that my computer would crash in PCmark04

 

[hawtrawkr]

Well you do now, hi!

I wasted 2 weeks "priming" one rig on and off. overnight runs, 24-36-72 hour runs. Solid as a freaking rock in prime95, but couldn't get through more than one pass of 3DMark2K1, I could also lock it up within 5 mins by running Toast and Sandra benchmarks at the same time. I therefore mistrust prime95 as an "ultimate" stability test. If it fails, you've got serious issues, but if it passes, it doesn't mean squat. Not saying 3DM is ultimate either, I've seen that run where other benchies fail. I myself don't bother with it now, I prefer looping other benchies while toast is running, seems more severe. I'll also note that every AMD XP rig I've got here, if it will load win98SE without throwing a registry error when overclocked, it will run prime95. I could have claimed OC glory back in the day by a screenie of 24hr prime95 on an aircooled pally @ 1.9G, but I didn't because I knew it didn't work worth crap for anything else at all, (Explorer would keep bluescreening for fricks sake) "stable" was back down at around 1766.

IMO prime is outdated and a waste of time for determining true stability, use something more intense in the first place. On my CPUs it runs about 8C cooler than Toast and 5C cooler than folding gromacs, to me that's not a sign of something that stresses your CPU to the max.

Road Warrior

some good points there but bear in mind that prime tests cpu and some memory last i checked it didnt do much with videocards and power issues (which is what you could have been facing)

also ive never once said "run prime if it passes all is golden" im just saying if you can pass prime there isnt much you cant do with regards to your cpu/memory you start running 3dmarks and that draws much more power and puts strain on not only psu but chipset and other things as well but your cpu should be able to do the 3dmark runs if it can pass an extended prime run the problems probably somewhere else

 

[squads]

you still only have the one memory controller even with the 2 cpus when you run 2 instances of superpi it puts a tremendous strain on the memory controller and that might be exposing some instabilities. try backing it down 5htt and see what happens or at stock speeds even it should be able to run both to a point but the numbers wont be stellar.

I tried this at stock and it failed immediately again...seems like an anomaly.