IntelBurnTest

Based on the Intel(R) Linpack program, IntelBurnTest is an oldschool benchmarking utility designed to help you put your computer's Intel CPU through its paces in order to determine its stability level.

Curiously enough, the app is not entirely limited to Intel CPUs as it also comes with official support for a few older AMD rigs as well. Just to give you a basic idea, the app was last officially tested by its developer on computers running Intel Core 2 Quad 600, Intel(R) Pentium III 550 MHz, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, AMD Opteron 165 and AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition.

Fret not though, the application should prove to be just as reliable on newer CPUs, as it did during our tests on a few of our machines equipped with Intel Core i5 generation microprocessors.

Big exclamation mark here: before running this noteworthy alternative to the just-as-popular Prime95, it's important to ensure that your computer has unobstructed and adequate cooling since, make no mistake, this tiny is quite capable when it comes to stressing CPUs.

With the basics out of the way, we can turn our attention a bit more on the app's GUI, which is not exactly a feast for the eyes (not that it should be). You're provided with a compact control panel from where you can choose how many times the test should run, the desired stress level (Custom, Standard, High, Very High, and Maximum), the number of threads, and, optionally, the possibility of opting for a typical .log file for the results.

Needless to say that the elapsed time of the testing procedure is in direct accordance with the performance of your PC. As expected, upon completion, you are instantly provided with a feedback message presenting the stability potential of your computer's CPU.

That said, despite its age, IntelBurnTest is still a useful piece of kit. One of the main benefit for using this app is the highly reduced testing time with arguably equally accurate results when compared to Prime95. However, it's also very flexible, it's very easy to use,  and it allows for real-time error checking which all make it a favorite among many.