Suggestions on "showy" benchmarks

[Internetlad]

Hey, guys. I'm currently building a "showpiece" gaming PC for the mom and pop computer shop I work at. Been a long time coming, but finally convinced the boss that gaming PCs are worth it to sell.

It's really nothing to write home about but I still want to show it off and i'm looking for some benchmarks that could be run to grab the eye. Would probably be running in 1920x1080 on as high of settings as possible to get 30-60 fps.

What i'm looking for specificially is a benchmark that loops so I could leave it running on the floor. Nothing too violent as we have kids and old people in and out of the store (explosions/flashy pyrotechnics should be OK but a guy getting impaled on a spike or shot in the face is a no.)

Currently looking to run the Heaven3D benchmark. Would be willing to pay for a benchmark if needed.

Specs:
CPU: i5-4570
RAM: 8gb Corsair Vengance
GPU: GTX 660


Thanks in advance for the input.

[SpAmRaY]

The heaven3d you listed looks like it would be a good one from the same people comes The Valley -> https://unigine.com/products/valley/

But for 'commercial' use it is very expensive.

Have you looked into 3dmark benchmarks?

[Internetlad]

Somebody had suggested 3DMark11. for 20 bucks that seems very reasonable.

[SpAmRaY]

Somebody had suggested 3DMark11. for 20 bucks that seems very reasonable.

I'm sure there is a 'free' version you could just try and see if its something you would use/like.

[Tym]

Maybe if you had time compile 1080p clips of YouTube, that can be done well then put them in Windows Media Player as that auto-loops, you could also just FRAPS a bench mark if you wanted to? Or I could do that if you told me what game you wanted and I own it?

Suggestions:
Portal 2
Grid 2
Battlefield 3 (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)

Thinking of more give me a few minutes

[Tym]

Maybe if you had time compile 1080p clips of YouTube, that can be done well then put them in Windows Media Player as that auto-loops, you could also just FRAPS a bench mark if you wanted to? Or I could do that if you told me what game you wanted and I own it?

Suggestions:
Portal 2
Grid 2
Battlefield 3 (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)
Witcher 2    (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)
Crysis 3      (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)
Also maybe Nvidia TechDemo's ? This would look great

Thinking of more give me a few minutes

[Internetlad]

The only problem I have of running a video (would certainly be easier on the pc) would it would seem dishonest. Even if it was a FRAPSed video (which generally doesn't turn out to be the same quality anyways)  people may think "oh the computer can't do that" or "how sleazy to put up a video"

Good call on Grid 2. I'll check that out.

EDIT: the NVidia tech demos should be nice too, it's a 660 so they should run solid.

[Tym]

I understand your point, but you have to remember you are showing what your PC can do not what games can do, if that makes sense? If you think of it that way your making your product look worse, where is the gain in that?

[SpAmRaY]

Maybe if you had time compile 1080p clips of YouTube, that can be done well then put them in Windows Media Player as that auto-loops, you could also just FRAPS a bench mark if you wanted to? Or I could do that if you told me what game you wanted and I own it?

Suggestions:
Portal 2
Grid 2
Battlefield 3 (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)
Witcher 2    (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)
Crysis 3      (Moments without shooting, there are just beautiful scenery)
Also maybe Nvidia TechDemo's ? This would look great
http://youtu.be/CvaGd4KqlvQ?t=3m24s
Thinking of more give me a few minutes

let me guess...modify button laughing at you again Tym? 

And I second those Nvidia demo's some of them are really cool.

[Internetlad]

not really catching your drift. How would showing a 1080p video be in any way indicative of how the PC performs. Obviously the best way to show how the PC performs is to run a benchmark on it and see how it performs.

FRAPS always loses some FPS and a bit of quality in the capture, so that would also make it look worse IMO

Obviously I wouldn't want to run a benchmark that ran like a slug and made the PC look like ass, but I think that with some customization you could easily "show off" a PC with benchmarking software.

[Tym]

Im not really catching my drift either, lets all pretend that didn't happen shall we? I really don't any benchmarks which loop if I am honest I shall give it a quick Google though.

[Tym]

I just opened up Grid 2, it doesn't have a Bench mark feature that I can find but it does have on of those looping intros when you don't click start which is quite impressive. You could always hook up a 360 controller and let people have a play?

Edit: If you are considering this, there is no software etc. You just plug in a wired controller and the game compensates for this so the onscreen buttons become ABXY Also I demand a 300% commission for this idea!

[SpAmRaY]

I just opened up Grid 2, it doesn't have a Bench mark feature that I can find but it does have on of those looping intros when you don't click start which is quite impressive. You could always hook up a 360 controller and let people have a play?

This might actually be a good idea also, letting people actually use the computer if they want!!

[Internetlad]

Yeah, I would think that if somebody was dropping 1000+ on a PC they would want to have a little run-through.

Problem is restricting people to not get on the internet etc, and of course the bossman has to OK it.

I expect you could do it on a one-to-one basis of "hey I want to try this, OK let's give it a go" instead of just leaving it up for people to play with.

[Tym]

Yeah, I would think that if somebody was dropping 1000+ on a PC they would want to have a little run-through.

Problem is restricting people to not get on the internet etc, and of course the bossman has to OK it.

I expect you could do it on a one-to-one basis of "hey I want to try this, OK let's give it a go" instead of just leaving it up for people to play with.

