High On Life

Resolution Scaling

The measured frames per second data for High On Life with the Intel Core i7-12700KF and Intel Arc B370 shows a steep performance cliff as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 70 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 49 FPS, a 30% loss. Moving to 4K Low yields just 30 FPS, which is 57% below the 1080p Low result. This pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B370 is the primary bottleneck, as the workload scales directly with pixel count.

The gap widens further at higher quality presets. At 1080p High, the average is 45 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 32 FPS, and at 4K High, it collapses to 19 FPS. The 4K High result is 58% lower than the 1080p High figure. This is not a gradual degradation; it is a dramatic falloff that makes 4K gaming impractical for this combination. The data suggests that even 1440p is a stretch, with only the Low preset crossing the 45 FPS threshold.

The Medium preset tells a similar story. At 1080p Medium, the average is 55 FPS, with a minimum of 47 FPS and a maximum of 63 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 38 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average sinks to 23 FPS, with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS. The minimum FPS figures at 4K Medium are below 24 FPS, which is a key threshold for smooth motion. This tells a builder that the playable range for this combo is essentially 1080p, with 1440p only viable at the lowest settings.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding, and the results are unambiguous. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 34 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 24 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it bottoms out at 14 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is 59% below the 1080p Ultra figure. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is a 29% drop, which is consistent with the other presets. The limiting component is clearly the GPU, as the CPU has ample headroom in this title based on its strong multi-threaded benchmark scores.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is a mobile-class part with an integrated form factor, as indicated by its IGP bus interface and slot width. Its base clock is 300 MHz, and it boosts to 2400 MHz. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses the host system's RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. This is a critical detail for High On Life, a game that benefits from dedicated graphics memory. The shared memory architecture likely contributes to the low performance, as the GPU must contend with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which is described as "System Dependent."

The GPU's raw compute figures are modest. It has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 render output units. The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 6.144 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 12.29 TFLOPS using a 2:1 ratio. These are not numbers that suggest high-end gaming capability. The GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 5, which places it in the bottom 5% of the database. Its average benchmark score from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is 1184.

The nearest rivals for the Arc B370 are older discrete cards, not modern parts. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186, which is 0.2% higher. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190, 0.5% higher. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192, 0.7% higher. The AMD FirePro M2000 scores 1168, which is 1.4% lower. This puts the Arc B370 in the same performance class as a decade-old entry-level GPU. In High On Life, this shows up as the inability to maintain 60 FPS at any resolution and settings combination tested.

The TDP for this GPU is 25 W, which is extremely low, and it requires no power connectors. This confirms it is not designed for desktop gaming workloads. The high boost clock of 2400 MHz does not compensate for the low shader count and shared memory bandwidth. The results in High On Life show that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's strong single-thread and multi-thread scores are not translating into high FPS, because the GPU simply cannot render frames fast enough.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run High On Life at 60 FPS on any settings?

A: No. The highest average FPS recorded is 70 at 1080p Low, but the next highest is 55 at 1080p Medium. No preset at any resolution reaches an average of 60 FPS or higher. The 1080p Low result is the only one above 55 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU pairing?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the only practical resolution. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 34 on Ultra to 70 on Low. At 1440p, the average FPS drops to a range of 24 to 49, and at 4K, it falls to a range of 14 to 30. The playable envelope is clearly 1080p.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to the Low preset at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset averages 70 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 34 FPS. This is a 51% drop in performance. The delta between Low and Ultra is significant, indicating that the Ultra settings impose a heavy load on the GPU.

Q: Is there a large difference between 1440p and 4K performance?

A: Yes. At the Medium preset, 1440p averages 38 FPS, while 4K averages 23 FPS, a 39% drop. At the High preset, 1440p averages 32 FPS, while 4K averages 19 FPS, a 41% drop. The gap is consistent across presets, showing that 4K is a major step up in demand.

Q: What does the minimum FPS data show for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 47 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum drops to 33 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 20 FPS. These minimums indicate that the game can stutter, especially at 4K, where the frame pacing is likely poor.

