Computer diagnostics other than PCPitstop?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ritter 197
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R

Ritter 197

I am looking for an online free computer diagnostics that works with AMD
hardware and windows XP.
I am familiar with PCPitstop but I think it is not up to date since it
tests the Video card only in 2 D mode.
 
Ritter said:
I am looking for an online free computer diagnostics that works with AMD
hardware and windows XP.
I am familiar with PCPitstop but I think it is not up to date since it
tests the Video card only in 2 D mode.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty general question, but if you are looking for hardware
diagnostics you don't want to do them from within Windows anyway.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

If you need more focused help, post back with specifics of what you are
trying to do.

Malke
 
in message
I am looking for an online free computer diagnostics that works with
AMD hardware and windows XP.
I am familiar with PCPitstop but I think it is not up to date since
it tests the Video card only in 2 D mode.
Click to expand...


Free only? Or paid software?

PC Pitstop downloads a small client to your host to do the testing. I
don't really trust them much. Their objective is to sell you
something, so they have a bias to find *something* wrong on your host
that something they sell will fix
(http://pcpitstop.com/store/default.asp). Their web site is a lure to
their commercialware. It isn't like they are being wholly altruistic
to the computing community.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmark_(computing)

If you are looking to benchmark your host, get some benchmarking
software. Futuremark has the 3Dmark and PCmark test programs. There
are free crippled versions and paid full versions. I remember using a
benchmark program that included a database of specs reported by other
users but don't remember if these had that feature. I never found it
of much use because not much of the testing environment was defined
and figures for what appeared to be very similar or same setups had
significantly different results. I usually ran the benchmark at least
5 times. The results might vary on the first couple of executions so
I would perform several retests to determine the typical or mean
results and note the variation. A benchmark that shows you that
something you did gave you 5% better specs means nothing if the
deviation wavers over 10% between successive retests. For burn-in,
some folks like to use Prime95 to heatup all their hardware
components. It doesn't benchmark. Another benchmark is Passmark
(www.passmark.com).

If you want to test or burn-in your hardware, you don't want to be
doing that inside of Windows. That only generates another vector for
error which has nothing to do with hardware-only problems or
performance. memtest86 is about the only freebie utility that I would
use but only tests memory. I have an AMD Athlon XP processor. There
is a memtest86+ program that is supposedly later than the original
memtest86 program and claims it has better support for AMD processors
but I found the opposite was true, so I only use the memtest86 program
(see
http://groups.google.com/group/24ho...707e667ea0/d1cc3cf67051e1d5#d1cc3cf67051e1d5;
shortURL = http://tinyurl.com/2pkvhx). I have an old v5 copy of
CheckIt Pro from SmithMicro
(http://www.smithmicro.com/default.tpl?group=product_full&sku=CKDWINEE).
It is paidware. I use it for a sanity test after building a new host
from parts.
 
That's a pretty general question, but if you are looking for
hardware
diagnostics you don't want to do them from within Windows anyway.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

If you need more focused help, post back with specifics of what you
are
trying to do.
Click to expand...

I ignored (corrected) the attempt to isolate the discussion to just
one of the original newsgroups. Malke used the FollowUp-To header to
yank the discussion from:

microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain

to just:

microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware

For those in the other newsgroups that wonder where the discussion
disappeared to, it went to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware.

FYI:

Proper netiquette is to announce in your reply that you used the
FollowUp-To header or altered the original list of newsgroups. Please
be polite to others. There are rare few newsgroups where the use of
FollowUp-To is appropriate. NANAE is an example of where discussions
of the spam sightings are to be kept separate of the exhibits. Only
if you know some of the newsgroups are unrelated or cross-posting
exceeds a reasonable count (4 or 5, or more) should you be altering
the Newsgroups header in your reply or using FollowUp-To to
deliberately disconnect the discussion from those other newsgroups.

I don't visit the other newsgroups
(microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support,
microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain) to know if they are
related to this one (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware); however,
changing of where the discussion continues should be noted in your
reply (and so noted in your reply to all the related original
newsgroups). You posted to those other newsgroups but failed to note
that you were attempting to yank the discussion to just one of them
which rudely disconnects the discussion from the other newsgroups.

Presuming you visit those other newsgroups to which the original
message was cross-posted so you are actually familiar with them, are
they truly unrelated to this one?
 
Ritter said:
I am looking for an online free computer diagnostics that works with AMD
hardware and windows XP.
I am familiar with PCPitstop but I think it is not up to date since it
tests the Video card only in 2 D mode.
Click to expand...

I assume you are already familiar with the tools that are included with
XP. Since you mention video, start with DXdiag.

Try CPU-Z to simply display CPU info.

Sandra delivers voluminous information about your PC. There is a trial
version and, last time I looked, a free version. Sandra does offer hints
to improve performance, but those hints should be taken with a large
dose of salt; the HD benchmark info is pretty misleading (since the
measurements are done through the filesystem).

SIW (System Info for Windows) is a freebie that displays lots of info
about your PC's software and hardware.

Belarc Advisor is a freebie, but it steers you to buy some stuff.

Everest is pretty good, and it includes some benchmarks. IIRC, it has
both a paid and a free version.

To benchmark HDs, HDtach is the only one I trust; you may prefer HDtune.

To benchmark CDs and DVDs, I use an app from Nero. There are others.

But neither PCpitstop nor any of the apps I've mentioned is really
a diagnostic. You can't (with a few exceptions) diagnose hardware or the
OS from an app running under the OS which is using that hardware. You
may be able to draw some diagnostic inferences from the reports given by
some of those apps, but the apps won't issue any specific diagnostics.
 
Thanks a lot for the various tips.
I had BELARC and SiSandra. I downloaded and installed SIW and HDtach.

Everest is apparently a pay program and I have not downloaded at this time.

IIRC could never find. Too many explanations, but no download of the
program. The same in Softpedia for CPU-Z. They never let you download CPU-Z
but always send you to another program.
 
Ritter said:
Thanks a lot for the various tips.
I had BELARC and SiSandra. I downloaded and installed SIW and HDtach.

Everest is apparently a pay program and I have not downloaded at this time.

IIRC could never find. Too many explanations, but no download of the
program. The same in Softpedia for CPU-Z. They never let you download
CPU-Z but always send you to another program.
Click to expand...

Everest Free Edition, suitable for checking device enumerations and
the like, is here. Everest was formerly known as AIDA32. It has
gone commercial, and you can purchase the latest version from
Lavalys.com .

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

You can get CPUZ here. This program is constantly updated, to
allow it to identify the latest chipsets on motherboards. It
generally has chipset support added, before the affected motherboards
are shipping.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Paul
 
Ritter said:
Thanks a lot for the various tips.
Click to expand...
You're welcome.
I had BELARC and SiSandra. I downloaded and installed SIW and HDtach.
Click to expand...
When you run HDtach, make sure no other apps are running, since other
apps will steal CPU time and perturb the reported results.
Everest is apparently a pay program and I have not downloaded at this time.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I'd forgotten. Everest used to have a free version (which I use).
My old version works on my older PCs, but probably won't recognize newer PCs.
IIRC could never find. Too many explanations, but no download of the
program. The same in Softpedia for CPU-Z. They never let you download
CPU-Z but always send you to another program.
Click to expand...
IIRC is not another program; it is an acronym for "If I Recall Correctly".

CPU-Z is available for free download from www.cpuid.com. IIRC, the author
of CPU-Z asks for a donation, but it is still classified as freeware.
 
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