Unplug the keyboard and mouse? If its on Grid the only thing they could do was quit, and if you hide desktop icons (Right Click > View > [Uncheck] Show Desktop Icons)

Hide the Taskbar

And your done! You can Torrent Grid 2 easily enough if your Boss doesn't want to dish out money. This restricts people from doing anything really, just have someone check up on the rig every now and then?

[Binge]

DX 11 "Stone Giant" demo.  It's VERY cool.  Loop and interactive.

[Jack Karneval]

The heaven3d you listed looks like it would be a good one from the same people comes The Valley -> https://unigine.com/products/valley/

But for 'commercial' use it is very expensive.

Have you looked into 3dmark benchmarks?

Valley would work really well because you can literally just leave it run forever and look pretty at the same time. Also, I'd suggest if you want to record segments of games definitely Metro: Last Light which has literally one of the best graphics/atmosphere combinations in any game I've ever seen.

[ComradeSniper]

Mafia II is a really awesome PhysX simulator and it has a benchmark feature, though it might be too violent to put on display.

[Internetlad]

thanks for the suggestions! Mobo is coming in tomorrow so when I get it built up i'll start playing around with it.

[Jack Karneval]

What are the specs of the system you're building?

Edit: Oh derp, you had them in the OP, but what else you putting in there?

[Internetlad]

I left out everything that wasn't really performance-wise.

Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow (the white one) case.
MSI Twin Frozr GTX 660
250GB Samsung 840
1TB WD Blue
4570 Haswell i5
Corsair Vengance kit (2x4GB)
MSI B85-G41
Antec Earthwatts Platinum 650
Zalman NPS 9900 MAX cooler
Throw some LED strings / LAZER lights in there for eye candy.


It's nothing incredible, but it was the most I could talk my boss into for a "showroom piece". We're moving into a new store and I much prefer to work on gaming PC's than the current flow of random viruses/cleanups we get. I'd love to get into building/advising more on gaming PCs as there is more to them than "plug in the hard drive, put all the stuff on the motherboard, load it with software." Whatever pays the mortgage though.

[Jack Karneval]

I left out everything that wasn't really performance-wise.

Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow (the white one) case.
MSI Twin Frozr GTX 660
250GB Samsung 840
1TB WD Blue
4570 Haswell i5
Corsair Vengance kit (2x4GB)
MSI B85-G41
Antec Earthwatts Platinum 650
Zalman NPS 9900 MAX cooler
Throw some LED strings / LAZER lights in there for eye candy.


It's nothing incredible, but it was the most I could talk my boss into for a "showroom piece". We're moving into a new store and I much prefer to work on gaming PC's than the current flow of random viruses/cleanups we get. I'd love to get into building/advising more on gaming PCs as there is more to them than "plug in the hard drive, put all the stuff on the motherboard, load it with software." Whatever pays the mortgage though.

Not a bad build at all, and all the parts look reasonably color matched. Get some decent cable management in the thing, and maybe throw in a couple of white LEDs in there to have it properly show off the components through that tiny side window on the MS-1 and it should be a decent "Showroom Piece"!

I really do love building PCs, especially gaming PCs. I've built 3 so far, one of which was my own, and 2 of which were for friends. Ironically, the first PC I ever built was a couple of years ago for a friend, and for some reason he entrusted me to build his 1500+ gaming PC despite me not having any experience doing so in the first place. Fortunately, it worked out incredibly well for him!

[Internetlad]

Yeah, Ironically a lot of the fun comes in the perfectionist end of it, making sure all the cables are as hidden as possible. finding ways to route or hide excess cables (if you don't have a modular PSU) and just making it look really good.

The cooler has a blue LED built in. I'm thinking a string of white LED's around the inside of the case, and try this http://www.amazon.com/Logisys-Computer-MDLED5RGB-Lazer-Light/dp/B002HL4B78/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1371508176&sr=8-32&keywords=lazer+led on for size. I could post pics if you guys are interested.

[Jack Karneval]

Yeah, Ironically a lot of the fun comes in the perfectionist end of it, making sure all the cables are as hidden as possible. finding ways to route or hide excess cables (if you don't have a modular PSU) and just making it look really good.

The cooler has a blue LED built in. I'm thinking a string of white LED's around the inside of the case, and try this http://www.amazon.com/Logisys-Computer-MDLED5RGB-Lazer-Light/dp/B002HL4B78/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1371508176&sr=8-32&keywords=lazer+led on for size. I could post pics if you guys are interested.

Yeah do it up, I'd be interested to see how it turns out!

As they say, pics or it didn't happen 

[nubbinator]

Do Catzilla.  It's an amusing and flashy benchmark.

[IvanIvanovich]

I was just thinking the same. Catzilla is surely one of my favorite recent ones.

[PadawanGeek]

I'm a sort of benchmark hoe, so I built my systems to show what a PC can really do, though their main purpose is to handle games. You can look at Allbenchmark, set it to Catzilla which is basically running the benchmark @1080P at max setting. Be forewarned, it is pretty hard on your system. It's a fun demo with anime'ish elements to it. You can also use another benchmark from the creator of Heaven benchmark, it's called Valley......pretty nice too. As some had suggested, 3DMark (2013) is a very hardware intensive and impressive benchmark, Fire Strike massacred a whole slew of GPU's when it was first released.