Norton 360 for Gamers
Game Optimization Testing
Windows 10June 2021

Document: Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing (Edition 1)
Authors:
J. Han, D. Wren
Company: PassMark Software
Date:
22 June 2021
Edition:1File:
Norton_Game_Optimization_Testing_2021_Ed1.docx

Norton 360 for Gamers Game Optimization Testing

PassMark Software

Table of Contents
REVISION HISTORY............................................................................................................................................ 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 4
OVERALL SCORE ................................................................................................................................................ 5
PRODUCTS LIST ................................................................................................................................................. 6
TEST RESULTS.................................................................................................................................................... 7
PHASE 1 ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
PHASE 2 ....................................................................................................................................................... 15
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................. 17
SCENARIOS WHERE THERE WAS A BENEFIT .............................................................................................................. 17
SCENARIOS WHERE THERE WAS NO BENEFIT ............................................................................................................ 17
DISCLAIMER AND DISCLOSURE ....................................................................................................................... 18
DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY................................................................................................................................... 18
DISCLOSURE ................................................................................................................................................... 18
TRADEMARKS ................................................................................................................................................. 18
CONTACT DETAILS........................................................................................................................................... 18
APPENDIX 1 – TEST ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................ 19
TESTING MACHINE .......................................................................................................................................... 19
TESTING GAMES ............................................................................................................................................. 19
APPENDIX 2 –METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................. 20
WINDOWS 10 IMAGE CREATION ......................................................................................................................... 20
GAME BENCHMARK TEST .................................................................................................................................. 20
TEST PHASE 1................................................................................................................................................. 20
TEST PHASE 2................................................................................................................................................. 21

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Revision HistoryRevEdition 1Edition 1

Revision HistoryInitial version of report

Date22 June 2021

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Executive Summary
PassMark Software conducted objective performance testing of the Game Optimizer (GO) feature in the Norton
360 for Gamers product.
The performance benchmark test consisted of two phases. The aim of the first phase was to test the effect of GO
on various games, both on a clean install of Windows 10 (Phase 1.1) and also with background activity (Phase 1.2).
The second phase (Phase 2) is to compare the Norton 360 for Gamers product with competing Anti-virus products,
which also advertised similar game optimizing features.
To test the game optimization performance, we selected five common PC games and used the games built-in
benchmarks to measure the minimum, maximum and average FPS (frames per second) metrics. We ran somebackground tasks in parallel with the games to test the Norton GO game optimizing performance and we used asynthetic CPU load tool to produce a constant CPU consumption when comparing the Norton 360 for Gamers withthe competitors’ products.
We found that Norton GO improves frame rate performance in games in some scenarios. It is of particular benefit
when there are high CPU usage activities running in the background during the game play and the CPU is creating
a bottleneck. In comparison to similar anti-virus products, Norton 360 for Gamers performed the best in theproduct comparison. Further details are in the report below.

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Overall Score
PassMark Software assigned a score to each product we tested in the Phase 2 test, depending on its ranking of theaverage FPS metric compared to other products in the category.
In the following table the highest possible score attainable is 30; in a hypothetical situation where a product has
attained first place in all 5 games. The table below shows the products ranked by their overall scores:1Product Name

1

Overall Score

Norton 360 for Gamers

30

Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

20

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

17

McAfee Gamer Security

16

Kaspersky Total Security

11

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

9The Razer Cortex product was not included in the comparison as it did not contain any anti-virus functionality.

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Products List
The tested game optimization product names and versions are as follows:

Product NameVersion

Norton 360 for Gamers

22.21.5.44

Razer Cortex

9.14.15.1361

McAfee Gamer Security

1.7.128

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

14.1.20.0

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

25.0.21.78

Kaspersky Total Security

21.3.10.391 (b)Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

Edition 1

9.0.30.75

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Test Results
We performed two phases of testing. The results obtained from each phase test have been plotted on charts forease of comparison.

Phase 1In the first stage of the Phase 1 test, we ran the frame rate benchmarks on a clean install of Windows 10 without
Norton GO installed and also with the Microsoft Defender turned off. Then the test was repeated with the Norton
GO active to compare the two results.

