FurMark

Pros

• Effective for testing the absolute thermal limits and cooling capacity of a GPU.
• Useful for identifying hardware instabilities and verifying the stability of an overclock.
• Commonly used as a quick 'pass/fail' check when purchasing used graphics cards.
• Simple to set up for 'worst-case scenario' power draw testing.

Cons

• Unrealistic workload that does not translate to actual gaming performance.
• Modern GPU drivers often detect FurMark and alter GPU behavior, potentially defeating its purpose as a thermal test.
• Passing a FurMark stress test does not always guarantee stability in actual gaming environments.
• Often referred to as a 'power virus' because it can pull more power than standard applications.

Caveats

• Benchmark scores are considered 'finicky' and are generally less useful than dedicated tools like 3DMark for performance comparisons.
• Driver-level throttling means the heat output observed may not represent the chip's true unconstrained behavior.

Best for

• Stress testing GPU thermals and power delivery.
• Verifying stability of a GPU overclock.
• Quickly checking used hardware for defects during a local pickup.

Avoid if

• You want to measure real-world gaming performance or frame rates.
• You are uncomfortable with putting extreme, non-standard stress on your hardware.