OT: New CPU burn-in

[WebShock]

How to do properly burn-in a new computer in?

Fresh from the factory and want to do it right. I read somewhere that this is a must for uber tweaked gaming rigs but i cant find anything good on google.

any experts that can give me a few tips? thanks

(burn-in = breaking a new system in. I.E you would have to break in a new engine on that illegal street race car you just built if you want it to work at its full capacity)

one last thing, is this necessary if you dont want to overclock your rig?

[~Drav~]

use it ? :p that should be a good place to start O_o

[WebShock]

drav lol i dont think you know what i am referring to.

any advanced computer hardware guru's out there than can help?

[Glok]

Burn-in is a myth. A stupid myth. Solid-state electronics do not improve by being nearly overloaded. :rolleyes:

[GT_Rince]

Manufacturers used to (and some still do) say they have a 48 hour burn-in periond. This was nothing more than leaving a small program running that went through set cycles for graphics, I/O, CPU tests, etc... This never achieved a thing, other than making sure the system didn't fall over after being setup with its new owner.

So no, Burn-in is not something you need to worry about - just switch it on and off you go. Loading the CPU and other components to almost max capacity does f*ck all - lol

[evs]

As glok states - 'burn-in' is a myth.

BUT

It is useful for testing with temperatures etc.

Search for prime 95 or sisoft sandra 2004 and run their memory / cpu tests in a loop for a few hours.

3DMark2003's CPU test is also good for this.

run a temperature program (theres loads available) to watch your cpu temp and record over this period.


come back a few hours later and see when the temp peaked, and if its too high (remember after certain temps your cpu will start throttling down and running slower) and work out how you can improve this.

i.e better thermal compound, re-seating the hsf, new hsf etc

hope that helps

[winnoc]

I always do some burn outs with a new system LOL

No, i overclocked my athlon 2200 to 147/147 fsb, it's running at 52°C and it is running noticeably faster.

I would say, use rivatuner for speeding up your grafics card if it has nvidia stuff in it.

And do some memory too.
Also, use a small older harddrive and use that one as swapmemory space for you system. It stops the pc from having to write and read from the harddisk all the time for mem dumps.

[Argent]

Originally posted by evs
As glok states - 'burn-in' is a myth.

Not quite, it actually works but it helps only a bit overclocking. And it takes weeks to do it properly so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but HC overclokers who have too much money and time to spend.

BTW Burn in _DOES NOT EQUAL_ running the CPU at 100% for certain time, it's only small aspect of the whole thing.

[Psyco Groupie]

"Burning In" is often thought to help your overclocks cos your stress the hardware or whatever ...

But in reality its just waiting for the thermal paste etc to harden, running a 'burn in' prog would do this quicker because ofextra heat produced ...

all in all its a myth, like thermal acceleration

[Mighty Max]

like thermal acceleration

Thats also a good thing. Infact it does accelerate some processes in the CPU ... but none you like to have.

1. Thermal use up of the silicon
2. Capacity loss on the cach needing more refreshes
3. RC-components quicken up, getting the CPU out of circle (The R decreases on silicon with heat, as well as the capacity does)
4. leak currencies raise quick with heat

[icarium]

when overclocking it can help from my experience. although i would go with psycho and say its probably the thermal compound bedding in that makes the difference. think it usually takes 50-80 hours uptime for arctic silver to fill in all the gaps and stuff

[Psyco Groupie]

Originally posted by Mighty Max
Thats also a good thing. Infact it does accelerate some processes in the CPU ... but none you like to have.

1. Thermal use up of the silicon
2. Capacity loss on the cach needing more refreshes
3. RC-components quicken up, getting the CPU out of circle (The R decreases on silicon with heat, as well as the capacity does)
4. leak currencies raise quick with heat

That will only occur if you at like 90 o/c

[Mighty Max]

I should have used more of these, didnt i? :

:D :o ;) :lol: :angel: 8|

[SynC_187]

What people call "burn in" is just QA.
Testing.
Get diagnostic software running to test all the hardware.

I'm in computing now, but I was in electronics.

There is no real reason that any hardware on a PC needs a run in time, except for fans (distributes the grease inside better), but that will happen over time anyway.

[kurai]

"Burn in" is a mis-nomer.

As manufacturers use it, it's only a test to winnow out DOA or borderline tolerance spec components before shipping.

Statistical analysis of system failures show that something like 80% of component failures in modern electronics will occur within the first 48 hours of service.

Therefore it's just a cost saving measure, as return/replacement procedures once system has been delivered are a lot more expensive to handle. It does absolutely nothing for the performance or lifespan of the components that pass.

95% of overclockers who use the term have absolutely no idea what they are doing/talking about, and seem to assume that it's a process analagous to engine running-in.

The 5% who do use the term advisedly are looking for effects so ludicrously miniscule as to be entirely lost to background "noise" (.i.e. thermal compound molecule alignment, ion bleed across connections to reduce point contact resistance, physical bedding in of components from thermal expansion etc etc)

All in all it's a somewhat pointless excercise, even when you do know what you are doing.

If you *don't* know what you are doing then you actually have mroe chance of degrading performance than anything else.

[Glok]

kurai tells it like it is. :)

[WebShock]

thanks for saving me the trouble :D

i just noticed the horrible typo on my first sentence :mad:

i meant to say....

how do you properly burn in a system?

acck i look like a nib on that grammer lol

[icarium]

erm just leave it doing something for a while :confused:

[CarniFlex]

how to burn in a system... since you already got a few good answers ... HERES A BAD ONE :D

Gasoline and matches.