In an update to the industry standard benchmarking tool 3DMark, developers Futuremark have added a new Stress Test utility to determine system stability when testing an overclock or more general 'bedding in' time.
The 3DMark Stress Test runs the system through a given number of loops of the Fire Strike, Fire Strike Ultra, Fire Strike Extreme or Sky Diver test scenarios, logging key metrics along the way. In order to pass the test a system must:
1 - Complete the specified number of loops, and
2 - Retain at least 97% frame rate stability (indicating no throttling during the test period)
.2 - Retain at least 97% frame rate stability (indicating no throttling during the test period)
The new test is a considerable step up from the previous functionality, which looped runs but included a brief pause between each. Now the card is kept at ~99% load throughout, extending to over a day and a half with the Professional Edition of the suite.
Alongside GPU activity and frame rate the Stress Test logs CPU and GPU temperatures, and CPU frequency. As a result it should become an worthwhile 'first look' tool to assessing component weaknesses if stability tests fail.
Basic and Steam Demo versions of 3DMark cannot operate the Stress Test according to the technical documentation, but its possible that they're merely limited to a 10 minute run. 3DMark is available direct from Futuremark, or from the Steam Store.
