Valve says Steam's performance monitor should now report GPU utilisation more accurately than Task Manager in the latest beta, and as a nerd, this pleases me in ways I can't describe

Are you the sort of person who really, really likes to know what your PC is doing at all times? Good, we can be friends. Ordinarily, I rely on a host of third-party apps to see exactly what my machine is up to while gaming—but according to Valve, the latest beta update to its in-game overlay is now so accurate at computing GPU utilisation, it puts Task Manager to shame.

According to the patch notes for the latest Steam client beta release, Valve has changed its GPU monitoring methodology for very much the better:

Microsoft's Task Manager in Windows 11 — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Oof, check out the shade on Valve. A nice dig at Task Manager's sometimes blunt reporting of your PC's resource allocation (like the whole debacle with its borked CPU utilisation stats), and a bit of a nod to MSI Afterburner for leading the way in the GPU monitoring stakes.

And, much like Afterburner, you can see this monitoring in the in-game overlay, so you can keep an eye on whether your games are really making the most of your graphics card if you're part of the Steam Client Beta program. Integrating this level of accurate monitoring into the most popular PC game launcher should make for a simpler life, especially as it's now capable of monitoring your CPU temperatures in-game, too.

I appreciate accuracy, and I appreciate this update. Now I have even more ways to take my eyes off the action on-screen and pay attention to what's going on under the hood.

No, I'm not sure when this happened to me either. I don't even really play games anymore; I monitor them instead. Come join me in the land of ultimate nerdery, my friends. The water's warm down here, and I've brought snacks.

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Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't—and he hasn't stopped since. Now working as a hardware writer for PC Gamer, Andy spends his time jumping around the world attending product launches and trade shows, all the while reviewing every bit of PC gaming hardware he can get his hands on. You name it, if it's interesting hardware he'll write words about it, with opinions and everything.

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