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Modern games with built-in benchmarks

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Woomack

Benching Team Leader
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
I'm searching for modern games with built-in benchmarks. It's mainly for test and review purposes. However, I have difficulty finding anything good, and I'm not playing much these days. I also don't have the time to check 3rd party software and set any custom tests.

For sure, these games have benchmarks, but some are already old or cause me problems:
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- anything from Ubisoft like Farcry 5/6, Assassin's Creed Odyssey/Valhalla, Division 2
- Civilization 6 - it seems it's more CPU than GPU test (even added some more tests in the last updates)
- F1 21/22
- Metro 2033

If you have any ideas, then please post them.
 
I believe CP2077 has one but don't have that myself.
COD MWII does, presumably III too. Not something I'd ever play. I think it has all the upscalers although not FG which I think III does.
Watch Dogs Legion falls into the Ubisoft camp I guess. Quite CPU heavy, has RT. Note due to the activation system built in you can only test up to 5 systems in a short time. I hit this when turning off CPU cores one time so had to complete over multiple days.
Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker has a stand alone benchmark. Although it is the current expansion, the core game code is pretty old, but they have updated graphics as time goes on. The next expansion is expected mid-2024 so expect a new release of the benchmark before then. This is expected to have more of a graphical uplift.
 
Some good resources....


 
I believe CP2077 has one but don't have that myself.
COD MWII does, presumably III too. Not something I'd ever play. I think it has all the upscalers although not FG which I think III does.
Watch Dogs Legion falls into the Ubisoft camp I guess. Quite CPU heavy, has RT. Note due to the activation system built in you can only test up to 5 systems in a short time. I hit this when turning off CPU cores one time so had to complete over multiple days.
Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker has a stand alone benchmark. Although it is the current expansion, the core game code is pretty old, but they have updated graphics as time goes on. The next expansion is expected mid-2024 so expect a new release of the benchmark before then. This is expected to have more of a graphical uplift.

FFXV works well, and I'm using it, but some other and older benchmarks are acting weird. It would also be nice to refresh something.
Edit:
Somehow I missed the fact that FFXIV Endwalker is a 2021 title and not the older, regular FFXIV. It's still free, so I have to check it later. It probably will replace the FFXV as it's 3 years older.

Recently, Tomb Raider has weird problems and is randomly crashing.
Metro 2033 was acting weird when I was reviewing RTX4060 and RX7600. It was like +/- 50% FPS depending on the run, and it was very random. I had to run multiple additional tests only to find out which run was bugged.
Most Ubisoft games are crashing - various reasons, like AC Valhalla or Odyssey are crashing when the PC is connected to the internet. The no-internet solution is actually from other users (I don't remember if it was from Steam or Ubisoft support forums).
FarCry 6 is the only one that works well from Ubisoft games/benchmarks that I have.
I was checking my test rig for stability, and no problems at all. Only some older (like 3-4 year old) games are acting weird.

I have to check CP2077, but they make so many updates that it will be annoying to keep up with the correct version. I may wait for a promo in a local grocery store :D ... funny, but it was like that with The Witcher III. Since these are Polish games, we had much more noise about it than anywhere else, and posters were next to potato stands. I haven't seen CP2077 with a huge price drop yet, but if it was cheap, then I would buy it for benchmark only.
Edit:
Only $30 offer on Steam. I can't find a cheaper one.

Once I finish the current and already delayed reviews, then I have to refresh the benching rigs and maybe try some new benchmarks. Right now, I'm gathering info. It's much easier with CPU or RAM tests as they're not changing much, and things like Cinebench or Blender are easily available and always clear with the version.

Some good resources....



Thanks Joe. I will browse the list. Some are quite cheap, and I guess that something like Mortal Kombat 11 would still not be bad, especially since the key costs $4.
 
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Blender are easily available and always clear with the version.
Blender has been giving me fits lately... often having to clear the cache and re DL the test... and sometimes that doesn't even work. But, it's mostly been stable over the years for me too.
 
Blender has been giving me fits lately... often having to clear the cache and re DL the test... and sometimes that doesn't even work. But, it's mostly been stable over the years for me too.

I have problems like that only when something isn't stable. Since I test at default CPU settings, then it's usually RAM.
 
This happened at 'optimized defaults' and JEDEC (multiple RAM kits, two processors. No clue WTH was going on (not sure it's resolved, I'll find out next week, lol)...

