Street Fighter IV Benchmark

Pros

• Great way to test your system for both the game and general stresses
• Beautiful video demo
• It's absolutely free

Cons

• It doesn't tell you what you can do to help your system run the game
• The download is fairly large
• Its branding is a little irritating

When Capcom decided to release Street Fighter IV not only as a console game but also with a PC version, a number of people were worried that they would be unable to handle the increased graphics and quick action on their systems. While recommended settings were provided by the manufacturer, they were very specific and a little confusing. That's why Street Fighter IV Benchmark was created: to provide those who are looking to see if they can run the game on the system a chance to benchmark the setup they currently have against the requirements for the game.

Overall, this is a useful little tool. It not only can test for this specific game, but because it gives a fairly detailed rundown of your system stats and how they actually perform in real time, you can get a good idea of the capabilities of your system under more general stresses. It is a robust enough game that it can really give your systems a good workout and see what they are capable of, making it much more clear what you'll be able to run in regards to other games or even a collection of smaller programs for any number of tasks.

Another wonderful advantage of this program is that it gives a really beautiful video demo of the game, which is just nice to watch, and if your system is capable of running it can get you very excited to actually play. Moreover, it's also a free download, so you lose nothing by actually trying the benchmark aspect of it out.

There are a few problems with this program, however. The first is that while it will tell you whether or not you'll be able to run the game with your current settings, if you can't it will make no suggestions on what you can change in order to actually get the game to play correctly. The reason this is a problem is that sometimes just changing resolution can alter the way that the game is played, but it may require a new graphics card. You simply don't know and that can be remarkably frustrating.

Finally, the branding on the benchmark is a little irritating and heavy handed. I know that a free system needs to be advertized in some way, but the consistent watermark is a little annoying and takes away from watching the benchmark work, not to mention that it adds an unnecessary element to the test that can throw things off.

Ultimately, it's more than worth the download and test just to see where your system is. Despite the little annoyances, it can give you a good idea of where you stand.

Pros

• Great way to test your system for both the game and general stresses
• Beautiful video demo
• It's absolutely free

Cons

• It doesn't tell you what you can do to help your system run the game
• The download is fairly large
• Its branding is a little irritating