No Background Task
46.82
Ghost Recon Wildlands
47.04

59.90
Sleeping Dogs
59.90

59.00
Forza Horizon 4
59.00

35.00
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
35.00

42.00
Far Cry 5
42.00

0102030

4050

60

70

Average FPS

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

Note that the above test was ran with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphic card, and subsequently we replaced thecard with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and used the new graphic card for the remaining of the tests. This was done
to remove the GPU as a significant bottleneck.

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In the second stage of the Phase 1 test, we ran one or more third-party applications in parallel with the games.
The types of background tasks were:• Downloading games on Steam• Chrome loading Web pages• Video encoding with Handbrake• Game recording with Game DVR• Chrome Cleanup computer• CPU stress with GBCPUStressTest
These background activities produced different levels of CPU loads on the system while running games
benchmarks.
We ran the background tasks benchmarks with no Norton GO product installed (Microsoft Defender was turnedoff). Then the test was repeated with the Norton 360 for Gamers installed to test the effect of game enhancement
feature of the Norton GO. We also ran the benchmarks with no background tasks, Norton GO not installed, andthe Microsoft Defender turned off to produce a baseline. The average percentage increases in the average FPS
metric achieved by the Norton GO are shown in the table:

Background Tasks

Far Cry 5

Shadow of theTomb Raider

Forza
Horizon 4

Sleeping Dogs

Ghost Recon
Wildlands

Downloading games on Steam

30.57%

13.77%

3.38%

5.15%

11.76%

Chrome loading Web pages

0.35%

2.22%

0.86%

0.86%

-0.21%

Video encoding with Handbrake

40.69%

35.68%

13.75%

30.43%

24.61%

Game recording with Game DVR

0.66%

0.69%

0.00%

-0.54%

0.56%

Chrome Cleanup computer

5.88%-3.13%

2.31%

3.10%

1.92%

CPU stress with GBCPUStressTest

43.63%

19.09%

6.43%

10.75%

47.93%The Average Percentage Increases in the Average FPS by Norton GOEdition 1Page 8 of 21
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The details of the average FPS measured from each type of background task test are shown in the chars below:

Background Task 1 - Downloading games on Steam
98.37
Ghost Recon Wildlands

79.54
88.89

140.97
Sleeping Dogs

125.63132.10125.00
Forza Horizon 4

118.33
122.33100.67
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

82.33
93.67

103.67
Far Cry 5

76.33
99.67
020406080

100120140160

Average FPS

Baseline (No background task)

Edition 1

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

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Background Task 2 - Chrome loading Web pages
98.37
Ghost Recon Wildlands

91.01
90.82

140.97
Sleeping Dogs

131.30132.43125.00
Forza Horizon 4116.00117.00100.67
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

90.00
92.00

103.67
Far Cry 5

95.33
95.67

020406080

100120140160

Average FPS

Baseline (No background task)

Edition 1

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

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Background Task 3 - Video encoding with Handbrake
98.37
Ghost Recon Wildlands

75.61
94.22

140.97

Sleeping Dogs

99.90
130.30125.00

Forza Horizon 4

106.67121.33100.67
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

71.00
96.33

103.67
Far Cry 5

68.00
95.67
020

40

60

80

100120140160

Average FPS

Baseline (No background task)

Edition 1

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

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Background Task 4 - Game recording with Game DVR
98.37
Ghost Recon Wildlands

94.47
95.00

140.97
Sleeping Dogs

135.27134.53125.00
Forza Horizon 4120.00
120.00100.67
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

96.33
97.00

103.67
Far Cry 5

100.67101.33
020

40

60

80

100

120

140160

Average FPS

Baseline (No background task)

Edition 1

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

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Background Task 5 - Chrome Cleanup computer
98.37Ghost Recon Wildlands

91.89
93.66

140.97
Sleeping Dogs

127.90131.87125.00
Forza Horizon 4

115.33118.00100.67
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

96.00
93.00

103.67
Far Cry 5

90.67
96.00
02040

60

80

100120140160

Average FPS

Baseline (No background task)

Edition 1

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

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Background Task 6 - CPU stress with GBCPUStressTest
98.37
Ghost Recon Wildlands

63.74
94.29

140.97
Sleeping Dogs

123.67136.97125.00
Forza Horizon 4

114.00121.33100.67
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

80.33
95.67

103.67
Far Cry 5

68.00
97.67
020406080

100120140160

Average FPS

Baseline (No background task)

Edition 1

Norton GO not installed

Norton GO installed

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Phase 2
We performed the second phase of the test with different GO products installed and compared the results to eachother. We manually produced a fixed amount of CPU load on the system while launching the game’s benchmark
mode. A third-party CPU stress tool GBCPUStressTest was used to ensure the CPU load was constant for allcompetitors tests.
In the following charts, we have highlighted the results we obtained for Norton 360 for Gamers in orange color
and the average has been highlighted in blue. Products with higher average FPS values are considered better
performing products.

