CPU或中央处理器(Central Processing Unit)负责您的计算机必须执行的所有核心数学运算。尽管您的计算机中还有其他处理器，例如用于视觉的图形处理单元，但它们都没有(Graphics Processing Unit)CPU的通用灵活性。
您最不希望的事情是让您的CPU在某件重要的事情中摔倒。无论是激烈的在线游戏会话还是客户正在等待的重要视频渲染，了解您的CPU可以承受热量至关重要。这就是CPU压力测试发挥作用的地方。
什么是 CPU 压力测试？
CPU压力测试是一种软件程序，专门设计用于让您的CPU难以解决难以解决的问题。它为CPU提供了如此多的数学难题，以至于它的全部注意力都被占用了。最终结果是测试您的CPU可以完成的最大工作量。
大多数现实世界的工作，即使是那些使用 100% 的CPU的工作，也不会以这种残酷、持续的方式进行。您可能想知道为什么有人会想以这种方式折磨一个糟糕的CPU，但它实际上是计算机构建和维护各个方面的重要组成部分。
为什么要对 CPU 进行压力测试？
CPU压力测试旨在将您的CPU推到绝对极限，然后检查它是否可以处理如此繁重的工作负载。CPU(CPUs)在工作时会产生热量，需要保持在一定温度以下。如果它们变得太热，它们就会开始犯错，甚至永久损坏。如果CPU依赖的任何东西或 CPU 的某些子组件表现(CPU)不佳，压力测试通常会以崩溃或计算机挂起的形式揭示这些问题。
通常有两种现实世界的场景，压力测试很常见。第一个是在将所有内容放在一起后测试计算机构建。一些精品PC制造公司会有一个“磨合”期，即新制造的电脑24小时持续承受压力。这里的原因是，如果计算机中的任何组件出现故障，它们都会在老化期间出现故障。
运行压力测试的第二个原因是作为验证CPU 超频(CPU overclocking)的一种方式。Overlocking 值得单独研究，我们有很多关于这个主题的文章。简短的版本是超频的CPU已设置为高于出厂建议的速度。
每次超频CPU时，都应该对其进行压力测试，以确保它不会过热或不稳定。即使没有超频来测试新的冷却系统，压力(Stress)测试也很有用。现在的问题是：您应该使用哪些压力测试工具？
最好的 CPU 压力测试工具
有很多应用程序可以帮助您在CPU下点燃火焰。有些是高度专业化的，如果您的计算机是为它们所满足的CPU任务类型而构建的，则可能适合。然而，对于绝大多数人来说，有两个通用应用程序经受住了时间的考验。
Prime95是您可以在计算机上运行的最出色的软件之一。Prime95的真正目的是寻找最大的素数。也就是一个只能被一和它自己整除的数。您可以在首次运行该程序时选择退出该研究项目，如果您仅将其用于压力测试，则应该这样做。
当程序以压力测试模式启动时，您可以就具体惩罚做出一些选择。
“混合”选项最适合一般系统测试，但您可以看到其他一些选项针对特定组件。因此，例如，如果您想专注于RAM ，您可以。(RAM)
线程数将自动填充，但它应该等于系统中的内核数，或者如果您的CPU具有HyperThreading功能，则应为该数量的两倍。由于我们的计算机在这里有六个超线程(HyperThreading)内核，因此我们需要 12 个“工作人员”，正如他们在应用程序中所指的那样。一旦您对这些设置感到满意，只需按 OK，您就会看到这一点。
您的计算机现在正在全速运行CPU ，您会听到风扇瞬间旋转以处理额外的热量。(CPU)一旦您在所需的时间段内运行CPU压力测试（并且没有错误），您可以按Test > Stop让可怜的 CPU 休息一下。
与Prime95不同，HeavyLoad不是一个重新调整用途的科学工具。相反，它是一个从头开始构建的应用程序，用于压力测试计算机。这个程序最好的事情之一是你可以选择同时给你的GPU和CPU施加压力。如果您想检查整体系统稳定性并计划将计算机用于两种类型的处理器上的繁重任务，这一点很重要。
您可以使用工具栏上的便捷按钮切换应强调哪些组件。如果您对默认的CPU+GPU选项感到满意，只需按下播放按钮即可开始折磨。
HeavyLoad不会像(HeavyLoad)Prime95那样在(Prime95)CPU中产生那种致命的热量，但它确实代表了更现实的最大负载。Prime95是酷刑测试的黄金标准，但很少有任何真实世界的软件能够在数学上如此强大地击中你的CPU 。如果它在HeavyLoad会话中幸存下来，那么它对于视频游戏之类的东西可能会很好。
CoreTemp温度和系统信息( for Temperature and System Info)
进行压力测试的关键原因之一是查看您的CPU是否过热。CoreTemp是一款备受推崇的工具，可为您提供有关硬件的重要信息。例如，它会显示CPU(CPU)的实时时钟速度及其技术数据。
当然，使用CoreTemp的主要原因是实时温度读数。您的每个CPU内核都有自己独立的温度监视器。当您进行压力测试时，您会看到温度上升。如果您的CPU达到其最高额定温度，它会限制其速度以减少热量或让系统关闭以作为保护手段。
在CoreTemp中，您可以看到所有这些实时发生，如果您想知道不稳定的电压、节流或过热是否是导致不良CPU行为的原因，这是非常宝贵的。
选择正确的压力测试(Right Stress Test)方法
按下开始压力测试的按钮很容易，但不止于此！首先(First)，您需要运行CPU压力测试足够长的时间以使结果有效。一般来说，通过 24 小时的测试是系统不会在负载下崩溃的确定信号。
