X2 dual core cpu's + dual Prime95 for stability testing (fixed)

[Angry_Games]

since this has been asked a zillion times to me, I thought I'd make a short easy little guide for those of you running dual core X2's and Pentium4's with two logical cores.

 

 

 

install prime95

 

then right click the exe and send a shortcut to your desktop. rename this Prime95-1. Right click the shortcut and put a space after the last character in the Target box, and then -A0 (thats an A and a zero)

 

then right click the original exe for prime and send another shortcut to the desktop. Rename this Prime95-2. Right click on this shortcut, and at the end of the target line, put a space and -A1.

 

so it should look like this:

 

 

 

double click each shortcut and you should get both prime95 boxes up.

 

Next you have to go to Advanced - Affinity. This tells Prime to only use 1 instance per specific cpu!

 

(thx for all of you that found my error in the original!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now go to Options - Torture Test...then down to Custom. You will see in the circled box how much memory Prime95 wants to use (this rig has 1GB of memory).

 

 

what you have to do is remember that you have TWO instances of this running, so divide this number in half. I always like to give a little leeway, so half of 927MB is 414...so I only use 400MB per cpu (this assures that the system wont over-use the physical RAM and end up accessing the pagefile...keep in mind both cores @ 400MB of memory each is VERY stressful!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

open your Task Manager (crtl+alt+del) and you'll see two physical cores in the cpu box...click OK on one of the primes, and you will see 1 core go up to 100% use.

 

click OK on the second prime and you will see the second core go up to 100% use.

 

 

[JazzMang]

Thanks angry

[Angry_Games]

i did this on my single core 4000+ so i can't show you the task manager running both cores @ 100%...but it works lol. I've used this method since i got my first Pentium4 with Hyperthreading.

 

if you can get BOTH cores to run @ 8h without failing, then it is OC Database worthy (or just stable as hell if you are not overclocking!)

 

 

in my X2 overclock database entry, I could get 2750Mhz to run easily (250x11).

 

but

 

one core would fail within 23 minutes (the longest i could get it to run). the second core would run for 16+ hours.

 

 

backed down to 2650Mhz, and both cores would run for 12+ hours each...so i considered 2650Mhz my max stable clock on the cpu because if one core fails and the other goes and goes and goes...well thats not really stable right?

 

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...497&postcount=9

 

 

[bimg]http://www.angrygames.com/ocdb/angry/x2_2640/x2_2640-1.jpg[/bimg]

[Angry_Games]

ok I fixed the original post. Thx Jazzman and johnrr6 for pointing out the need to set CPU Affinity (been a while for me since I ran this setup haha)

 

all fixed in this section of the forum and the regular 64-bit mobo section sticky.

[Tony420]

any idea how to set the default affinity on startup with other apps? (BF2 for instance)

[Angry_Games]

there is no 'default affinity' on 'normal' software.

 

benchmarking software is not 'normal'. It is specialized.

 

games and applications are not 'normal'.

 

they detect what type of cpu config you have and if they can take advantage of Hyperthreading or SMP, they will by default.

 

Some applications and some games (like Quake3 server) can take advantage of SMP but they usually only have a 'SMP enabled or disabled' switch.

[Tony420]

Im not asking for it to magically be default. I was asking for a command line switch that works for any shortcut (sorta like the win2k tool)

[Angry_Games]

there is none that I know of on any software other than console commands (Quake3 server you can disable SMP support with a config at shortcut or within the console and then restart)

 

google is your friend to find if there is any software that you can do this with.

[timpanogos]

most real running apps would not want affinity. Especially as multithreaded apps start to come out ...

[Tony420]

All I know is if I tab and make BF2 run on CPU1 and then set priority to Realtime it gets a shitload smoother

[Angry_Games]

 

i use a single core cpu @ stock speeds (2400Mhz) and 4x512MB with 6600GT and i can play in high res with all details on high and it never stutters once.

[Tony420]

 

i use a single core cpu @ stock speeds (2400Mhz) and 4x512MB with 6600GT and i can play in high res with all details on high and it never stutters once.

 

 

keyword being 4x512MB