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The most CPU and GPU intensive games For testing PC?

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DeadlyTitan

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Oct 29, 2017
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So i am building a new system and i would like to see how its temperatures are and i hate to use benchmarking tools cause they are unrealistic and wont account to how i use my computer.

Generally what i am looking for are some games that are MOST GPU intensive and MOST CPU intensive.

Couple of games on my mind
  • Planetside2 - This game is pretty heavy on the CPU so i think it will work fine to test the CPU temperatures under heavy load.
  • Crysis 3 - This game is pretty GPU intensive and will work fine to test the GPU temperatures under heavy load
I heard Ashes of Singularity Is pretty good game to testing out things and it looks like fun game too.

Any other games that can help me test my system? I am out of loop regarding games as i have been working my ass off since 2012 and only now did i finally have some time to play some games.

Generally what i am looking for is games that can stress my system so i can check how the temperatures are in the system CPU, GPU and general ambient temperature inside the case. PS it'll help if the games are good/fun to play so i just dont end up buying stuff that i'll never use.

My system specs -
  • i7 8700(non K)
  • GTX 1080 Ti
  • 2x16G Ram
  • 1440p 144hz G-Sync IPS monitor.
 
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Total War games are a fairly efficient way of rinsing your CPU. No game will ever come close to using P95 on the CPU though - they're entirely different workloads. A 100% workload in P95 and a 100% workload in Planetside 2 are completely different. This is why we actively discourage synthetic benchmarks to dictate real-use capability.
For GPU, just go and turn on UberSampling or OGSSAA in The Witcher or something. You can force it through drivers.
 
Crysis 3 is a good workout even for the CPU , as a matter of fact it's one the few games that scale well even beyond 8 threads.
 
RCoon said:
Total War games are a fairly efficient way of rinsing your CPU. No game will ever come close to using P95 on the CPU though - they're entirely different workloads. A 100% workload in P95 and a 100% workload in Planetside 2 are completely different. This is why we actively discourage synthetic benchmarks to dictate real-use capability.
For GPU, just go and turn on UberSampling or OGSSAA in The Witcher or something. You can force it through drivers.
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I looked through and there seems to be a lot of games with that name... Any particular title ? And yes that is the reason why i dont like using Benchmarking tools the use case scenario is totally unnatural and completely different.


Vya Domus said:
Crysis 3 is a good workout even for the CPU , as a matter of fact it's one the few games that scale well even beyond 8 threads.
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Oh good to know that. Thnx for the info
 
Killing Floor 2 with Gore set to INSANE level using my Killing Floor 2 Tweaker. The amount of shading and polygons will make pretty much any graphic card sweat like a pig on a grill and the amount of corpses and gibs interacting with the world and each other will make CPU sweat just the same. I don't think there is any other game in existence that can push hardware to such insane levels of utilization.

It also looks absolutely insane when you see hundreds of monster corpses stacked on top of each other and when you fire a rocket or throw grenade there, everything flies in all directions and bounces around. It's crazy :D I might add one extra level of absurd gore to really test the graphic cards and processors to their absolute limits. :D
 
RejZoR said:
Killing Floor 2 with Gore set to INSANE level using my Killing Floor 2 Tweaker. The amount of shading and polygons will make pretty much any graphic card sweat like a pig on a grill and the amount of corpses and gibs interacting with the world and each other will make CPU sweat just the same. I don't think there is any other game in existence that can push hardware to such insane levels of utilization.

It also looks absolutely insane when you see hundreds of monster corpses stacked on top of each other and when you fire a rocket or throw grenade there, everything flies in all directions and bounces around. It's crazy :D I might add one extra level of absurd gore to really test the graphic cards and processors to their absolute limits. :D
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Wow really ? cool i wanted to get that game. Its on my list :)


basco said:
https://www.computerbase.de/2017-10/assassins-creed-origins-benchmark/3/
title says: an incredible cpu-core scaling
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Am not really into assassin creed games, i never understand the plot and they do not interest me, the only Assassins creed game i am buying is Black Flag. :)
 
I have found Escape from Tarkov loaded up my video and cpu quite a bit.
 
DeadlyTitan said:
So i am building a new system and i would like to see how its temperatures are and i hate to use benchmarking tools cause they are unrealistic and wont account to how i use my computer.

Generally what i am looking for are some games that are MOST GPU intensive and MOST CPU intensive.
Click to expand...
You've contradicted yourself right there. To max out your CPU and GPU a synthetic test is exactly what you need, since that's exactly what it's designed to do, a game isn't. All the game is interested in is giving the best possible gaming experience (if it's a decent one, lol) and that doesn't usually require the same levels of stress and not sustained, either. The synthetic tests will show up any weakness in your system such as cooling, PSU etc so be prepared for it to fail. If it passes these, then it will be able to handle anything you throw at it.

Once it's passed these tests, then feel free to test it with the games that you like to play for a feel of what an average scenario is like with it.
 
In fact, it's best to run these tests on any new PC you build to ensure it's working properly.

I see you've ignored my advice anyway. Whatever. :rolleyes:
 
qubit said:
You've contradicted yourself right there. To max out your CPU and GPU a synthetic test is exactly what you need, since that's exactly what it's designed to do, a game isn't. All the game is interested in is giving the best possible gaming experience (if it's a decent one, lol) and that doesn't usually require the same levels of stress and not sustained, either. The synthetic tests will show up any weakness in your system such as cooling, PSU etc so be prepared for it to fail. If it passes these, then it will be able to handle anything you throw at it.

