Valve has unveiled an exciting update to the Steam Client, introducing a performance monitoring overlay that promises to enhance the gaming experience for players. This innovative feature is designed to provide insights into how a player’s PC is performing and its impact on game performance.
Enhanced Performance Monitoring
The new overlay goes beyond the traditional frames per second (FPS) counter, offering a comprehensive analysis of game performance. It not only displays FPS values but also differentiates between frames generated by technologies such as Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) versus in-game FPS.
Players can choose from four distinct levels of monitoring:
- Single FPS Value
- FPS Details
- CPU & GPU Utilization
- FPS, CPU, GPU, and RAM
According to Valve, this overlay can provide valuable information, including minimum and maximum single frame values, as well as a graphical representation of frame rates over time. It also offers insights into CPU performance, GPU performance, and system memory usage. Such data can be instrumental in diagnosing performance issues, whether they stem from a sluggish CPU, an overwhelmed GPU, or excessively high graphics settings that strain system resources.
When activated, the overlay conveniently appears at the bottom of the screen. Players have the flexibility to customize their display, opting for a minimal single FPS value or expanding it to reveal detailed information for troubleshooting performance concerns. The overlay’s appearance can be tailored in real-time, allowing adjustments to color saturation, text size, and background opacity. Additionally, users can visualize CPU utilization on a per-core basis and track FPS trends over time.
To activate this new performance overlay, users can navigate to Settings > In Game and locate the Performance Overlay section. Here, they can reposition the overlay, assign a hotkey for quick access, and explore further customization options. Valve has also indicated plans to enhance the overlay with additional data, aiming to identify common hardware performance issues and provide a broader summary of game performance when players utilize the shift-tab function.
