Skip to main content PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES Search PC Gamer View Profile Movies & TV Gaming Industry PC Gaming Show Newsletter Signup Community Guidelines Affiliate Links Meet the team About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine Subscription Why subscribe? Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View PC Gaming Show Summer Game Fest Dune: Awakening Elden Ring: Nightreign Recommended reading Handheld Gaming PCs Linux enjoys a small usage uptick with Steam users, though at 2.69% it still has a long way to go to topple Windows 'Is this a practical way to play your Steam games? Nope, not even a little bit.' But getting Steam running on Armbian and a single board computer really is a thing Handheld Gaming PCs I've swapped Windows for the latest SteamOS build on my Legion Go S and I'm not going back Handheld Gaming PCs GeForce Now finally gets a native app for the Steam Deck, solving what was our biggest complaint with the streaming service on Valve's plucky handheld Handheld Gaming PCs Valve certifies the Lenovo Legion Go S for SteamOS, improves AMD compatibility, controller support, and officially brings 80% limiting to SteamOS in 3.7.8 update Steam's gonna start listing 'adjustable difficulty,' 'save anytime,' and other accessibility features right on a game's store page soon Graphics Cards The first Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU makes an appearance in the Steam hardware survey and it's the RTX 5080 that has the honour Steam turbo-charges its performance overlay, shows you how many real and framegen frames you're getting and, oh, Proton is enabled on Linux by default now Joshua Wolens 18 June 2025 A buffet of stats awaits. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Valve, YouTuber Mora Madness) You know what gamers love? Information. Not me. Personally, I think whatever goes on in the black confines of my PC tower is none of my business—fans spin up, fans spin down, sometimes something beeps. It's a strange and arcane world I have no truck with, but I'm an outlier. Most folks out there want to know how many frames they're getting, what kind of load their GPU and CPU are under, and just what the hell is eating up all that RAM (it's Chrome). But the one gaming tool 99% of us have installed—Steam—has been pretty naff at showing us all that stuff up to now: its in-game FPS overlay consisted of a teeny-tiny frame counter in the corner of your screen, often barely visible against the background of whatever you happen to be playing. But as of yesterday's Steam client beta update, that function has now been supercharged. Farewell, In-Game FPS Counter. Hello, In-Game Overlay Performance Monitor. Image 1 of 4 The old FPS counter options, currently available on Steam's stable branch.(Image credit: Valve) The old FPS counter at work, barely visible in the top right.(Image credit: GSC Game World) The new performance overlay options.(Image credit: Valve) The new performance overlay in action.(Image credit: GSC Game World) I've had a muck about with it, and it's pretty neat. In place of the plain-jane FPS tracker of yesteryear, Steam will now show you, at the highest level of detail, the current FPS divided into 'real' and generated (think DLSS) frames, an FPS graph, your GPU load and temp, CPU load, and RAM usage. Like before, you can stick it in any corner of your screen, and also set the text contrast and background opacity to make sure you can actually see it against whatever game you've got going. Related Articles Linux enjoys a small usage uptick with Steam users, though at 2.69% it still has a long way to go to topple Windows 'Is this a practical way to play your Steam games? Nope, not even a little bit.' But getting Steam running on Armbian and a single board computer really is a thing I've swapped Windows for the latest SteamOS build on my Legion Go S and I'm not going back To Steam Deck users, it'll be very familiar—it's almost (almost) identical to the Deck's level 2 performance overlay. Valve has put out a whole breakdown of what each section is measuring if you want to get into the nitty-gritty. It's good stuff, and hopefully means fewer of us will have to go out and install third-party programs to get a proper insight into what's going on with our games in future, but it's not the only thing Steam's stuck in a beta recently. As spotted by GamingOnLinux, Valve recently altered the beta client's default Linux settings: henceforth, Steam's Proton compatibility layer—the black magic that lets your Windows games work on Linux-based OSes like the Deck's SteamOS—is available for your entire library by default. Previously, Proton would only work by default for games that had been specifically verified as working, and users would have to flick a toggle in settings to enable it for anything else, causing a bit of a kerfuffle when people who didn't know about the setting found themselves inexplicably unable to run certain Windows games on their Linux distros. Now Proton just works for anything without a native Linux box right out of the box, so long as users are on the latest Steam client beta. If you, too, would like to enter a brave new world of robust HUD settings and Proton-by-default, you can head to the Interface section in your Steam client preferences and opt into the Steam Beta Update under Client Beta Participation. Not me, though. There are some things man wasn't meant to know. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releases Best PC games: Our all-time favorites Free PC games: Freebie fest Best FPS games: Finest gunplay Best RPGs: Grand adventures Best co-op games: Better together Joshua Wolens Social Links Navigation News Writer One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Linux enjoys a small usage uptick with Steam users, though at 2.69% it still has a long way to go to topple Windows 'Is this a practical way to play your Steam games? Nope, not even a little bit.' But getting Steam running on Armbian and a single board computer really is a thing I've swapped Windows for the latest SteamOS build on my Legion Go S and I'm not going back GeForce Now finally gets a native app for the Steam Deck, solving what was our biggest complaint with the streaming service on Valve's plucky handheld Valve certifies the Lenovo Legion Go S for SteamOS, improves AMD compatibility, controller support, and officially brings 80% limiting to SteamOS in 3.7.8 update Steam's gonna start listing 'adjustable difficulty,' 'save anytime,' and other accessibility features right on a game's store page soon Latest in Platforms Valve does its homework the night before deadline: Switches Steam to run on Mac chips right as Apple announces it's ditching Intel for good GOG takes on the Steam Workshop with the official launch of one-click modding, and Skyblivion is headed to the store later this year Epic cops to the Epic Games Store sucking for the 2nd time in a month as it proudly announces its money-hose has spaffed over $2 billion Five new Steam games you probably missed (June 2, 2025) Five new Steam games you probably missed (May 26, 2025) Five new Steam games you probably missed (May 19, 2025) Latest in News You aren't just imagining things: Elden Ring Nightreign player confirms it's 6x harder to revive someone at 3 bars when compared to 1, because FromSoftware's UI is basically lying to you An ex-Apple Vision Pro engineer turned a Steam Deck into an all-in-one keyboard for XR, and now you can too No wonder it took so long to rerelease Final Fantasy Tactics—the source code was lost: 'Keeping that kind of data wasn't a normal thing to do at the time' Ball hogs and 'wannabe Messis' are already the heels of the Rematch community: 'Coach should run out onto the field and beat them with a stick' Ubisoft slows free currency gain in Rainbow Six Siege X to a pathetic crawl, then immediately drops its most expensive skin in 10 years Just 1 year after raising $340,000 on Kickstarter to make a 'vibrant' new JPRG, Studio Camelia abruptly closes HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested Splitgate 2 review: A fine F2P time waster, but not a revolution Sony WF-C510 earbuds review FBC: Firebreak review – Delightfully silly, but hindered by balancing issues and limited replay value The Communist Manifesto – A Visual Novel review: No better than reading the book, but at least it lets you platinum Karl Marx PowerColor Alphyn AM10 Wireless Gaming Mouse review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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