BurnInTest on CD: BartPE vs Slax LiveCD

[Redbeard78]

I'm a longtime windows guy, starting to get into Linux. I don't have a preference over either Bart or Slax, but does anyone know which one has the superior testing capabilities as far as BurnInTest? I just want to test new hardware without having to load an OS before finding a problem. I need to be able to boot to CD, torture every local component (except the CD/DVD-ROM, which is fine), and save the report to thumbdrive before loading an OS and applications for further benchmarking. Has anyone tried both and have a testing-capability-only preference?
The components I'm most worried about are: CPU, RAM, RAID card, local disks, NICs, and HBAs. Things like USB, serial, video, CD/DVD, etc are nice but not necessary. Which will recognize the greatest range of server local hardware, and be able to test them?
There is a detailed pdf discussing BartPE plugin and the limitations, but not that much detail on the SlaxCD plugin.

[David (PassMark)]

There are a fair number of hardware devices for which Linux device drivers are not available. But if all your hardware supports Linux i would try out self booting Slax. BartPE tends to be trickier to set up and slower to boot.

Testing in a XP or Vista O/S will provide better support hardware however. And there is some advantage in testing with the device drivers that the machine will actually be used with. As different device drivers might use the hardware in a different manner. (e.g. UDMA mode 6 vs PIO mode 4 for disk systems).

[Redbeard78]

"Testing in a XP or Vista O/S will provide better support hardware however. And there is some advantage in testing with the device drivers that the machine will actually be used with. As different device drivers might use the hardware in a different manner. (e.g. UDMA mode 6 vs PIO mode 4 for disk systems). "

Very good point. ESX and ESXi are the primary OSs and the primary concerns, so I guess the Slax disc would be the closest approximation. When we do Windows(2k3/2008, which will be much less frequent, we'll just build it, install it and the stress it.