但是，如果您正在超频并试图找到频率、电压和风扇速度的最佳位置，则每次调整之间不可能有 24 小时。在这种情况下，您需要运行足够长的压力测试以使CPU温度稳定下来。这在空气冷却时很快发生，但在液体冷却时可能需要一段时间。在这种情况下，给它 15-30 分钟是一个合理的想法。
还值得注意的是，仅仅因为系统在Prime95下崩溃，并不意味着它不会以 100% 的可靠性运行视频游戏。如果您没有超频并且您的系统出现Prime95故障，这通常意味着改进您的冷却设置或检查所有冷却组件是否正常工作。
请记住最重要的规则：压力测试是针对您的CPU，而不是您！
How to Perform a CPU Stress Test
The CPU or Central Processing Unit is responsible for all the core mathematics your computer has to perform to work. Although there are other processors in your computer, such as a Graphics Processing Unit for visuals, none of them have the general-purpose flexibility of a CPU.
The last thing you want is for your CPU to fall over right in the middle of something important. Whether it’s an intense online gaming session or an important video render that a client is waiting for, it’s crucial to know that your CPU can take the heat. That’s where CPU stress tests come into the picture.
What Is a CPU Stress Test?
A CPU stress test is a software program that’s specifically designed to give your CPU incredibly hard problems to solve. It gives the CPU so many of these tough math problems that its full attention is taken up. The end result is a test of the very maximum work your CPU can do.
Most real-world jobs, even those that use 100% of your CPU, don’t do it in this brutal, sustained way. You might be wondering why anyone would want to torture a poor CPU this way, but it’s actually an important part of various aspects of computer building and maintenance.
Why Stress Test Your CPU?
CPU stress tests are designed to push your CPU to its absolute limit and then check whether it can handle such a heavy workload. CPUs generate heat when they work and need to stay beneath a certain temperature. If they get too hot they can start making mistakes, or even become permanently broken. If there’s anything the CPU depends on or some subcomponent of the CPU that’s not doing well, a stress test will often reveal those problems in the form of crashes or a hanging computer.
Generally there are two real-world scenarios where stress testing is common. The first is to test a computer build after putting it all together. Some boutique PC building companies will have a “burn in” period, where the newly-built computer is continuously stressed for 24 hours. The reasoning here is that if any components in the computer are faulty, they’ll fail during the burn-in period.
