What is "burn in"?

[Big Weapons]

I read a few threads about "burning in" a computer. What is that?

[Confused]

It's used to be used to vigorously exercise a PC after build prior to putting it in production. Not used much anymore as hardware has gotten much more reliable. Three I've build in last few years i just started using. Some people will run somthing like seti at home or sissoft sandra for a day or so.
Chas

[Alienware_Dude]

I think burning-in a new PC is important(especially if the system is not yours)because it can isolate hardware problems before they would occur in normal use. Let's say, I build a system for someone who will use it for an hour a day. If I burn it in for five hours, then that is equivalent to it being used for five days. If there is a flaky component, you can determine it now, instead of a few weeks down the road.

[Tuf]

Because I live in the sticks and most of the computers I build go anywhere from 150 miles to 1500 miles from my place I will burn them in for at least 24 hours. I want any problems to happen here not across the country. It works well for me.

[Jeradln82]

Hey, I like that. Where can I purchase or download these programs. I'm always a little nervous selling a build. Even though they're for friends and family, I still don't want to be constantly nagged b/c of bugs.

Thanks!

[Jason Padgett]

I've never used these myself, but here are some links I found. The starred one has links to several different programs. Toast and Sisoft seem to come nicely recommended.

http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/
http://www.millennium-solutions.co.uk/diagnostic-tool-pc-computer/burnin-test-burn-in-testing.html
***http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/files.php?dir=171
http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/toastfaqs.html
http://www.sisoft.com/products.htm

[Alienware_Dude]

Of all those, I highly recommend SiSoft SANDRA; it is a very thorough program, and you can check temperatures through it while burning.

[Tuf]

SANDRA is a good problem. Even some of the intense gaming demo loops work pretty well. SETI at home is not only a good test it performs a function for others.

You can even write a batch file and let convert a large number of audio or video files to another format. I'll have my workstation do several hours of 3D rendering to push the video card.

[Force Flow]

Will "burning-in" damage your hardware, if it's not faulty? When I went to try "burning in" with Sandra, it came up with message warning me that my hardware may be damaged during the process.

[Floppyman]

You might also want to try Prime95.

www.mersenne.org

HTH

[Big Weapons]

Being an average home user/gamer (and not selling a built system), I wouldn't need to do it at all. Right?

[Tuf]

No you don't need to do burn a system in. Actually it's just a casual term meaning to test the computer.

Yes you could damage a computer that has inadequate cooling by running intensive tasks on it for an extended period of time. Actually I ususally do test the systems I build myself also. If it's gonna break I want it to break before I have all of my apps and any work on it.

[Mackem]

Does any one know of a diagnostic tool for the DOS as i think SisSandra is used once windows is installed. I think

Mackem

[mrob]

Burn-in is done to detect early failure in electrical parts. We used to call it "infant mortality".

http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/i/infant_mortality.html

[Force Flow]

So, would some of you experienced builders suggest "buning-in" to new builders?

[morriswindgate]

I do not do it on any of my builds, I actually think that just loading the hard drive gives it plenty of glitch detection time. As I have stated before, burnning in was important in the vaccum tube days since the performance improved with the burn in, but modern electronics does not need it or does it improve the performance.

[Cricket]

Originally posted by force_flow2002
So, would some of you experienced builders suggest "buning-in" to new builders? I've been building PC's for 6 years and I don't "burn-in" a system. My experience is the parts will either work right away or they won't. I just make sure everything works (CD-ROM drive, CD-RW, DVD, floppy, video, sound) and run a few programs (Office, Nero, full anti-virus scan, simple games, play some music CD's with Media Player, etc...) and watch for weird behavior.

:) Cricket

[Force Flow]

Hmm. That's just about what I do. I just thought there was more to testing out a system...

[morriswindgate]

To get a little more in depth why "Burnning In" is more or less due to the owners fear than anything else.
Vaccum Tubes consisted of filiments, elements, grids, and discs that in order to work properly needed heat. And like any filiment the first time you turn it on it does not heat evenly for a matter of time or it fails due to impurities or manufacturing tollerances. So you actually turned it on an let it set in order to even out. Vaccum tubes needed this heat in order to excite electrons in the gas which was in the glass enclosure.
Solid state electronics do not need heat to work and the heat generated is due to resistance to electron flow. And since heat is not needed there is a lot of time and money devoted to getting rid of this heat using cooling devices or better less resistant materials.
Solid state electronics either work or they don't and it is impossible to tell wheather they will fail in an hour or a lifetime. ANd 24 hours of running a program loop isn't going to tell you anything other than your HSF and Cooling may be lousy.
Basically it is a waste of time.