How do you test your games?

[Joss]

Hi.

When you buy a new game and want to know how it runs on your hardware how do you go about it?
Use the built in benchmark?
Play a part of the game and: 1 use OSD with the monitor you're playing on 2 leave monitoring tools open in the background and pause the game to check 3 use a second monitor
Just crank settings to Ultra and hope the PC won't catch fire?
Something else?

Thanks.

 

[DRDNA]

I start with the built in benching if it has one then I go to the game and play with OSD overlay and see if there is any week spots in the game and adjust accordingly. When I adjust I look for highest setting for FPS and quality then I may adjust down depending on ambient temperatures as Higher setting creates more heat....or I may adjust up if ambient temperatures are lower and FPS are good.

I have seen times where going from High to Ultra adds as much as 10 cels of heat to the GPU.

 

[jboydgolfer]

Just play it ,running a program like afterburner with an OSD option that way you can see the overlay during the game but ,anybody who's been gaming for more than a little while shouldnt need an OSD ,you can just tell how a game performs by how it feels and looks.... unless of course you need specifics ,in which case OSD

 

[EarthDog]

I usually know before i get it how it will run, honestly.

If its an uncommon game, i just load msi ab, put settings where i like it (ultra), and use the built in benchmark then play.

Most monitoring tools have a live graph so you dont need to switch from game and back out...or use the osd.

 

[AsRock]

Just play it ,running a program like afterburner with an OSD option that way you can see the overlay during the game but ,anybody who's been gaming for more than a little while shouldnt need an OSD ,you can just tell how a game performs by how it feels and looks.... unless of course you need specifics ,in which case OSD

This, although i do like the games FPS meter on if available but turn them off or any other monitoring tool because i frigging playing.. But generally i just max out my game, i will try 3200x1800 with x2/4 AA, drop the AA if i have too just to see how it runs and if i don't like it i will drop to 1920x1080 and just apply x4AA and hasn't failed, not had to go any further than that

 

[qubit]

I play all my games with the fps counter in the corner, so I'm constantly "benching" them as it were.

I usually use Fraps, but may use the game's native fps counter if it has one.

I have a pretty good idea how it will run before I buy it anyway, going by reviews of the game and my hardware.

 

[Kursah]

I tend to run most of my games through steam and use the FPS overlay on that. If a game has a built-in benchmark I'll likely screw around with that for a pass or two. Beyond that, crank things up (except AA, keep that at 4X or lower unless the game really needs it), and start backing stuff off if I notice the game's performance is not doing too well. The old trial by actually playing method works best for me. Sometimes you'll find the in-game benchmarks don't quite correlate to in-game performance results. Screen 2 will have Open Hardware Monitor, Task Manager on the performance tab, and GPU-z open to the sensors tab so I can keep track of where things are at.

 

[Jetster]

Just run on ultra with a temp and fps program recording in the background. Then tab out every so often to check

 

[P4-630]

Just run on ultra with a temp and fps program recording in the background. Then tab out every so often to check

I got 2 monitors for this reason.

 

[peche]

Just crank settings to Ultra and hope the PC won't catch fire?

pretty much....
also the fact tha i play some older games that i love or cuz im starting some game saga like farcry and might be on the older ones first,

Regards,

 

[Jetster]

Lol I can smell if something is wrong

 

[therealmeep]

Personally, I don't care to play with fps counters on, at its core, the only reason I play with a counter on is if it's below the monitor's refresh rate or if something is noticeably stuttering. Just me but i prefer to play based on feel.

 

[BiggieShady]

Just crank settings to Ultra and hope the PC won't catch fire?

If you need to have hope it won't catch fire, you are doing it wrong.
However, if you insist, 40 fps on ultra and 60 fps on high are both full 100% GPU usage, and often very little CPU usage difference ... in total around same fire hazard.

 

[yogurt_21]

yup crank to ultra then try it. When it lags, step something down a notch (usually shadows) until it plays smoothly.

theoretically you could try it in reverse, but I don't think I could stomach that.

 

[peche]

i guess that the fact that not everyone have the same hardware or potential to run games, this may lead to different responses ...
yes pretty obvious, ... now call me captain obvious

 

[droopyRO]

As said above, i use OSD from MSI Afterburner while i play the game. I monitor fps, temperatures, cpu/gpu/ram usage to see if there is a bottleneck.
It usualy looks like this

 

[dirtyferret]

When you buy a new game and want to know how it runs on your hardware how do you go about it?

By the smile on my face or lack there of, everything else is simply superficial.

 

[erocker]

I play it. Check the FPS readout from Steam overlay and adjust as needed.

 

[Frick]

I did use FPS overlays for a while, but that just led to chasing a number rather than just playing the game. I am fine with 35FPS really, but if I see that number in a counter I want it to be 60. Turn the counter off and I care way, way less.

So I don't.

 

[lyndonguitar]

Crank them to ultra and just play. I can handle most games anyway. however when I want the most/more performance I tend to use steam overlay or any built-in fps counter and track the FPS as I play and tone down some settings accordingly. BUT when I'm finally fine with the settings I turn off the FPS counter. so I'll enjoy the game instead of worrying about running it on 60+fps all the time.

Usually when there's a Geforce Guide about the game like this for Witcher 3. I'll read it then tweak the settings that affect the FPS the most (while having little impact to the visual quality), this also applies to any tweaks you might find in the internet(launch options, config tweaking, etc).

 

[jaggerwild]

Toms hardware here we come........................

 

[Ebo]

I just play my new game, if it runs smooth then Im happy.

 

[FightingFalcon]

Same here - if there are no freezes or lapses its ok with me

 

[natr0n]

If the game boots you already won the battle.


I use use a second monitor for monitoring stats and such helps a lot as well.

 

[Liviu Cojocaru]

I prefer to have more than 70 fps when I play a game but at the same time I don't want to set graphics settings below Ultra or Very high (apart from shadows, motion blur or AA) this is a difficult thing to achieve sometimes as I play on 3440x1440 rez