Burn-In advice

[Loopy]

I was thinking about using Sisoft sandra for a burn-in test, I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions for free burn-in software. How many times should I run the whole burn-in test?

[Loopy]

Using burn in testing programs is if your a system builder to insure the system works prior to the customer getting their machine. other than that Personal usage nada.

Why is that?

[NooNoo]

You only need to burn in once. The burn in software gives the machine a good work out so any components that may fail under stress will fail in the burn in - rather than at the customer's house a week later. If it's for your personal use and you built it with decent parts, then a burn in should not be necessary.

[Loopy]

You only need to burn in once. The burn in software gives the machine a good work out so any components that may fail under stress will fail in the burn in - rather than at the customer's house a week later. If it's for your personal use and you built it with decent parts, then a burn in should not be necessary.

Ok, I understand that but why would I need to run one on a customers computer if I built it with decent parts, Peace of mind?

Bottome line is I want to make sure everything works.

-Thanks

[NooNoo]

peace of mind is good for customer service.

[Loopy]

The rig I'm building will have an Amd Athlon3700+ Asus A8N-SLI Premium 2gb of OCZ platinum ram 120gb Seagate HD Evga Geforce7800gt Soundblaster X-fi Lite-on Dvd burner Seasonic S-12 Power supply attached to a Cyberpower 900avr UPS, My goal is to make sure EVERYTHING is working properly thats why I asked about a burn-in test, Any advice on making sure my rig will be stable? Noonoo?

[confus-ed]

.. then a burn in should not be necessary.

Personally I don't think it is at all nowadays, component quality is much better than historically, & personally I don't bother generally ...

I'm of the opinion that for the very occasional time I have to pay for an item to be returned to me (or go fetch it), the amount of time I'd use doing the tests on all machines assembled by me, just isn't ecconomic (the only time I do 'burn in' is on a return to avoid looking really stupid ).

Mind I don't ghost images & such for new builds .. I always run a full install of 'whatever' operating system, so that & any subsequent s/w installs, act like a bit of a burn in test anyway.

If you do want to run burn in s/w - try this PassMark BurnInTest perhaps ?

[NooNoo]

The rig I'm building will have an Amd Athlon3700+ Asus A8N-SLI Premium 2gb of OCZ platinum ram 120gb Seagate HD Evga Geforce7800gt Soundblaster X-fi Lite-on Dvd burner Seasonic S-12 Power supply attached to a Cyberpower 900avr UPS, My goal is to make sure EVERYTHING is working properly thats why I asked about a burn-in test, Any advice on making sure my rig will be stable? Noonoo?

Stable - young grasshopper much can be made of this statement. Number 1 requirement - a good quality psu.

Software wise - install xp from the cd. Install the motherboard chipset drivers and agp driver if there is one. Now install video, sound and other peripherals (having checked you got the latest ones for it on a cd). Install a firewall (eg kerio not norton!) then connect to the internet - go to windows update... run all the updates - even with sp2 slipstreamed - that's still quite a list.

While you have no av - do NOT launch IE and go surfing while the updates download. Use the windows update icon. If you want to surf then install avg free to keep off the viruses while you get updated.

Update recommended as you will - but note if you do update say Windows media player - then go back to windows update to check for more security/critical updates.

Now install your antivirus - if it's norton or pc-cillin or other av with a firewall built in, uninstall kerio/avg first.

Now you are ready to install your other programs such as Nero or Office or whatever - check for updates for any of the programs you install and run the updates immediately. When you have installed all the program - back to windows update again to make sure that you get any updates which affect those programs and if you have installed Office - go to office update as well... that's usually 3 trips.

That's how I do it and I don't get stability problems when I run things in that order. Things do get screwy if you do windows updates after programs get installed or before loading the motherboard drivers.

[Ferrit]

Even good quality parts can fail out of the box or quickly there after.
If its a high end system install a game like Q3 BF2 or UT2K4 or whatever you have and play for a few hours then uninstall it