How to Stress Test a Computer

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Co-authored by Yaffet Meshesha

Last Updated: April 4, 2024

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This article is on how to stress the processor and RAM of a computer.

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If you have a slow internet connection and are looking to test a network intensive program, use the networking tab info; otherwise select the performance tab.
- Here are some live graphs of your computer, these will go up when we test it.
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Start opening as many programs and clicking as many things as you can, also be watching the task manager for the effect of your effect.
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5
Watch the just RAM/memory - the graph that is more straight and labeled as some sort of memory is RAM. RAM ranges from 256 MB to 512 MB to 1 GB to 2 GB and even 4 GB. Note: 512 MB is 1/2 GB. If you have KB's of RAM, it's time to upgrade. When you open a program and see the small box with the programs name while it is loading, the program is loading from the hard disk to the RAM. The more RAM you have, the more programs you can run at once. A common place to get more memory is crucial.com.
- Processor/CPU - the more spiky graph represents the processor or CPU of your computer. Do you have enough "Intel" inside? If the computer doesn't respond as fast as you like when you click something, you may consider a new computer with a faster processor. The processor is the brain of a computer, that is, the processor executes commands to open a program, whereas the RAM is the temporary memory to run a program. You will notice that whenever you click something, the CPU spikes.
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6
If you already tested your computer, you may wish to do so again if you did not read about RAM and CPU first. Close all programs and wait for the CPU to settle, then
- If you see that your processor of RAM maxes out and hits the top of the graph area under normal activity, you should consider more RAM, or a new computer with a faster processor.

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Tips

Adding more RAM will help your speed. This is because if the processor has more RAM to work with, it can work faster. Adding RAM is usually the first thing you want to do to speed up your computer.

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Warnings

Make sure you don't click an unknown program when testing, it could be a virus.

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