Assetto Corsa

# FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in Assetto Corsa?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 390th out of 3,712 tested combos, placing it in the top 10.5% of all configurations measured for this title.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080's average benchmark score is 54,247, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER's score of 54,209. The delta is negligible, indicating nearly identical performance.

Q: What is the single-thread performance of the Core i3-12100F?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 1,674 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 893 in 3DMark single-thread. These scores reflect strong per-core performance for a 4-core processor.

Q: What memory configurations does the Core i3-12100F support?

A: The processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. It does not support ECC memory.

Q: What is the thermal design power (TDP) of the CPU and GPU in this combo?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has a TDP of 58 W, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 has a TDP of 320 W. The suggested power supply for the GPU is 700 W.

Q: What is the VRAM capacity of the RTX 4080 and its memory type?

A: The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the measured FPS data confirms its capability to drive high frame rates across all resolutions tested. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, built on the AD103 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process. It contains 9,728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation processors, along with 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores. The memory subsystem is substantial: 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus delivers 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Assetto Corsa, a racing simulation that benefits from high and consistent frame rates, the RTX 4080's raw compute power—48.74 TFLOPS FP32—ensures that GPU-bound scenarios at high resolutions and detail settings are handled with ease. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54,209 in average benchmarks, just 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080's 54,247, meaning performance differences between these cards would be imperceptible in practice. The next closest rivals—the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828) and Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698)—are 1.1% and 2.6% higher, respectively, but those are not direct gaming counterparts for this card's class.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is ample for a 2014-era simulation, even at 4K Ultra settings. Assetto Corsa's textures and draw distances, while demanding for older hardware, are far from stressing a modern high-end GPU's memory pool. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo still produces 81 FPS on average, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity are not bottlenecks at any tested setting. At 1080p Low, the GPU pushes 293 FPS, which suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the GPU is not the limiting factor—the CPU takes over that role.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and its 12 MB shared L3 cache supports these cores. The CPU's benchmark scores show a notable asymmetry: Cinebench R20 multicore scores 4,981 while single-core scores 703, and 3DMark 4-thread scores 2,859 versus 8-thread scores of 4,026. This 8-thread score is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 4,023, confirming that the processor's 4 physical cores with hyper-threading are fully utilized.

In Assetto Corsa, the CPU's role is primarily to handle physics calculations, AI opponents, and game logic. The 4-core/8-thread configuration is sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. The processor's percentile rank against all CPUs is 68, and its average benchmark score of 13,494 places it very close to the Intel Core 3 N355 (13,492) and Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452), with deltas of 0% and 0.3% respectively. This indicates the i3-12100F performs comparably to a mid-range 6-core processor from the previous generation.

The single-thread performance, measured at 1,674 in Cinebench R23 and 3,444 in PassMark single-thread, is critical for Assetto Corsa, which does not scale perfectly across many threads. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz on all cores ensures that even if the game engine utilizes multiple threads, each core can maintain high clock speeds. However, the data shows that at lower resolutions, the CPU becomes the bottleneck—at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 293 FPS, but this is lower than what a more powerful CPU could potentially deliver with the same GPU. At 4K Ultra, the CPU is less of a factor, with the GPU taking on the primary workload.

# Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate for this combo. At 1080p, Medium produces 257 FPS on average with a minimum of 218 FPS and a maximum of 295 FPS. This is only 36 FPS below the Low preset's 293 FPS, but it provides significantly better visual quality. The High preset at 1080p delivers 232 FPS, which is still excellent but 25 FPS lower than Medium.

At 1440p, Medium is again the standout choice, delivering 218 FPS on average with a minimum of 185 FPS. This is comfortably above the 134 FPS of Ultra and just 42 FPS below Low's 260 FPS. For players with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors (144 Hz or 165 Hz), Medium ensures the frame rate stays well above the refresh rate even during intense race moments, as the minimum FPS of 185 exceeds typical refresh rates.

At 4K, the Medium preset yields 132 FPS on average with a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 151 FPS. This is the only resolution where Medium's minimum FPS (112) dips below the High preset's average (99 FPS) is inverted—wait, that's incorrect. Actually, Medium at 4K is 132 FPS average, which is 33 FPS higher than High's 99 FPS, and 51 FPS higher than Ultra's 81 FPS. The minimum of 112 FPS on Medium ensures a smooth experience on 120 Hz 4K displays.

For users with lower-refresh-rate displays (60 Hz), the High preset at 4K (99 FPS) is more than sufficient and provides better visual quality than Medium. However, for competitive racing where frame rate matters most, Medium is the recommended preset across all resolutions due to its combination of high average FPS, respectable minimums, and improved visuals over Low. The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, drops to 81 FPS at 4K and 134 FPS at 1440p, which may not justify the performance hit unless the user has a G-Sync display and prefers maximum visual fidelity.

