Minimum

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination ranks 544th out of 1,733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 68.6th percentile of all systems evaluated. This is a strong position, but the data suggests the pairing is not perfectly balanced for this title. The CPU sits at the 77th percentile among all processors, while the GPU reaches the 80th percentile, indicating a slight bottleneck leaning toward the graphics card, yet the high FPS figures at lower resolutions reveal where the CPU begins to assert its influence.

How This Combo Ranks

The 544th rank out of 1,733 combos is a solid showing, placing this system in the upper third of all tested configurations. This is a game from 2014, so modern high-end hardware is expected to perform well, and the data confirms it. The combo’s percentile rank suggests it outperforms most systems, but the gap to the top is significant, meaning there are many more powerful pairings above it.

Comparing the components individually, the i5-12400’s average benchmark score of 19,850 places it nearly identical to its nearest rivals: it is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19,831) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19,771). However, it trails the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4% (19,928) and the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% (19,894). These minuscule deltas mean the CPU is essentially performance-equal to several older high-end chips, which is remarkable for a mid-range 12th-gen part.

The RTX 3080’s average score of 35,787 is similarly tightly grouped with its rivals. It sits 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35,860) and 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36,101), while leading the AMD Radeon 880M by 0.4% (35,646) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile by 1% (35,435). This indicates the GPU is a consistent performer, though not a standout among its closest competitors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptional frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 264.6 FPS, which drops to 206.6 FPS at Medium, 169.9 FPS at High, and 133.5 FPS at Ultra. The progression shows a clear performance cost for each graphical step, with Ultra taking a 49.5% hit compared to Low.

Moving to 1440p, the averages remain high but decrease noticeably. Low settings yield 174.9 FPS, Medium provides 131.6 FPS, High reaches 108.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 83.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 91.6 FPS, a substantial gap that highlights the GPU’s workload increasing.

At 4K (3840x2160), the system starts to struggle with the most demanding preset. Low still achieves a playable 90.9 FPS, Medium drops to 73.1 FPS, High falls to 57.8 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 42.3 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that max settings at this resolution are not viable for smooth gameplay, while High remains borderline.

CPU Role

The i5-12400 features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its Alder Lake architecture and 10 nm process node deliver strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,249 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3,456. These figures are crucial for Minimum, a third-person shooter where frame pacing often depends on single-threaded game logic.

At 1080p Low, the 264.6 FPS result is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU is not the limiting factor at such low graphical loads. The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities, shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,935, also contribute to maintaining high averages even when background tasks compete for resources. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,873 and max-thread score of 5,890 confirm that the 12 threads are efficiently utilized, though the game likely does not scale perfectly with all of them.

The data implies that the i5-12400 is sufficient to feed the RTX 3080 at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K Ultra, the CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The 77th percentile CPU ranking suggests it outperforms most processors, yet it is not top-tier, so in CPU-intensive scenes at high FPS, it could create minor frame time inconsistencies.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS on Ultra settings?

A: At 1440p Ultra, the combo averages 83.3 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 42.3 FPS, so 1440p is the highest resolution where Ultra settings remain comfortably playable.

Q: How much performance is lost when switching from 1080p Low to 4K Ultra?

A: The average FPS drops from 264.6 at 1080p Low to 42.3 at 4K Ultra, a reduction of 222.3 FPS, representing a 84% decrease in performance.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any tested setting?

A: At 1080p Low, the 264.6 FPS average likely approaches the CPU’s limit, as the GPU has less work. At higher resolutions like 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, since the FPS drops significantly regardless of the CPU’s capability.

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its closest rival, the i7-9700, in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19,850, which is 0.1% higher than the i7-9700’s 19,831, indicating virtually identical overall performance.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU in this combo?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has a launch MSRP of $199.

Q: Is the RTX 3080’s performance close to the RX 7900 GRE in this game?

A: The RTX 3080’s average benchmark score is 35,787, which is 0.9% lower than the RX 7900 GRE’s 36,101, suggesting a minor performance deficit.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 is built on the GA102 chip with 8 nm process and 28,300 million transistors. It features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock is 1710 MHz, and it has 8,704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. These specifications explain its strong showing in Minimum, where it consistently produces high FPS across most settings.

At 4K High, the GPU averages 57.8 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target but not quite there. The 10 GB VRAM is ample for this 2014 title, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The GPU’s 80th percentile ranking among all graphics cards indicates it is a high-end part, but the game’s age means even less powerful GPUs can achieve good results.

The PassMark G3D score of 25,086 and DirectX 12 score of 100 show that the GPU handles modern APIs well, but Minimum likely uses older DirectX features. The FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS is more than sufficient for this title, and the data suggests the GPU is the primary performance driver at 4K, where its compute and memory bandwidth are fully utilized.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, High settings at 1440p are the sweet spot, delivering 108.2 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium’s 131.6 FPS. At 4K, High settings yield 57.8 FPS, which is slightly below 60 FPS, so Medium at 73.1 FPS is a safer choice for consistent smoothness.

Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p, where the combo achieves 133.5 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the 83.3 FPS is playable but represents a significant drop from High, and at 4K Ultra, the 42.3 FPS average falls below acceptable levels for a shooter. Low settings are unnecessary for this powerful pairing, as even Medium provides high frame rates at all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the system’s balance. At Low settings, 1080p yields 264.6 FPS, which drops to 174.9 FPS at 1440p (a 33.9% decrease) and then to 90.9 FPS at 4K (a 65.6% decrease from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s workload does not increase proportionally with pixel count.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is similar but more extreme: 133.5 FPS at 1080p, 83.3 FPS at 1440p (a 37.6% drop), and 42.3 FPS at 4K (a 68.3% drop). The consistent percentage decreases across settings suggest that the GPU’s rasterization and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at 4K, while the CPU maintains its ability to feed frames at lower resolutions. This behavior confirms that the RTX 3080 is the performance ceiling for this combo, particularly at 4K, where the i5-12400’s 6 cores and 12 threads are more than adequate.