Valve released new Steam overlay for games on Windows

Valve has released an update for Steam on Windows, which introduces a new performance monitoring overlay. It will allow users to better understand how powerful their PC is and how its characteristics affect the gameplay.

One of the key features is the ability to display both the actual number of frames per second and frames generated using DLSS or FSR technologies. In addition, the overlay shows the minimum and maximum FPS values, as well as a graph of the frame rate over time. Additionally, data on the load on the processor and graphics card, as well as RAM usage, is displayed.

According to Valve, this data will help determine what exactly is slowing down the game – a weak central or graphics processor, or too high graphics settings that overload the video memory or RAM.

The Steam overlay has four levels of detail:

1. Current FPS only;
2. Expanded FPS display;
3. FPS with CPU and GPU usage;
4. Full mode – FPS, CPU, GPU usage, and RAM usage.

Users will also be able to customize the appearance of the overlay: change color saturation, background transparency, and enable graphics. This will make the display less intrusive and more convenient even with a full set of data. Additionally, you can enable a graph of FPS over time and display the CPU load for each core separately.

To activate the new performance monitoring, you need to go to the Steam menu: Settings > “In-game” > “Performance Monitor Overlay”.

So far, the update is being rolled out gradually – primarily for computers with the most popular video cards, so new items in the settings may not appear immediately.

As Valve notes, this is only the first step towards improving monitoring tools. In the future, the company plans to add more useful information to the overlays to make it easier to find the causes of performance drops. Additional functions will also appear, accessible by pressing Shift + Tab.

In addition, Valve has published a separate page on the Steam support service, which explains in detail how certain indicators in the new overlay are calculated.