Downfall

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 in Downfall presents a highly unusual performance profile. The data shows a combination that ranks near the bottom of all tested configurations, and the frame rates across resolutions and settings tell a story of a system that struggles to maintain playable performance. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, the role of each component, and how this pairing stacks up against the broader field of tested hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall reveals a steep and consistent drop in performance as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 106 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at Low settings, the average falls to 76 FPS, a reduction of 30 FPS. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average drops further to 47 FPS. This pattern indicates that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count, which is expected, but the magnitude of the drop suggests the graphics subsystem is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Looking at High settings, the scaling is similar. The average FPS at 1920x1080 is 71, which drops to 51 at 2560x1440, and then to 32 at 3840x2160. The difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings is 39 FPS, a 55% reduction. This is a significant performance penalty for moving to a higher resolution, and it strongly suggests that the Intel Arc B390’s rendering capabilities are the limiting factor. The GPU is an integrated part (IGP) of the Panther Lake chip, and its performance class, as indicated by its benchmark scores, is very low, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs.

The scaling from Medium to Ultra settings at each resolution also shows the impact of the GPU. At 1920x1080, Medium settings yield 87 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 44 FPS. This halving of performance from Medium to Ultra indicates that the higher graphical fidelity demands of Ultra settings are too much for this GPU to handle efficiently. At 2560x1440, the Medium average is 62 FPS, and the Ultra average is 32 FPS, again a near 50% reduction. At 3840x2160, the Medium average is 39 FPS, and the Ultra average falls to 20 FPS.

The data indicates that this combo is only capable of providing a smooth experience at 1920x1080 with Low or Medium settings. The 106 FPS at Low and 87 FPS at Medium are the only averages above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, only the Low settings average of 76 FPS is above 60 FPS. All other configurations at 1440p and 4K fall below 60 FPS, with several averages dipping into the 20s and 30s, which would be noticeable as stutter and lag in a horror game that relies on atmosphere and tension.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The CPU, an Intel Core i5-12400F, has a 73rd percentile ranking against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19039. Its performance is far above the low-end GPU. The FPS drops are directly proportional to the increase in resolution and settings, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU, but the GPU simply cannot render frames fast enough at higher loads.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the central figure in this combo’s performance story. Its specs are modest, and its benchmark results confirm that it is an entry-level part. The GPU features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operations pipelines. It also has 12 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 300 MHz, and the boost clock is 2500 MHz. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses the system’s main memory rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent." This is a significant detail, as shared memory is generally slower than dedicated graphics memory.

The GPU’s benchmark score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 is 1482. This score places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, which is very low. Its nearest rivals in the data are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with a score of 1463, the NVIDIA GeForce 800M with a score of 1460, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM with a score of 1446, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 with a score of 1443. The deltaPct values are small, ranging from 1.3% faster than the GT 520MX to 2.7% faster than the GT 710. This means the Arc B390 is only marginally faster than these legacy, low-end mobile and OEM graphics chips, which gives a clear picture of its performance class.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance is 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1). The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s. While these numbers are present in the data, the most telling sign of its capability is the measured FPS in Downfall. The fact that it cannot maintain 60 FPS at 1080p on High settings (averaging 71 FPS) and drops to 20 FPS at 4K Ultra shows that it is not suited for demanding gaming workloads. The boost clock of 2500 MHz is decent on paper, but the low shading unit count and shared memory architecture severely limit its real-world performance.

The GPU’s TDP is 80 W, and it is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a slot width of "IGP" and no power connectors. This reinforces that it is a low-power, integrated solution designed for basic tasks, not high-end gaming. In Downfall, the GPU is the primary constraint. The data shows that reducing settings from Ultra to Low at any resolution yields a substantial FPS gain, which is the expected behavior when the GPU is the bottleneck. For example, at 1920x1080, the jump from Ultra (44 FPS) to Low (106 FPS) is an increase of 62 FPS, or 2.4 times. This indicates that the GPU’s rendering pipelines are overwhelmed by the higher settings, and the only way to get playable performance is to dial the graphics down significantly.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2589th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the bottom 11.6% of all configurations. This is a very poor ranking, and it aligns with the low percentile ranking of the GPU. The CPU’s performance is not the issue here, as it is a capable mid-range processor. The bottleneck is the GPU, which drags the entire combo down to near the bottom of the leaderboard.

To put this in perspective, the CPU alone sits in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19039. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with an average score of 19047, the Intel Core 3 201E with a score of 19056, the Intel Core i5-1335U with a score of 18982, and the AMD EPYC 7773X with a score of 18979. These deltaPct values are all within 0.3% of the i5-12400F, meaning its compute performance is on par with these other chips. However, the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 1482, is what defines the combo’s overall position.

