Minimum

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 from the Alder Lake-S architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It carries 12 MB of shared L3 cache, with 80 KB of L1 and 1.25 MB of L2 per core. The processor's benchmark profile shows a clear pattern: its multi-threaded scores are strong relative to its core count, but its single-thread performance is where it stands out. In Cinebench R23, it scores 11,912 multi-core and 1,681 single-core, while in Geekbench it reaches 7,413 multi-core and 2,224 single-core. The 3DMark results are telling, the 4-thread score of 2,859 and 8-thread score of 4,026 are nearly identical to the max-thread score of 4,023, indicating that the chip's performance scales well up to its full thread count but no further.

Looking at the nearest rivals, the i3-12100F sits at an average benchmark score of 13,516, which is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13,534), 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-1250U (13,462), 0.6% above the Intel Core i3-10105 (13,430), and 1.8% above the Intel Core i7-7700K (13,280). This places the processor in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, which is a respectable position for a quad-core part. The deltaPct values show that despite having only 4 physical cores, the i3-12100F trades blows with chips that have far more cores, the Threadripper PRO 3975WX is essentially identical in average score, which speaks to the i3's efficient architecture and high clock speeds.

In the context of the measured FPS data for this game, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p results. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 365.5 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate across all resolutions and settings. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is able to feed the GPU sufficiently, and the frame rates are limited by other factors rather than processor throughput. However, the 4-core design does impose a ceiling: the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 164.3 FPS (365.5 to 201.2), which is a substantial drop that indicates the CPU's thread count can become a constraint when more draw calls and physics calculations are required at higher settings. The single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark and 1,681 in Cinebench R23 suggests that the processor handles per-thread workloads well, which is beneficial for a game from 2014 that likely doesn't scale across many cores.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a massive 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory across a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's clock speeds are 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The shading unit count is 21,760, alongside 680 texture mapping units and 176 ROPs, with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The raw compute figures are impressive: 104.8 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16, with a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 84,306, placing it in the 94th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals show extremely tight competition: the RTX 5090 D is 0.1% higher at 84,241, the RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.2% higher at 84,171, the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 is 1.3% higher at 83,209, and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX is 1.6% lower at 85,637. This clustering suggests that the RTX 5090 is at the very top of the GPU performance hierarchy, with only a few specialized or region-specific variants beating it by a hair. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,411 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 380,114 further confirm its position.

In this game, the GPU's role is somewhat unusual given the CPU pairing. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM is far more than this 2014 title would ever need, and the memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is similarly overkill. However, the measured FPS data shows that even with this powerful GPU, the frame rates at 4K Ultra drop to 70.7 FPS average, which is a significant reduction from the 1080p Low result of 365.5 FPS. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU's fill rate and shading capabilities are being stressed, even though the VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are the specifications most relevant to this game's rendering workload, as higher resolutions demand more pixel throughput.

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

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 365.5 FPS average, which drops to 262.8 FPS at 1440p Low, and further to 140.1 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 28.1% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a 61.7% decrease from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is more dramatic at higher settings: 1080p Ultra runs at 201.2 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 130.1 FPS, and 4K Ultra at 70.7 FPS. The drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 64.9%, which is a substantial reduction that indicates the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The limiting component analysis becomes clearer when comparing the Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (365.5 FPS) and Ultra (201.2 FPS) is 164.3 FPS, a 45.0% reduction. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 132.7 FPS (262.8 to 130.1, a 50.5% reduction). At 4K, the gap is 69.4 FPS (140.1 to 70.7, a 49.5% reduction). This pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is more of a limiting factor because the GPU can render frames so quickly that the processor cannot keep up with the higher settings' additional draw calls. As resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the CPU has more headroom to feed it.

The data also shows that the RTX 5090's performance at 4K Low (140.1 FPS) is still higher than its performance at 1080p Ultra (201.2 FPS), which means even at 4K, the GPU is not fully saturated at Low settings. The high frame rates at 1080p, 365.5 FPS on Low and 310.9 FPS on Medium, indicate that the CPU is the constraining factor at that resolution, since the GPU is clearly capable of much higher output. This is consistent with the i3-12100F's 72nd percentile CPU ranking and its 4-core limitation, which becomes more pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU can outpace the processor.

