Processor test: the best applications to check your cpu

Virtually all gamers will have ever tested the processor, by this we mean to see in an almost always numerical way how our processor or even our entire team behaves. But the tests not only serve to look at this, they will also be interesting to locate possible operating errors, high temperatures or incompatibility with other hardware.

Index of contents

In this article we will see in a quick and agile way a large number of applications that will allow us to precisely look deep enough at our processor so that unpleasant events never occur again or we go blind when buying a new one.

Why are we interested in testing the processor?

To enter context, we must first comment on at least the main reasons why it will be interesting to test our processor.

As we all know, the processor is the hardware element in charge of performing all, or at least most of the operations that programs require to run and to perform actions on a computer. It is the element that is responsible for giving meaning and understanding to all the data that circulates through our PC, from the hard drive to all the peripherals and expression slots

Seeing that a CPU is so important, and without going into issues of compatibility or operation, in these tests we will look for a series of numerical results or information that reflects the performance of our processor and possible errors or anomalies in its operation. We can summarize them in the following:

• Know complete information of our CPU: there are many programs that give us a complete list of specifications of our CPU so that we can buy it with other CPUs and start learning more about manufacturers and models on the market. Know the workload: we will also be able to know if our operating system or programs are consuming abnormally high resources of our processor, thus causing poor performance. Identify anomalies in the compatibility with other hardware or internal problems: Intel offers us a tool precisely to detect that our CPU works correctly with all the hardware and internally. Detect high temperatures: for this, we have applications that check the core temperatures in real time when the processor is subjected to an intensive stress cycle. Know the performance of our processor and PC with benchmarks: they give us an almost always numerical result that we can buy with other equipment or CPU in the market to see how good our CPU is. Evaluate actual gaming performance using FPS counters: if fluency is important in a game, and that is measured in frames per second, the more, the better our gaming experience will be.

Without further ado, let's start with this complete list of utilities to test CPU in a complete and professional way without spending a single euro.

Check characteristics, the load in cores and correct operation

The first section that we are going to touch on is precisely the most basic of all and also the most important for users who know absolutely nothing about their CPU. We talk about looking at features such as CPU brand and model, number of cores, amount of cache memory and frequency that it is capable of reaching.

In the same way, we will take a look at possible data that give us an idea of ​​whether our equipment works correctly and as expected.

CPU-Z

Let's start with the basics, look at what CPU we have and what are their technical characteristics. To do this, we will use the free CPU-Z software. In the first and second option we will have everything related to our processor, but, in addition, we will also be able to know the motherboard, and even the RAM memory and how we have it installed.

With this software we can detect if the memory is installed in Dual Channel, for example, the chipset we have and the generation of the processor.

Windows Task Manager

Let's continue with the simplest, it will be the Windows Task Manager. A natively installed program that gives information about processes running on our system, and consumption of resources such as CPU, RAM, network and hard drives.

To open it, we will only have to right-click on the taskbar and click on the name in question. Or, if not, we will press the combination " Ctrl + Shift + Esc ". What interests us is in the " Processes " section to see the consumption of each program, and in " Performance " to see the general load of our hardware.

If we want to go one step further, click on " Resource Monitor " and open another program that offers more complete information on basic hardware.

With this software we will detect if there are processes that are saturating our processor or memory, as well as possible viruses or unknown programs that use our network or hard drive abnormally.

Intel CPU Diagnostic Tool

Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool, which is what it is actually called, is a diagnostic tool for supported Intel processors. This test consists of verifying the correct operation with a process in which it checks the make, model and technical characteristics of the CPU and performs a series of stress tests on the processor to see if any problem arises in the integrity of the cores.

We have an article explaining in detail what this tool consists of and how to get it freely.

Intel CPU Diagnostic Tool Article

This program is useful to know if the entire set of instructions of our CPU works correctly, if it is an original CPU and also if it integrates correctly with the rest of the hardware we have, chipset, memory or board.

Aida 64

This program is a little more serious, referring to the integrity of our team. Among many other things, Aida 64 is a family of programs aimed at offering us hardware and system diagnostic tools through stress and performance tests. There are trial versions of its different utilities, although it is essentially paid software.

In the " Tools " section we will have a stress test option with which we can evaluate intensively and for as long as we deem appropriate the performance of our CPU at maximum performance. We recommend never stressing hard drives and stopping the test as soon as we see too high temperatures.

