How should I benchmark vanilla? (and some inconsistencies)

[nosewings]

The STEP guide seems a little unclear about how I should benchmark vanilla, and what I should do in general before installing mods.

 

I guess my biggest problem is that the main guide doesn't make a note of where I should first benchmark. So, for example, when the benchmarking guide says to first benchmark with "All DLC," I'm not sure whether that includes Bethesda's Hi-Res pack, and whether I should first run DDSOpt and perform the other optimizations mentioned in the main guide.

Furthermore, the main guide says to simply accept Skyrim's presets for my hardware, but the detailed instructions actually tell me to tweak them in specific ways. Which one should I follow, and which one should I benchmark with?

 

Should I benchmark with the INI tweaks?

 

Thanks to anyone who helps.