Great Games to Use as a Benchmark for a Gaming PC

So, you've just built or purchased a new gaming PC, or maybe even just purchased a new component like a GPU upgrade, and you're now faced with the decision of what to use to benchmark it. Benchmarking your gaming PC is an important step for figuring out the limits of your hardware, but it's also a great tool to use for determining that all your components are working as intended. There's plenty of benchmarking software out there, like 3D Mark, but one of the most tried-and-true methods of benchmarking a PC is to install a program like MSI Afterburner, configure the settings for what data you want it to measure, and throw a super-demanding game at it. These are some of the current best games to use when benchmarking a gaming PC thanks to how demanding they can be, especially when playing in 4K or with Ray Tracing active.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-7600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1600/1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580; GeForce RTX 2060 or higher for Ray Tracing
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 42 GB

Remedy's Control is one of two games that the Finnish developer has that are fantastic for benchmarking a gaming PC, especially when testing out how your GPU and CPU handle Ray Tracing. While recommended specs for Control aren't all that egregious, they start to become a bit eye-popping when you look at what's necessary for RTX or 4K support. For a 6-year-old game, Control is surprisingly high up on the list of some of the most visually demanding PC titles, and if your gaming PC can run it in 4K at 60FPS, it can probably handle just about anything.

• OS: Windows 10/11
• Processor: Intel i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 125 GB

Bethesda's Starfield is a great game to use for benchmarking both GPU and CPU, as the game throws a lot at your machine and requires some hefty power to run at 60 FPS or higher. Perhaps most demanding in Starfield are the city areas, which each require rendering of a skybox used for the galaxy's planets as well as all the buildings and NPCs inhabiting them, putting stress on any GPU or CPU, regardless of its power. While its visuals aren't necessarily groundbreaking, the amount of data that Starfield regularly renders is fairly impressive.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-9700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5500
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 130 GB

In terms of both its art direction and its visual fidelity, Black Myth Wukong is a stunning game, and getting it to run at 60 FPS or higher requires a substantially hefty rig. The speed and fluidity of Black Myth Wukong's combat make 60 FPS arguably the minimum performance benchmark that you'd want, and even the recommended specs for the game won't be enough to reach that in 4K. That said, those playing in 1080 or 1440p will likely be able to do with components that are either at or slightly above the level of the recommended ones, but getting to see Black Myth Wukong run at 120 FPS on 4K will require every part of your PC to be top of the line.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-12600K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (10GB) or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16GB)
• Storage: 60 GB

City-builders aren't exactly the first titles most people think of when they're looking for good games to benchmark a gaming PC, but Cities: Skylines II fits the bill for some very specific reasons. Firstly, the game is not very well optimized, meaning it practically requires high-end hardware to run efficiently. Second, Cities: Skylines II, like Starfield, regularly renders large amounts of data, which puts a strain on the CPU as well as the GPU and can serve as a good test for what your gaming PC can handle. It's visually impressive for a city builder, but the real demand of Cities: Skylines II is being able to render all that detail without your computer crashing.

• OS: Windows 11, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-12400K or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700
• Storage: 20 GB

Just like Cities: Skylines II, Satisfactory is a game with strong visuals that serves as a great benchmark simply for how many on-screen elements your system needs to render at any given time. Even games like Factorio or Minecraft can be demanding on gaming rigs thanks to how much data they're rendering at any given time, and Satisfactory is in the same boat but with vastly improved visuals. But, thanks to some stellar optimization, you don't necessarily need the highest of high-end gaming desktops to run it at max settings, even if you have a 4K display.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-12700K or AMD Ryzen 7 7700
• Memory: 32GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (12GB) or AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (12GB)
• Storage: 120 GB

Machine Games' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle made waves ahead of its release for how intense its recommended PC specs were, and seeing the game in action helps clear up why. As a first-person action game, Indiana Jones is visually stunning, and the sheer amount of detail in environments is bound to put a strain on your GPU. That the recommended GPU is an RTX 3080 with 12GB of VRAM says a lot about what this game needs to run properly, and it's a great title to use for stress-testing new components as a result.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
• Memory: 32GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50 GB

The release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 saw many PC gamers who had long held out finally make the plunge to purchase a new GPU, and it definitely is one of the most demanding PC games in terms of what it requires from both graphics and processing. While the minimum and recommended specs might have you believe that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 can be played on a fairly average rig, it's worth noting that those specs will likely only reach 30 FPS on 1080 or 1440p displays, meaning the true test is getting the game running on a 4K display at 60 FPS or higher.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-11700K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• Memory: 32GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti/4070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
• Storage: 160 GB

Since its release late last year, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has earned a bit of a reputation for being a great "stress test" game for a PC thanks to its excellent visuals and fairly demanding open world. A large part of what makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 so demanding is its impressive AI (the "A-Life 2.0" system) and its vast open-world sandbox, which requires the machine running it to render large amounts of data at any given time. Any time I have a new component I'm wanting to test out or recommend a game for putting a new GPU through its paces, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is almost always in my top selection of titles.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-7600K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060/3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT/6700 XT
• Storage: 90 GB

When Nvidia itself partners with a game to push its Ray Tracing technology to its limit, you know that it's going to be a great title to test the strength of a gaming PC. Such is the case with Alan Wake II, which features perhaps the most impressive use of lighting and shadow in any current-gen video game. As such, it's a perfect title to use to see how your GPU and CPU stack up, and getting Alan Wake II to run in 4K at 60 FPS or higher will take a substantially powerful desktop.

• OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-12700K or AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
• Storage: 70 GB

The end-all-be-all, go-to game for benchmarking gaming PCs these days is Cyberpunk 2077. Since its initial release, CD Projekt RED has done commendable work getting the game into a spectacular technical state and optimizing it for all kinds of hardware, making it a great "catch-all" for people wanting to test out their gaming PC or new components, from entry-level hardware to high-end, boutique desktops. It almost goes without saying at this point that Cyberpunk 2077 on "Ultra" settings with Ray Tracing enabled is tantamount to using official benchmark software like 3D Mark, and you can tell a lot about your setup based on how the game performs under those conditions.