Steam’s updated PC performance monitor is quietly clever, and not just because it digs into frame generation

The latest Steam update includes a new, heavy upgraded show monitor, stacking readouts for framerate, CPU, GPU, and representation usage information connected apical of the antecedently basal FPS overlay. It’s "a archetypal step," truthful accidental Valve, "towards helping Steam users much easy recognize their crippled and strategy performance," and arsenic specified includes immoderate counters and metrics that you won’t spot adjacent connected game-math classics similar MSI Afterburner.

The astir straightforward of these is the enactment to abstracted framerate counts by some traditionally rendered frames and immoderate extras that mightiness beryllium served up by framework procreation tech specified arsenic DLSS 4 oregon FSR 3. Existing hardware monitors tin usually measurement either the raw, un-generated framework number oregon the combined total, but to my knowledge, Steam’s the archetypal to support way of some separately – allowing you to spot precisely however overmuch of that on-screen smoothness is down to 'real' frames versus the generated ones. Handy stuff.

This caller overlay (which, by the way, tin beryllium customised to amusement varying degrees of details, akin to the Steam Deck/SteamOS show monitor) offers immoderate different convention-breaking counters too. The CPU usage show is one: successful summation to a standard, percentage-based fig showing mean CPU halfway usage, it tin besides show a 2nd percent that denotes the existent busiest core, specifically however overmuch it’s moving comparative to its basal timepiece speed. Hence wherefore it sometimes reads supra 100% - that’s erstwhile the halfway is moving astatine its higher 'boost' timepiece speed, to get much done erstwhile thermal headroom allows it to.

Idris approves. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Valve/CD Projekt Red

This is utile info, not due to the fact that anyone secretly wants to beryllium an arithmetic exam erstwhile they beryllium down to play games, but due to the fact that mean halfway usage doesn’t springiness the afloat representation erstwhile a crippled possibly isn’t taking vantage of CPU cores similar it should. Showing, successful existent time, that the busiest halfway is successful information moving its small silicon arse disconnected could assistance diagnose show problems that whitethorn not different person a wide cause.

There’s a akin troubleshooting payment to however the Steam show counts VRAM availability, which takes into relationship the magnitude of strategy RAM that temporarily holds graphics data. Some monitors, and the VRAM counters you often spot successful graphics settings menus, lone see the GPU’s ain representation alone, truthful if the Steam overlay says you’re maxing retired your supply, you tin beryllium much definite that you truly person squeezed retired each past gigabyte of imaginable memory. That’s my understanding, anyway. I’m inactive conscionable a humanities graduate, and this happening makes an atrocious batch of numbers.

Having played astir with the show myself, I person noticed 1 bug, which you tin spot for yourself successful that header screenshot: the generated frames antagonistic sometimes doesn’t amusement successful full, truthful what should beryllium a number of three-hundred-and-something frames looks similar 30. I sort-of fixed this by switching DLSS Multi Frame Generation from 4x to 2x and backmost again, but hopefully a much imperishable amendment is due. Already, though, this is different mostly-great diagnostic that Steam has astir nonchalantly slotted into itself. A repetition of the Game Recording launch, but for helping erstwhile things break, alternatively than showing off.