A dataminer just found a hidden Steam feature that tells you your FPS before buying a game, and it could change everything

A dataminer has uncovered a hidden Steam feature called the FPS Estimator that predicts your framerate in a specific game before you buy it. The tool, which Valve has not yet publicly announced, is designed to address one of the most persistent frustrations in PC gaming: purchasing a title only to find your hardware cannot run it properly. As detailed by Dexerto, the discovery was made by a dataminer known as Roadrunner, who found several new strings of code related to the feature while sifting through SteamDB.

Third-party tools like Can You Run It? have attempted to fill this gap for years, but a native solution built directly into Steam would offer a more seamless experience. Based on the code, users browsing a game’s store page would be able to input their CPU, GPU, and RAM specifications. Steam would then cross-reference that data against performance information collected from other users with similar hardware configurations, returning a chart showing the framerates they experienced.

Valve is framing it as an estimator deliberately, acknowledging that PC setups vary too widely for exact predictions. The tool is also expected to support saved hardware profiles, meaning users would not need to re-enter their specs each time. Multiple profiles could be saved for different machines, including the Steam Deck, where standardized hardware makes performance predictions more consistent.

This feature fits a broader push Valve has been building toward for months

Back in February, the Steam Client Beta added an option for users to share anonymized framerate data. When enabled, Steam collects gameplay performance data without linking it to a specific account, associating it instead with the hardware being used. Valve said at the time the data was intended to improve game compatibility and general Steam performance, with the feature initially focused on SteamOS devices.

Valve also recently added the ability for users to display their PC specifications alongside Steam game reviews, creating another potential source of performance data. The FPS Estimator appears to be the direct product of those collection efforts, pulling together community hardware data into a usable pre-purchase tool. RAM shortages driven by AI data center demand have already pushed up costs for Valve hardware, with Steam Deck availability and Steam Machine pricing both affected, making pre-purchase performance transparency an even more practical concern for buyers.

There are real challenges to executing the feature reliably. Users often run upscalers, frame generation tools like Lossless Scaling, and custom power profiles, all of which can significantly alter real-world performance and skew pooled data. On standard PC configurations, the number of possible hardware combinations complicates how Valve would weight and prioritize different components in its estimates.

No release timeline has been confirmed for the FPS Estimator. Some users on social media have reported already being prompted to share framerate data, suggesting a wider rollout may not be far off. The broader PC gaming market has seen notable shifts lately, with Epic laying off over 1,000 workers following a sharp drop in Fortnite engagement, reinforcing Steam’s position as the dominant PC gaming storefront.