Dota 2 (DX11)

Publisher: Valve Corporation

This wildly popular, free-to-play esports title serves as a test of a CPU's capabilities in easier-to-run games. Our powerful test GPU will put a lot of strain on CPUs in this title, even with the 'Best Looking' preset that we test with. Using OCAT, we capture frame time data for a scripted segment using this benchmark tool and present the average FPS and the 99th percentile FPS (generated by dividing 1,000 by the 99th percentile frame time captured by OCAT), which serves as a rough "minimum" frame rate. A higher minimum means frame times are more consistent and the gameplay will be less stuttery as a result.

Far Cry 5 (DX11)

Publisher: Ubisoft

This AAA shooter serves as an example of much more demanding gameplay, although we still restrict our testing to 1080p in order to bring the CPU into play more than it would be at higher resolutions. We test using the game's built-in benchmark that runs through various zones of the Far Cry 5 world, but we again rely on frame time data captured with OCAT rather than the benchmark's own readouts. We use the 'Ultra' preset with an unrestricted frame rate at 1,920 x 1,080 with all other settings at default.

Civilization VI (DX12)

Publisher: 2K Games

This turn-based strategy title is a useful game for testing CPUs since it has a dedicated AI test that involves CPU-bound number crunching. We test using the DirectX 12 API at 1080p with Medium settings, and the result comes from the benchmark itself and is presented as the average turn time measured in seconds.

3DMark Time Spy (CPU Test)

Publisher: Futuremark 

Time Spy is a synthetic DirectX 12 benchmark that runs at 1440p. It is designed to properly utilise the advantages of the DirectX 12 API. The benchmark is available for free, but you'll need to pay to change any of the settings, including the resolution. We use the default settings, so you should easily be able to compare your score - just remember that we're reporting here the individual CPU Test score rather than the overall score.

VRMark is another synthetic GPU benchmark from Futuremark, this time specifically designed to assess a system's ability to handle VR gaming, although no VR headset is required. The Orange Room test assesses whether a system is capable of meeting the current minimum requirements for an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive VR headset. The high frame rate required by VR makes it a good test for CPUs. We run it at default settings, so users can easily compare scores here to the free version of this benchmark where settings cannot be changed.