How to test PC is up to speed with hlsl enabled?

[rball5]

I've built a MAME machine & enabled hlsl.  I like the look, but have been told my integrated graphics may not be enough...  I have no problems buying a dedicated graphics card, but want to know that I need it rather than throwing money at something that gets me nothing.

I've played a some of my favorites with hlsl enabled & see no obvious slowdowns/glitches, but is there a way to know if everything is really running at speed? 
When I run MAME from the command line with no options, some numbers are displayed after exiting a rom (usually right around 100% +/-).  Can I use these numbers to verify everything is running at speed?
Is there a list of games that are resource intensive (i.e. if I can run these at speed, then generally all other games should work)?

[Locke141]

F11 = Show FPS

Now setup will play all games at full speed. Just try the games you want to play.

[rball5]

Thanks for the tip. 
Using F11 shows 100% almost all the time.  On a couple of games (Gauntlet Legends is one) I've seen it drop a bit - normally to 98%, but it immediately goes back to 100% (usually going momentarily higher - 103%).  This happens no matter what my hlsl settings are.
Occasionally I'll see '# partial updates' under that (where # = anywhere from 2-254) - I'm not sure what this number tells me, but what I've read makes it sound meaningless for my use.

I'll try these games on my regular PC tonight to see if the numbers stay at 100% (4790k processor / gtx 980 video card).  I'm not sure that a number less than 100% affects gameplay though... does it?

I was hoping for a way to run a game & see results when I exit (or in a log file) rather than watching a FPS display to try catching a performance problem.  I found a -bench option which I had high hopes for, but I don't think it does what I want...  disabling/enabling hlsl has no result on the score at the end (so either hlsl has no effect, or the -bench option ignores hlsl settings).

[vwalbridge]

Are you just simply enabling hlsl in the mame.ini and going with it's defualt?

In my opinion, Mame's default hlsl settings are terrible. Most of all, it's really washed out. I've got 9 different custom hlsl presets that I've played with. All with varying impacts on FPS.

If you really want to push hlsl/FPS performace. Try it out on Frogger....that game drops to like 50% with hlsl enabled for some reason. 

However, I have custom hlsl settings that I think look pretty good and don't seem to impact Frogger too much. If interested, I can post them here for you to try out.

[8BitMonk]

Also try using gsl and the Timothy Lottes shader to see how you like it. Imo it looks better and is consistent across games vs. hlsl which needs per game tweaks to look good. 

[vwalbridge]

hlsl which needs per game tweaks to look good.

This is true. hlsl is sort of a pain because of that.

[rball5]

Are you just simply enabling hlsl in the mame.ini and going with it's defualt?

In my opinion, Mame's default hlsl settings are terrible. Most of all, it's really washed out. I've got 9 different custom hlsl presets that I've played with. All with varying impacts on FPS.

If you really want to push hlsl/FPS performace. Try it out on Frogger....that game drops to like 50% with hlsl enabled for some reason. 

However, I have custom hlsl settings that I think look pretty good and don't seem to impact Frogger too much. If interested, I can post them here for you to try out.

I'm started with settings I found here: http://www.videogameperfection.com/2014/07/27/hlsl-for-everyone/
I found a few other configs that I messed with and can't remember where I got the settings I'm using now (I played with a few settings on my own but in the end settled on one I found online somewhere).  If you don't mind posting yours I'd like to try it out.

I just ran frogger & the FPS display never moves from 100% on my system.  The '# partial updates' hovers between 40 something & 50 something (never stops moving). 

[rball5]

Also try using gsl and the Timothy Lottes shader to see how you like it. Imo it looks better and is consistent across games vs. hlsl which needs per game tweaks to look good.

Thanks, I'll check it out later this week.

[vwalbridge]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm really not sure...but aren't hlsl settings better for vector-based games?  Specifically to reproduce the glow?

[8BitMonk]

Also try using gsl and the Timothy Lottes shader to see how you like it. Imo it looks better and is consistent across games vs. hlsl which needs per game tweaks to look good.

Thanks, I'll check it out later this week.

If  you want the easiest way to setup and checkout gsl and the Lottes shader download mameuifx. Just point it to roms directory and under the game settings menu switch to gsl and then the Lottes shader. There's a normal and a vertical one, choose accordingly. The built in settings are really good, you can check hlsl this way too, switch back and forth quick for comparison without having to manually change an .ini file.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm really not sure...but aren't hlsl settings better for vector-based games?  Specifically to reproduce the glow?

I still use hlsl for vector games both on LCD and arcade monitor.

[rball5]

Just an update - the settings I found online had hlsl_prescale set at 0.  After learning what this setting does, I set it to 4 and everything went to shot. 
Ran the same settings on my everyday-pc (4790k processor, gtx 980 video card, 16gb ram) and everything ran smoothly.

Ordering a video card for the cabinet now.