Once it's passed these tests, then feel free to test it with the games that you like to play for a feel of what an average scenario is like with it.
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Umm no sir i have not contradicted myself :), maybe i have failed to explain that i just want to see the max temps that i can realistically get while doing everyday tasks, synthetic benchmarks are unrealistic and i dont want to know what's the absolute max temps i can get, i just wanted to know what temps i can get when i play stressful games and doing daily tasks. Thank you for understanding :)
 
DeadlyTitan said:
Wow really ? cool i wanted to get that game. Its on my list :)




Am not really into assassin creed games, i never understand the plot and they do not interest me, the only Assassins creed game i am buying is Black Flag. :)
Click to expand...
Then Origins might indeed interest you. Same kind of gameplay as Black Flag, big open world, and you need to know nothing of the mythos, since it is the prequel, set in Ptolemaic Egypt under Ptolemy the Boy King and Cleopatra.

Aside from that, it is the biggest CPU workout I have found so far in-game. The GPU workout is also constant and strong as well.
 
DeadlyTitan said:
Umm no sir i have not contradicted myself :), maybe i have failed to explain that i just want to see the max temps that i can realistically get while doing everyday tasks, synthetic benchmarks are unrealistic and i dont want to know what's the absolute max temps i can get, i just wanted to know what temps i can get when i play stressful games and doing daily tasks. Thank you for understanding :)
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Yeah, you can do that, but it's good practice to be sure that the PC will take the most stress you can throw at it. I ran synthetics on my main rig in my profile specs when I first built it, for this very reason.
 
Assassin's Creed: Origins. I ditched the series after the first 2 games, but this one is actually good. The game will stress your PC alright. While my CPU usually stays in the 50-60% range, in cities and some areas it will jump to 80-100% easily. Uncap the framerate and my GPU will also be loaded even at 1080p, and your 1080Ti will be also hovering around 99% at 1440p.
I honestly didn't play a game that's so demanding. I mean, seeing maxed GPU numbers is not uncommon at all, but having a 12 thread CPU going 100% is. It might be the DRM, it might not, what matters for you is that it's stressful for your components.
Oh and the game looks great and it is quite fun. It also had crashes listed for weeks as Known Issues, so there's your ticket to see if you can reach 100% stability despite of devs being unable to code and patch properly :)
Hint: it crashes on my PC too, sometimes could take a day or two of stability, and then it will crash 3 times in an hour. If you want a game to drive you mad cause you don't know if it's the game or your hardware, this is your choice heh.
 
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Testing w/ Synthetics is a double edged sword. Yes it's true that nothing with put as extreme a load on your CPU so if your OC is stable under say P95, then it should be stable with anything else you throw at it. On the other hand ...

a) Most gamers test with older versions of P95 as the newer ones can result in damage to the CPU if not monitored carefuly (when modern instruction sets are present). So if that's what you are doing, what have you accomplished ... only that the OC is stable when no modern instruction sets are used. And when they are ?

b) I have had 24 hour stable OCs w/ P95, fail in 45 minutes under multitasking benchmark RoG Real Bench

c) Your CPU will never, ever see a load like P95 again as no program or game will apply that kind of loading ... so what's the point. because oif this loading you may say "Well Im stopping here because Im seeing core temps right at the temp limit I am comfy with". But again , your CPU will never see anything near hat temp again as it will never see that load again.... likely 5C or more lower. So why limit yourOC to say 4.x Ghz cause its hitting 85C w/ P95, when with RB, you will likely be able to stay under 80C w/ a higher OC ?

d) I have not found or heard of any combination of real world applications that can stress a CPU with a load greater than what RB does.

I still like to load up P95 26.6 to do short cycle runs getting temps up to mid 80s for short periods and then letting everything cold down just to get a decent cure / setting on the TIM. Then I'll switch to the RoG Real Bench and set up my OCs using that.

I take a bit different approach with GPUs since , as long as you avoid reference cards and higher tier AMD cards, temps will never be an issue assuming of course you have proper case ventilation. I haven't had to limit a GFC Card OC due to temps since before 5xx series. So in this case, I tend to stary with Furmark, to see just how high i can go OC wise without throttling. Since 5xx series, I have always seen stability issues start to occur before temps became a concern. Usually I wind up with the profiles in MSI Afterburner:

a) Furmark Stable
b) Slightly slower for games that get cranky....(i.e Metro 2033 played fine w/ the above but at same 2 or 3 spots in game it would crash)
c) A bit lower yet for those games that always seem to be problematic... I call this the "Battlefield Setting"

The final testing is done with games the user is playing as these will be of the highest immediate importance.

a) games like Crysis 3 and Witcher 3 for GPU
b) Strategy / Sim games for CPU
c) F1 for memory
c) Console ports to be avoided
 
Ashes of the Singularity can put a heavy load on GPU (heaviest out of all my games) and if you add a handful of AI in a skirmish a good CPU load as well. Also includes built in benchmark as well but I rarely use it. The actual game is a good enough stress test and is quite fun. :)
 
@John Naylor I see that you're a hardcore overclocker. The Qubit approvez. :cool:

Re your point b, it sounds like RoG Real Bench is an even more severe stress test than P95. My 2700K-based PC (see specs) is 6 years old (PSU is over 8 years old) and I need it to last, so I wouldn't be so keen to stress it out like that now.

Sometimes it's difficult to justify overclocking purity, ie 100% stable with the most extreme testing, since that can significantly lower a max overclock and hence performance. I'm thinking of the sort of scenario where you might get 5GHz out of a CPU with any normal load you throw at it, eg a stressful game that tends to render at lowish framerates without the overclock and reap the performance rewards, whereas achieve only 4GHz with the synthetic stress test.

I think this is a grey area that depends on things like what the overclocker wants out of their rig, how capable that rig is regardless of overclock and how much money they have to throw at it if something gets damaged and needs replacement.
 
Thnx for all the help guys :). You guys have suggested some really great games .. Now am excited to play them.. That little gamer in me seems to be back. :)
 
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