Game 1 - Far Cry 5
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

66.00

Kaspersky Total Security

68.67

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

69.67

Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

71.33

Average

76.22

McAfee Gamer Security

84.00

Norton 360 for Gamers

97.67

020406080100120100120Average FPS

Game 2 – Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

81.00

McAfee Gamer Security

82.67

Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

84.33

Kaspersky Total Security

84.67

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

84.67

Average

85.83

Norton 360 for Gamers

97.67

0204060

80

Average FPS

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Game 3 – Forza Horizon 4
McAfee Gamer Security

112.67

Kaspersky Total Security

114.67

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

114.67

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

115.00Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

115.67

Average

115.83

Norton 360 for Gamers

122.33020406080100120140140160

Average FPS

Game 4 – Sleeping Dogs
Kaspersky Total Security

117.83

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

117.90Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

119.33

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

119.73

Average

122.44

McAfee Gamer Security

123.87

Norton 360 for Gamers

135.97020406080

100120

Average FPS

Game 5 – Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

58.15

Kaspersky Total Security

59.18

McAfee Gamer Security

60.58

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

61.33

Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus for PC Gamers

61.59

Average

66.02

Norton 360 for Gamers

95.30

02040

60

80

100120

Average FPS
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PassMark SoftwareConclusion
We found that Norton GO could help improve frame rate performance in games in some scenarios.

Scenarios where there was a benefit
GO is of particular benefit when there are high CPU usage activities running in the background during the gameplay and the CPU is creating a bottleneck. It is important to note that this benefit was limited to restoring lostperformance due to background CPU load and there was no scenario where game performance exceeded theperformance obtained with a clean install of Windows.

Scenarios where there was no benefit
GO’s method of functioning only acts on the CPU’s process scheduling (known as process affinity and process
scheduling priorities). The theory of its functioning is that the full resources of the system can be given to thegame, at the expense of any background tasks. So, in the following cases no benefit or limited benefit can beexpected.
• CPUs with only one or two cores. You can’t reschedule background tasks to another core if there is noother core available.
• CPUs with large numbers of cores. e.g. 8+ cores. In this case many CPU cores are likely already idle. Sorescheduling achieves nothing.
• Gaming PCs with a relatively slow video card in comparison to the CPU. In this case the video card is thebottle neck.
• Gamers running very high resolution monitors with games at maximum quality settings. In this case thevideo card is more often the bottle neck.
• PCs with no significant background activity. e.g. a clean install of Windows.
• PCs with significant background activity, but that background activity is mostly placing load on the disk,internet or video card. If there is no CPU load then the CPU load can’t be optimized.
• Games that are not identified as games by GO. For example rare games, or games that don’t run fullscreen. In this case GO may not activate. However we did not see this in our testing. All games tested
were identified as games.

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Disclaimer and DisclosureThis report only covers the versions that are listed in the “Products List” section of this report.

Disclaimer of Liability
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented in this report is accurate, PassMark
Software Pty Ltd assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or out-of-date information and shall not be liable
in any manner whatsoever for direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages resulting from theavailability of, use of, access of, or inability to use this information.

Disclosure
NortonLifeLock Inc. funded the production of this report. The products list, performance metrics, and the games
list included in the report were selected by NortonLifeLock.