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

A: The Arc B370's average benchmark score is 1184. Its closest rival, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, scores 1186, which is 0.2% higher. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190, 0.5% higher. The AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192, 0.7% higher. This places the Arc B370 on par with those legacy parts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings. The following are the exact average FPS figures from the FACT PACK, with no interpolation.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 70 FPS. The Medium preset averages 55 FPS, with a minimum of 47 FPS and a maximum of 63 FPS. The High preset averages 45 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 34 FPS. This shows a clear progression: as settings increase, the frame rate decreases by roughly 10-15 FPS per step from Low to High, then a larger 11 FPS drop from High to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 49 FPS. The Medium preset averages 38 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS. The High preset averages 32 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 24 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is an 11 FPS loss, from Medium to High is a 6 FPS loss, and from High to Ultra is an 8 FPS loss. The scaling is less steep than at 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 30 FPS. The Medium preset averages 23 FPS, with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS. The High preset averages 19 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 14 FPS. This is the worst-case scenario. The Low preset is the only one that manages an average above 20 FPS, and even that is far from smooth. The Ultra preset's 14 FPS is barely playable.

The overall trend shows that the combo is only viable at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the 70 FPS average is acceptable for fast-paced shooters, but the drop to 55 FPS at Medium and 45 FPS at High shows that any quality increase comes at a steep cost. The 4K numbers are uniformly below 30 FPS, which is a common threshold for playability. The data indicates that this pairing is not suited for 4K gaming, and 1440p is only marginal at the lowest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for High On Life, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and the Intel Arc B370 ranks 2715 out of 2958 combos. This places it in the bottom 8% of all tested configurations. The rank of 2715 is a strong signal that this is not a competitive pairing for this game. The data shows that the GPU is holding back the CPU, as the i7-12700KF is a capable processor on its own.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 35365, and it ranks in the 85th percentile versus all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700T, which scores 35403 (0.1% higher), and the Intel Core i5-13600T, which scores 35305 (0.2% lower). The Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35428 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35287 (0.2% lower). This shows that the CPU is competitive with other mid-range and high-end parts, yet the combo still ranks poorly.

The GPU, on the other hand, ranks in the 5th percentile versus all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 1184, which is the lowest among its nearest rivals. The gap between the CPU's strong percentile and the GPU's weak percentile explains the poor combo rank. The CPU is not the bottleneck; the GPU is. The combo rank of 2715 out of 2958 is a direct consequence of pairing a high-tier CPU with a bottom-tier GPU.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing sits near the bottom. The fact that the CPU is in the 85th percentile while the combo is in the 8th percentile highlights the imbalance. A builder looking at this data should understand that the GPU is the limiting factor. Upgrading the GPU would yield a significant improvement in High On Life, while upgrading the CPU would have minimal impact given the current GPU's performance ceiling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with a dual-channel memory bus. The CPU's TDP is 125 W, and it was released with a launch MSRP of $384.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 28838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 12111 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. In Geekbench, it scores 14367 multi-core and 2255 single-core. The single-thread performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4071. These scores indicate that the CPU is more than capable of feeding a GPU in most games. The 3DMark 16-thread score is 9282, and the max-thread score is 9983, showing good scaling across cores.

However, in High On Life, these CPU strengths do not translate into high frame rates. The bottleneck is clearly the GPU. The data shows that FPS scales with resolution, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound workload. At 1080p Low, the CPU has enough headroom to push the GPU to 70 FPS, but the GPU cannot go higher. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is overwhelmed, and the CPU idles while waiting for frames.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i7-13700T and the Intel Core i5-13600T, which have similar average scores. This shows that the i7-12700KF is not a weak processor; it is simply paired with a GPU that is not designed for this game. The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for High On Life, which is a single-player FPS that does not require extreme multi-threading. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor, and its role in this combo is to provide stable performance without being a bottleneck, which it does successfully.