Grand Theft Auto V

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread desktop processor built on Intel's Alder Lake architecture using a 10 nm process node. Its base clock is 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and it carries a 58 W TDP. The cache hierarchy consists of 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. This CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus, and it connects to the system via a Gen 5 PCIe interface with 16 lanes available from the CPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, this processor shows a distinct pattern that helps interpret its gaming behavior. The 3DMark results reveal a scaling curve that flattens quickly: the 2-thread score is 1659, the 4-thread score rises to 2859, and the 8-thread score reaches 4026, which is nearly identical to the max-thread score of 4023. This indicates that the four physical cores with hyper-threading are effectively saturated beyond 8 threads, and additional workload does not yield meaningful gains. The single-thread 3DMark score of 893, combined with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674, points to respectable per-core performance for a budget-oriented chip.

The CPU's percentile ranking against all processors is 68, with an average benchmark score of 13494. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core 3 N355 with an average score of 13492 (0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 at 13452 (0.3% faster), the Intel Core 5 120UL at 13594 (0.7% slower), and the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13351 (1.1% faster). These deltas are all within roughly one percent, meaning the i3-12100F sits in a tightly grouped performance band where no single rival holds a decisive edge.

For Grand Theft Auto V, the relevance of this CPU profile depends on the game's threading behavior. The game launched in 2013, and its engine was designed for an era of dual-core and quad-core processors. The data shows that the i3-12100F delivers its best performance when the workload uses up to 8 threads, as evidenced by the near-identical scores between 8-thread (4026) and max-thread (4023) in 3DMark. This suggests that the processor's four cores with eight threads are fully utilized in heavily threaded scenarios, but the game itself likely does not push beyond that threshold in most scenes.

The Cinebench R20 multicore score of 4981 and R15 multicore score of 1195 reinforce the same conclusion: the chip's multi-threaded throughput is modest in absolute terms, but it is consistent with what the game expects from a mid-range desktop processor. The PassMark multithread score of 14015 and physics score of 985 provide additional context — physics calculations, which often matter in open-world games like GTA V, are not a standout strength for this CPU, but they are adequate for maintaining playable frame rates when paired with a capable GPU.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Arc B570 is a discrete graphics card built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, using the BMG-G21 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, with a transistor density of 72.1 million per square millimeter. The GPU operates at a flat clock speed of 2500 MHz for both base and boost, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). It comes equipped with 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s.

The compute configuration includes 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units, along with 18 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 200.0 GPixel/s, the texture rate is 360.0 GTexel/s, and the FP32 throughput is 11.52 TFLOPS. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Its TDP is 150 W with a single 8-pin power connector, and it occupies a dual-slot form factor measuring 272 mm in length.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Arc B570 achieves a PassMark G3D score of 14195 and a PassMark GPU compute score of 7281. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2649, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 83514 and 96844 respectively. The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 65, with an average benchmark score of 20556. The nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (0.1% slower), the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (0.1% faster), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480 (0.4% slower), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X scores 20662 (0.5% faster). These margins are negligible, indicating the Arc B570 performs in the same class as these alternatives.

For GTA V, the GPU's role is pivotal because the game is known for being sensitive to both fill rate and memory bandwidth at higher resolutions. The 10 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for the game's texture requirements, even at 4K Ultra settings, where the measured frame rate drops to 23 FPS. The 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth provides the data throughput needed for large texture streaming in an open-world environment, but the GPU's raw compute power is the limiting factor at 4K, as the measured FPS declines sharply when settings increase.

The DirectX 12 Ultimate support is relevant because GTA V was originally released with DirectX 11 as its primary API, though the game has been updated to support newer features. The Arc B570's architecture is designed for modern workloads, and its driver stack has evolved to handle older titles like GTA V through translation layers. The flat 2500 MHz clock speed means the GPU does not boost dynamically based on thermal headroom, which simplifies performance prediction but also caps peak throughput.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets reveal a clear scaling pattern. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 123 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops this to 83 FPS, a reduction of 32.5%. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 48 FPS, which is 61.0% below the 1080p Low result. The same trend appears at Medium settings: 1080p Medium averages 108 FPS, 1440p Medium drops to 73 FPS (32.4% lower), and 4K Medium falls to 42 FPS (61.1% lower). High settings show 84 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p (32.1% lower), and 32 FPS at 4K (61.9% lower). Ultra settings produce 60 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p (31.7% lower), and 23 FPS at 4K (61.7% lower).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings is striking. From 1080p to 1440p, the reduction is consistently around 31-32%, and from 1080p to 4K, it is consistently around 61-62%. This uniformity suggests that the scaling is primarily driven by resolution-dependent factors, which points to the GPU as the limiting component. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by roughly 61%, which aligns with the GPU being the bottleneck — the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution in the same way, so if the CPU were the constraint, the frame rates would remain more stable across resolutions.

The data further supports this interpretation when comparing the FPS deltas between settings at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (123 FPS) and Ultra (60 FPS) is 51.2%. At 1440p, the same comparison yields 83 FPS versus 41 FPS, a 50.6% drop. At 4K, Low (48 FPS) versus Ultra (23 FPS) is a 52.1% reduction. The settings-based penalty is nearly identical at every resolution, which indicates that the GPU's shader and ROP throughput is being taxed consistently regardless of pixel count.

