As the title suggests is there any prog that I can have as a bootable usb stick so I can test/load cpu's without the need for an OS?
CPU StressTest V2 Probably won't get much leaner. Can't seem to find any standalone bootable version anymore, got bored of looking... it's on the UBCD.
I was thinking about this myself recently and found the following: http://www.stresslinux.org/sl/ I never actually used it though. I just ended up doing a temporary unactivated windows install loading real temp and prime 95.
Easy. Get Hiren's Boot CD. Boot into Mini Windows XP. Then you want HBCD Menu>Testing Tools>Prime95 (or something else if you see something else you prefer ) Edit: Missed the bit where you said bootable USB stick. Slightly more faffy than just burning the ISO to disc but worth it. You'll need a USB stick formatted as FAT32. Then follow this guide from Step 3. Edit 2: Or was your question more in depth than that? No matter what there will be some sort of OS be it Mini Windows XP, DOS or a Linux variant. If you want something that has barely any OS (like MemTest86) then Hiren's does have some DOS based stress programs but I've never used them.
+1 Hiren's Boot CD If you do go down the linux live distro route, you can make a bootable USB key using 'Universal USB Installer' (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/) which supports basically every live distro you could think of...including Hiren's Boot CD
Yeh I want it on a usb stick as I don't have a cd/dvd drive to use with my test bed pc. I can test ram and hdd's but at the moment I can't test cpu's without installing windows etc. Mini XP sounds interesting.
Hirens boot CD, awesome, got it installed and booting on a usb stick. Mini XP is great but the next prob I have is I can't run prime95 as it runs out of virtual memory, anyone got any ideas on that one?
Probably because Mini XP runs out of a RAM drive of 200MB. You can change this quite easily though. Easiest way is to boot your PC normally then on your USB stick you want to go to HBCD>XP>Right click XPCustomise.cmd and edit. Then remove REM from line "REM imdisk..." and change 200M to whatever you want. I'd try 1024M. You don't need to remove REM from the "REM RAM DISK SIZE" line just the one below it.
