Browse Definitions :
Definition

torture test

TechTarget Contributor
By

A torture test is an evaluation of an item's ability to withstand extreme conditions. Such tests may be conducted by product manufacturers, reviewers, and even end users. Typically, a torture test subjects the item in question to a number of severe trials that far surpass anything it would be likely to encounter in real-world usage.

Torture tests for computers usually force your CPU to work at 100% of its capacity for an extended period of time, to evaluate how well the CPU, cooling system, and power supply are working. One of the best known torture tests for computers is Prime95, a program designed to find Mersenne prime numbers. Some benchmark ing products, such as SiSoftware's Sandra, also include a torture test mode.

In the 1950s, Timex watches were famously subjected to a variety of ingenious torture tests; the company's advertising featured Timexes affixed to a giant lobster claw, spinning in a vacuum cleaner, and fastened onto Mickey Mantle's bat, among other things.

This was last updated in September 2005

Continue Reading About torture test

SearchCompliance

  • information governance

    Information governance is a holistic approach to managing corporate information by implementing processes, roles, controls and ...

  • enterprise document management (EDM)

    Enterprise document management (EDM) is a strategy for overseeing an organization's paper and electronic documents so they can be...

  • risk assessment

    Risk assessment is the identification of hazards that could negatively impact an organization's ability to conduct business.

SearchSecurity

  • cyber espionage

    Cyber espionage, also called cyber spying, is a form of cyber attack that is carried out against a competitive company or ...

  • virus (computer virus)

    A computer virus is malicious code that replicates by copying itself to another program, computer boot sector or document and ...

  • honeypot (computing)

    A honeypot is a network-attached system set up as a decoy to lure cyber attackers and detect, deflect and study hacking attempts ...

SearchHealthIT

SearchDisasterRecovery

  • risk mitigation

    Risk mitigation is a strategy to prepare for and lessen the effects of threats faced by a business.

  • call tree

    A call tree is a layered hierarchical communication model that is used to notify specific individuals of an event and coordinate ...

  • Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

    Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is the replication and hosting of physical or virtual servers by a third party to provide ...

SearchStorage

  • cloud storage

    Cloud storage is a service model in which data is transmitted and stored on remote storage systems, where it is maintained, ...

  • cloud testing

    Cloud testing is the process of using the cloud computing resources of a third-party service provider to test software ...

  • storage virtualization

    Storage virtualization is the pooling of physical storage from multiple storage devices into what appears to be a single storage ...

Close