Trademarks
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact Details
PassMark Software Pty Ltd
Level 5, 63 Foveaux St
Surry Hills, 2010
Sydney, Australia
Phone + 61 (2) 9690 0444
Fax+ 61 (2) 9690 0445

Web

www.passmark.com

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Appendix 1 – Test Environment
Testing Machine
The test performed on a desktop computer with the following hardware specifications:
Motherboard:

ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6

CPU:Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.00GHzRAM:

G.Skill DDR4-2133MHz 2x8GB

Video Card:
Video Card:

ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 960 4GB
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 OC 6GB

Main Drive (OS):Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVMe 256GB

nd2 Drive (Steam Library):

Samsung 850 Pro SATA III 512GB

Monitor1:

Dell UltraSharp U2412M (1920 x 1200 at 59 Hz)

Monitor2:
Internet:

Dell UltraSharp U2412M (1920 x 1200 at 59 Hz)
1Gbps Internet Connection

OS:

Windows 10 Pro Version 2004

We used dual monitors with extended display mode, one monitor for playing the games in full-screen mode andthe other one for executing and monitoring the background tasks.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphic card was used for the first stage of Phase 1 test and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
was used for the rest of the tests. NVIDIA graphics card Game Ready Driver (GRD) version 466.27 WHQL wasinstalled.

Testing Games• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands• Far Cry 5• Shadow of the Tomb Raider• Sleeping Dogs
• Forza Horizon 4
These games were selected as they are relatively modern and also have a built-in benchmark mode that returnsconsistent results. The games were downloaded and installed using the Steam platform.

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Appendix 2 –Methodology Description
Windows 10 Image Creation
A bootable version of Macrium Reflect (Backup software) was used to create a “clean” baseline image prior totesting. The aim was to create a baseline image with the smallest possible footprint and reduce the possibility ofvariation caused by external operating system factors.
The baseline image was restored prior to testing of each different product. This process ensures that we install
and test all products on the same, “clean” machine.
The steps taken to create the base Windows 10 image were as follows:
1. Installation and activation of Windows 10 Pro Edition.
2. Update Windows.
3. Install and configure third-party applications and games used for testing.
4. Disable Microsoft Defender.
5. Disable Windows Automatic Updates.
6. Create a baseline image of the boot drive using Macrium Reflect.

Game Benchmark Test
The average FPS was measured by running the games’ built-in benchmark test modes. The game’s video andgraphic settings were configured as default (game application recommended settings) after entering each gamefor the first time and the settings were kept the same for all tests of all products.
Each test was conducted three times and the final result was calculated as an average of the three samples.

Test Phase 1
The aim of the phase 1 benchmark is to test the effect of Norton GO, and this test consists of two parts. The firstpart of the phase 1 test was conducted with no background tasks launched while playing games’ benchmark
modes. The second part of the phase 1 test was run with one or more third-party applications running in the
background with the game play.
Background Task 1 - Downloading games on SteamThis test was performed by enabling the “Allow downloads during gameplay” option from the Steam settings andstarting a game download and install before launching the game benchmark mode.
Background Task 2 - Chrome loading Web pages
This benchmark was conducted by playing two YouTube videos and loading ten other websites on Google Chromeduring the game play. The URLs are as follows:
URL
https://youtu.be/f8w7hATXQCg
https://youtu.be/ctObBrR0oN4
https://www.tradingview.com/chart/

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https://au.finance.yahoo.com/
https://www.google.com/finance/
https://coinmarketcap.com/
https://www.binance.com/en/markets
https://www.news.com.au/
http://www.bom.gov.au/
https://news.google.com/topstories?hl=en-AU&gl=AU&ceid=AU:en
https://www.reddit.com/
https://www.passmark.com/

Background Task 3 - Video encoding with Handbrake
Command line version of HandBrake (Version 1.3.3) tool was used to encode an MP4 format sample video file toMKV file format in the background when playing the game benchmarks.
Background Task 4 - Game recording with Game DVR
Before starting the game benchmark mode, the game recording was launched using the Windows 10 built-in toolGame DVR.
Background Task 5 - Chrome Cleanup computerThis test was performed using the Google Chrome’s Cleanup tool. Clean up computer process was launched fromthe Chrome Settings before starting the game benchmark.
Background Task 6 - CPU stress with GBCPUStressTest
A third-party CPU stress test tool GBCPUStressTest was used for this benchmark. The tool was configured toproduce 50% of CPU load to the system.

Test Phase 2
The aim of the phase 2 test is to compare the Norton 360 for Gamers with its competitors’ products.
GBCPUStressTest tool was used to produce the same amount of CPU load to all test runs of all products.
The products’ “Gaming Mode” was turned on manually if it was disabled by default.

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