Best utilities for stress testing in 2020

[Regeneration]

New threads related to unstable overclocks and defective hardware pop up on a regular occasion. It is often asked how to stress test some component. Below you'll find my top picks after weeks of testing - updated for 2020.

GPU
Unigine Heaven
FurMark / MSI Kombuster
*GPUs tend to clock down due to power and thermal limits when running FurMark*
*Lower resolutions put more stress on the VRMs*

Video RAM
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark
*Set to maximum quality and run in a loop*

Memory modules (configuration, timings and overclock)
MemTest64
HCI MemTest (one instance per thread)
*Best run from safe mode without a pagefile*
Linpack Xtreme

Memory modules (physical integrity)
MemTest86

Processor
Linpack Xtreme
Prime95 small FFTs

Integrated Memory Controller
Prime95 custom run of FFTs from 512K to 1024K with 90% of RAM
Linpack Xtreme

Northbridge, bus and PSU
Prime95 custom run of FFTs from 512K to 1024K with 80% of RAM + LuxMark or FurMark running in the background at 720p.

 

[citay]

RAM stability testing

The best tool to test RAM stability is from Google, and it's called GSAT (Google stressapptest). It has been specifically developed by Google to detect memory errors, because they use ordinary PCs instead of specialized servers for a lot of things. The only downside, it's takes a bit of time to set up. But i would be remiss if i didn't acknowledge that this tool is the best stress test for RAM.

To run GSAT, you first have to enable the "Windows subsystem for Linux":

Then open the Microsoft Store app and install "Ubuntu".
Run Ubuntu, and enter the following commands (copy each line, then right-click into the Ubuntu window to paste):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install stressapptest

Then you can start GSAT with the command:
stressapptest -W -M 12000 -s 3600

This example tests 12 GB of RAM (in case of 16 GB total, because you need to leave some for Windows), for 3600 seconds (one hour). You can also enter -s 7200 for two hours.
At the end, it has to say Status: PASS.


Alternatives:
HCI Memtest is quite good. There is a useful tool for it, called MemTestHelper: https://github.com/integralfx/MemTestHelper/releases/tag/v2.2.0
It requires Memtest 6.4, which can be downloaded here: https://www.3dfxzone.it/programs/?objid=18508
(Because in the newest Memtest 7.0, they made a change so that MemTestHelper doesn't work anymore).

Put both tools in the same folder. Start MemTestHelper, and with 16 GB RAM, you can test up to 12000 MB (the rest is for Windows). Let it run until 400% are passed. That's a good indicator that your RAM is stable. If you want to make really sure, let it run to 800%.

Another popular tool among RAM overclockers is Karhu from https://www.karhusoftware.com/ramtest/
But it costs 10€ to register, so i would just use the free ones (unless RAM OC is your hobby).

A quick way for detecting more obvious RAM instabilities is TestMem5 or TM5 for short: https://testmem.tz.ru/tm5.rar
Used with this config file: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BJTTsxMUX1278b9pjI_eRe5qYnJ6SZcT
Put it in the "bin" folder and rename it to MT.cfg
With 16 GB RAM, it should take roughly 15 minutes and gives a good indication of basic stability. If stable enough, it will say "of errors is not detected".

I would still test with MemTestHelper or GSAT as the final step.

 

[stead]

Linpack extreme will pick instability up over anything else for me without a lovely hardlock or bsod, however, going to have a look at that google tool now, many thanks!

However, playing frostpunk (frostpunk on gamepass) will bring my system to a lovely hard lock even hours of various stress testing tools, its got me to put my cpu stock settings at the moment

 

[citay]

Linpack Xtreme is very good for overall stability testing, yes. But i have found GSAT to be the toughest test for RAM-specific stability.

 

[citay]

I had to replace the Memtest link, because the original link still said "Download Memtest 6.4" (which works with MemtestHelper), but was actually giving out Memtest 7.0, which does NOT work properly with MemtestHelper. The proper Memtest 6.4 for use with MemtestHelper can be downloaded here (checksum verified): https://www.3dfxzone.it/programs/?objid=18508