Best software for stress test and hard drive check?

[BandofBrothers]

Hey guys,

Sorry for another thread, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many (fast) replies I got in response to my other thread

I am looking for recommendations for the following type of (free?) software:

1) Stress test software that will work with both AMD and INTEL systems - something that will test the system for stability. I know about memtest86 and the bootable cd for testing system memory stability. Is prime95 torture test still the best? Is there something similar that can be booted off a cd?

2) Hard drive health checker - again, looking for something that can be run within windows and also via bootable cd. I have been using "Hard Drive Sentinel" for some time - but am not 100% convinced by the results. I tested a drive and it said 100% health with no problems - but upon booting windows, the drive would constantly need to be checked.

Thanks so much for any recommendations you may have

 

[kilobravo]

Linpack linx for testing cpu.Select "all" ram and 20 run.

The ultimate cpu test is running F@H 24/7

 

[BandofBrothers]

Linpack linx for testing cpu.Select "all" ram and 20 run.

The ultimate cpu test is running F@H 24/7

Is Linpack linx only for intel cpu's?

 

[kilobravo]

Is Linpack linx only for intel cpu's?

No,you can use all type of cpu`s

 

[BandofBrothers]

No,you can use all type of cpu`s

Thanks, downloading now. Will give it a try

 

[kilobravo]

What do you have for cpucooling?

 

[BaMb1N0]

iozone is the way to go if you want to take your harddrive to the limit. that's what we're using to benchmark our EMC and HP EVA storage devices and the fibre channel fabric network.

http://www.iozone.org/

running against linux with EXT3 or EXT4 you will be able to completely eliminate any cacheing effects. there are almost none left under NTFS too, if configured properly. but honestly i'd have to look the settings we use.

for CPU i'd use cinebench or prime.