I’m looking to run a proper stress test on my PC—mainly to check its stability, thermals, and performance under full load. There are so many tools out there that it’s hard to tell which ones are trustworthy or still actively maintained.
What’s the most reliable way you’ve found to stress test your machine, especially in a QA or dev context?
@isha.tantia If you’re aiming to test the entire system’s stability, OCCT and AIDA64 are solid choices. OCCT runs multiple types of stress tests, including for power supply, CPU, and memory, with built-in thermal monitoring. AIDA64 offers detailed diagnostics and long-duration system stress tools, although it’s paid.
I usually start with a 30-minute OCCT run, followed by a longer AIDA64 test to confirm stability. It’s saved me from launching critical workloads on unstable hardware more than once.
From a developer/QA angle, I find it more meaningful to simulate realistic stress conditions rather than just maxing out every core. Tools like Prime95 (for CPU), MemTest86 (for RAM), and FurMark (for GPU) are granular and let you isolate bottlenecks or hardware faults.
In addition, if your testing stack involves browser automation, using LambdaTest to run automated Selenium tests across multiple browsers simultaneously is a neat way to stress both your network and CPU (especially if using local test runners). It’s not a synthetic benchmark—but it replicates real-world load more accurately.
If you don’t need granular diagnostics, Cinebench and Unigine Heaven offer simpler benchmarks that still stress CPU and GPU effectively.
I often use Cinebench to compare before/after thermal paste application or hardware upgrades. For gaming-focused users, it gives a quick reference for performance under real load.
For RAM and storage, CrystalDiskMark and HWiNFO round out a solid lightweight toolkit. Not as deep as enterprise tools, but for general system health and heat management, they’re reliable and fast.