A problem many users face when optimizing their PCs is measuring performance before and after making changes to their system, which leads many to wonder after whether said changes have actually made a difference in performance or absolutely nothing's changed at all. Worst case scenario, they feel more frequent frame drops.
That's why our team at Hone decided to build our own advanced Benchmarking feature.
What Is Hone Benchmark?
Hone's Benchmark feature is a 60-second simulation which uses the exact same scenery & scenario to test your PC's performance before and after optimizing your PC. You just click on Run Benchmark, download its assets, and leave it to run.
It's typically used as a baseline reference once you first install Hone to measure whether or not you've gained or lost performance using your current set of Optimizations.
As a starting point, we suggest you enable our Lite/Power Presets which you can find on the Games Page to start your benchmark testing. Moreover, you can refer to our Recommended Optimizations Guide.
Hone Benchmark's simulation at its core, is like that of a dedicated Unreal Engine game.
How To Run A Benchmark:
When opening the app's Home page, you'll be met with a modal to run a benchmark.
Click on Run Benchmark and it'll start downloading its assets onto your PC.
Once it's done, it'll open the simulation where you can keep track of your FPS history throughout via a graph to know where your framerate fluctuates or dips in the benchmark.
Afterwards, Hone will share you the results of your benchmark within the dashboard.
You can press "View All" to look at both your Benchmark history and compare your scores between each run.
Hone Score - What It Is & What It Means:
Hone Score combines FPS with stability to help compare benchmark runs. Those include:
- FPS (Average, Maximum, Minimum)
- Latency
- Frame times
- Smoothness (1% & 0.1% Lows)
This means that even if two PCs obtain the same Average FPS in games, their scores can vary a ton from one another, because there are more than just a couple factors between them that impacts their game. (Background processes, bloatware, pre-tweaked system, etc.)
And for that reason, Hone Scores can also vary for the same exact PC the benchmark is run on, it's why we recommend users to run a benchmark at least 2-3 times before deeming the score accurate.
After running a benchmark, you'll be met with 7 values:
- Hone Score (your overall PC score)
- Average FPS
- Minimum FPS (lowest FPS recorded in the benchmark)
- Maximum FPS (highest FPS recorded in the benchmark)
- 1% Lows (average slowest 1% of frames)
- 0.1% Lows (average slowest 0.1% of frames, worst stutters recorded)
- Stuttering (how much the FPS changes/fluctuates)
We suggest you don't overly focus on Min. FPS. That only shows the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel performance we've captured out of the entire duration of the benchmark, that does not mean you'll constantly get the same FPS in games.
Also, a Stuttering result of 10-15% does not imply that the game froze for 10-15% of the run. Every game is different in rendering & optimization so results will heavily vary between our benchmark and your game. However, we still recommend you lower the Stuttering percentage as much as you can.
How To Benchmark Efficiently:
With that said, how do you make sure you get the most accurate/consistent performance results possible from Benchmarks?
To use Benchmark efficiently:
- Run 2-3 benchmarks after first installing Hone to get a good baseline
- Use Optimizations you'd like to test, but match resolution, power settings, background apps, and Game Mode.
- Restart your PC when the change requires it.
- Let startup activity settle after boot, and run another 2-3 benchmarks.
And repeat the same process until you have a config that works best for your system. (Note: Keep the same Game Mode settings between runs unless Game Mode is what you’re testing.)
Benchmarking tips:
Don't cap your framerate while running a benchmark, any detected caps could invalidate the comparison.
For stuttering, enable Game Mode along with other Optimizations that reduce background processes (Disable Windows Services, Reduce Windows Background Activity, etc.), and consider looking into your GPU Drivers, our Optimizations for GPUs, etc. (Note: We don't guarantee these would reduce your stutters, test yourself to get the best results.)
And lastly, aim for consistency/smoothness in your game rather than chasing pure maximum FPS, that's what gives you a better gaming experience in the long-run.
For those who want the technical details on how we evaluate Optimizations, you should check out our Research Blog next!