Overpower

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a compelling 4K experience in Overpower, though the data reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 233.3 FPS, which drops to 209.8 FPS at 3840x2160 with Low settings—a reduction of 23.5 FPS, or roughly 10%. This relatively modest decline when moving from 1080p to 4K at Low settings suggests that at lower graphical loads, the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly. However, the picture changes dramatically when settings are cranked up. At Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 151.9 FPS at 1080p to 112.4 FPS at 4K—a drop of 39.5 FPS, or approximately 26%. This steeper decline at higher settings indicates that the RTX 5090’s rendering workload becomes the dominant constraint, as the increased pixel count and graphical complexity saturate the GPU’s capabilities. The scaling pattern is consistent across Medium and High settings as well: Medium goes from 194.6 FPS at 1080p to 145.1 FPS at 4K (a 25.4% reduction), while High drops from 178.5 FPS to 138.7 FPS (a 22.3% reduction). These figures collectively suggest that Overpower is well-optimized to leverage the RTX 5090’s power, but the i5-12400F’s six cores and twelve threads can keep pace with the GPU only up to a point; at 1080p Low, the CPU’s 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU, but as resolution rises, the GPU’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth take over as the primary performance drivers.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling analysis reveals a dual-phase bottleneck behavior. From 1080p to 1440p, the frame rate drops are moderate across all settings: Low falls from 233.3 to 223.2 FPS (a 4.3% decline), Medium from 194.6 to 171.4 FPS (an 11.9% decline), High from 178.5 to 160.4 FPS (a 10.1% decline), and Ultra from 151.9 to 133.1 FPS (a 12.4% decline). These reductions are relatively uniform, indicating that the RTX 5090’s 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are being gradually taxed as pixel count increases, but the CPU still has enough single-thread headroom—evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 909—to avoid becoming a severe bottleneck. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more pronounced scaling divergence. At Low settings, the drop is only 13.4 FPS (from 223.2 to 209.8, a 6.0% decline), which is surprisingly small. This suggests that at Low settings, the game’s rendering load is light enough that the GPU is not fully utilized, and the CPU’s 3dmark_max_threads score of 5912 becomes the pacing factor. Conversely, at Ultra settings, the 1440p-to-4K drop is 20.7 FPS (from 133.1 to 112.4, a 15.5% decline), showing that the GPU’s 176 ROPs and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are being pushed hard. The data indicates that for this combo, 1080p and 1440p are CPU-bound at Low settings, while 4K at Ultra is firmly GPU-bound. The middle ground—1440p Ultra and 4K High—represents a balanced workload where both components contribute nearly equally to frame time.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 40 out of 1,744 tested combos in Overpower. This places the system in the top 2.3% of all configurations evaluated, which is an exceptional result given that the CPU itself only ranks in the 77th percentile among all processors. The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 94th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. The disparity between the CPU’s percentile (77) and the combo’s rank (40 out of 1,744) highlights how the RTX 5090’s raw power boosts the overall system performance. The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks underscore this dynamic: the Intel Core i7-8700K scores 19,210 (a delta of 0.1% from the i5-12400F’s 19,221 average), the Intel Core i5-1335U scores 19,167 (0.3% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS scores 19,364 (-0.7% delta), and the AMD EPYC 7773X scores 18,979 (1.3% delta). These small percentage differences indicate that the i5-12400F is competitively positioned among CPUs, but none of these processors would likely push the RTX 5090 to significantly different frame rates in Overpower, as the GPU’s massive compute resources dominate the frame generation process. The combo rank of 40 suggests that only 39 other tested configurations—likely featuring higher-end CPUs like Core i9 or Ryzen 9 parts—can extract marginally better performance from the RTX 5090 in this specific game.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo in Overpower?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 233.3, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 151.9 FPS at 1080p to 112.4 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 39.5 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K with High settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with High settings, the combo achieves 138.7 FPS, and the scaling from 1440p High (160.4 FPS) shows a 13.5% drop, indicating the GPU is becoming the primary constraint.

