GPU BENCHMARKING
Stress test your graphicshics card like a king
YOU’LL NEED THIS
A PC OR LAPTOP WITH A DISCRETE
GRAPHICS CARD
A screen, mouse, keyboard,
and internet connection. Some money to spend on benchmarking software.
LAST ISSUE, we showed you how to benchmark your CPU just like the system-testing impresarios here on MaximumPC. Never let it be said that we can’t follow a theme; this time, we’ll be running through the tests we use to benchmark GPUs, for both builds and reviews.
Unlike our CPU benchmarking process, some of this software isn’t available for free. Free trials are available for certain programs, but GPU testing ideally uses multiple gaming benchmarks, which could cost you. We’ll go through some of the games we use for testing later on, but if you don’t have any of those you may want to look into whether any of the titles you already own include a benchmark. Plenty of games have one nestled away in the graphical settings to let you double-check you’re getting optimal performance from your machine.
It’s worth noting that the following benchmarking tests are ones we primarily use for testing on discrete GPUs, not integrated graphics on CPUs. Many of these tests can be run on modern IGPUs without issue—albeit generating very low scores—but take care if you do want to stress test your chip’s graphics. These tests can push IGPUs to their limits, and you don’t want to risk damaging your processor (or your whole system) due to overheating. –MAXIMUM PC
1
STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT
We’re going to jump straight in with 3DMark from UL Benchmarks. This is the single most comprehensive and widely acknowledged graphics test available right now, with a large variety of comparative score tables available online for any class of PC. 3DMark is available online (or through Steam, for added convenience), and the Advanced Edition costs $30.
>> It’s no small investment just to test your graphics card, sure, but 3DMark is a powerful and comprehensive piece of software; shell out for the Advanced Edition and you get multiple tests, each designed to test systems with varying levels of graphical power. Our go-to test here is Fire Strike, a multipurpose DirectX 11 gaming test for discrete GPUs. Fire Strike takes a little while to run, rendering some cool fight scenes in a sci-fi landscape. It’s fun to watch—for the first few times, at least.
>> If you open up 3DMark and head to the “Benchmarks” tab, you should be able to launch Fire Strike by simply selecting it and hitting “Run”. If you’ve got the Advanced Edition, you should also have access to Fire Strike Extreme and Fire Strike Ultra; while the regular version of the benchmark runs at 1080p, these run at 1440p and 4K respectively. We’d avoid them unless you have a high-end GPU, as they kick the living daylights out of your card.
>> Fire Strike has the same composition as most of 3DMark’s tests; first, it tests graphical rendering, then physics, then finally a combined stress test. It then spits out a number that
will at first appear meaningless, but don’t despair; this is your system’s index score, and you can use 3DMark to compare it to other, similar machines. There are also high-score leaderboards, where tweakers with overpowered PCs compete for the best performance.
2
RAY-TRACED TESTING
3DMark offers more specific tests, too. If you are running on integrated graphics (or an older system), you might want to check out Sky Diver, a graphical test similar to Fire Strike, but for lower-spec machines. Time Spy and Night Raid offer similar tests, but for systems running DirectX 12 in games. There’s also Port Royal, which is used to test the ray-tracing and DLSS capabilities of PCs with Nvidia’s RTX GPUs.
>> There’s more specific options, such as tests for GPU API overhead and a PCIe test to demonstrate the improvements in PCIe 4.0, but we won’t get stuck into that now as we don’t typically use these in a standard GPU test. Ray tracing is still of interest, though.
>> For a more practical test of the ray-tracing capabilities of a GPU, we use a game: Deep Silver’s
MetroExodus. This benchmark is quite fiddly to run: while most games will simply include a benchmark somewhere in the graphical settings menu, the MetroExodus benchmark is hidden away in the game files on your PC. Assuming you haven’t moved the files around, you’ll find it in your installation folder for the launcher (be it Epic or Steam), under MetroExodus. It’s simply called “Benchmark.exe”, but if you run it as an administrator you’ll be met with a settings menu before the test begins. Select your target resolution and graphical level—we usually test at 1080p Ultra—and then run the benchmark. It will render a set cutscene demonstrating a range of effects, from particle physics to lighting, then give you an average frame rate.
>> Averaged frame rates in games are the most useful piece of information about any GPU. Any game benchmark should be designed to give you an average frames-per-second score that matches your actual ingame experience, although it’s also worth noting the minimum fps the test hits; this will give you an idea of any frame rate drop you might experience. With Metro Exodus, you can turn on ray tracing (while leaving the other settings intact) and run the test again to see how much using the RTX features will affect your frame rate.
