How to Benchmark Your Graphics Card
Apr. 22, 2024Want to benchmark your GPU and test its performance? You can use 3DMark’s synthetic tests, in-game benchmarks, content creation tests, and more. In this guide, we will be showing you how to benchmark your graphics card in a wide array of tests. We will also show you how to monitor your FPS in games with the apps MSI Afterburner & Rivatuner Statistics Server (RTSS).
After finishing the benchmarking process, you will better understand the performance capabilities of your graphics card in different scenarios. Benchmarking your GPU is a great way to understand if your hardware performs optimally. With the benchmarking scores, you can also compare your GPU to others.
Before starting the benchmarking process, ensure you have installed the latest driver updates. Learnhow to update drivers for Intel Arc, AMD, and NVIDIA GPUs here. Now that’s out of the way, here is how to test your GPU performance using various benchmarking apps.
Run 3DMark Benchmark to Test GPU Performance
With this average score, you will get a baseline of the expected performance with your particular system specs. Compare your test score with this number; if it’s similar to or exceedsthe average score on 3DMark’s public database, then your system is performing optimally.
3DMarkTime Spy(1440p) is one of the most popular benchmarks you can run on your GPU. It is also used in many tests done by hardware reviewers and enthusiasts. As I said, this one is available for free in the 3DMark Demo.
Moreover,3DMark’s Time Spy Extreme($9.99) is also a great benchmark to test your graphic card’s capabilities; even at 4K resolution. Although it is the same test as Time Spy, it is running at a higher render resolution and is more demanding.
For a modern benchmark that tests performance with the latest graphics innovations, look into3DMark’s Port Royaltest ($2.99). It is aray-tracing-focused testthat renders at 1440p. While the performance between AMD and NVIDIA GPUs varies from game to game, you can objectively compare the RT performance of both GPUs with this test.
Note:Note that Adobe’s suite of content creation tools is paid. If you’re looking for a free alternative, we’ve also discussed how to run the Blender benchmark after this section.
The benchmark will go on for quite some time, testing different things such as GPU effects, RAW performance, and more. Once completed, it will give you the result alongside a link for your PC’s benchmark, which will be uploaded to thePuget database.
After the benchmark finishes, you will get a reading of how manysamples per minuteyour GPU was able to do, as well as a final median score. You can go to thispublic database of Blenderto view benchmark scores of various systems.
Now, navigate to the file location where benchmarks are stored. By default, it is located under MSI Afterburner’s install location. Inside the text file, you will get the FPS benchmark of that particular game that was tested!
In this section, we have listed some demanding PC games you can run to test your graphics card’s real-world gaming performance. For example,Cyberpunk 2077is a game with an RT Overdrive mode, which is a technological preview for ray tracing.
Even a graphics card like the GeForce RTX 4090 (the most powerful GPU at the time of writing) usually needs to be tested on 4K so games become more GPU-reliant. But in Cyberpunk 2077, you can see the RTX 4090 expressing its potential even at 1440p because it is such a heavy game.
We have listed many suitable PC games below to play on your GPU and take it through its paces. Also, some of these have built-in benchmarking.
Without technologies likeDLSS, FSR, and XeSS, the FPS in RT Overdrive mode is surprisingly low, even for the best of GPUs. However, note that this higher-quality RT setting doesn’t perform well on AMD Radeon GPUs.
You can test your GPU’s performance in a wide array of benchmarks from 3DMark. Also, PugetBench has excellent tests to benchmark your GPU’s performance in Adobe’s content creation apps.
You can benchmark your GPU in-game by using FPS recording software (such as Fraps, MSI Afterburner, or GeForce Overlay).
By running 3DMark benchmarks consecutively, you can stress test your GPU with ease. There are several other software, such as Furmark and MSI Kombustor, that you can use to stress test your graphics card.
Your GPU should always operate under 90 degrees C. Some cards run cooler than others and high-end cards run at hotter temperatures compared to their mid-range counterparts.
Temperatures up to 80 degrees C are acceptable for a GPU, although if your graphics card was previously running at a lower temperature, the cooling performance might have degraded due to age. You should regularly clean your GPU’s fans to keep temperatures as low as possible.
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