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 390th out of 3,712 tested combos in Assetto Corsa, placing it in the 89.5th percentile of all configurations. This ranking is notable because it pairs a budget 4-core CPU with a high-end GPU, creating an imbalance that affects performance in CPU-bound scenarios.

The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 68, while the GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is 86. This 18-percentage-point gap suggests that the CPU is the weaker link in this pairing. However, the ranking of 390 out of 3,712 indicates that this combo still outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, largely because the RTX 4080's immense GPU power can compensate for CPU limitations at higher resolutions where the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

Looking at the nearest CPU rivals, the i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13,494 is effectively tied with the Intel Core 3 N355 (13,492) and slightly ahead of the Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452) by 0.3%. It trails the Intel Core 5 120UL (13,594) by 0.7% and the Intel Core i7-1250U (13,351) by 1.1%. These close scores indicate that the i3-12100F delivers performance on par with mid-range processors from the same or previous generations.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar pattern. The RTX 4080's average score of 54,247 is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER (54,209), effectively identical. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828) is 1.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698) is 2.6% higher. These small deltas confirm that the RTX 4080 sits at the top of its performance class, and the combo's rank is primarily limited by the CPU rather than the GPU.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), providing 12 data points.

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 293 FPS average
• Medium: 257 FPS average (min 218, max 295)
• High: 232 FPS average
• Ultra: 192 FPS average

At 1080p, the FPS ranges from 192 to 293, with a 101 FPS spread between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 218 FPS is still higher than the Ultra preset's average of 192 FPS.

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 260 FPS average
• Medium: 218 FPS average (min 185, max 251)
• High: 165 FPS average
• Ultra: 134 FPS average

At 1440p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 126 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 185 FPS is higher than the High preset's average of 165 FPS, indicating that Medium provides a smoother experience than High despite being a lower setting.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 187 FPS average
• Medium: 132 FPS average (min 112, max 151)
• High: 99 FPS average
• Ultra: 81 FPS average

At 4K, the spread between Low and Ultra is 106 FPS. The Medium preset's average of 132 FPS is 33 FPS higher than High's 99 FPS, and its minimum of 112 FPS is higher than High's average, making Medium the clear choice for smooth 4K gameplay.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Medium always provides a substantial FPS advantage over High and Ultra, while maintaining a high minimum FPS. This consistency across all resolutions makes Medium the recommended setting for this combo.

# Resolution Scaling

Examining how FPS scales from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component at each resolution. For the Medium preset, which has the most complete data (including minimum and maximum FPS), the scaling is as follows:

• 1080p Medium: 257 FPS average
• 1440p Medium: 218 FPS average
• 4K Medium: 132 FPS average

The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 39 FPS (15.2% reduction), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 86 FPS (39.4% reduction). The larger drop at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

For the High preset, the scaling is:

• 1080p High: 232 FPS
• 1440p High: 165 FPS
• 4K High: 99 FPS

The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 67 FPS (28.9% reduction), and from 1440p to 4K is 66 FPS (40% reduction). The more uniform drop across resolutions suggests that the High preset is more balanced between CPU and GPU load.

For the Low preset, the scaling is:

• 1080p Low: 293 FPS
• 1440p Low: 260 FPS
• 4K Low: 187 FPS

The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33 FPS (11.3% reduction), and from 1440p to 4K is 73 FPS (28.1% reduction). The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p (11.3%) compared to the larger drop at 4K (28.1%) indicates that at low settings, the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p and 1440p. The CPU's 4 cores/8 threads cannot push frame rates higher than 293 FPS at 1080p, and even at 1440p, the 260 FPS is still CPU-limited.

The Ultra preset shows:

• 1080p Ultra: 192 FPS
• 1440p Ultra: 134 FPS
• 4K Ultra: 81 FPS

The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 58 FPS (30.2% reduction), and from 1440p to 4K is 53 FPS (39.6% reduction). The consistent reduction percentages indicate that the Ultra preset is more GPU-bound even at 1080p, as the heavy visual effects tax the GPU substantially.

The data reveals that at 1080p and 1440p with Low or Medium settings, the Core i3-12100F is the limiting factor, as the RTX 4080 could theoretically push higher frame rates if paired with a stronger CPU. At 4K, particularly with High or Ultra settings, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and the CPU's limitations are masked by the sheer pixel count. This explains why the combo's percentile rank (89.5th) is higher than the CPU's individual percentile (68th)—the GPU compensates at higher resolutions, which are more common in modern gaming scenarios.