How to Stress Test Your CPU on Linux

Stress testing your CPU is an essential task that can help you identify potential issues and ensure your system is stable and reliable under heavy workloads. Fortunately, Linux offers several tools to stress test your CPU, including the Stress tool and S-TUI utility. In this guide, we will explain how to stress test your CPU from the command line on Linux using Stress and S-TUI.

Using Stress and S-TUI

Stress and S-TUI are two Linux command-line tools used for monitoring and stress-testing the system’s CPU and other hardware components.

Stress is a simple command-line tool that is used to simulate high CPU and memory usage on a system. This tool can be used to test the stability of a system by stressing the CPU, RAM, and disk I/O. It is commonly used by system administrators to test the stability and reliability of servers and other critical systems.

S-TUI (short for “Simple Terminal UI for monitoring your computer”) is a command-line tool that provides real-time monitoring of the system’s CPU temperature, frequency, and utilization. It presents this information in a simple, user-friendly terminal interface. S-TUI also has the ability to stress-test the CPU by increasing its utilization to simulate a heavy load.

Step 1: Open Terminal

Open the terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on your keyboard or by searching for it in the applications menu.

Step 2: Install Stress and S-TUI

On Debian/Ubuntu-based distros, run:

sudo apt install stress s-tui

On Fedora/RPM-based distros, run:

sudo dnf install stress s-tui

On Arch-based distros, run:

sudo pacman -S stress s-tui

Step 3: Determine CPU Cores

Before you can start the stress test, you need to determine the number of CPU cores in your system. This information is important because you need to specify the number of threads to be used by the Stress tool.

To find out the number of CPU cores, run:

nproc

The output will display the number of CPU cores in your system. Make a note of this number as you’ll need it in the next step.

Step 4: Run Stress Test

To run the stress test using the Stress tool, run:

stress –cpu <number of threads> –timeout <duration in seconds>

Replace <number of threads> with the number of CPU cores you determined in the previous step. For example, if your system has 4 CPU cores, run:

stress –cpu 4 –timeout 60

This command will run the stress test for 60 seconds, during which the CPU will be under heavy load.

Step 4: Monitor System

While the stress test is running, you should monitor the system for any signs of instability or issues using the S-TUI utility.

To start S-TUI, run:

s-tui

The S-TUI interface will appear, showing real-time CPU usage and temperature. Keep an eye on the CPU temperature, frequency, and any error messages that may appear in the terminal.

If you notice any issues or instability, you should stop the stress test immediately by pressing Ctrl + C in the terminal.

Step 5: Interpret Results

After the stress test is complete, you should interpret the results to determine the stability of your CPU. If the system remained stable, and no errors were reported, your CPU is likely to be reliable and stable under heavy workloads.

However, if the system crashed, became unstable, or generated errors, you may need to investigate further to identify the cause of the issue. You might need to adjust your CPU’s cooling, apply a firmware update, or replace a faulty component.

Conclusion

Stress testing your CPU is an essential task that can help you identify potential issues and ensure your system is stable and reliable under heavy workloads. By using the Stress tool and S-TUI utility from the command line on Linux, you can simulate high workloads and identify any potential issues or weaknesses in your system. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily stress test your CPU and ensure the reliability and stability of your system.