Settings Recommendations, which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the four settings presets across all three resolutions, the Medium preset emerges as the most balanced option. At 1080p, Medium delivers 310.9 FPS average, which is 53.2 FPS higher than High (264.1 FPS) and 109.7 FPS higher than Ultra (201.2 FPS), while only sacrificing 54.6 FPS compared to Low (365.5 FPS). At 1440p, Medium provides 203.8 FPS, which is 35.7 FPS higher than High (168.1 FPS) and 73.7 FPS higher than Ultra (130.1 FPS), with a 59.0 FPS gap to Low (262.8 FPS). At 4K, Medium achieves 105.4 FPS, which is 13.3 FPS higher than High (92.1 FPS) and 34.7 FPS higher than Ultra (70.7 FPS), while trailing Low (140.1 FPS) by 34.7 FPS.

The Medium preset offers the best trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate stability. At 4K, the 105.4 FPS average is well above the 70.7 FPS of Ultra, and the difference between High (92.1 FPS) and Medium (105.4 FPS) is 13.3 FPS, which is a meaningful margin for smoother gameplay. At 1440p, Medium's 203.8 FPS is comfortably above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on many monitors, and even High at 168.1 FPS clears that threshold. At 1080p, all settings except Ultra exceed 264 FPS, so Medium's 310.9 FPS is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate display.

The Ultra preset, while offering the highest visual quality, shows the biggest performance cost. At 4K, its 70.7 FPS average is the only measurement below 90 FPS across the entire dataset. This may be acceptable for a slower-paced game, but the 34.7 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra at 4K represents a 32.9% performance loss. Given that the game is from 2014 and the visual differences between Medium and Ultra are likely less pronounced than in modern titles, Medium provides the most consistent experience across all resolutions without dipping below 100 FPS at 4K or below 200 FPS at 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks, use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 25 out of 1,733 tested combinations in this game. This places it in the top 1.4% of all combos, which is an exceptional ranking given the CPU's relatively modest position in the overall processor hierarchy. The i3-12100F sits in the 72nd percentile among CPUs, while the RTX 5090 is in the 94th percentile among GPUs, so the combo's rank of 25 suggests that the game is not heavily CPU-bound at the settings where most combinations are tested.

The rank of 25 out of 1,733 means that only 24 other CPU-GPU pairings achieve higher average frame rates across the tested scenarios. Given that the RTX 5090 is among the fastest GPUs available, this rank is likely determined by combinations that pair it with faster processors. However, the deltaPct data for the CPU's nearest rivals shows that the i3-12100F is only 1.8% behind the Intel Core i7-7700K and 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX in average benchmark score, so the performance difference from a stronger CPU would be relatively small in this game.

The fact that this combo ranks 25th despite the CPU being a budget-oriented 4-core part indicates that the game's engine is not heavily multi-threaded, and the RTX 5090's raw GPU power can compensate for any CPU limitations. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 70.7 FPS, which is playable, and at lower settings it delivers frame rates that would be considered excellent on any hardware. The rank of 25 suggests that users with this combo are getting near-top-tier performance, with only a small number of more expensive or balanced configurations achieving higher results.

Measured FPS Breakdown, resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values across the four settings presets are as follows: Low delivers 365.5 FPS, Medium delivers 310.9 FPS, High delivers 264.1 FPS, and Ultra delivers 201.2 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline, with each step reducing frame rate by approximately 50-55 FPS, except for the jump from High to Ultra, which is a slightly larger drop of 62.9 FPS. The 1080p results are the highest across all resolutions, with even the Ultra preset exceeding 200 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the measured values are: Low at 262.8 FPS, Medium at 203.8 FPS, High at 168.1 FPS, and Ultra at 130.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 59.0 FPS, between Medium and High is 35.7 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 38.0 FPS. Compared to 1080p, the 1440p results show a reduction of 102.7 FPS at Low, 107.1 FPS at Medium, 96.0 FPS at High, and 71.1 FPS at Ultra. The percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p are 28.1% at Low, 34.4% at Medium, 36.3% at High, and 35.3% at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are: Low at 140.1 FPS, Medium at 105.4 FPS, High at 92.1 FPS, and Ultra at 70.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 34.7 FPS, between Medium and High is 13.3 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 21.4 FPS. From 1440p to 4K, the reductions are 122.7 FPS at Low, 98.4 FPS at Medium, 76.0 FPS at High, and 59.4 FPS at Ultra. The percentage drops from 1440p to 4K are 46.7% at Low, 48.3% at Medium, 45.2% at High, and 45.7% at Ultra.

The overall pattern shows that the Low preset maintains frame rates above 140 FPS even at 4K, while the Ultra preset drops below 100 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset at 4K (105.4 FPS) is the only non-Low setting that remains above 100 FPS at that resolution. The data shows that the RTX 5090's performance scales predictably with resolution, and the i3-12100F's influence is most visible at 1080p where the frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Low and Medium settings, indicating that the CPU is the limiting factor at that resolution.