Q: Does the i5-12400F bottleneck the RTX 5090 at any resolution?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the 233.3 FPS result is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU’s rendering load is minimal and the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads (with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz) become the pacing factor.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 40th out of 1,744 tested combinations in Overpower, placing it in the top 2.3% of all systems.

Q: How does the RTX 5090’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090’s average benchmark score of 84,306 is 0.1% ahead of the RTX 5090 D (84,241), 0.2% ahead of the RTX 5050 Mobile (84,171), and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (83,209).

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 233.3 FPS on Low, 194.6 FPS on Medium, 178.5 FPS on High, and 151.9 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a total performance cost of 81.4 FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Low and Medium (38.7 FPS). At 2560x1440, the results are 223.2 FPS on Low, 171.4 FPS on Medium, 160.4 FPS on High, and 133.1 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Medium gap at 1440p narrows to 51.8 FPS, while the Medium-to-High drop is a much smaller 11.0 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from Medium to High at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to 209.8 FPS on Low, 145.1 FPS on Medium, 138.7 FPS on High, and 112.4 FPS on Ultra. The most striking observation at 4K is the relatively small gap between Medium (145.1) and High (138.7)—only 6.4 FPS—which indicates that the GPU’s resource allocation for these two settings is similar. Across all resolutions, the Low setting consistently delivers over 200 FPS, with the 1080p Low result of 233.3 FPS being the absolute peak. The Ultra setting at 4K, at 112.4 FPS, remains above the 100 FPS threshold, demonstrating that this combo can handle maximum graphical fidelity at 4K without dropping below playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F plays a nuanced role in this configuration. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the CPU relies on its Alder Lake architecture and 10 nm process node to deliver solid multithreaded performance. Its benchmark scores—3dmark_16_threads at 5,895, 3dmark_max_threads at 5,912, and Cinebench R23 multicore at 16,518—indicate that the CPU can handle substantial parallel workloads. However, its single-thread performance, measured at 909 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2,332 in Cinebench R23 singlecore, is more modest relative to the GPU’s capabilities. In Overpower, the CPU’s role becomes evident in the scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is barely taxed, the 233.3 FPS result is likely constrained by the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process game logic at 2.50 GHz base clock (boosting to 4.40 GHz). The 3dmark_2_threads score of 1,699 and 3dmark_4_threads score of 3,067 suggest that the game’s primary thread benefits from the CPU’s 4.40 GHz boost clock, but the lack of a higher core count compared to more expensive processors means there is limited headroom for background tasks. The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate data locality for the game’s assets, but the 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support indicate that memory bandwidth could become a secondary constraint in CPU-bound scenarios. The data shows that while the i5-12400F is not the ideal pairing for the RTX 5090 in every scenario—particularly at 1080p Low where the CPU holds back the GPU—it is sufficient to keep the system above 100 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is the most demanding configuration tested.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user’s display resolution and frame rate targets. For 4K displays, the Ultra preset at 112.4 FPS is the best choice for users with high-refresh-rate monitors (120 Hz or above), as the frame rate remains comfortably above the 100 FPS threshold while delivering maximum visual fidelity. If a user prefers slightly higher frame rates at 4K, the High preset at 138.7 FPS offers a 23.4% improvement over Ultra with presumably minor visual compromises, making it the best balance for 144 Hz 4K displays. At 1440p, the High preset at 160.4 FPS is recommended for 165 Hz monitors, as it provides a smooth experience without the visual degradation of Medium (171.4 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1440p (133.1 FPS) is less attractive due to the minimal visual difference over High at this resolution. For 1080p, the Medium preset at 194.6 FPS is ideal for 240 Hz esports-style displays, while the High preset at 178.5 FPS offers a good middle ground. The Low preset across all resolutions—233.3 FPS at 1080p, 223.2 FPS at 1440p, and 209.8 FPS at 4K—is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate trumps visual quality, though the gains over Medium are modest (38.7 FPS at 1080p). The data suggests that the High preset is the most versatile choice, delivering 138.7 FPS at 4K, 160.4 FPS at 1440p, and 178.5 FPS at 1080p, which covers the vast majority of gaming scenarios without requiring significant compromises.