Hi -

 

I'm about to install a new (well, used but new to me) CPU on my unRAID box.  I'd like to burn it in for a while while monitoring CPU temps.  There are a number of utilities out there, but do any of you have experience with one that is compatible with our version of Linux and displays CPU temp?  Or, a strategy using multiple tools for exercising the CPU while monitoring CPU temp?

 

Thanks

Set bios to shutdown based on the temp you don't want to pass. Then run the newest memtest in multy core mode. That should work very well at what you want.

I have never done it on Linux - but have used a program called "prime" to generate CPU load on all cores and one of a number of tools to monitor CPU temp. These tools are often used with overclocking. So you might search for "Overclocking with Linux" and may find a prime-like tool that can generate load and a tool to monitor CPU temp with unRAID. (I think there is already a tool for monitoring CPU temp accessible via unmenu, but don't remember exactly).

 

Memory access will generate some load, but not like prime which is computationally intensive.

I presume what Brian is referring to is the Prime95 benchmark, which stresses a CPU by computing Mersenne Primes ... a VERY computationally intensive task.    This is often used for stress testing CPU's.

 

I'm not aware of any updated Linux version of this, but there is an older version for Debian which would may work on Slackware (I really don't know).

 

The download is here:  http://fgouget.free.fr/distributed/prime-net-en.shtml

 

I found the following instructions for running it under Debian, which may be helpful:

 

---------------------------------------

After downloading the package, change to the directory it's in and run:

dpkg -i prime-net[hit TAB]

 

You can start the test with:

/etc/init.d/prime-net

 

And stop it with:

/etc/init.d/prime-net stop

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As I noted, I've never run this under Linux ... but it's an excellent CPU stress test.

 

 

Yep, that's the one.

Thanks, I'll check out Prime.  I also have unMenu installed so I'll look for something there to monitor CPU temps.  I know it's available on the SysInfo page, but I'd like to find something that updates on it's own.

As I noted above, it's actually called Prime95 ... that's what you need to search for if you're looking for other versions.

 

Most current CPU include the memory controller. Prime95 will not put much load on the memory controller (by design). Once the operating temperature has stabilized, a memory test is a good idea. Since you are not concerned about the speed, you can run both at once.

Here's the ones you want.  They are referenced on the page previously posted but not in a deb package just tarball for linux 32 or 64 bit.

http://www.mersenne.org/download/

 

Linux 32bit

http://www.mersenne.info/gimps/p95v285.linux32.tar.gz

 

Linux 64bit

http://www.mersenne.info/gimps/p95v285.linux64.tar.gz

 

I used the 32 bit a while ago.

Hi -

 

Prime95 worked very well.  I initially tried to get BOINC setup to support Seti@Home, but it was more pain than it was worth - the Berkeley distribution in theory had statically linked libs but wouldn't start up for me with missing file dependencies.  Prime95, on the other hand, was very easy to install and get running.  The only hard part was figuring out how to restart the test the 2nd time - it's option 4 of 15, btw... 

 

I ran Prime95 in a screen session.  It nicely pegged all 4 cores at 100%.  I have unMenu installed, and it in turn installed the lm-sensors package.  So, back in the main terminal session I ran a:

 

watch -n 1 -d sensors

 

Which gave a nicely updating display of CPU temp and fan speed, etc.  Combined with htop I felt like I had a good idea what was going on.

 

Thanks, all.

If you are still interested in BOINC on your unRAID, it is fairly easy to make it work in a VM if you are using an unRAID 6 beta. I have it running completely headless with remote management from my Windows machines.

Just for grins, what were your CPU temps at 100% utilization?

... and for what CPU?

 

 

 

Finally added a sig...

 

Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz cooled with a Rosewill RCX-Z300 92mm fan:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200034.

 

Core 0 peaked at 61*C, the others peaked around 59*C.  Only ran for about 5 hours, but it seemed very stable over that period.  Asus QFan seldom called for more than 1/2 the RPMs the cpu fan was capable of.

Those temps are fine for 100% utilization after a long time.

 

That's what I was thinking.  Idle temps are in the low-mid 30's and brief CPU spikes were causing temps to push into the 40's/50's.  Only sustained 100% loads from prime95 pushed it to ~60*.