How do you benchmark your PC? On this information, we present you easy methods to measure your gaming body charges and gauge your PC efficiency in apps. Realizing easy methods to run a PC benchmark take a look at will allow you to see the place your gaming PC or laptop computer {hardware} is falling brief, and whether or not you actually need a CPU or GPU improve to run the newest video games and software program purposes.
There are various methods to check the efficiency of your PC, however relating to gaming, one helpful first cease is PCGameBenchmark’s benchmark take a look at software program. This helpful set of instruments makes it simple to see in case your rig meets the system necessities of hundreds of the most effective PC video games, and it may additionally measure the body charges in your video games to see which components of your gaming {hardware} it’s possible you’ll have to improve.
What’s PC benchmarking?
Put merely, PC benchmarking is the method of operating checks in your PC to gauge its efficiency – the velocity at which it performs particular duties. This lets you see how your rig compares to the newest gear, and to verify if it’s nonetheless as much as the job of taking part in the brand new PC video games you’ve been eyeing up.
There are various methods to check the efficiency of your PC, however relating to gaming, the killer metric is your body price, which is measured in frames per second (fps). Whereas you will get away with body charges of 30fps in some video games, resembling turn-based technique video games, we ideally advocate a median of at the least 60fps, with a minimal of 45fps. For those who play aggressive first-person shooters, you’ll need to goal even larger, the place a median of 120fps will enable you to reply faster.
In a super world, in these fast-paced shooters, you need your body price to sync with the quickest refresh price of your monitor, so your display screen can show the motion as shortly because it occurs. In case you have a 240Hz monitor, meaning you need to goal for 240fps, which can imply placing up sufficient cash to purchase the most effective graphics card you’ll be able to afford.
Different checks, resembling Cinebench and 3DMark, provide you with a ultimate rating to your {hardware}, which you should use to match your machine to others. In the meantime, some benchmarks measure how lengthy it takes to your PC to carry out a job in seconds, or the speed at which your PC transfers a certain quantity of information, resembling megabytes per second (MB/s).
How do I benchmark my PC?
Benchmarking your PC may be so simple as operating an in-game benchmark that measures your body price. Most of the newest video games embody this function, together with Cyberpunk 2077 and Name of Responsibility Black Ops 6, which is able to report the minimal, common, and most outcomes on the finish of the take a look at – you’ll be able to normally discover them within the graphics settings menu.
In different video games, although, you’ll be able to nonetheless measure your fame price whilst you play the sport your self, and this could usually provide you with a extra real-world evaluation in the event you play over an extended interval that encompasses a number of completely different areas of the sport.
All you’ll want to do is obtain the PCGameBenchmark FPS Calculator, set up the software program, run it, after which open your recreation. Press Ctrl-F to deliver up the overlay in your recreation, as proven in Murderer’s Creed Shadows above, and you’ll see the way it drops in additional demanding scenes with wide-open areas and many characters whereas rising in much less demanding indoor scenes the place you’re alone.
If you exit your recreation, the instrument will then provide you with a post-match evaluation, which particulars body price drops, and reveals you the steadiness of your PC’s gaming efficiency. If it’s often dropping under 45fps, then a GPU improve might be so as.
No matter space of your PC you’re attempting to benchmark, you all the time need it to be measured precisely, and meaning not timing it your self with a stopwatch. Search for {hardware} critiques to see what instruments professionals are utilizing to reliably benchmark their {hardware} – a lot of them are freely out there.
Greatest PC benchmark instruments
PCGameBenchmark
If you wish to understand how nicely your PC can address the newest video games, PCGameBenchmark offers you all of the instruments you’ll want to benchmark your PC or laptop computer and reply the query… “Can I run it?”
PCGameBenchmark is trusted by thousands and thousands of customers. The benchmark take a look at obtain is simply 104KB, so set up is simple and fast. As soon as downloaded, the instrument will scan your PC to your GPU, CPU, RAM, and working system. None of your private knowledge is recorded or transmitted, and also you’ll be redirected to the PCGameBenchmark take a look at together with your outcomes inside seconds.
It then compares your parts with the system necessities of hundreds of PC video games, merely exhibiting you whether or not your PC spec meets the wants of the video games you need to play. In case your rig can play each recreation available on the market, your PC will get a rating of 100%. If not, you’ll have the ability to see precisely which piece of {hardware} is holding you again. For instance, it’s possible you’ll want a CPU improve, or to purchase the most effective gaming RAM you’ll be able to afford.
If that sounds good to you, you will get much more detailed efficiency knowledge through the PCGameBenchmark fps monitor app totally free through Overwolf for second-to-second fps monitoring and monitoring, together with a “post-match” suggestions report.
3DMark
The granddaddy of 3D benchmarking, UL’s 3DMark comprises various artificial checks to measure the gaming efficiency of your PC in a number of areas, with some checks, resembling Time Spy and Hearth Strike, changing into business requirements. You get a rating on the finish, which makes it simple to match your efficiency to different techniques on-line, and also you additionally get body price knowledge.
What makes this benchmark enjoyable, although, is with the ability to see how a few of the new tech works when it’s pushed exhausting. The Port Royal and Velocity Method checks are nice for seeing ray tracing in motion, for instance, and there are particular FSR and DLSS checks as nicely. One different helpful take a look at on this suite is the Storage benchmark, which makes use of actual recreation traces to measure recreation loading instances, in addition to different metrics, to see if you’ll want to improve to the most effective gaming SSD you’ll be able to afford.
Cinebench
If you wish to see how nicely your CPU performs in software program purposes, then Cinebench is a broadly used instrument that checks each single-core and multi-core efficiency, utilizing the identical engine as Maxon’s Cinema 4D software program. It renders a 3D scene purely on the CPU, and you’ll examine your outcomes with these of many different CPUs which have been examined. The multi-core take a look at reveals the advantage of having a CPU with many cores, which gained’t be proven up by most recreation checks, as they not often use greater than eight.
As soon as you understand how nicely your PC runs, you’ll be able to check out the most effective free Steam video games, and see which upcoming PC video games you’ll be able to run in 2025. Elsewhere, we’ve got guides to the greatest PC video games of all time, and a bunch of different nice free PC video games to play proper now, in the event you can meet the system necessities.
