What is stable system? Is Prime the best method? - Post your thoughts here

[WiCKeD]

This thread could have been ended after cadaveca's illustrative post and I applaud a 3DTeam member for making this statement. There have been some other solid points made, but I think he captured the essence of this problem.

One can often find results either way, forcing everyone to adopt the same stance is not required, as there will always be enough of each. As with all things, once something has a mass following (bench vs stable type reviews), it is best not to read if you don't like it, attempting to force a user to change a review type philosophy represents a certain amount of naivety.

I think you are undermining what you are saying in later posts. Yes, there are threads where people give you an accurate picture of their overclock, but they are rare. When you collect results and see X overclock 1000 times with a certain processor/memory, it mentally muddies away any realistic expectations. With the right intentions, respected people have the power to change the behavior of others and shift standards. This is a moderated internet forum with the power to make these kind of changes.

While Prime/ORTHOS is not a perfect measure of stability, that is not a justification to AVOID running it! I see this excuse all the time. As was said, it is a reason to use ORTHOS in addition to other benchmarks. Are there real life apps that stress as much as ORTHOS - yes. Prime95 is one of these programs! That was its original purpose. Just because you do not use them, does not mean others will not. "Gaming stable" may work for you, but when you are reporting results on the internet, you are affecting others' hopes and purchases. Posting unstable results provides artificial expectations and damages the OC community as a whole. Put aside your own selfish ambitions for a second and think about how you are affecting others.

If I had to pick a definitive benchmark that can be run in a reasonable amount of time and that stresses the system substantially it would be OCCT. I would be extremely happy if everyone were posting a screenshot of this with their "OMG LOOK AT THIS L33T0RZ OVERCLOCK!!!" Then we will see just how much overclocks change...

Still, ORTHOS is possibly the best utility for quickly testing stability and nailing down your approximate overclock.

Another issue is how quickly people are ready to embrace manufacturer's own benchmarks. Hold them to the same stability standard as everyone else, so they are forced to provide more realistic results. Threads like these should be exclusive to their own sections or include some type of disclaimer. They have access to hoards of different parts where they can cherry pick results - people need to be hit over the head with this and understand their motivation.

This subject has come up many times on XS and every time it is ignored. XS is not the only forum guilty of this, but they need to be setting a better example that others can follow. That can be changed with its leadership and I am glad to see this being looked at again seriously.