Overpower

Overpower, the 2023 action title, responds predictably to this pairing of Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060. The measured results show a system that is capable of smooth 4K playable frame rates at High settings, but the data also reveals where its architectural limits lie. The combination ranks in the 48th percentile of tested combos, placing it in the middle of the pack for this specific game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings six Performance cores and twelve threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S desktop chip, built on Intel's 10 nm process, carries 18 MB of shared L3 cache. In Overpower, this processor configuration is sufficient to feed the GPU without becoming the primary bottleneck, but the benchmark data suggests it is not a surplus of headroom either.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores paint a clear picture of a mid-range part. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 are respectable, but the percentile rank of 77 out of all CPUs indicates it is not a top-tier performer. When compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400 sits within a hair's breadth of older Intel parts: it edges out the Intel Core i7-9700 by 0.1% and the Core i5-11600K by 0.4%, while trailing the Core i7-8700 by 0.2%. This tight clustering shows that in CPU-bound scenarios, this chip will not dramatically separate itself from older six- and eight-core designs.

In the context of Overpower's measured FPS, the CPU's role becomes clear when examining the scaling between resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system hits 161.4 FPS, which is the highest measured average in the entire data set. This suggests that at lower resolutions and lighter settings, the CPU is able to push frame rates high enough to avoid being the limiting factor. However, the fact that the 1080p Low result is not dramatically higher than the 1440p Low result of 148.1 FPS hints that the processor is beginning to reach its ceiling for this workload. The 12 threads are likely being utilized fully, but the lack of additional cores means there is no extra parallel processing capacity for physics or AI calculations that action games often demand. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 18747 and 3DMark max threads score of 5890 align with this interpretation: it has enough throughput for mainstream gaming, but it does not offer the massive multi-threaded headroom of higher-core-count processors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the more dominant component in this pairing. Built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, this GPU features 3840 shading units and 120 tensor cores. Its memory configuration is notable: 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock of 2497 MHz helps the card achieve a PassMark G3D score of 20891, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's nearest rivals reveal an interesting competitive landscape. The RTX 5060 matches the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT with a deltaPct of 0.0%, while it trails the older AMD Radeon RX 570 by 0.2% and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 by 0.5%, but leads the RTX 5070 Mobile by 0.6%. These near-parity scores indicate that in absolute compute terms, the RTX 5060 is a solid mid-range performer, but it does not punch above its weight class.

In Overpower, the GPU's role as the primary performance driver is evident from the resolution scaling. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 60.6 FPS, which is exactly at the threshold of playability. The drop from 4K High (69.9 FPS) to 4K Ultra (60.6 FPS) represents a 13.3% performance hit for the higher preset, showing that the GPU is straining under the load of higher-quality textures and effects. The 8 GB VRAM buffer is likely a contributing factor here, as the higher settings at 4K resolution can easily consume more than 8 GB of frame buffer in a modern action game. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s helps mitigate some of this pressure, but the 128-bit bus width remains a physical limitation. The RTX 5060's performance in the PassMark DirectX 12 test (77) and DirectX 11 test (200) suggests that it is well-optimized for modern APIs, but the data shows that Overpower's Ultra preset pushes the card to its limits at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of settings for this combo. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 161.4 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium and High presets offer 101.2 FPS and 97.1 FPS respectively, both of which are smooth for most displays. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 75.4 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant 25.5% drop from High.

At 1440p, the picture becomes more nuanced. Low settings yield 148.1 FPS, which is excellent. Medium drops to 89.8 FPS, and High to 83.8 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls to 71.9 FPS. This pattern suggests that High is the sweet spot for this resolution, offering a 16.6% improvement over Ultra while remaining above the 60 FPS threshold.

For 4K gaming, the choices are more constrained. Low settings produce 123.6 FPS, which proves the GPU has raw horsepower. Medium yields 76.2 FPS, and High delivers 69.9 FPS. Ultra at 4K bottoms out at 60.6 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves almost no headroom for frame drops. The data strongly suggests that High is the optimal preset for 4K on this system, as it provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS baseline while maintaining visual quality. Medium is a viable alternative for those seeking extra smoothness, but High offers the best balance of fidelity and performance per the measured rows.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested hardware combinations, this pairing of i5-12400 and RTX 5060 holds a rank of 848 out of 1744 combos. This places it almost exactly in the middle of the field, at the 48.6th percentile. This mid-pack ranking is consistent with the individual components' positions: the CPU sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs.

The ranking suggests that while this system is not a top-tier enthusiast setup, it is also far from being a weak performer. It sits above the bottom half of all tested configurations, but it does not challenge the high-end combos that dominate the top of the leaderboard. The deltaPct values from the nearest rivals show that this combo's performance is tightly clustered with other mid-range options, meaning small tweaks in other components could shift the ranking significantly. The data indicates that this is a balanced pairing, where neither the CPU nor the GPU is severely mismatched for the other. The CPU's mid-range compute capacity is complemented by the GPU's similar positioning, resulting in a system that performs predictably across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between components. At Low settings, the system delivers 161.4 FPS at 1080p, 148.1 FPS at 1440p, and 123.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 23.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 16.5% drop from 1440p to 4K. The relatively modest declines at Low settings indicate that the CPU is keeping pace, and the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel count without dramatic losses.

At High settings, the scaling is more pronounced. The system drops from 97.1 FPS at 1080p to 83.8 FPS at 1440p (a 13.7% drop), and then to 69.9 FPS at 4K (a 16.6% further drop). The total loss from 1080p High to 4K High is 28.0%. This steeper decline compared to Low settings suggests that the GPU is becoming more stressed as visual fidelity increases, with the 8 GB VRAM buffer and 128-bit memory bus becoming more significant factors.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. From 75.4 FPS at 1080p, the system drops to 71.9 FPS at 1440p (a 4.6% drop), and then to 60.6 FPS at 4K (a 15.7% drop). The small drop between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra is notable, suggesting that at these high settings, the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p. The CPU is not the bottleneck at Ultra settings, as evidenced by the fact that increasing resolution from 1080p to 1440p barely affects performance. The larger drop from 1440p to 4K confirms that the GPU's memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity are the primary constraints at the highest quality level. Overall, the data suggests that this system is GPU-limited in most Overpower scenarios, with the CPU only becoming a factor at very low settings and high frame rates.