# FurMark FurMark, by Geeks3D, is a free GPU stress test and graphics benchmark. It is the tool with the spinning fur-covered donut, and that image has been the shorthand for "let's see what this graphics card can really take" for well over fifteen years. The reason it earned that reputation is simple. The fur rendering is deliberately, absurdly expensive. It saturates the GPU in a way real games rarely do, so it produces the highest temperatures and power draw your card will ever see. Whatever survives FurMark will survive anything you actually run. ## What you get - **Stress test mode**: sustained maximum load, with temperature and clock monitoring, to find thermal throttling, unstable overclocks, failing fans, or dried-out thermal paste - **Benchmark mode**: fixed presets at standard resolutions, with an online scoreboard so you can compare your result against the same card in other machines. Useful for spotting a card that scores 20% below where it should - **OpenGL and Vulkan** rendering paths in FurMark 2 - **Windows and Linux**, both 32-bit and 64-bit. FurMark 1 is still maintained, Windows 32-bit only - **Improved command-line support** in version 2, which makes it scriptable for repeated runs - Built with GeeXLab, Geeks3D's own scripting and 3D prototyping platform Geeks3D also makes GPU Shark 2 for lightweight GPU monitoring, and FurMark pairs naturally with GPU-Z. ## Notes from using it Treat it as a diagnostic, not a hobby. FurMark generates load that no game will produce, which is exactly what makes it useful and exactly why you should not leave it running for hours "just to be sure". Watch the temperatures, watch for artifacts, watch the clocks drop, then stop. The most valuable use is comparative rather than absolute. Run it when the machine is new and record the numbers. Run it again a year later. A card that now runs 12°C hotter at the same power is telling you its fans are clogged or its thermal interface has degraded, long before it starts crashing. Do keep an eye on the power supply. The unusual thing about FurMark is that it pulls near-peak GPU power continuously, which is the condition that exposes an underspecified or aging PSU. If the machine shuts off during a FurMark run, the graphics card is often not the part at fault. ## My take FurMark occupies a useful niche: the ruthless, single-purpose tool. [[OCBase (OCCT)]] is broader and better instrumented, and it is what I reach for first for whole-system work. FurMark is what I reach for when the question is only about the GPU and I want the harshest possible answer. It also survives on reputation earned the hard way. A tool that has been the community's standard cooking test since 2007, still updated, still free, still shipping a Linux build, has clearly been doing something right that flashier benchmark suites have not. ## References - Official website: https://geeks3d.com/furmark/ - Downloads: https://geeks3d.com/furmark/downloads/ - GPU Shark 2: https://www.geeks3d.com/gpushark/ - GeeXLab: https://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/ ## Related - [[OCBase (OCCT)]]: broader stability testing; FurMark is the GPU-specific hammer - [[Fan Control]]: what I tune while FurMark supplies the heat - [[GPU-Z]]: identifies the card and reports what it does under FurMark's load - [[HWiNFO]]: whole-system sensor logging during a run - [[Linux]]: supported since FurMark 2