PC games to really test my hardware...

[Oly J]

so right after my first Steam sale, (my god I wish I had a gaming rig sooner) I discovered that my new PC can run Skyrim on Ultra High settings without it being all that much of a drain on the CPU, and can also run Rise of Flight on the highest settings with 25% usage, so I'm curious as to where the line is, or even if the game that I would have trouble running even exists yet.

I know that the game is more important than the hardware, but I'm having fun knowing that for once I'm on the high-end of PCs and I'd like to get this "let's see what it can do" phase out of my system.

so can you recommend me some triple A style games that will punish my hardware to the extent any game is capable? I'm not too bothered about genre, but I'd love a great-looking RTS, haven't played one of those since Star Wars Empire at War was still current

 

[Clowndoe]

Witcher 2, Crysis 3, Metro: Last Light are probably your best bets here for taxing your system. The thing with RTS is that the genre is... slow? Your two options are Company of Heroes 2 and Rome II: Total War. Latter of the two I wouldn't have recommended considering what I read about it near release, though you can obviously take that with a grain of salt.

 

[J Tyran]

The most CPU taxing RTS is probably the first Supreme Commander with maximum units on a map, FPS wise BF3 is probably the most CPU intensive (I would say BF4 but... yeah) as 6-8 core/threaded CPUs typically stand out performance wise with it. Most PC games don't even stretch the legs on higher end CPUs though.

 

[Auberon]

Witcher 2 might work, if you don't have top-of-the-line hardware. Turn everything to Ultra with Übersampling.

 

[Barbas]

I would suggest Battlefield 4, but Crysis 3 still appears to be the go-to game on a lot of benchmarking lists I've seen.

Rome: Total War 2 and Company of Heroes 2 are usually the most taxing games on the lists.

 

[thesilentman]

Witcher 2, Battlefield 3 and or 4, Crysis, and Metro should keep you busy. RTS games also work, but the genre is rather slow at the moment, so I'm not sure you'll find good games in there.

 

[loc978]

If you want to test just your GPU, mod the crap out of Skyrim. By all reports I've heard, there isn't one made that can smoothly handle the 8k texture pack. Here's a list I've been working from (I was pointed to it by this TotalBiscuit video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu12b_bx4uQ]):
http://ww.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/1regt3/best_of_mods_must_haves_as_of_nov_2013/#cdmfkbn

With a very high-end CPU, the only game I know that can effectively utilize as many cores as you can give it is Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance with this: http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=15556
After that, if your CPU is hanging in there late game on the biggest map you can find with as many AIs as it'll hold, try this: http://modsreloaded.com/increased-unit-cap and this: http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=31172 (with all of its related mods, linked from that page). Pretty sure there isn't a desktop CPU made that this game engine can't max out... but it's pretty easy on the GPU.
**edit** also, for all-around smarter AI (not sure if this is more CPU-intensive or not, never ran a comparison), this: https://code.google.com/p/sorian-ai-mod/

 

[6unn3r]

The most CPU taxing RTS is probably the first Supreme Commander with maximum units on a map, FPS wise BF3 is probably the most CPU intensive (I would say BF4 but... yeah) as 6-8 core/threaded CPUs typically stand out performance wise with it. Most PC games don't even stretch the legs on higher end CPUs though.

You hit the nail on the head with this!!!
I have a super rig and i STILL cant get the first Supreme Commander to run well with max units!!! It's just a massive black hole effect, game time jussssst ssssloooowwwwsss riiiiiiighhhtttt doooowwnnnnn....

However did we manage back in the day...?

 

[Yuuki]

However did we manage back in the day...?

Back in the day we had slightly different standards and considered 20-25 fps as totally fine

 

[fix-the-spade]

so right after my first Steam sale, (my god I wish I had a gaming rig sooner) I discovered that my new PC can run Skyrim on Ultra High settings

Then get some Skyrim texture mods to make it even more pretty.

Also, the original Crysis on Ultra with some High Res texture mods will make even a brand new PC scream for mercy, but is still the best looking game ever made so far.

 

[Signa]

Just Cause 2 is the prettiest game I own, and it's on sale today on Steam. $3. Metro 2033 probably is a little more graphically intensive than JC2, but those ugly browns aren't going to pop quite the same way.

I don't think Skyrim looks that great to use that as your bench marks.

 

[Ironshroom]

Witcher 2, Crysis (any one of them honestly, they all like eating power), Battlefield 3-4, Assassins Creed 4, Far Cry 3. Thats the best I can honestly think of at the moment, I've probably missed a bunch of awesome benchmarking games...