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New desktop - checking for faulty hardwares
Hi, I just finished building my desktop. Its specs are:Motherboard: ASRock H61m/U3S3 GPU: amd radeon 6670 1gb ddr3 CPU: i3-2100 WD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320gb Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply Ram: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model TW3X4G1333C9A G I finished the HDtune pro trial test, and the result from the error test showed that everything was okay (all green). The health tab says that everything is okay. The benchmark, however, shows that my minimum reading speed is 1.4MB/s, while the max was about 100+MB/s (I have to redo it; forgot the exact numbers). I read online that if your minimum speed is below 25% of the maximum speed, the HD is faulty... Is this true? Also, how do I test for CPU? Do I just do a stress test? (intel burn test vs. prime 95) And for GPU test, can I just play D3 and see if it crashes or not? Or is that not a very good test? Thanks again! |
| 06-08-2012, 08:48 AM | |
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I would run Western Digitials diagnostics CD to test the HD. Drives do slow down a ton when you are doing certain types of write/read patterns so I would not be too worried. What your suggesting for CPU testing will work. I would probably lean to OCCT vs prime 95 but intel burn works too http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ might work well for the GPU. D3 is not Super GPU intensive so its not a great test. You might just run a good general PC benchmarking program too, since they would test all of this.
If your hardware has problems you usually find out pretty quick, so I would not be too worried. Vague questions receive vague answers . . . . . .
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Thank you!
This is my first build, and it was really stressful... I thought that I screwed up multiple times - especially when I was trying to pull the lever down to secure the CPU (It required decent amount of force). Anyway, hopefully all these tests will show no problems... And for the HD, are you talking about this? Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS in http://support.wdc.com/product/do...aviar_Blue Also, there seems to be something wrong with my internet connection for this desktop. Some files download at ~10kbps, while some (like the diablo 3 installler) goes upto 2MB/s. The problem is that, over time, the speed will continuously decrease until it's 0. Do you know what's wrong with this? |
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Data Lifeguard DOS (CD) is the one you probably want. Burn it to a CD. You may be able to use the non-CD one on a flash drive. Do you have that internet problem with other computers? Does the speed actually reach 0? Have you installed / updated all of your drivers (especially chipset drivers)? Some ISPs do funny things with speed boosting, etc that depend on file size and what not. Marshall: Have the rest of you guys figured out by now that mmathis is the smartest guy on SlickDeals?
www.pardus.at - only for those with little or no life |
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And yep, I updated everything and internet download speed is fine for other computers (laptops with wireless). The speed does actually reach 0, but then after a while it went back up to 2MB/s lol. I think it might be my LAN connection. I am trying out wifi now. By the way, do you know how I can boot that DOS with a USB? |
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I would recommend against stress testing this system above and beyond your regular daily usage pattern. Prime95 truly does stress a system and causes unnecesasry wear-and-tear. Your motherboard has very minimal cooling on the chipset and no cooling whatsoever on the mosfets so it will surely get very hot.
I say this because I noticed that the manufacturer of my newest motherboard [msi.com] actually makes this suggestion right on their product page. |
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--CPU-Z for general information --Checking your BIOS settings to make sure the SATA, IDE, DMA settings are correct --Assuming you're using Windows, opening up the properties of the hard drive and make sure the options are correct. Sometimes the default settings aren't optimal for your hard drive. --Checking your hard drive jumper settings (usually the default is okay but you never know) --Checking the cable connecting your hard drive and motherboard (on both ends) and checking which SATA/IDE socket on the motherboard you're connected to Last edited by swupak; 06-10-2012 at 10:22 AM.. |
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I don't think you can really test a CPU but only its cooling, in which case Prime95 or another burn-in test can help.
I'd worry mostly about the HD and memory because those tend to be the least reliable components, and about all memory modules with heatsinks on them are made with junk or overclocked RAM chips. If the HD you're testing is the boot drive, then it's common for the reported speed to dip way, way down. I test with a self-booting program, MHDD, because when it scans drives, it reports slow sectors, not just outright bad ones, and many sectors need a few attempts to be read successfully, and with some 2TB HDs it's not unusual to find 1-10 that each needed over a dozens spins (seems to be consistent with models). There's a Windows version of this, called HDDscan, but it gives a lot of false positives, possibly due to delays caused by Windows. I test memory overnight with several diagnostics, including Gold Memory, MemTest86, and MemTest86+. The last two are very similar but sometimes give different results. If the memory doesn't pass every test with zero errors at the default automatic settings and the recommended voltage, reject it, regardless of how many modules are installed or which sockets. I'd never trust memory rated for 1.65V. I'd run Furmark on the GPU. |
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