Overpower

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 994th out of 1,744 tested combos in Overpower, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This position reflects a balanced pairing where neither component drastically bottlenecks the other, though the 4-core CPU does cap performance at lower resolutions. The combo delivers playable frame rates across all tested settings, with the most demanding Ultra preset at 4K still averaging 53.7 FPS, indicating a system that can handle the game’s Action genre demands without requiring extreme hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 994 out of 1,744 tested configurations places it in the 57th percentile of all pairings tested for Overpower. This is a solid mid-table result, meaning the system outperforms more than half of the tested combos while trailing the top-tier configurations that typically pair high-core-count CPUs with flagship GPUs. The data shows that this ranking is driven more by the GPU’s capability than the CPU’s raw throughput, as the RTX 4060’s benchmark percentile of 66 versus all GPUs is notably higher than the i3-12100F’s CPU percentile of 72 versus all CPUs.

When compared to the nearest rival combos, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 13,516 is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX at 13,534, a negligible 0.1% difference. It also sits just 0.4% above the Intel Core i7-1250U and 0.6% above the Intel Core i3-10105, with the Intel Core i7-7700K trailing by 1.8%. This tight clustering suggests that within this performance band, the i3-12100F is not a differentiator; the GPU choice matters far more for Overpower’s final frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a flexible budget-oriented part, but its multi-threaded capabilities are limited by the core count. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 11,912 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1,681 in single-core, while its 3DMark 16-thread score of 4,051 is nearly identical to its max-thread score of 4,023, confirming that additional threads beyond 4 cores yield no meaningful gains.

For Overpower, this means the CPU can handle the game’s logic and physics without becoming a severe bottleneck at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, the frame rates suggest the CPU is the limiting factor. The single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark indicates strong per-core performance, which is crucial for a game that likely relies on a few primary threads. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 151.7 FPS, but this drops to 91 FPS at High settings, a 40% reduction that aligns with GPU-bound rendering rather than CPU stalls. The CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms it is above average but not elite, and its nearest rival, the Threadripper PRO 3975WX, scores virtually identically, highlighting that raw core counts matter less than per-thread speed for this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2460 MHz and 3,072 shading units provide substantial compute throughput, with a FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS. The GPU’s 66th percentile ranking versus all GPUs places it just below the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 0.6% higher on average, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti, which is 0.7% higher. It sits 0.7% above the Intel Arc B580 and 0.8% above the AMD Radeon 760M, showing that the RTX 4060 is a mid-pack performer that trades blows with older flagship cards.

In Overpower, the GPU’s role becomes apparent in the scaling from Low to Ultra settings. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 151.7 on Low to 74.7 on Ultra, a 51% reduction that reflects the increased shading and texture work. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the tested presets, as no out-of-memory crashes are indicated in the data. The RTX 4060’s 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores suggest it can handle ray-traced effects, but the measured FPS rows do not include RT-specific presets, so the data only reflects standard rasterization. The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 19,545 and DirectX 12 score of 76 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance, which Overpower likely leverages given its 2023 release date.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 151.7 FPS on Low, 97.2 FPS on Medium, 91 FPS on High, and 74.7 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear step-down from Low to Medium (a 36% drop), while the medium-to-high transition is only a 6% reduction, and high-to-ultra is an 18% drop. The 1080p results are consistently above 60 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS falls to 138.5 on Low, 85.7 on Medium, 77.7 on High, and 64.8 on Ultra. The Low setting remains highly playable, but Ultra dips close to the 60 FPS threshold. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 53%, slightly larger than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is starting to feel the resolution pressure. At 3840x2160, the results are 113.8 FPS on Low, 74.9 FPS on Medium, 68.4 FPS on High, and 53.7 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result falls below 60 FPS, making it the only tested configuration not achieving a smooth 60 FPS average.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is most pronounced on the Low preset, where the average falls from 151.7 to 113.8 FPS, a 25% reduction. On Ultra, the drop is from 74.7 to 53.7 FPS, a 28% reduction. This relatively modest scaling across resolutions suggests the CPU is not the primary limiter; if the i3-12100F were the bottleneck, we would expect smaller FPS differences between 1080p and 4K because the GPU would be saturated. Instead, the consistent 25-28% drop indicates the RTX 4060’s 272 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are the key constraints as pixel count rises.

The data supports a GPU-bound system at 4K and a mixed CPU/GPU balance at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the 151.7 FPS result is high enough that the 4-core CPU’s thread scheduling could be limiting further gains, as the CPU’s max-thread score of 4,023 is only slightly above its 4-thread score of 2,859. At 4K, the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the clear limiting factors, with the Ultra preset’s 53.7 FPS reflecting the 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate being fully utilized.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the High preset at 2560x1440 offers 77.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target and provides a good balance of visual fidelity and smoothness. If the user prefers 1080p, the High preset at 91 FPS is the recommended choice, as it delivers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (97.2 FPS) with only a 6% FPS cost. The Ultra preset at 1080p (74.7 FPS) is playable but the 18% drop from High suggests diminishing returns.

At 4K, the Low preset at 113.8 FPS is the only option that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial. The Medium preset at 74.9 FPS is a better compromise for 4K, as it retains more visual detail while staying above 60 FPS. Avoid the Ultra preset at 4K, as the 53.7 FPS average falls below the playable threshold. For users with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, the Low preset at 138.5 FPS is ideal for competitive play, while High at 77.7 FPS suits slower-paced gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Overpower?

A: The combo ranks 994th out of 1,744 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i3-12100F’s average benchmark score of 13,516 is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13,534), 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i7-1250U (13,462), and 0.6% higher than the Intel Core i3-10105 (13,430).

Q: What is the best 4K setting for this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 4K provides 74.9 FPS, which is the highest setting that stays above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 53.7 FPS, which is below the playable threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the 151.7 FPS result suggests the CPU’s 4-core design may limit further gains, as the GPU is not fully saturated. The CPU’s 3DMark 4-thread score of 2,859 is much lower than its 16-thread score of 4,051, indicating thread scaling is limited.

Q: How much does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K on Ultra?

A: On Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 74.7 at 1080p to 53.7 at 4K, a 28% reduction that highlights the GPU’s memory bandwidth as the primary constraint.

Q: What is the GPU’s benchmark percentile compared to all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4060 ranks in the 66th percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,181. It sits 0.7% above the Intel Arc B580 and 0.8% above the AMD Radeon 760M.