The combo rank of 2589 out of 2928 suggests that the vast majority of other CPU-GPU pairings tested in Downfall deliver better performance. This is not surprising given the GPU’s low standing. The data indicates that while the CPU can handle the game’s logic and physics without issue, the GPU’s inability to render frames quickly creates a severe bottleneck. Any other GPU that performs better than the Arc B390 would likely push this combo higher in the rankings, but as it stands, the system is firmly in the lower tier of performance.

The ranking also implies that for a game like Downfall, which is a horror title, the experience would be compromised. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 20 is essentially unplayable. Even at 1080p High, the 71 FPS average is playable but not ideal, and it comes with the caveat that the minimum FPS data is not available for that setting. The only configurations that achieve high frame rates are at 1080p Low (106 FPS) and 1080p Medium (87 FPS), which require significant graphical compromises.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at how this combo performs across all tested resolutions and settings. The data includes average FPS for all settings, with minimum and maximum FPS only recorded for Medium settings at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: Average 106 FPS.
• Medium: Average 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS.
• High: Average 71 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 44 FPS.

This shows a clear progression. Low settings are the only configuration that breaks the 100 FPS mark. Medium settings are still smooth, but the minimum of 74 FPS indicates some frame dips. High settings drop below 90 FPS, and Ultra settings fall below 60 FPS, making them less suitable for a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: Average 76 FPS.
• Medium: Average 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS.
• High: Average 51 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 32 FPS.

At this resolution, Low settings are the only option that provides an average above 60 FPS. Medium settings are borderline, with the minimum of 53 FPS indicating that it will dip below 60 FPS at times. High and Ultra settings are below 60 FPS, with Ultra being particularly low at 32 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: Average 47 FPS.
• Medium: Average 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS.
• High: Average 32 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 20 FPS.

At 4K, all settings fail to reach 60 FPS. Low settings are the best at 47 FPS, but this is still below the playable threshold for many users. The Ultra setting at 20 FPS is a slideshow. The Medium setting’s minimum of 33 FPS and maximum of 44 FPS shows that the frame rate is not only low but also inconsistent.

The data shows a consistent pattern: for every resolution, lowering the settings from Ultra to Low yields a significant FPS increase. At 1080p, the gain from Ultra to Low is 62 FPS (44 to 106). At 1440p, the gain is 44 FPS (32 to 76). At 4K, the gain is 27 FPS (20 to 47). This confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor, and the game’s settings have a dramatic impact on performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from Intel’s Core 12th Gen series, based on the Alder Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The TDP is 65 W, and it is designed for the Intel Socket 1700. It has an 18 MB shared L3 cache, with 1.25 MB per core L2 cache and 80 KB per core L1 cache. The process node is 10 nm, and the die size is 163 mm².

The CPU’s benchmark scores are solid for a mid-range part. In Cinebench R23, it scores 12380 in multicore and 1680 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 9472 in multicore and 1964 in single-core. Its 3DMark scores show scaling from 1699 for 2 threads to 5912 for max threads. The PassMark multithread score is 19433, and the single-thread score is 3481. The average benchmark score is 19039, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs.

In Downfall, the CPU’s role is to handle the game’s logic, physics, and other non-rendering tasks. Given its performance, it is unlikely to be a bottleneck in this game. The measured FPS data shows that performance scales directly with resolution and settings, which is indicative of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS across different resolutions at the same settings, as the CPU workload would not change. Instead, we see a clear drop in FPS as resolution increases, which points to the GPU being the constraint.

The CPU’s 12 threads are more than sufficient for a modern game like Downfall. The game was released in 2016, so it is not likely to be heavily threaded, but even if it were, the i5-12400F’s multicore performance is strong. The single-core performance, which is often more important for gaming, is also good, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1964. This means the CPU can process the game’s main thread efficiently, but it is held back by the GPU’s inability to produce frames quickly.

The memory support for this CPU includes DDR4 and DDR5, but the GPU’s memory is "System Shared," which means it relies on the system’s RAM. This shared memory arrangement can add latency and reduce bandwidth compared to dedicated VRAM, further hampering the GPU’s performance. The CPU’s memory bandwidth is listed as null, but the dual-channel memory bus suggests it has adequate bandwidth for the CPU’s own needs. The bottleneck in this system is not the CPU’s compute power but the GPU’s rendering capabilities, which are insufficient for high-resolution or high-settings gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 87, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX’s score of 1463.

Q: At what resolution and settings does this combo achieve its highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS is 106, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

*Q: What is the combo’s rank in Downfall out of all tested configurations?*

A: The combo ranks 2589th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall.

*Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in Downfall with this combo?*

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The FPS drops significantly as resolution increases, from 106 FPS at 1080p Low to 47 FPS at 4K Low, indicating a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is strong, with a 73rd percentile ranking, but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s low rendering power.

Q: What is the average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 20 FPS, which is the lowest average recorded in the data.