Graphics Benchmarks—A Good Starting Point
You can benchmark a graphics card in different ways, with no one test giving you the complete picture. Different graphics cards perform better and worse in certain games, other components can affect the score, and real-world performance can depend on what kind of settings you pick. Synthetic benchmarks are a good starting point for graphics benchmarks, as they can give you ageneralized score and idea of the relative performance of your GPU. A few popular synthetic benchmarks are worth considering, including Unigine Superposition, Unigine Heaven, and Furmark, but the most popular graphics benchmark is 3DMark. You get its most robust suite of benchmarks with the paid-for version, but it also has a free version with limited testing, and it’s available through Steam, making it easily accessible. Let the benchmark run until completion. It may show a demo scene but will then follow with some graphics and CPU benchmarks. It will output a general score, individual CPU and graphics scores, and several other metrics when complete. You can use the combined and graphics scores to get a measure of your graphics card performance. If you want to learn more about your GPU, consider running additional 3DMark tests or changing the settings to see its effect on your score.
In-Game Graphics Benchmarks
Synthetic benchmarks are handy, but they don’t necessarily give you the whole picture of how powerful your graphics card is. If you want to know how your graphics card will perform in certain games or get more of an idea of what its real-world performance is like, you can use in-game benchmarks. Running these sorts of tests is similar to synthetic tests, though they tend to output average (and sometimes minimum and maximum) frames per second rather than a score. You will also need to adjust the in-game settings yourself, so knowing what kind of resolution, frame rates, and detail settings you’re targeting beforehand is a good idea. Not all games have benchmarks, and all games that do run them slightly differently, but the primary way is to start up the game, use the settings menu to set everything as you want it, then select the benchmark from the menu to run it. Note down the FPS after completion. You can then rerun the game at different settings or with an overclock to see its effect. Some good games for in-game benchmarking include:
Shadow of the Tomb RaiderHorizon: Zero DawnAssassin’s Creed: ValhallaDirt 5Total War Saga: TroyGears tacticsRed Dead Redemption 2World War ZMortal Kombat 11
There are many others, so feel free to explore the alternatives if you don’t own these games or want to play them in the future.
Doing Your Own Benchmarking
The final way to benchmark your graphics card is with your own test. That means playing a game with a frames per second counter enabled. Many games come with their own FPS counters, but there are also several standalone versions, including those built-in to Nvidia and AMD’s latest drivers. It’s is the best way to test the actual games you want to play since you must have them already to perform the benchmark. That said, they are far from comprehensive, and different sections of agame are harder or easier on a GPU than others, so they won’t give you the complete picture.
What Is the Best GPU Benchmark Test?
No one graphics card benchmark will tell you everything about your graphics card. That’s why professional graphics card reviews tend to run multiple synthetic and in-game benchmarks. Many experts say 3DMark is the best GPU benchmark suite because of its range of options, the multitude of benchmarks, and its detailed outputs. There’s also a strong community of competition surrounding it, where people compete to see who has the most powerful computers.
How Do I Check My Graphics Card Benchmarks?
Benchmarks like 3DMark will store your results on your account, so if you ever want to look back on scores you achieved in the past with different hardware or with different configurations and clock speeds, you can log in on the 3DMark website and look back as far as you like.
How Can I Benchmark My GPU for Free?
There are many excellent, free graphics benchmarks. Here are the most popular options:
3DMarkUnigineSuperpositionUnigineHeavenFurmarkFinal Fantasy XIV: ShadowbringersFinal Fantasy XVStar Control OriginsWorld of Tanks enCoreResident Evil 6Killer Instinct
