Frame rate capture and analysis tool CapFrameX will integrate PresentMon

Last week, Intel unveiled the beta iteration of its PresentMon performance monitoring software. This comprehensive overhaul brings an enhanced, user-friendly experience to enthusiasts. Furthermore, it introduces a plethora of novel features that streamline gaming performance analytics, facilitating real-time monitoring of GPU voltage and temperature. It concurrently exhibits charts detailing the 99th percentile frame time and GPU utilization rate and also features the ‘GPU Busy’ metric.

The PresentMon initiative thrives as open-source, with its corresponding project page hosted on GitHub. Presently, while PresentMon stands out as an adept tool for data capture and display, it lacks a logging function, precluding frame rate recording, and nuanced data analysis. However, its open-source nature means third-party tools can harness its potential. In our tests, CapFrameX frequently serves for data logging. Following Intel’s proclamation of launching PresentMon, the CapFrameX team promptly announced their endeavors on a novel version, which will integrate PresentMon. Naturally, their team necessitates some temporal grace to rewrite the requisite code.

In reality, the ‘GPU Busy’ metric isn’t Intel’s brainchild. NVIDIA’s FrameView tool already showcases it. This metric delineates the duration the GPU is engaged in rendering frames, essentially reflecting the GPU’s occupation time. In an ideal scenario where the GPU is the performance bottleneck, the ‘GPU Busy’ should optimally hover at 100%. Any figure beneath this threshold can be perceived as CPU constraints, making it an invaluable benchmark. It empowers gamers to discern whether their system’s performance bottleneck originates from the CPU or GPU.

Currently, CapFrameX leverages the Riva Tuner Statistic Server (RTSS) for in-game overlay functionality, necessitating an auxiliary RTSS installation post-software setup. If Intel sanctions, a transition to PresentMon for implementation might ensue. The PresentMon GitHub page remains stagnant for now. Intel elucidated this by pointing to repository update complications, assuring that upon resolution, the fresh PresentMon code will be shared.