Bench marking and burn in testing

[Blueharmonic]

Hi,
I no I must sound very thick, but please can some one explain what Bench marking and Burn in testing is.

Regards
Blueharmonic

[cwin]

Benchmarking is finding out how good your computers is by putting it to the test
Burn in testing is testing the computers speed and stability
:t

[fishybawb]

Benchmarking involves testing your individual computer component or whole system (more frequently a combination of the two) with a standardised test. You can then compare your "score" against other peoples'.
Burn-in testing stresses a single component as much as possible to check it for errors/instabilities. Typically people use it to test that their overclocking or tweaking hasn't led to increased instability.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

"Typically people use it to test that their overclocking or tweaking hasn't led to increased instability"

Not always.....I use it more for new builds for others that I do. So I know while still under newegg/manufacturer warrenty if the parts are good. Heat'em up real good and if they are weak they WILL fail NOWW not 9 months later. Which is what you want. If its weak better to go now and not after its a betch to return or streight out impossible. Mem and cpu and mobo, HDD are all gonna show bad things if they are heated up and not in good shape. Which is what you are trying to see. If it will fail under stress. Most will stress tests will stress anything you want. i set to do everything not just one at a time excpet cdrom/floppys! Loop all day and if no errors by next its good to go and I know it should be O.K. for years and years.:t

[ch0wdy^]

I typically benchmark with 3dmark2001 right after i overclock a bit (ie: upping fsb by 5mhz or so, upping multiplier, OCing videocard a bit, etc...) after 3dmark2001 runs through her entire slew of tests i compare it to my last benchmark so i can know how much of a performance boost my changes make. Afterwards, i leave SETI@Home running overnight to crunch some numbers, this would be a burn in process. If SETI@Home is still chugging away when i wake up, then i know that my setup is probably stable and will last on those settings a good ways.:t