If you’ve ever spent time in PC enthusiast communities, you’ve probably come across people benchmarking their PCs and stress testing them to push them to the limits. These numbers are a good indicator of how well your hardware performs, but they’re not entirely for vanity.
There are quite a few reasons why you should regularly benchmark your hardware. Stress testing your PC isn’t just for bragging rights among hardcore tech nerds—it’s much more useful than that.
Stress tests do more than just push your CPU
Find hidden issues before they become real problems
Think of stress testing like a health checkup for your PC. Just like you might feel fine but still benefit from a doctor’s visit, your computer can have hidden problems that only show up under heavy loads. Stress testing pushes your CPU, GPU, and RAM to their absolute limits to see how they hold up.
These tests simulate extreme workloads, significantly increasing internal temperatures and usage to levels you might never hit during daily use, and that’s the point. The goal isn’t to break your system; it’s to find stability or other potential problems before they turn into bigger issues.
One of the major weaknesses in your system that stress testing can detect is thermal issues. When you stress test your system, you’re generating the maximum heat your CPU, GPU, RAM, and other internal devices are capable of. If you’re cooling system can’t keep up, your PC will likely shut down in the middle to prevent thermal damage. Besides, running a system with bad thermals can degrade your components over time, shortening their lifespan significantly.
If you’ve recently installed new RAM or updated your BIOS, stress testing can reveal any stability issues that you might not notice during normal use. It’s also a good way to test your new RAM kit to ensure it runs at advertised speeds.
Another major area where stress testing can help is validating warranties and RMA claims. If your brand-new hardware turns out defective, stress testing provides concise technical documentation of the problem.
Last but not least, stress testing your system is the best way to prepare it for demanding workloads. If you’re building a PC for video editing, 3D rendering, or competitive gaming, you need to test it beforehand to check if your PC can sustain the heavy load these applications put on it. Stress testing is the easiest way to figure out how intensive a task your PC can handle before running into problems. That way, you’re prepared when you’re actually working, so you don’t lose out on work or a gaming session to a random crash you never saw coming.
When and why to run a stress test
Not every day—but the right time can save your system
You should ideally run stress tests every time you buy a new PC or add new hardware components. This is especially true for ultra-thin laptops as they tend to heat up more under stress, which can result in less than advertised performance.
Built your own PC? Stress testing shows you whether all your components play nicely together. You’d be surprised to see how often parts become incompatible under heavy loads.
On older PCs, stress testing can reveal issues in the cooling system or individual components. This can save you from having to spend money on upgrades when you can likely improve performance by better cooling or fresh thermal paste.
Stress tests are also a good idea if you’re selling or buying a PC. Sellers can prove their hardware works properly, and buyers can verify they’re not being scammed. Knowing that the hardware you’re buying can perform to its full extent gives peace of mind that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Testing your PC isn’t a very technical task either, and you don’t need to run every test under the sun. There are quite a few free benchmarking programs for Windows that can help you stress test your PC, and if that isn’t your thing, you can even play games to benchmark your Windows PC.
The test itself doesn’t have to be very technical—any workload or program that pushes your system will do. There are, however, CPU and GPU-specific tests that let you stress those particular components. Most programs like Prime95 or AIDA64 can test your CPU, and there’s no shortage of tools to stress test your GPU, either.
Make sure to monitor your temperatures while the test runs. You can use a program like HWMonitor or HWiNFO to get real-time temperature readings of your CPU and GPU separately during stress tests. If your CPU stays below 194°F (90°C) and the system is stable, you’re good to go. The same applies to your GPU.
Real performance only shows under pressure
Workloads don’t lie
Stress testing isn’t about being paranoid or obsessive. It’s about knowing your system can actually handle the type of workloads you’re planning to use it for. Whether you’re checking a new build, troubleshooting performance issues, preparing for demanding tasks, or validating a used purchase, stress testing provides information you simply can’t get any other way. Without risking your work or data anyways.
Your PC might run fine most of the time, but if it fails under load when you’re rendering a video on deadlines or at the brink of a comeback in a competitive match, it’s a really frustrating experience. Spending an hour stress testing your PC even once a year can save you from these issues.