Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions paint a clear picture of a system under severe GPU constraint. At 4K with High settings, the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti combination produces an average of 15.1 FPS. Dropping to 1440p High yields 29.9 FPS, a substantial improvement, while 1080p High reaches 42.0 FPS. The progression from 4K to 1440p to 1080p represents a 98% and 40% relative increase in frame rate respectively, demonstrating that pixel count has a dramatic impact on this configuration.

The scaling pattern becomes more telling when examining the Low preset. At 4K Low, the system manages 20.7 FPS, while 1440p Low reaches 41.2 FPS and 1080p Low achieves 67.5 FPS. The jump from 4K to 1440p at Low settings is a 99% improvement, nearly identical to the High preset's 98% gain. This consistency suggests that resolution is the dominant factor regardless of quality settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering pipeline is saturated by fill rate and memory bandwidth demands.

At Ultra settings, the situation becomes critical. The 4K Ultra result of 8.8 FPS is barely playable by any standard, and even 1440p Ultra at 22.8 FPS remains below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The 1080p Ultra figure of 34.5 FPS is the only Ultra preset that approaches acceptable performance. The gap between Medium and Ultra at each resolution is notable: at 1080p, Medium produces 47.4 FPS versus 34.5 FPS for Ultra, a 27% difference. This indicates that the Ultra preset imposes significant additional load, likely through effects and shading complexity that the GTX 1050 Ti's 768 shading units cannot handle efficiently.

The data suggests that the limiting component is overwhelmingly the GPU. The 12-core, 20-thread Intel Core i7-12700K, with its 5.00 GHz boost clock, is far more capable than what this game demands at these settings. The GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is insufficient for high-resolution textures and effects. The measured frame rates show diminishing returns as resolution decreases, but the GPU remains the bottleneck throughout.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2561. In multi-threaded workloads, the processor achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a Passmark multi-thread score of 34404, placing it in the 89th percentile among all CPUs.

The game's frame rate data shows minimal CPU sensitivity across resolution changes. At 1080p Low, the system produces 67.5 FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 20.7 FPS. If the CPU were the primary bottleneck, the frame rates would remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the CPU workload does not scale with pixel count. The fact that performance varies so dramatically with resolution confirms that the processor has ample headroom. The 3DMark scores support this: the processor achieves 9276 in the 16-thread test and 9979 at max threads, indicating strong parallel performance. The 20 MB of L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 1.25 MB provide sufficient data locality for game logic and physics.

The i7-12700K's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35802 versus the i7-12700K's 35684 average benchmark score, a delta of -0.3%. The Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35468, which is 0.6% lower. These negligible differences suggest that any modern mid-to-high-end CPU would perform similarly in this game, reinforcing that the GPU is the constraint. The processor's support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with dual-channel configuration, ensures adequate memory bandwidth for feeding the GPU, though the GTX 1050 Ti's own 112.1 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor in data transfer.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a Pascal architecture GPU built on a 14 nm process at Samsung, featuring 3,300 million transistors on a 132 mm² die. Its 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs operate at base and boost clocks of 1291 MHz and 1392 MHz respectively. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, providing 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's compute capabilities include 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 66.82 GTexel/s texture fill rate.

The measured frame rates directly reflect the GPU's limitations. The Passmark G3D score of 6340 places the GTX 1050 Ti in the 30th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 5316. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, 0% delta) and the GeForce 940M (5297, 0.4% delta), showing that this GPU sits at the entry-level tier of desktop graphics. The DirectX 12 score of 26 and DirectX 11 score of 45 in Passmark indicate weak API-specific performance, which aligns with the game's poor frame rates at higher settings.

At 1080p Medium, the GPU produces 47.4 FPS, while at 4K Medium it drops to 19.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 8.8 FPS is particularly telling — this likely reflects the 4 GB VRAM capacity being exceeded, forcing texture streaming and reducing the GPU to a crawl. The difference between 1080p Low (67.5 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (34.5 FPS) is 49%, showing that the GPU's shading and memory resources are heavily taxed by higher quality presets. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 112.1 GB/s is a critical constraint at 4K, where the pixel fill rate and memory access patterns become prohibitive.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combination?

A: The 1080p resolution provides the most playable results across all settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 67.5 FPS, and even at High it maintains 42.0 FPS. The 1440p results range from 22.8 FPS at Ultra to 41.2 FPS at Low, while 4K results are below 20.7 FPS at all settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its closest rivals?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti's average benchmark score of 5316 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, 0% delta) and the GeForce 940M (5297, 0.4% delta). It is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 240 and 0.8% behind the Radeon R7 M445. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the CPU holding back performance in this game?

A: No. The Intel Core i7-12700K ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35684. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802, a delta of -0.3%. The frame rate scaling with resolution indicates the GPU is the bottleneck, not the processor.

Q: What settings should be avoided at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces only 8.8 FPS, which is unplayable. Even Low settings at 4K yield just 20.7 FPS. The data shows that 4K is not viable for this combination, regardless of quality preset.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from Ultra to Low at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 34.5 FPS while Low averages 67.5 FPS, representing a 96% improvement. This is the largest relative gain among the 1080p presets, making Low the most effective choice for smooth gameplay.

Q: What does the combo's rank in this game indicate?

A: The combination ranks 1706 out of 1733 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 1.6% of all tested configurations. This reflects the GTX 1050 Ti's entry-level position, as the CPU is far more capable.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal setting for this configuration is 1080p with the Low preset, which produces 67.5 FPS. This is the only combination that approaches the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 47.4 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced third-person shooters, but the 30% drop from Low to Medium suggests that the quality gains come at a significant performance cost.

For users prioritizing visual quality over frame rate, the High preset at 1080p achieves 42.0 FPS, which is still playable for a third-person shooter. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 34.5 FPS, a 49% reduction from Low, making it the least recommended option at this resolution. At 1440p, only the Low preset (41.2 FPS) provides a reasonable experience; Medium (32.6 FPS) and High (29.9 FPS) are borderline, while Ultra (22.8 FPS) is below playable thresholds. The 4K resolution should be avoided entirely, as even the best result (Low at 20.7 FPS) falls below playable levels.

The data indicates that the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB VRAM and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth are the primary constraints. The Low preset likely reduces texture resolution and disables memory-intensive effects, allowing the GPU to operate within its capabilities. Given that the GPU's Passmark DirectX 11 score is 45 versus 26 for DirectX 12, the game's API selection may also influence performance, though this cannot be confirmed from the available data. For the best experience per the measured rows, the 1080p Low preset is the clear recommendation, with 1080p Medium as a compromise for those who accept lower frame rates for improved visuals.