FurMark vs HDDScan

FurMark is a free Windows application for GPU stress testing and graphics benchmarking. It applies a sustained 3D workload to examine thermals, cooling headroom, power limits, and overclock stability. OpenGL and Vulkan rendering paths are available where supported. Benchmark choices include 1080p, 1440p, and 4K presets, along with timed passes. Artifact-oriented checks help identify visual problems such as sparkling or corrupted textures, which may point to heat, memory strain, or unstable tuning. For sensor context, FurMark recommends pairing runs with vendor tools or overlays, including GPU-Z and HWiNFO. Downloads come as an installer or a portable edition that runs from a folder or USB stick without installation. It is aimed at overclockers, PC gamers and builders, reviewers, benchmarkers, and support technicians. The FAQ points to a forum for troubleshooting. Tests should be supervised, temperatures watched, and unsafe runs stopped. The listed plan costs nothing for personal testing on Windows 10/11.

HDDScan is freeware for diagnosing hard drives, RAID arrays, USB flash drives and SSDs on Windows. Its tests include linear verification, reading, erasing and Butterfly-mode reading. For supported drives, it reads and analyzes SMART parameters, runs SMART tests and monitors temperature across ATA, SATA, USB, FireWire and SCSI connections. Compatible drives may expose AAM, APM and PM controls, plus spindle start and stop commands. Reports can be printed or saved in MHT format. Command-line use can save generated commands as `.cmd` or `.bat` files. Listed requirements run from Windows XP SP3 through Windows 10, with Windows Server 2003 subject to restrictions. The plan is free. RAID volumes and USB flash drives support surface tests only, and USB capabilities depend on program support. Only one test should run at a time. Erase mode overwrites tested blocks, making previous data unrecoverable.