...may need to refresh the OS... :shrug:
 
I'm not sure what is happening with some tests in general. Something was stable and problem-free for years, and suddenly not one but more programs are having stability issues. Like the new OS version, new drivers, maybe something else, I'm not really sure anymore.
 
FFXV works well, and I'm using it, but some other and older benchmarks are acting weird. It would also be nice to refresh something.
Note XV and XIV are very different games. XV is a technically better looking game, but arguably a bit niche and old now. I bought it on PS4 when it came out originally, with PC version following a year or more after. Maybe in a year or two you'll have XVI on PC too.

In case anyone is struggling:
XIV = 14
XV = 15
XVI = 16

Somehow I missed the fact that FFXIV Endwalker is a 2021 title and not the older, regular FFXIV. It's still free, so I have to check it later. It probably will replace the FFXV as it's 3 years older.
XIV is much older code base but is ongoing. Endwalker is the current expansion. They refresh the benchmark every major expansion. Next one is expected summer 2024, so expect the stand alone benchmark a little before that. One technical focus of the next expansion is they're looking at doing bigger graphical updates. If you used Shadowbringers or Stormblood, Endwalker isn't much different. Much older than that they may be more basic graphically. The original XIV 1.0 benchmark is irrelevant to the current game.

Recently, Tomb Raider has weird problems and is randomly crashing.
I used to use the free trial version of SOTTR on Steam, and with that I found occasional weird problems. Some systems just wont run it at all with various error messages. Since I got the full game on Epic during a giveaway, that has always worked.

I haven't seen CP2077 with a huge price drop yet, but if it was cheap, then I would buy it for benchmark only.
Kinda what I'm waiting for. It looks great but just isn't the type of game I'd actually play.

Other games I mentioned like Watch Dogs Legion and COD MWII I only have because they were given away "free" with hardware purchases.
 
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I'm searching for modern games with built-in benchmarks. It's mainly for test and review purposes. However, I have difficulty finding anything good, and I'm not playing much these days. I also don't have the time to check 3rd party software and set any custom tests.

For sure, these games have benchmarks, but some are already old or cause me problems:
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- anything from Ubisoft like Farcry 5/6, Assassin's Creed Odyssey/Valhalla, Division 2
- Civilization 6 - it seems it's more CPU than GPU test (even added some more tests in the last updates)
- F1 21/22
- Metro 2033

If you have any ideas, then please post them.

If you're still using Metro 2033 you might consider Deus Ex Mankind Divided -- with in-game MSAA set to 2x and 4k I can't average 100FPS w/my 4090 (although maybe my 9700k is holding it back). I haven't tried in-game MSAA set to 4x @ 4k.
 
If you're still using Metro 2033 you might consider Deus Ex Mankind Divided -- with in-game MSAA set to 2x and 4k I can't average 100FPS w/my 4090 (although maybe my 9700k is holding it back). I haven't tried in-game MSAA set to 4x @ 4k.

I need it for a quick run and comparison. If it reacts well to RAM speed then even better. It's also good if the title is popular so readers find it useful. Not everything that I find interesting, is interesting for readers. Some tests are long and boring but have to make them too. Some people don't realize how much time take tests for reviews.
Metro 2033 is, let's say, a must because it's in the comparison database, but I'm using it only for 3D reviews, and it's already old, so will be probably replaced when the test platform changes.
 
@Woomack
At least Deus Ex Mankind Divided can do DX12 (but it's demonstrably slower in DX12 than DX11 -- at least w/my 1080ti and 4090).

My 4090 eats the Metro Last Light benchmark for lunch even with my obsolete 9700k.
 
Yeah Cyberpunk definitely has a benchmark. Just turn off auto-update and stay on the same version. Performance-wise... I haven't noticed a big difference between the versions. Not even for the big 2.0 update.

So that shouldn't be a factor. I'll check if BG3 has a benchmark built-in. (Feel so guilty... Went through all this trouble upgrading my video card just to be able to play it comfortably... but I haven't booted it up in ages.)
 
Performance-wise... I haven't noticed a big difference between the versions. Not even for the big 2.0 update.

So that shouldn't be a factor.

I don't know the history of patches in this game, but it seems like 2.0 brought some notable improvements. If you can actually lock versions down like you said (sometimes that only goes so far/long), that would be key for this title.

I don't believe BG3 has an integrated benchmark. At least, the lists linked don't say so (I don't own the game to check).
 
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