HeavyLoad

With the rapid advancement of consumer-grade technology, PC users may encounter difficulties in terms of figuring out whether replacing their current processor for the newest iteration is worth the added cost. In order to provide metrics meant to be as close to real-life scenarios as possible, system monitoring utilities joined the software scene.

One user-friendly example is HeavyLoad, which lives up to its name, featuring not only a real-time performance monitoring function, but also a stress-test which can be run for as long as you wish, making it useful for figuring out if the system can handle complex rendering tasks.

The app excels in its quest to make the layout as accessible as possible for the user. All the customization options are hidden in the sub-menus of the top ribbon, while a small toolbar underneath provides users with the option to choose which components should be put up to the test.

The bottom section of the app window displays a real-time graph of the CPU, disk and memory usage in megabytes, percentages and frames per second, which can be updated at an interval between 1 and 99 seconds.

Once the test is started, the application generates a three-dimensional rendering of a cube boasting the application’s logo in order to test the GPU performance. The storage device’s read and write speeds are tested using 2 concomitant windows of a proprietary data manager. For more precise readings, the user can set the maximum amount of cores used, and they can also choose which GPU to test in the case of integrated and dedicated ones.

For multitasking reasons, an available memory threshold and maximum speed can be set in order to leave the app running in the background while the user continues their day-to-day tasks. In case the storage device does not have enough spare space, one can set the maximum amount of data to be temporarily written to the disk. The app can be run continuously or programmed to end after a certain number of minutes for automation purposes.

Whether you want to find out if your current setup can handle playing the latest video game flagship title for hours on end, or if you want to test the performance differences between an older and a newer processor, HeavyLoad can be of great use thanks to its user-friendly interface and customizable stress-testing capabilities.