Assetto Corsa

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the Intel Arc B390 in Assetto Corsa presents a study in severe bottlenecking. The data indicates that the CPU is vastly more capable than the GPU, which restricts performance to very low levels, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, component roles, and scaling characteristics based solely on the provided data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Assetto Corsa?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 118, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score is 1482. It is 1.3% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, 2.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo first become unplayable (below 30 FPS)?

A: At 3840x2160 (4K) with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 22. The average FPS at 4K High is 26, which is also below 30 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2566 out of 2897 tested combos in Assetto Corsa. This places it in the bottom percentile of all tested systems.

Q: What are the clock speeds of the Intel Arc B390?

A: The base clock is 300 MHz, and the boost clock is 2500 MHz. Its thermal design power (TDP) is 80 W.

Q: What is the core and thread configuration of the Intel Core i5-12400?

A: The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, and its boost clock is 4.40 GHz.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of how settings impact performance. At the lowest tested resolution of 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 118 FPS, which is more than double the 51 FPS average of the Ultra preset. This suggests the user has significant headroom to adjust settings for visual fidelity while maintaining playability.

However, the playable range is narrow. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset yields an average of 83 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS, and the High preset yields an average of 62 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to an average of 51 FPS. For a racing simulation, consistent frame pacing is critical. The Medium preset appears to be the optimal choice at this resolution, offering a substantial improvement in visual quality over Low while maintaining a high and stable average FPS. High is also viable if a higher visual ceiling is desired.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes more constrained. The Low preset averages 82 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 58 FPS. The High preset falls to 44 FPS, and Ultra to 36 FPS. The Medium preset is the best balance here, providing a playable frame rate with better visuals than Low. The High and Ultra presets are likely too demanding for a consistently smooth experience, with average FPS dipping into the 30s and 40s.

At 3840x2160, the situation is critical. Even the Low preset only manages an average of 50 FPS. The Medium preset averages 35 FPS, which may be borderline for smooth gameplay. High and Ultra presets are not recommended, as they produce averages of 26 and 22 FPS respectively, which are below a generally playable threshold. The data suggests that users should primarily target 1080p Medium or High for the best experience, with 1440p Medium being a secondary option if visual clarity is prioritized.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a system-shared memory configuration. The data shows it has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 24 render output units (ROPs). Its pixel rate is documented as 60.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate as 120.0 GTexel/s. The GPU's FP32 performance is calculated at 7.680 TFLOPS.

Despite its small size, the GPU's clock speeds are relatively high for an IGP, with a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz. However, the GPU's performance percentile is very low, sitting at the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its synthetic benchmark score is 1482, placing it in the same performance tier as legacy NVIDIA parts like the GeForce GT 520MX and GeForce GT 710.

This hardware profile directly explains the game's performance. The GPU is the primary limiting factor in all tested scenarios. The fact that its memory is "System Shared" and bandwidth is "System Dependent" means it relies on the CPU's memory bandwidth, which can further hinder performance. The data shows that the GPU's capabilities are simply not sufficient to drive Assetto Corsa at high frame rates, especially when the resolution and settings increase the rendering load. The integrated nature of the GPU means it is not a discrete, upgradeable component in the traditional sense, and its performance is capped by its design.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution and settings increase. Here is a detailed breakdown of the results.

At 1920x1080, the combo performs best. The Low preset achieves an average of 118 FPS. The Medium preset averages 83 FPS, with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 95 FPS. The High preset averages 62 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS. This is the only resolution where the combo approaches a high-refresh experience, but only at the lowest settings.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. The Low preset averages 82 FPS. The Medium preset averages 58 FPS, with a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 67 FPS. The High preset averages 44 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 36 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 46 FPS, indicating a heavy dependence on the settings preset.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The Low preset averages 50 FPS. The Medium preset averages 35 FPS, with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 40 FPS. The High preset averages 26 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 22 FPS. No preset at this resolution can maintain an average above 60 FPS, and the higher presets fall below the 30 FPS threshold.

The data shows a clear performance cliff. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings results in a 18 FPS drop (from 62 to 44). Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings results in another 18 FPS drop (from 44 to 26). This consistent drop indicates that the GPU is saturated and cannot handle the increased pixel count.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2566 out of 2897 tested combinations for Assetto Corsa. This places it in the 12th percentile of all tested systems. This is a very low ranking, indicating that this hardware combination is among the weakest tested for this game. The data suggests that most other CPU and GPU pairings will outperform it.

This low rank is directly attributable to the GPU. The Intel Arc B390's percentile rank against all GPUs is 9, meaning it performs better than only 9% of tested GPUs in synthetic benchmarks. In contrast, the Intel Core i5-12400 has a percentile rank of 72 against all CPUs, meaning it is more powerful than 72% of tested CPUs. This massive disparity in capability is the core issue. The CPU is placed in the top third of all processors, while the GPU is in the bottom tenth. The combination's overall rank of 2566 is dragged down by the GPU's severe limitations. The CPU has the potential to feed a much more powerful discrete GPU, but it is paired with an integrated solution that cannot keep up.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. Its average benchmark score is 18683.

The CPU's performance is robust. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 15989, and its single-core score is 2257. Its Geekbench multicore score is 8564, and its single-core score is 1848. These scores demonstrate a strong processor for gaming and general tasks. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643, which is 0.1% slower, and the Intel Core i3-14100F, which is 0.9% faster.

In the context of Assetto Corsa, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The data shows that the GPU's performance is so low that it cannot utilize the CPU's full potential. The CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 910, is sufficient for the simulation's physics and game logic. However, the frame rate is capped by the GPU's rendering speed. The CPU is essentially waiting for the GPU to finish its work. The 18 MB of L3 cache and 12 threads provide ample resources for the game's processing needs, but they are irrelevant when the GPU cannot deliver frames quickly enough.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear and dramatic impact from resolution scaling. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Low settings reduces the average FPS from 118 to 82, a drop of 36 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160 reduces it to 50 FPS, another 32 FPS drop. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets.

At High settings, the progression is 62 FPS (1080p) → 44 FPS (1440p) → 26 FPS (4K). This represents a 58% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 83 FPS → 58 FPS → 35 FPS. The relative drop is similar across presets, which is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario.

The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions. The FPS scales almost linearly with the number of pixels. The 1080p resolution has approximately 2.07 million pixels, 1440p has approximately 3.69 million (1.78x more), and 4K has approximately 8.29 million (4x more than 1080p). The FPS drops are proportional to these increases, confirming that the Arc B390's shading units, ROPs, and memory bandwidth are saturated at every tested configuration. The CPU's performance remains constant, so the scaling is entirely dictated by the GPU's rendering capacity. The data strongly suggests that this combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming, and even then, only at lower-to-medium settings to maintain a smooth frame rate.