Intel PresentMon

What Intel PresentMon is

Intel PresentMon is a free Windows application for tracking gaming performance with an overlay, telemetry, and capture utility. Its customizable overlay can show real-time performance charts, including multi-line graphs and histograms, as well as raw values, percentiles, and rolling-window averages. The GPU Busy metric presents CPU and GPU balance and resource use to help identify performance bottlenecks. PresentMon brings performance and GPU telemetry together for use during a gaming session or afterward. It works with Intel Arc graphics cards and Intel Core processors, as well as hardware from other vendors. It supports applications using DirectX 12, DirectX 11, DirectX 9, OpenGL, and Vulkan on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Command-line functions support batch testing and automation. Intel describes the project as open source, and third-party applications can integrate it. The PresentMon SDK lets client applications communicate with the PresentMon Service through its API. To start tracing, users need membership in the Windows Performance Log Users group or administrator privileges. GPU execution metrics may be less accurate when Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling is enabled.

Who it suits

PresentMon suits Windows gamers who want performance charts, GPU telemetry, and capture during or after play. It also suits developers or testers who need command-line automation or want to integrate PresentMon into another application.

Limits

Starting a trace requires membership in the Windows Performance Log Users group or administrator privileges. GPU execution metrics may be less accurate when Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling is enabled.

Getting started

1. Visit the Intel PresentMon website.
2. Use a Windows 10 or Windows 11 system.
3. Join the Windows Performance Log Users group or run PresentMon with administrator privileges to start tracing.
4. Use its overlay and capture utility during or after a gaming session.

Verdict

Choose Intel PresentMon for free Windows gaming performance monitoring with customizable charts, telemetry, and command-line automation. Look elsewhere if you need a non-Windows platform; tracing also requires the stated Windows group membership or administrator privileges.