Is there any CPU health testing software?

Question

Is there any software that would test the reliability of a CPU? Like, check how all the instructions are working, verify that cache is not damaged, check for known CPU bugs, etc.

I've got a machine in which I suspect that the CPU might be failing, but the symptoms are weird enough that I'm not certain...

Solution

Most likely OS issue:
I would guess the most likely problem, even though you gave no symptoms, is that there is something wrong with the OS or software. I would run a Linux live cd for a while or do a fresh install, and see if you have issues.

More Likely RAM:
What makes you think it is failing? I would guess RAM or the motherboard first. I recommend memtest to check the ram.

Heat:
If you are having CPU problems, is it related to heat?

Time vs. Hardware Cost:
Is this stuff worth the time? If it is expensive, maybe it is still under warranty? If it was expensive, can you get something more powerful for cheap?

Lastly, what are these weird symptoms?

Comments

[Vilx-]

What makes me suspicious about the CPU is that the gliches started after it was upgraded with the CPU from another machine that failed in a similar way. However that machine crashed far more often. On this one it only happens in certain games and even then only at certain (but always the same) points. Also, the other machine had full BSOD. This one just freezes. I tried simply giving it a lot of stress (with a prime software, don't remember the name), but that didn't do anything unusual...

[Vilx-]

In other words, it could very likely also be a faulty driver, but since there is no BSOD, there is no trace of the crash after the reboot, so I can't say.

[Vilx-]

Read my comments on other answers. The symptoms are there. As for RAM - I already tested that, no problems. If it was CPU overheating, then Prime95 and other CPU-intensive tasks would have brought it down. And besides - the temperature is OK. Time vs Cost - it's my own home computer and I don't have any money right now to get a new one. XD

[Vilx-]

As for more weird symptoms - for example, when I play Oblivion, and set the graphics settings to the lowes possible values, everything runs (although looks like a crap). As soon as I touch the dials to make me see a bit further - wham. Blue screen. But without any text. And the HDD shuts down. And the sound card keeps looping whatever it had in its buffer. Naturally, the event logs are clean as crystal.

[Vilx-]

I'd suspect my VGA, but some other games run fine, and my VGA has not had problems for quite some time.

[Vilx-]

The other PC I'm talking about is my wife's PC. Recently it started getting various BSOD's with random messages 5 times a day. After we checked that RAM, HDD and VGA were not to blame, the only remaining explanation was PSU, MB or CPU. Anyway, we got her a new computer - thus the lack of money. From the old computer I only took her CPU and put into mine, which has had no problems up to now.