Cyberpunk 2077

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2576th out of 2920 tested combos in Cyberpunk 2077, placing it in the bottom 12% of all configurations. This is a severely GPU-bound pairing where a high-end 13th Gen processor is completely hamstrung by an entry-level integrated graphics solution. The data indicates that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU, the Arc B390's performance floor is so low that it drags the entire experience into unplayable territory across all tested resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2576 out of 2920 puts it in the bottom percentile of tested systems for this specific title. This is not a situation where the component pairing is imbalanced in a conventional sense; rather, it represents a fundamental mismatch between the CPU's capabilities and the GPU's output ceiling. The ranking reflects that 88% of all tested combinations deliver higher average frame rates in Cyberpunk 2077, making this one of the least performant configurations in the database for this game.

Benchmark results indicate the system is firmly in "playable at low settings only" territory, and even then, only at 1080p. The Arc B390's performance percentile of 9th out of 100 versus all GPUs confirms this is an extremely weak graphics processor, regardless of the CPU attached to it. The nearest GPU rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% faster) and NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% faster), both of which are legacy mobile parts from over a decade ago. This contextual placement shows that the Arc B390 is competing with hardware that is not just older, but fundamentally less capable in modern DirectX 12 workloads.

The CPU's percentile of 89th out of 100 versus all CPUs tells a different story entirely. The i7-13700K is a top-tier desktop processor, and its average benchmark score of 46,881 places it within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535, while being just 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900. In any other context, this would be a flagship-level gaming setup. However, the GPU's average score of 1,482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is a stark reminder that the visual processing workload is entirely bottlenecked by the integrated graphics.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K features 16 cores and 24 threads based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The processor includes 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, along with 80 KB of L1 cache per core. This configuration is designed for high-throughput multitasking and demanding applications, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30,745 and single-core score of 2,116.

In Cyberpunk 2077, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, AI, and draw call submissions. The benchmark results show this processor is more than capable of sustaining high frame rates in less GPU-limited scenarios. The PassMark multi-thread score of 45,887 and the 3DMark 16-thread score of 10,717 indicate strong parallel processing capability. However, the measured FPS data reveals that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this pairing; the frame rates are uniformly low across all settings, which points directly to the GPU as the bottleneck.

The processor's integrated UHD Graphics 770 is not being utilized here, as the system relies on the discrete Arc B390. Even so, the CPU's 125W TDP and dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 provide ample bandwidth for feeding the GPU. The data suggests that if the Arc B390 were replaced with a more capable graphics card, the i7-13700K would easily push Cyberpunk 2077 to high refresh rates at 1440p or 4K, given its single-thread performance of 4,333 in PassMark and Geekbench single-core score of 2,529. But as configured, the CPU sits idle waiting for the GPU to render each frame.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process node. It features 1,536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The boost clock is rated at 2,500 MHz with a base clock of 300 MHz, delivering a peak FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS and a texture fill rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The memory subsystem uses System Shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, which is a critical limitation for a game like Cyberpunk 2077 that demands high memory throughput.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,482 places it in the 9th percentile versus all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GT 520MX and GT 710, both of which are entry-level parts from a different era. The 80W TDP and IGP form factor confirm this is not designed for gaming performance, but rather for basic display output on portable devices. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 compliance are modern, but the raw compute power is insufficient for a demanding title like Cyberpunk 2077.

In practical terms, the Arc B390's shared memory architecture means it competes with the CPU for system memory bandwidth. This is particularly problematic in Cyberpunk 2077, which requires large texture buffers. The measured FPS shows that even at 1080p Low settings, the GPU only manages 49 FPS average, and this drops to 27 FPS at High settings. These numbers are consistent with the GPU's performance class, confirming that the Arc B390 is the dominant constraint in every scenario tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 49 FPS on Low settings, 36 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 31 FPS and maximum of 42 FPS), 27 FPS on High, and 25 FPS on Ultra. This shows a clear progression: dropping from Low to Ultra costs roughly half the frame rate, from 49 to 25 FPS. The Medium preset's min-max range of 31-42 FPS indicates some frame pacing instability, but the overall trend is predictable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low settings yield 37 FPS, Medium produces 27 FPS (min 23, max 31), High drops to 20 FPS, and Ultra falls to 19 FPS. The jump from 1080p to 1440p costs about 24-26% of the frame rate across all settings, which is a substantial decline that highlights the GPU's limited pixel throughput. At 1440p, even Low settings approach the edge of playability, and anything above Medium is effectively a slideshow.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the system is essentially unusable for gaming. Low settings average 24 FPS, Medium drops to 18 FPS (min 15, max 21), and both High and Ultra bottom out at 13 FPS. The 4K results show less differentiation between High and Ultra (both 13 FPS), suggesting the GPU is hitting a hard computational ceiling where additional settings changes have minimal impact. The minimum FPS of 15 at 4K Medium indicates the system can dip below even the already-low average, making the experience stuttery and inconsistent.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior reveals a GPU that is severely bandwidth and fill-rate limited. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drop across all settings is approximately 27%, which is steeper than the 44% increase in pixel count (2.07M to 3.69M pixels). This suggests the GPU is not purely pixel-bound but is also constrained by memory bandwidth and shader complexity. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is another 35% on average, going from 25.75 FPS average to 17 FPS average.

This scaling pattern indicates that the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. A CPU-bound system would show flat frame rates across resolutions, as the CPU would hit its limit regardless of pixel count. Instead, the data shows a consistent decline with each resolution increase, which is the hallmark of a GPU bottleneck. The i7-13700K's single-thread performance is more than sufficient to handle the game's CPU demands, but the Arc B390's shared memory and limited ROPs (24) cannot keep up with the increasing pixel workload.

The most telling indicator is the 1080p Low to 4K Low comparison: from 49 FPS to 24 FPS, a 51% reduction. This is a massive penalty for a resolution increase, confirming that the GPU is working at maximum capacity even at the lowest settings. The system would need a fundamentally different GPU to achieve playable frame rates at any resolution above 1080p Low, and even at that setting, the performance is marginal for a fast-paced action RPG.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K bottlenecking the Intel Arc B390 in Cyberpunk 2077?

A: No. The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's benchmark scores (89th percentile, 46,881 average) are far above the GPU's (9th percentile, 1,482 average), and the FPS scales down consistently with resolution increases, which is a classic GPU bottleneck signature.

Q: What is the best playable setting for this combo?

A: Based on the measured data, only 1080p Low at 49 FPS average can be considered remotely playable. 1080p Medium at 36 FPS might be tolerable for some, but 1440p Low at 37 FPS is borderline, and anything above that drops below 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1,482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, which is within 2.7% of the NVIDIA GT 710 (1,443) and 1.3% of the NVIDIA GT 520MX (1,463). These are all entry-level parts, confirming the Arc B390 is not designed for gaming.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The i7-13700K scores 46,881 on average, which is 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46,971) and 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (47,022), while being 0.5% ahead of both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (46,654) and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (46,653).

Q: Does increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K have a proportional FPS impact?

A: No. The FPS drop is disproportionate. At Low settings, 1080p yields 49 FPS while 4K yields 24 FPS, a 51% reduction. This indicates the GPU is not just pixel-bound but also constrained by memory bandwidth, as the shared system memory cannot scale efficiently.

Q: Would this combo benefit from a different CPU or GPU pairing?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the weak link. If the CPU were paired with a more capable GPU, the i7-13700K's strong multi-threaded scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 30,745) would likely support much higher frame rates. Conversely, the Arc B390 would perform identically with a weaker CPU, as it never reaches a point where the CPU is the constraint.