Upgrading a gaming PC is a serious step, and it’s natural to want clear proof that the new hardware was worth the investment. Many players launch a familiar game to check performance, but not every title is demanding enough to fully stress modern components.
To really understand whether your GPU, CPU, and SSD are performing at their best, you need games that are known for pushing hardware to its limits.
Below is a detailed guide to some of the best games available today for testing each major part of your gaming PC. These titles don’t just look good—they actively challenge your system and reveal where your strengths and bottlenecks are.
Best Games to Test Your Gaming PC’s GPU
The GPU is responsible for visual fidelity: resolution, textures, lighting, shadows, ray tracing, and upscaling technologies like DLSS, FSR, and frame generation. The games listed here are ideal for testing raw graphical power and modern rendering features.
Alan Wake 2 – Advanced Lighting and Rendering
Alan Wake 2 is one of the most demanding games in terms of visual effects. It makes heavy use of ray tracing, path tracing, mesh shaders, and advanced lighting techniques. Since the game relies extensively on light and shadow to build atmosphere, your GPU is constantly under pressure.
Older graphics cards struggle with this title, especially those released before the RTX 30 series. Even modern GPUs are pushed to the limit when running the game at higher resolutions with ray tracing enabled. It’s an excellent benchmark for testing how well your graphics card handles cutting-edge rendering.
Horizon Forbidden West – High-End Visuals Without Ray Tracing
Although it doesn’t support ray tracing, Horizon Forbidden West still demands a lot from your GPU. The game uses advanced DirectX 12 features, dense environments, high-resolution textures, and detailed character models.
Upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR are supported, allowing you to test how well your GPU balances image quality and performance. Running the game at ultra settings and higher resolutions is a great way to measure raw rendering power.
Black Myth: Wukong – Unreal Engine 5 Stress Test
Built on Unreal Engine 5, Black Myth: Wukong is a demanding title that showcases modern game development tools. It supports ray tracing, DLSS, FSR, XeSS, and frame generation, making it ideal for testing both performance and visual quality.
To enjoy higher settings and ray tracing, a GPU at least as powerful as an RTX 3060 is recommended. The game challenges your graphics card with complex environments, detailed character animations, and advanced lighting effects.
Cyberpunk 2077 – The Ultimate GPU Benchmark
Cyberpunk 2077 remains one of the best games for testing GPU performance. It offers an extensive range of graphics options, including ray tracing, global illumination, reflections, and full path tracing.
While mid-range GPUs can run the game with some compromises, achieving the intended visual experience requires high-end hardware. Running Cyberpunk at maximum settings is a reliable way to see just how powerful your new graphics card really is.
Best Games to Test Your Gaming PC’s CPU
The CPU handles physics calculations, artificial intelligence, world simulation, and overall performance stability. These games are ideal for identifying how well your processor manages heavy workloads.
Civilization VII – Late-Game CPU Pressure
Strategy games are excellent CPU benchmarks, and Civilization VII is no exception. As the game progresses and more civilizations, units, and calculations are introduced, CPU demand increases significantly.
Modern processors handle late-game turns more smoothly, while older CPUs often suffer from long wait times and noticeable slowdowns. This makes it a strong test of sustained processing power.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Combat-Heavy Processing
Space Marine 2 places a heavy load on the CPU due to large enemy counts, physics calculations, and intense action scenes. Even with GPU-based optimisations like DLSS or FSR, processor limitations can cause stuttering or frame drops.
If your CPU struggles here, you’ll notice performance issues quickly, making it a solid real-world stress test.
Cities: Skylines 2 – Simulation at Scale
City-building games are notoriously CPU-intensive, and Cities: Skylines 2 takes this to another level. Traffic systems, population behavior, economy, and city services all run simultaneously.
As your city grows, weaker CPUs can quickly become overwhelmed. High-end processors handle larger cities more efficiently, making this game an excellent benchmark for simulation-heavy workloads.
Cyberpunk 2077 – CPU and GPU Combined Stress
Beyond graphics, Cyberpunk 2077 also pushes CPUs hard with its dense open world, crowd systems, and AI behavior. Higher frame rates and smoother gameplay depend heavily on a strong processor.
Lower-end CPUs often require reducing population density and background activity, while more powerful processors maintain stability even at higher settings.
Best Games to Test Your Gaming PC’s SSD
Modern games increasingly rely on fast storage to stream assets, load environments, and minimise interruptions. These titles highlight the real-world benefits of SSDs over traditional HDDs.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Designed for Fast Storage
This game was built around SSD technology. Instant dimension shifts and rapid scene changes require extremely fast data access. While the game can technically run on an HDD, the experience is noticeably worse.
An SSD allows the game to function as intended, making it one of the best storage benchmarks available.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – High-Speed World Streaming
Swinging across a detailed version of New York requires constant loading of textures, buildings, NPCs, and effects. The SSD handles this continuous data flow, preventing texture pop-in and stutters.
A slower drive can’t keep up with the game’s pace, making SSD performance critical.
Starfield – Massive Data Streaming
Starfield loads vast environments, textures, and assets across multiple planets and space locations. SSDs help maintain smoother frame rates and reduce loading interruptions.
The game also relies on frequent updates and large data transfers, making fast storage especially important for long-term play.
How to Test If Your Upgrade Was Worth It
If you don’t own these games, many modern titles include built-in benchmark tools available through platforms like Steam. These allow you to test performance without committing to a full purchase.
Quick Summary
GPU Testing
- Alan Wake 2
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Cyberpunk 2077
CPU Testing
- Civilization VII
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
- Cities: Skylines 2
- Cyberpunk 2077
SSD Testing
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield
Using demanding games like these provides a realistic way to evaluate your new hardware. Real gameplay reveals performance limits far better than synthetic benchmarks, helping you understand exactly how your upgraded gaming PC performs under pressure.
- What Is a RAM Bandwidth Bottleneck
- How to Check for CPU Bottlenecks
- Simple Methods to Check FPS (Frame Rate Per Second) of a game
