are there any consequences to bench marking? is it similar to overclocking where potential failure of components is likely, without the required cooling of course.?
Benchmarking is just to check the performance of a card. They can be used to determine if an overclock has been successful or not. When you benchmark a stock graphics card there is very little chance of failure. When people overclock they run benchmarks to check the stability/temperatures of their cards. If the temperatures look OK and the card is stable then they can confirm the overclock as successful. So no it is not similar to overclocking when talking about potential failure of components .
Benchmarking is just a way of measuring the performance of a system. Its useful to give you an idea of the extra performance you get from overclocking. It's also useful to test the stability of your overclock as it stresses your system and any instability will result in a failure. There's no danger involved in benchmarking, the danger arises from overclocking. (unless it's an ssd; benching an ssd reduces it's life.)
This is likely assumed in the above two posts, which are otherwise accurate, but I'll point it out anyway: Benchmarking will push your components to their limit and therefore maximum heat output. Stock cooling solutions are designed to handle this max load but if you've improperly installed an aftermarket solution or installed an aftermarket solution which isn't capable of cooling the component enough you can damage something. It's always good practice to monitor temperatures when benchmarking, even if everything is stock, just to be safe.
thanks guys I think this may be a step too far for me currently, regarding temp control I haven't added anything with regards to additional cooling, besides investing in a gpu which obv has a fan of its own. Just wanted to understand the term more clearly and do now thanks. By the way is GTX550 Ti really crysis 2 ready as stated by nvidia?
Temperature monitoring tools likely came with your drivers, they're quite common now. Flip through the Nvidia Control Panel (assuming an Nvidia card) and you should be able to find one. Once you've got that running you can download a video card benchmark such as Furmark. Run Furmark and watch your temperature monitor for the duration of the test. Congratulations, you've just benchmarked your video card! Furmark should display results indicating the performance of your card. Benchmarking a stock video card is almost entirely risk free since these cards are designed to work reliably even under full strain (such as a demanding game or benchmark). I only caution that temperatures always be monitored just in case the one card you got slipped past quality control and for some reason isn't stable under full load or overheats.
thanks man my only concern is that my cpu is poor to say the least aka sempron 2.8ghz, so would probably contribute the most to unneccassary overheating?
Not likely. Sempron's have low heat outputs, due to the fact they're such pathetic chips (No offense. They just are.), even a cheap after-market heatsink, such as the Arctic Cooling 7 Pro that's thrown around on here would happily manage that chip. As a simple bit of advice; Case fans. A few 120mm fans, even on low speeds, can dramatically reduce temperatures in a case, Bitfenix fans, from my experience with them, are nigh-on silent, just don't stick anything in them, as they are a bit fragile.
Benchmarking can be done either with or without overclocking. For me, benching means overclocking, because I overclock my system for the best possible benchmark score (eg CPU benched at 4.74GHz with 1.6v, but always at 4GHz otherwise). With that in mind, benching can damage your components even if they are properly cooled... it just depends how far you want to go with it.
im just gaining my knowledge regarding all this stuff, by the way guys any advice for a non intel cpu to run MS FSX without any issues?
