We’ve used the HQV benchmark version 1.0 for a few years now, and have only recently adopted the newer 2.0 version for some of our reviews. The latest build is far more complex and demanding than the original benchmark, but the raw scores don’t mean much unless you understand how to interpret them. Because of this, we’re taking our readers through a step-by-step explanation of the HD HQV Benchmark, version 2.0.

We don’t just explain the significance of the individual tests, but we also test a broad cross-section of relevant graphics cards out there today. By the end of this article. you will understand the significance of the individual HQV 2.0 scores and know which graphics cards excel when it comes to HD video-playback quality.

We’re not going to waste a lot of time with preliminaries, so let’s jump straight in to driver settings.

Driver Settings Test Methodology

The graphics card manufacturers prefer that we change the driver settings for each test to achieve the best result and the highest overall score. We don’t feel this method produces a realistic result because users wouldn’t tweak their driver settings each time a movie scene changes. We prefer to lock the driver settings for each graphics card across the entire benchmark for a real-world score.

Even the lowest-end graphics cards can have the same driver quality options as their higher-end counterparts. But in some cases, bottom-rung hardware will stutter when tasked with more demanding video enhancements, such as de-noise or dynamic contrast. Our goal is to find the best settings that each graphics card can handle without dropping frames. This should provide the realistic overall score for which we’re looking.