Budget benchmarking

While most of the software and games we’ve listed here aren’t free, there are still ways to test your GPU’s capabilities without spending a dime. 3DMark has a free edition with limited features, but if you don’t want to pay, we’d recommend Unigine’s Heaven benchmark. The Heaven benchmark is a heavy-duty graphics test that can be used for systems running DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0, testing all the usual elements, such as ambient occlusion and real-time lighting. A free “gamer: edition” of the benchmark is available online, with the paid versions offering additional (often unneeded) features, such as benchmark looping and frame-by-frame analysis. Heaven is straightforward to set up and run, and comes with a few useful GPU monitoring tools too.

Another way to benchmark your system is to use free-to-play games in conjunction with fps-monitoring software (see “Frame rate Checking”). Using MSI Afterburner to track a continuous average fps and then playing a few matches in Fortnite will give you an idea of what your GPU can handle. Be sure to pause fps tracking when you’re on menus and loading screens, as this won’t be indicative of a real gameplay frame rate. Other free games that are worth checking out for fps testing include Callof Duty: War zone, Destiny 2: New Light, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. We’ re also gonna give a shout-out to Worldof Tanks, as it has a built-in benchmark – a rare sight in free-to-play games!

PassMark PerformanceTest is a popular option for GPU benchmarking (and system testing as a whole). It’s not free, but a trial version is available that should enable you to check if your GPU is performing as expected. Leaderboards for GPUs are available on the PassMark website too, which is useful if you’re trying to overclock for max performance.