How to Benchmark Graphics?

[will101]

Slap me if it's been asked before but how would I go about running the same or similar graphics benchmarks as are used in HEXUS' shiny graphics card reviews?

I've just bought a second card to fill my 2nd GPU slot and want to do a before-and-after using my currently used games. One of these is Racedriver: Grid which will hopefully give me a fair-ish comparison to HEXUS' recent GPU reviews.

[mrt9888]

If you just want to see the FPS increase run FRAPS before and after putting in the new graphics card, 3D Mark is used in all graphics card reviews to compare performance.

[will101]

How about running a repeatable benchmark whilst in-game? An overall 3Dmark figure is ok as a rough guide but I want to compare graphical performance in more detail such as min framerate etc.

I found the options to log min/ave/max fps in Fraps which is a start. I guess it differs from game to game with some games such as GTA IV & Supreme Commander having a menu option for running a pre-defined benchmark. I vaguely recall mention of a command line input in some games to run a pre-defined benchmark but I'm lacking the facts.

[Terbinator]

How about running a repeatable benchmark whilst in-game? An overall 3Dmark figure is ok as a rough guide but I want to compare graphical performance in more detail such as min framerate etc.

I found the options to log min/ave/max fps in Fraps which is a start. I guess it differs from game to game with some games such as GTA IV & Supreme Commander having a menu option for running a pre-defined benchmark. I vaguely recall mention of a command line input in some games to run a pre-defined benchmark but I'm lacking the facts.

It depends on the game. Far Cry2 has a built in one for example as does the original Crysis theres probably others also.

[Zak33]

http://www.futuremark.com/

I still use 3d Mark 2005 and 2006 and there are free versions there.

If you have CoD4, you can find out how to Benchmark using that too in our Wargames Forum (its a sticky at the top of the forum)

[Jasp]

Hmmzzz, personally i use fraps for ingame FPS, 3D Mark 06, if your up for some downloading a couple that spring to mind are.

http://www.gamershell.com/download_48548.shtml

http://www.gamershell.com/download_47126.shtml

http://www.gamershell.com/download_40088.shtml

http://www.gamershell.com/download_19492.shtml