Benchmark

Quake Benchmark Timedemo

The Quake timedemo benchmark is one of the earliest standardized performance tests in PC gaming. It measures how many frames per second (FPS) a system can render during playback of a pre-recorded Quake demo, providing a repeatable way to compare hardware, engines, or configuration tweaks. The benchmark works by running a demo file (typically recorded from gameplay) as fast as possible, without waiting for real-time frame pacing. When finished, Quake outputs the total frames rendered and the average FPS.

The benchmark has been a cornerstone in the PC gaming and hardware enthusiast community since the late 1990s. Before synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark became mainstream, Quake’s timedemo served as the go-to metric for evaluating CPU and GPU performance.

Using the Timedemo Command

To run the benchmark:

1. Start Quake (or your preferred engine).
2. Open the game console by pressing the tilde key (~).
3. Type one of the following commands:

 * timedemo demo2 — plays back the demo named demo2.dem.
 * timedemo2 fps5 — some clients use timedemo2 for more precise frame counting.

1. When the demo finishes, Quake displays the total frames and the average FPS value in the console.

Make sure the game resolution, graphics settings, and CPU frequency scaling are consistent before running tests, so results can be compared fairly between systems.

Benchmark Results

You can use the following table to post your results. Please include details like your CPU, GPU, OS, and any relevant launch parameters in the notes field.

Nickname	Engine	Standard	System notes	demo2 (FPS)	fps (FPS)	fps4 (FPS)
QW_Marc	nQuake 3.6	Yes	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X / RTX 3060 / 1080p	398	410	407
Ciscon	Ciscon’s Quake Bootable v1.2	Legacy DOS	Pentium III 1GHz / Voodoo3 / DOS	53	56	54
RetroGamerPT	ezQuake 3.5.4	Yes	i5-13600K / RTX 4070 / Arch Linux	520	548	542
Add new row below

Benchmark Standards

To ensure fair and comparable results, all benchmarks should be performed using an official Standard. A Standard defines the environment, configuration, and assets used during testing. This guarantees that each participant starts from an even ground, eliminating variations caused by different settings, mods, or custom assets. Only results obtained under one of the listed Standards should be included in the results table abocve.

Why Standards Matter

Quake performance can vary significantly depending on engine settings, configuration files, or modified assets. Using a shared Standard ensures that benchmarks reflect hardware and engine efficiency — not differences in configuration or optimization tweaks. By keeping everyone aligned to the same baseline, the results stay accurate, reproducible, and useful for long-term comparisons.

Approved Standards

• Standard: Using nQuake default config

 Tests should be run using a clean installation of nQuake with its factory-default configuration and assets. No custom scripts, altered timing parameters, or visual settings should be applied.

• Standard: Using Ciscon’s Quake Bootable default config

 Tests should be performed on the Quake Bootable edition exactly as distributed, with no modifications to the default setup or driver configuration. This ensures uniformity with legacy DOS-based performance testing.

Note: Please post results only if you benchmark using one of the approved Standards listed above.

Notes

• For consistency, use the same version of each demo across tests.
• Disable vertical sync (VSync) and frame capping.
• Ensure your system is idle during benchmarking.
• The timedemo output may vary slightly depending on your engine and timing precision.