BOINC as a hardware diagnostic tool
9 Jun 2007 12:44:27 UTC
Topic 192832
(moderation:
Does anyone have experience in using a BOINC project as a (simple) harware diagnostic tool? Is it safe to assume that if einstein@home works without problems on a given PC (results are getting validated without issues), then there are no hardware problems?
Sorry if I am asking a stupid question :).
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." A. Einstein
BOINC as a hardware diagnostic tool
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I don't think this is a good idea in general for the following reasons:
a) E@H or BOINC projects in general stress the CPU pretty well, but would be a poor test for harddisk or graphics card related issues
b) some validation and client errors are common with E@H, so you will have lot's of "false alarms"
The only think I would use E@H for in a hardware test scenario is CPU cooling.
I think there are dedicated hardware stress tests and diagnosis tools available that would serve your needs better than E@H. Havibng said that, this shouldn't keep you from crunching for E@H for the benefit to science, of course.
CU
BRM
For CPU and RAM Stress-tests
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For CPU and RAM Stress-tests i would use Prime95 (Torture Test), not a scientific Application.
Yeah, for single core
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Yeah, for single core computers I'd recommend Prime95, for multi-core CPU's I'd recommend Orthos. For RAM stress testing I's recommend Memtest86+.
PCMark05 will test the various subsystems of your computer including hard drives, memory, graphics, and CPU and then spit out a score. The score doesn't really matter, if the tests run smoothly your computer should have no hardware related problems.
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. - Richard Feynman
RE: RE: Does anyone have
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I agree with Bikeman here. However I do often run BOINC in addition to other test programs (usually after at least one successful cycle of the test). This insures that no matter what the CPU is pegged while the tests are running.
BOINC WIKI
BOINCing since 2002/12/8
RE: For RAM stress testing
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I had a pair of Crucial Ballistix that could run Memtest86+ for several loops without failing but gave errors in Malariacontrol, I got a new pair that would last for 6 months and then the same errors came back. I have now removed the crap and replaced it with simple standard Kingston memory and had no problems so far.