The second reason to run a stress test is as a way to validate CPU overclocking. Overlocking deserves to be looked at on it’s own and we have many articles on the subject. The short version is that an overclocked CPU has been set to a higher speed than the factory recommendation.
Every time you overclock your CPU, you should stress test it to make sure that it doesn’t overheat or is unstable somehow. Stress testing is also useful even without overclocking to test a new cooling system. Now the question is: Which stress testing tools should you use?
The Best CPU Stress Test Tools
There are plenty of applications out there which can help you light a fire under your CPU. Some are highly-specialized and might be suitable if your computer is built for the type of CPU tasks they cater to. For the vast majority of people however, there are two general-purpose apps that have stood the test of time.
Prime95 is one of the toastiest pieces of software you can run on a computer. The real purpose of Prime95 is to look for the largest prime number. That is, a number that can only be divided by one and itself. You can choose to opt out of this research project when you first run the program and you should do that if you’re only using it for stress testing.
When the program starts in stress testing mode, you get to make a few choices regarding the specific punishment.
The “blend” option is best for general system testing, but as you can see some of the other options target specific components. So if you want to focus on RAM, for example, you can.
The number of threads will be filled in automatically, but it should be equal to the number of cores in your system or double that amount if your CPU features HyperThreading. Since our computer here has six cores with HyperThreading, we need 12 “workers” as they’re referred to in the app. Once you’re happy with these settings, just press OK and you should see this.
Your computer is now running the CPU at full throttle and you’ll hear the fans spin up momentarily to deal with the extra heat. Once you’ve run the CPU stress test for your desired time period (and there were no errors) you can press Test > Stop to give your poor CPU a break.
Unlike Prime95, HeavyLoad isn’t a repurposed scientific tool. Instead it’s an app that was built from the ground up to stress test computers. One of the best things about this program is that you can choose to stress your GPU and CPU at the same time. This is important if you want to check total system stability and are planning to use the computer for tasks that are heavy on both types of processor.
You can toggle which components should be stressed with the handy buttons on the toolbar. If you’re good with the default CPU+GPU option, just press the play button and the torture will commence.
HeavyLoad doesn’t create the sort of deathly heat in a CPU that Prime95 does, but it does represent a more realistic maximum load. Prime95 is the gold standard for torture testing, but few it any real-world software is going to hit your CPU right in the math with so much force. If it survives a HeavyLoad session, then it’s probably going to be fine for something like a video game.
CoreTemp for Temperature and System Info
One of the key reasons to do a stress test is to see if your CPU is overheating or not. CoreTemp is a well-respected tool that provides you with crucial information about your hardware. For example, it shows you the real-time clock speed of your CPU as well as its technical data.
Of course, the main reason to use CoreTemp is the live temperature readout. Each one of your CPU cores get their own individual temperature monitors. When you run a stress test, you’ll see those temperatures climb. If your CPU reaches its maximum rated temperature, it will either throttle it’s speed to reduce heat or for the system to shut down as a means of protection.
In CoreTemp you can see all of this happen in real time, which is invaluable if you want to know whether unstable voltage, throttling or excessive heat is responsible for bad CPU behavior.
Choosing the Right Stress Test Methodology
It’s easy enough to hit the button that starts a stress test, but there’s more to it than that! First of all, you need to run the CPU stress test for long enough that the result is valid. Generally speaking, surviving the test for 24 hours is a sure sign the system won’t fall over under load.
However, if you’re overclocking and trying to find the sweet spot for frequency, voltage and fan speeds you can’t have 24 hours between each adjustment. In that case you’d run the stress test long enough for the CPU temperature to stabilize. This happens quickly on air cooling, but can take a while on liquid cooling. In which case giving it 15-30 minutes is a reasonable idea.
It’s also worth noting that just because a system falls over under Prime95, doesn’t mean it won’t run video games with 100% reliability. If you aren’t overclocking and your system fails Prime95, this usually means improving your cooling setup or checking that all cooling components are working correctly.
Just remember the most important rule: The stress test is for your CPU, not you!