However, the absolute numbers reveal where the combo becomes uncomfortable. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain 60 FPS, which is playable. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 41 FPS, which is borderline. At 4K, only Low settings break 48 FPS, and Ultra falls to 23 FPS, which is not a smooth experience. The CPU's 4-core/8-thread configuration does not appear to impede the GPU at lower resolutions — the 1080p Low result of 123 FPS suggests the CPU can feed frames fast enough — but at 4K, the GPU's raw throughput is clearly the ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if I want to stay above 60 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings presets deliver at least 60 FPS, with Low at 123 FPS, Medium at 108 FPS, High at 84 FPS, and Ultra at 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (83 FPS) and Medium (73 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while High (57 FPS) and Ultra (41 FPS) fall below.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494. The Intel Core 3 N355 scores 13492 (0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 scores 13452 (0.3% faster), the Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594 (0.7% slower), and the Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13351 (1.1% faster). All are within roughly one percent of each other.

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

A: The Intel Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (0.1% slower), the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (0.1% faster), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480 (0.4% slower), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X scores 20662 (0.5% faster). The differences are negligible.

Q: Is the 4K performance playable?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 48 on Low settings. Medium averages 42 FPS, High averages 32 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. Only Low settings approach a playable threshold, and even that is below 60 FPS.

Q: What is the frame rate range at Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 108 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and maximum of 124 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average is 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 83 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 42 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 48 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 2353 out of 2954 total tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the database. This reflects the budget-oriented nature of both the CPU and GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2353 out of 2954 tested combos in Grand Theft Auto V. This places it in the 21st percentile of all combinations, meaning roughly 79% of tested combos deliver higher frame rates in this game. The ranking is consistent with the hardware's positioning: the CPU sits at the 68th percentile among all processors, and the GPU sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, but the game's specific demands on both components result in a lower combined ranking.

The rank is driven by the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves respectable frame rates — 123 FPS on Low and 60 FPS on Ultra — which would suggest a much higher ranking if the game were only played at that resolution. However, the ranking aggregates performance across all tested conditions, and the 4K results (23-48 FPS depending on settings) pull the overall position down. The CPU's 4-core design, while adequate for the game's threading model, does not compensate for the GPU's throughput limits at 4K.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing behaves as expected for mid-range hardware. The GPU's nearest rivals — the RTX 3070 Mobile and Arc A750 — would likely produce similar or slightly better results in GTA V, given their near-identical synthetic scores. The CPU's rivals, such as the i5-9500, are also within one percent in synthetic benchmarks, so any difference in game performance would come from driver optimization or architectural quirks rather than raw compute.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (Full HD):

• Low: 123 FPS average
• Medium: 108 FPS average, 91 FPS minimum, 124 FPS maximum
• High: 84 FPS average
• Ultra: 60 FPS average

2560x1440 (Quad HD):

• Low: 83 FPS average
• Medium: 73 FPS average, 62 FPS minimum, 83 FPS maximum
• High: 57 FPS average
• Ultra: 41 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K UHD):

• Low: 48 FPS average
• Medium: 42 FPS average, 35 FPS minimum, 48 FPS maximum
• High: 32 FPS average
• Ultra: 23 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step down from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 32% of the frame rate, and each step from 1440p to 4K costs an additional 42-44% (relative to the 1440p value). The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data, and it shows a narrow band — the spread between minimum and maximum is 33 FPS at 1080p, 21 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K. This diminishing variance at higher resolutions suggests the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, reducing frame time fluctuations as the workload becomes more uniform.

At 1080p, the jump from Low (123 FPS) to Medium (108 FPS) is a 12.2% reduction, while the jump from High (84 FPS) to Ultra (60 FPS) is a 28.6% reduction. This non-linear scaling indicates that Ultra settings impose a disproportionately heavy load on the GPU, likely through additional draw distance and post-processing effects. At 4K, the same jumps produce a 12.5% reduction from Low to Medium and a 28.1% reduction from High to Ultra, confirming that the settings-based penalties are resolution-independent.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and the user's preference for smoothness versus visual fidelity.

For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 60 FPS on average, which meets the standard for smooth gameplay in most scenarios. If the user prefers a higher frame rate with minimal visual compromise, the High preset at 84 FPS offers a 40% improvement over Ultra while still maintaining high-quality visuals. The Medium preset at 108 FPS is the sweet spot for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, as it provides a 28.6% boost over High with only a modest reduction in graphical detail. Low at 123 FPS is unnecessary unless the user prioritizes frame rate above all else.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 73 FPS is the best balance — it stays above 60 FPS while providing acceptable visuals. The Low preset at 83 FPS is also viable, but the jump to Medium only costs 12% of the frame rate while delivering noticeably better image quality. High at 57 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 41 FPS is not recommended for smooth play. Users who value visual fidelity over frame rate could tolerate High, but the 60 FPS threshold is only crossed by Low and Medium.

For 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS. The Low preset at 48 FPS is the only option that approaches playability, but it still falls short of the 60 FPS standard. Medium at 42 FPS, High at 32 FPS, and Ultra at 23 FPS are all below the threshold for smooth gameplay. At this resolution, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck, and the data suggests that 4K gaming is not a realistic target for this combo unless the user is willing to accept sub-50 FPS frame rates.

The overall recommendation is to run 1920x1080 at High or Medium settings for the best combination of visual quality and frame rate, or to drop to 2560x1440 at Medium if higher resolution is preferred. At 4K, only Low settings are worth considering, and even then the experience will be limited by the GPU's throughput. The CPU does not appear to be a limiting factor at any resolution, as evidenced by the 123 FPS result at 1080p Low, which indicates headroom for higher frame rates if the GPU were more powerful.