Square Enix just released a new PC benchmark for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, giving us a chance to measure our beloved rig's readiness in preparation for the game.

More importantly, the new benchmark includes a character creation feature that lets us create and customize our characters and save them locally, in order to use them with the open beta that will begin soon and then when the game will launch on August the 27th.

As a neat feature, the benchmark allows replacing the "protagonist" of the cutscene used to gauge the power of your PC with one of the characters you'll create.

You can find the benchmark here (if you're in North America) or here (if you're in Europe).

It's noteworthy that the software only saves the characters created with it locally on your hard disk, and doesn't actually store them in the game's servers, so you can take your time because it won't allow you to reserve your name.

Unfortunately no similar utility is planned for the PS3 version of the game, so console players will have to wait for the next phase of the beta to create their characters (in the meanwhile you can kill time by reading my hands-on preview of the closed beta)

So, what's your score? I'm sitting on a comfy 7785.