The intention of the test is to know if our refrigeration system works correctly and is capable of responding to simulated stress. In the same way, we will see if our CPU works correctly.

Check temperatures

After having commented on the Aida 64 tool, it is necessary to download a program that gives us detailed monitoring of the temperatures of our processor and its cores.

HWiNFO

HWiNFO is possibly the most complete free software that exists in terms of monitoring the temperature, voltages and frequency of our equipment. And it is that it not only monitors the CPU, but also all the sensors that are on our motherboard and the rest of the hardware, such as a graphics card or hard drives. Basically we can know everything that is happening on our PC on a single screen.

Open Hardware Monitor and HWMonitor

If so much information overwhelms us, there are also somewhat simpler options for free, such as Open Hardware Monitor and HWMonitor, two free applications quite similar to the previous one, but with fewer sensors in the monitoring panel.

With these programs we will be able to detect abnormally high temperatures in our processor and immediately act on our fans or heatsink to improve the equipment. High temperatures over 70 degrees start to get too high for a normal CPU without overclocking.

Check performance (benchmark)

In this section we will see some tools that give us numerical results of the performance of our processor. Thanks to this processor test, we can compare it with other models or even with other identical CPUs mounted on different computers.

Cinebench

Cinebench is also a free program that is very easy to use and that is used to perform a performance test on our CPU. In this test we will get the number of FPS under OPEN GL with a graphical test, and scores on the speed of rendering an image in both multi-core and single core.

3DMark

3DMark is one of the most famous programs in the world for gaming testing and graphic performance. Not only is it a benchmark software for computers, but it also has a free application for Android with some graphic tests available. Unfortunately, in this case it is a paid program, although it has a basic version with a test that we can download directly from steam.

That program evaluates the joint performance of CPU and graphics card in different tests to buy the score with a huge list on the internet.

PCMark 8/10

PCMark is another program with a paid license from the same creator as 3DMark, although in this case it offers a test more focused on evaluating the performance of a PC for generic tasks, such as browsing, office cards, and playing multimedia content. Similarly, PCMark 8 has a free basic version on Steam that we can download without problem or cost.

7-Zip

Yes, the free file compression and decompression software also has a performance test for our CPU, of course from the point of view of the capacity and speed of file compression.

To do this, we will have to open the program and go to the " Tools " menu. Inside, we will have the option of " Benchmark ". With this test we will be able to see the number of operations per second of the processor, the speed in terms of compressed KB / s depending on the configuration of cores and blocks that we choose.

wPrime 32M

wPrime is another one of those free software very easy to use with which we can see the calculation speed of a series of processes executed by the program. We must bear in mind that this software must always be run as administrator, and we must use it without loading other programs in the system, so as not to alter the results. In Set Thread Count we can modify the number of threads with which the program will benchmark.

Check performance (games)

Finally, any user who has a PC built to play, will want to know how it performs with the most demanding games installed. Synthetic tests only give us a guide to how it might perform, but until we try a real game we won't be able to know if it is indeed good or bad.

Let's remember that with more than 50 FPS, the gaming experience will be very good, and the more, the better. Of course, the more game resolution or more graphic quality, the less FPS we will get, because the PC will have a harder time moving all the textures.

Fraps

Fraps is probably the best known software in the community to collect FPS at the moment we are playing. It is a free program that is very easy to use and works with practically all current games and equipment.

In the " 99 FPS " section we can assign a key to start and end the test, choose the FPS options and the position of the HUD in the game. Sometimes it happens that the markup is not shown in the game, but really if we press the key, it is collecting data. These can be seen in " View " and the file " FPSLOG"

MSI Afterburner

MSI Afterburner is one of the most complete programs when it comes to capturing data from games out there. It is completely free and comes from MSI through AnandTech. With it we can do the same as in Fraps, but in a more advanced way and showing much more data.

Conclusion and links of interest of the best processor tests

Well with this great list of programs we will have a good time to have fun on our PC by testing the processor and other components. Remember that the final objective is not simply to see if we reach many points, they are tools that also serve to see that the performance of our CPU is really what should be expected, for that are the lists and the rankings.

Now we leave you with some links related to the topic:

Do you know more programs to test the CPU and other hardware on your computer? Please let us know if you have any questions or problems with these programs. We cannot explain the operation of each of them in more detail because it would be an extremely long and tiresome post.