Overpower

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 presents a stark example of component imbalance in the action title Overpower. The benchmark data, measured across three resolutions and four quality presets, reveals a system where the graphics card consistently dictates the performance ceiling. While the CPU is a modern, high-core-count part capable of feeding frames, the GPU’s modest specifications and memory configuration act as the primary constraint, resulting in a playability profile that is heavily dependent on resolution and settings choices.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly illustrates a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 63.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 58 FPS, a reduction of 5.6 FPS. The jump to 4K Low results in 45.3 FPS, a further decline of 12.7 FPS. This scaling pattern—where each resolution increase yields a smaller absolute loss—indicates that the render target is only part of the bottleneck; the GPU’s raw compute and memory bandwidth are stretched thin even at the lowest preset.

The situation becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the averages are 37.4 FPS (1080p), 29.3 FPS (1440p), and 30 FPS (4K). The negligible difference between 1440p and 4K at High settings—a mere 0.7 FPS—is particularly telling. It suggests that at these quality levels, the pixel count is no longer the dominant factor; instead, the GPU’s inability to handle the increased shading and texture work at any resolution above 1080p becomes the hard limit. The data shows that 1080p is the only viable resolution for this pairing, and even then, only at Low settings does it approach a smooth 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650’s specifications explain its performance ceiling. With a 4 GB GDDR5 memory pool on a 128-bit bus, the card provides a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. This is a fundamental limitation for Overpower, a game that appears to demand more memory capacity and throughput as settings increase. The benchmark results show a severe drop when moving from Medium to Ultra at 4K: 26.4 FPS to 20.8 FPS. This 5.6 FPS penalty suggests the card is not only compute-limited but also memory-limited, as the larger texture sets and higher-quality effects exceed the available VRAM, causing thrashing.

The GPU’s clock behavior—a base of 1485 MHz boosting to 1665 MHz—is consistent with its 75 W TDP and dual-slot design. There is no headroom for aggressive power scaling, which caps performance. The card’s average benchmark score of 8713 and its 43rd percentile ranking among all GPUs place it in the lower mid-range. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, scores 8671 (a 0.5% delta), while the AMD Radeon 550X scores 8749 (-0.4% delta). This positioning confirms that the GTX 1650 is a capable entry-level part, but it is outclassed by the demands of modern action titles at higher presets. The DirectX 12 benchmark score of 35 (PassMark) further underscores its weakness in modern API workloads.

CPU Role

In contrast, the Intel Core i5-12600KF provides a robust foundation. Its 10 cores and 16 threads, combined with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, offer substantial processing power. The CPU’s benchmarks reflect this: a PassMark multithread score of 27575 and a single-thread score of 3925. The Cinebench R23 results—23444 multicore and 3309 single-core—indicate that the CPU is far from being a bottleneck in Overpower at any tested setting. The architecture, Alder Lake-S, supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the benchmark data does not specify which was used.

The CPU’s percentile ranking of 84th among all CPUs shows it is a high-performing part. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27829 on average, a 0% delta, meaning the i5-12600KF is effectively on par with that older flagship in synthetic tests. This performance headroom means that the CPU is likely idle waiting for the GPU to complete its work. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7956 and 2-thread score of 1995 confirm strong multi-threaded and single-threaded capabilities. In Overpower, the CPU’s role is to prepare draw calls and physics calculations, which it does with ample margin; the measured FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is entirely attributable to the GPU’s rendering limits.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database’s tested combinations for Overpower, this pairing ranks 1690 out of 1744. This places it in the bottom 3% of all combos, a stark reflection of the GPU’s limitations. The rank is not due to the CPU—which is a top-tier part—but solely because the GTX 1650 drags the entire system down. The data suggests that pairing a high-end CPU with an entry-level GPU yields a result that is only marginally better than a mid-range CPU with the same GPU, as the GPU becomes the sole arbiter of performance.

The disparity is clear when examining the FPS at 1080p Ultra (28.9 FPS) versus the CPU’s capabilities. The i5-12600KF’s Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1389 and multicore score of 9846 show no signs of strain. The combo’s low rank is a warning that users should not spend on a powerful processor if the graphics card cannot translate that processing power into frame rate. The measured data shows that even at Low settings, the system only achieves 63.6 FPS at 1080p, which is below the 144 Hz refresh rate that many gaming monitors offer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full dataset provides a granular view of performance across all testing conditions. At 1920x1080, the averages are: Low 63.6 FPS, High 37.4 FPS, Medium 40.5 FPS, and Ultra 28.9 FPS. The non-linear relationship between settings is notable: High (37.4) is actually lower than Medium (40.5), suggesting that the High preset may enable specific effects that disproportionately impact the GTX 1650. The gap between Low and Medium is 23.1 FPS, while the gap between Medium and Ultra is 11.6 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 58 FPS, Medium 32.1 FPS, High 29.3 FPS, and Ultra 28.2 FPS. Here, the difference between High and Ultra is only 1.1 FPS, indicating that the card hits a hard wall around 30 FPS regardless of the quality ceiling. The Low preset remains the only option for near-playable frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 45.3 FPS, Medium 26.4 FPS, High 30 FPS, and Ultra 20.8 FPS. The High setting (30 FPS) outperforms Medium (26.4 FPS) by 3.6 FPS, an anomaly that points to inconsistent optimization in the game’s presets. The Ultra setting at 20.8 FPS is effectively unplayable for a fast-paced action game. These numbers confirm that the only way to achieve a consistent 60 FPS experience is to drop to 1080p Low, where the average is 63.6 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings is the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS, yielding an average of 63.6 FPS. Any other combination falls below 59 FPS.

Q: Why is the 4K High score (30 FPS) higher than 4K Medium (26.4 FPS)?

A: The benchmark results show a non-linear relationship in the 4K presets. The High setting at 4K averages 30 FPS, while Medium averages 26.4 FPS. This anomaly suggests the game’s preset scaling is not consistent, possibly due to specific effects being disabled or enabled differently in each preset.

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Overpower?*

A: The GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The CPU’s benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multicore 23444, single-core 3309) are far higher than needed for the frame rates observed. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K (63.6 to 45.3 at Low) are directly attributable to the GTX 1650’s rendering limits.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1690 out of 1744 tested combos in Overpower. This places it in the bottom 3%, which is a consequence of the GPU’s low performance (43rd percentile) relative to the CPU’s high performance (84th percentile).

Q: What is the GTX 1650’s memory configuration and how does it affect the game?

A: The GPU has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is likely insufficient for higher settings, as evidenced by the severe FPS drops when moving from Low to Medium presets at all resolutions.

Q: Does the CPU’s launch MSRP of $264 reflect its performance in this game?

A: The CPU’s price does not translate into Overpower performance because the GPU limits the system. The i5-12600KF’s average benchmark score of 27827 (84th percentile) is wasted when paired with a GPU that averages 8713 (43rd percentile), as the system cannot utilize the CPU’s full potential.