6 Best Overclocking and Stress Testing Software [Most-Used]

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Key notes

  • It is a good idea to perform benchmark tests on your PC before trying an application that can be too much for it to handle.
  • That's why we've prepared this list of overclocking test tools that you can use.
  • Want to read more about similar tools? You can find them all on our Diagnostics page.
  • Interested in other handpicked software tools? We have plenty of articles on our Software section.
test overclocking software

Overclocking involves changing the default frequency of one of your computer’s components such as the CPU or GPU.

You can overclock your system’s elements in order to achieve the best possible performance and if you really want to perform overclocking it’s recommended that you also test your system’s GPU and CPU before or after you install a piece of overclocking software just to make sure that things are going smoothly.

Overclocking is a complex process that can improve your system’s performance, but it can also lead to overheating issues and permanently damage your CPU or GPU, that’s why it’s essential to use a tool to test overclocking.

Here are five of the best program for testing overclocking to keep your system safe and sound.

As an example, the products listed here are considered the best software to test overclocked GPUs at 1080p.

What are the best overclock testing tools?

PRTG Network Monitor 

The next entry on our list can be considered more of a monitor than a dedicated benchmarking tool, but it does that job as well just fine.

That being said, PRTG Network Monitor specializes in monitoring, not just one PC, but rather an entire network of PCs, allowing you a better overview of the hardware that is on your network.

Of course, this doesn’t include just the overclocking capabilities of your PC, but also the systems, devices, traffic, and applications in your IT infrastructure.

Given its network-oriented build, PRTG is suitable for businesses of all sizes, and since it is a powerful and easy-to-use solution, you don’t need to be part of the IT department to know how to use it.

PRTG Network Monitor

Manage the way your PC uses your bandwidth with one of the best network monitoring tools on the market today!
Free Trial Visit website

If testing your hardware and performing benchmark tests is something that you do regularly, then it goes without saying that you should choose the best software to help you.

To that end, we present AIDA64. AIDA 64 isn’t exactly just one software tool, it is in fact a suite of software tools that can be used in various scenarios, such as Network diagnostics and even mobile device benchmarking.

Another great selling point of AIDA64 is the developer’s dedication, as they release weekly updates to it so that even those of you with the latest hardware will always find support using these benchmarking tools.

All things considered, depending on what exactly you need to test for overclocking, go ahead and choose between AIDA64 Business Extreme, Engineer, and Network Audit.

AIDA64

If you need to test whether your PC can handle the strain of being overclocked, then go ahead and test it with AIDA64!
Check price Visit website

FurMark

When it comes to hardware, the ultimate frontier lies in taking it through a test that can be performed with a neat benchmark utility such as FurMark. This software is targeted at aiming at stressing out your CPU and GPU to the max in order to reveal the true potential of your components.

Check out the tool’s best features below:

  • The deployment of this tool on your system is performed fast, and after it’s finished, you can bring up the main window.
  • The interface comes with a simple and classic design that manages to include all the necessary features.
  • The detected GPUs are displayed in the main menu, and the software supports a maximum of four GPUs.
  • You can choose to run a few predefined tests such as Burn-in test, Burn-in benchmark with higher resolution and more.
  • You will also get the opportunity to customize the test case in order to fully stress your graphics card.
  • You can also enable fullscreen mode, a custom resolution set and the level of Anti-aliasing.
  • The software lets you enable a dynamic background or camera, burn-in, extreme burn-in and post-fx.
  • You can also toggle an option that lets you know when the GPU reached a custom temperature so that you prevent its frying.

⇒ Get FurMark

MemTest86

MemTest86 is a free standalone memory testing program, and you have to boot this one from a USB flash drive. It is able to test the RAM in your system for all kinds of faults while using a series of test patterns and comprehensive algorithms.

The test algorithms have been developed for more than 20 years.

Check out the best features that are included in this tool:

  • You will get 13 different RAM testing algorithms.
  • The program supports DDR4 RAM, DDR2, and DDR3.
  • It also comes with XMP, high-performance memory profiles.
  • It provides ECC RAM, support for error-correcting code RAM.
  • This tool comes with a graphical interface, mouse support and it logs the results to the disk.
  • MemTest86 offers foreign language support.
  • This tool allows self-booting off USB or CD.

Unreliable RAM can result in a lot of issues such as crashes, corrupted data, and unexplained behavior. With MemTest86 you will be able to diagnose faulty RAM which is one of the most frustrating computer problems that is also really hard to pin down sometimes.

⇒ Get MemTest86 

HeavyLoad

HeavyLoad is targeted at stressing all the resources of a computer including, CPU, RAM, HDD, network, OS and more just to make sure how these work under heavy load.

This is really useful for assessing essential file or database servers before being able to use them productively. The program is also helpful to check out if your new PC might get overheated when you’re using it intensively.

Check out more great features that come with this software:

  • You will get a test option for full CPU load, and this test loads the CPU up to 100%.
  • HeavyLoad also creates a temp file to which it writes data continuously during the test process.
  • The program allocates memory so that your system has less available memory and the data rate at which the memory will be allocated can be customized.
  • There’s also a test for each one of the local partitions called TreeSize that runs in a continuous loop.

⇒ Get HeavyLoad

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility is a simple Windows-based performance-tuning program that can be used by both novice users and experienced enthusiasts to overclock, monitor and stress their systems.

Check out the most impressive features that are included in this software:

  • The program’s interface comes with a robust set of handy features that are available on the new Intel Application Processors and Intel motherboards as well.
  • This tool provides system information including data on CPU, memory, GPU, BIOS, OS, and motherboard.
  • You can benchmark your starting performance, overclock your processor, and measure your new performance as well.
  • It provides all controls to maximize the untapped performance of your CPU, GPU, and memory.
  • If you are interested how stable your overclock is, the included stress tests will help you test your system just to be sure.
  • You can also use the app profile pairing feature to apply the various overclocking setting to separate apps.

⇒ Get Intel Extreme Tuning Utility

These are the best five tools for testing the overclocking of your systems and no matter which one you decide to use, you’ll see that it works great.

It’s not enough to get some expensive pieces of hardware, it’s also essential to know how far you can push their limits but without having to worry about any potential risks of overheating and permanent damage.

That’s why it’s so important to use software capable of testing overclocking to monitor your system’s components.


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