Minimum

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination delivers a playable experience in Minimum, but the data reveals a clear performance hierarchy dictated by resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combo excels, offering frame rates well above 60 FPS at most presets. However, the transition to 4K is punishing, with the average FPS dropping below the 60 FPS threshold at every setting level, indicating a significant shift in the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a stark drop in performance when moving from 1080p to 4K, a pattern that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary limiting factor. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 118.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 78.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and then plummets to 40.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 65.7% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a substantial loss that highlights the graphical workload scaling with pixel count.

The trend is consistent across all settings. At Medium, the frame rate goes from 141.4 FPS at 1080p to 91.2 FPS at 1440p and finally to 50 FPS at 4K. Even on Low, where the frame rate is highest, the drop is severe: 187.8 FPS at 1080p falls to 119.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 64.1 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that while the CPU is capable of high frame rates, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s rendering capacity is exhausted as pixel count increases. The fact that the 4K Low setting (64.1 FPS) only marginally surpasses the 1080p Ultra setting (91.2 FPS) in frame rate underscores the massive performance cost of 4K resolution on this GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF provides a strong foundation for the RTX 2070 SUPER in this game. With 10 cores and 16 threads, it offers substantial parallel processing power, reflected in its average benchmark score of 27827. Single-thread performance is also a key asset; the processor's 3dmark_single_thread score of 1016 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 3309 demonstrate its ability to handle the primary game logic thread efficiently. This is crucial for maintaining high frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the CPU's role is more prominent.

The relationship between the CPU and frame rates is evident in the 1080p results. Here, the GPU is not fully saturated, and the CPU's capability allows for frame rates like 187.8 FPS on Low. The i5-12600KF’s boost clock of 4.90 GHz and architecture (Alder Lake) contribute to this headroom. However, the data shows that as resolution increases, the CPU's influence wanes. The performance gap between settings shrinks at 4K, suggesting the GPU becomes the absolute bottleneck. The 3dmark_max_threads score of 7952 is close to the 16-thread score of 7956, indicating that the CPU can effectively utilize its thread count, but the game's demand at 4K is purely graphical. The CPU is not the limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios; it is the GPU that holds the combination back at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results provide a clear guide for optimizing the experience. For players targeting a smooth frame rate at 1080p, the High preset offers an excellent balance, delivering 118.7 FPS. This is more than sufficient for a third-person shooter and provides a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset. The Medium preset at 141.4 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing higher frame rates over visual fidelity. Ultra at 1080p is playable at 91.2 FPS, but the performance cost relative to High may not be justifiable for all users.

At 1440p, the choice becomes more critical. The High preset delivers a solid 78.7 FPS, which is good for this resolution. Lowering to Medium yields 91.2 FPS, which is also a strong option. The Low preset, at 119.6 FPS, is for players who demand maximum refresh rates. The Ultra preset at 56.7 FPS is the only option that dips below the 60 FPS mark, making it less ideal for a consistent experience. For 4K, the data suggests that the Ultra preset is not viable, with an average of 31.2 FPS. Low is the only preset that comes close to 60 FPS at 64.1 FPS, but this requires a significant visual compromise. The Medium preset at 50 FPS and High at 40.7 FPS are playable, but the frame rate drops indicate a less-than-ideal experience for fast-paced gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing holds a mid-field position. With a combo rank of 1074 out of 1733, it sits in the lower half of all tested systems. This suggests that while the combination is competent, it does not offer top-tier performance in Minimum compared to other CPU-GPU pairings. The CPU and GPU individually are solid performers in their respective classes; the CPU scores in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 65th percentile among all GPUs. However, the combination's overall ranking indicates that many other configurations achieve higher frame rates in this specific game. The ranking is a holistic measure, and the data implies that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the weaker link, pulling the combined ranking down relative to the CPU's stronger individual standing.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 187.8 at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The lowest is 91.2 FPS at the Ultra preset.

*Q: Can this setup handle 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the best average FPS is 64.1 on Low. Other presets fall below 60 FPS, with Ultra at 31.2 FPS, indicating that 4K gaming requires significant compromises.

Q: At which resolution does the frame rate first drop below 60 FPS on High settings?

A: The average FPS on High settings stays above 60 until 4K. At 1920x1080 it is 118.7 FPS, at 2560x1440 it is 78.7 FPS, and at 3840x2160 it falls to 40.7 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the performance bottleneck at 4K?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The frame rates drop significantly across all settings as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 78.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 56.7 FPS. This is a 22 FPS difference, representing a 28% drop in performance.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The CPU's 3dmark_16_threads score is 7956, while its 3dmark_single_thread score is 1016. This shows strong scaling across cores, but the single-thread score is still high, which is important for gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 31.2 |

| | High | 40.7 |

| | Medium | 50 |

| | Low | 64.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 56.7 |

| | High | 78.7 |

| | Medium | 91.2 |

| | Low | 119.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 91.2 |

| | High | 118.7 |

| | Medium | 141.4 |

| | Low | 187.8 |

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the decisive component in this combination's performance, especially at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is necessary for handling the textures and data of a third-person shooter at 1440p and 4K. The GPU's compute capability, with a fp32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS and 2560 shading units, determines the raw rendering output. The benchmark results demonstrate this directly: the frame rate scales inversely with resolution, a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

The GPU's individual performance is solid, as evidenced by its passmark_g3d score of 18169 and its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs. However, the data from Minimum indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER's processing power is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding presets. The substantial frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K, even at Low settings, point to the GPU's memory bandwidth and processing cores being saturated. While the CPU is ready to feed frames, the GPU cannot render them quickly enough at higher pixel counts. In contrast, the GPU's boost clock of 1770 MHz helps achieve the high frame rates seen at 1080p, but it cannot overcome the sheer workload of 4K rendering. The GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing for high-resolution gaming.