Stress testing unstable PCs from within Windows always posed a risk of corruption to the OS registry and files. But now, thanks to Linpack Xtreme for Linux and the lightweight Porteus Linux, you can stress test without those worries anymore. The bootable version of Linpack Xtreme integrated on Porteus Linux is just 320MB in size to fit on CD/DVD/USB.

Porteus is a lightweight and portable implementation of the Slackware Linux operating system that can be installed on a CD/DVD, MMC/SD card, USB flash drive or hard drive. Once installed on the storage media of your choice, it can be run on almost any PC, giving you the power and freedom of Linux anywhere you go.

Linpack Xtreme is a console front-end with the latest build of Linpack (Intel Math Kernel Library Benchmarks 2018.3.011). Linpack is a benchmark and the most aggressive stress testing software available today. Best used to test stability of overclocked PCs. Linpack tends to crash unstable PCs in a shorter period of time compared to other stress testing applications.

Linpack solves a dense (real*8) system of linear equations (Ax=b), measures the amount of time it takes to factor and solve the system, converts that time into a performance rate, and tests the results for accuracy. The generalization is in the number of equations (N) it can solve, which is not limited to 1000. Linpack uses partial pivoting to assure the accuracy of the results.

Linpack Xtreme was created because Prime95 is no longer effective like it used to be. LinX, IntelBurnTest, OCCT use outdated Linpack binaries from 2012. Modern hardware requires modern stress testing methodology with support for the latest instructions sets.

Linpack Xtreme is available for Windows, Linux, and as a bootable media. The bootable version is considered to be the most superior as the Linux SMP kernel is a lot more sensitive to hardware instabilities than Microsoft Windows. Watch this video for a short comparison of Prime95 vs. Linpack Xtreme.

Make sure to keep an eye on the temperatures as Linpack generates excessive amount of stress like never seen before.

Instructions:

1. Burn the ISO to a CD/DVD, or extract it to a USB flash drive and run the installer (x:\boot).

2. Boot from CD/DVD/USB.

3. Edit the file 'settings' to customize the stress test parameters. Define the number of runs, set problem size and leading dimensions according to the desired amount of RAM to be used:

11026 for 1GB

15825 for 2GB

22611 for 4GB

27818 for 6GB

32209 for 8GB

35000 for 9.6GB

4. Double click on run_stress_test or run_benchmark, select open and then execute in terminal.

5. Monitor temperatures from the taskbar (top right corner) or with the included run_sensors script.

Notes:

* Linpack's output will be saved in a file named results.txt.

* You can also stress test from text mode: login as guest, type 'mc' to launch Midnight Commander, navigate to the desktop folder, edit the file 'settings' and select the desired run script.

* The password for the root account is toor.

* The i586 version is meant for old hardware, it cannot access more than 8 threads and 2.5GB of RAM.

Downloads:

Bootable Linpack Xtreme with Porteus Linux i586 | Mirror #1 | Mirror #2

Bootable Linpack Xtreme with Porteus Linux x86_64 | Mirror #1 | Mirror #2