3
KEEPING SCORE
Getting benchmark results is great, and frame rates are even better. But it’s vitally important to keep track of not just how well your GPU is performing, but also how hot it’s getting—doubly so if you’re overclocking that GPU. A word to the wise on overclocking; do your research first, as many graphics cards won’t give you much better performance on a manual overclock compared to the factory boost option, and your GPU’s thermals are almost guaranteed to rise higher on a manual overclock.
>> We don’t manually overclock GPUs during any testing we do, but we do take advantage of any automatic boost options available through manufacturer software, and we always make sure that the card is running the latest drivers. If you’re benchmarking your system to check your overclocking performance gains, ensure that everything you’re running is up to date, from the drivers to the benchmarks themselves.
>> For keeping an eye on your GPU temperature—among other things—when benchmarking, we recommend HWMonitor (also known as HardwareMonitor) from CPUID. It’s a free download with no in-program ads, simply displaying a wide variety of live operating statistics for your PC. The UI is as basic as they come, and there aren’t any extra features: just the numbers, with a running minimum and maximum on screen until you reset it.
>> The live figures are helpful for quickly checking temperatures, but the tracked maximum numbers are what help us during testing. Open up HWMonitor and leave it running in the background as you run a benchmark, then check what maximum GPU temperature your system reached during the test. Keep an eye on this, as different benchmarks will push your GPU to varying temperatures. If an intensive test pushes your card to very high temperatures, it may be a sign that it isn’t up to the task. You can reset the min-max recording to run another test under View > Clear Min-Max. We advise that you give your GPU a few minutes to return to its standard running temperature in between benchmarks, as it may affect performance otherwise.
4
SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
While we’re talking about temperatures, when was the last time you dusted your GPU? It’s always a good idea to
clean your system before any benchmarking process, to ensure that you’re getting the absolute best performance possible out of your rig. Crack open that case and use an air duster to blast away any build-up on your fans and around your GPU, and clean any removable dust filters your case has. If you’re tracking temperatures, you’re also going to want to prep by doing a little research first; you’ll be able to find the maximum GPU temperature on the manufacturer’s website, so you’ll know if your card is pushing the heat limit with your benchmarks. You can also check the GPU power draw, but your PSU should have plenty of overhead for stress-testing or even overclocking; this is something to be mindful of only if you have an older or low-power system.
>> One last bit of housekeeping you may want to do before you sit down to start benchmarking is hopping into the motherboard BIOS. Some BIOS firmware updates can improve GPU performance and stability (albeit only by a small amount), so ensure that your motherboard is up to date. You may need to download a new BIOS update file to a USB drive in order to flash and update the BIOS, but if you’re lucky your motherboard will come with the functionality to download and install any updates within
the BIOS. While you’re there, check that your system’s fan curves are set to hit full speed at maximum system load.
5
GAMING ON
As any regular reader of MaximumPC will know, we use a number of other games when benchmarking systems and GPUs. One of the most useful is TotalWar:Warhammer II. As is the case with many strategy games that demand the generation of hundreds of on-screen units simultaneously, this game is CPU-bound to a certain degree, and as such can give noticeably different scores depending on the processor being used, not just the GPU. It’s easy to run: just fire up the game, and under graphics settings you’ll find an “advanced” button. Here you’ll find the benchmark button, which lets you choose between three different scenes to render. We use the standard “battle” benchmark for our tests.
>> Another title we use for testing is TheDivision2 from Ubisoft. This benchmark is similarly simple to run—just hop into the settings in-game, set your target specs, and hit “Run Benchmark.” As always, we run at 1080p with maximum settings. If you’re testing out lower-spec systems, you might want to experiment with medium, low, or minimum settings
for these tests. Dropping your resolution to 720p will also boost performance significantly, but the cost of graphical fidelity is a tad high for us.
>> Other games, such as TomClancy’s GhostRecon Wildlands and Assassin’sCreedOdyssey, are ideal tests because they are graphically demanding, and as such will provide a good litmus test for whether your PC can handle modern AAA releases. Both of these have a benchmark that’s easily accessible in-game through the graphics settings, along with a useful bonus from Ubisoft: a video memory budget meter that fills up as you turn up the graphics, warning you when you’re hitting the limits of what your GPU is capable of.
>> One game you might have noticed missing from this list is RiseoftheTombRaider, which we often use to test desktops and laptops. While the benchmark in this can be run instantly from the main menu, we don’t advise using it, as many of the finer settings can cause hardto-track frame rate tweaks that don’t always correlate to similar performance on different systems. It’s a capricious one, for sure. Everything else we’ve talked about here is fair game, though, so fire up that PC!