Overpower

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a formidable combination for Overpower, ranking in the 108th position out of 1744 tested combos. This places the pairing in the top 6.2% of all configurations, a strong showing driven primarily by the GPU's exceptional rasterization power. However, the data reveals a nuanced story: while the combo delivers high frame rates, the scaling between resolutions indicates that the CPU begins to assert its influence at lower settings, preventing the system from reaching the GPU's full potential in specific scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 108 out of 1744 tested configurations is an excellent result, placing it well within the top tier of systems for Overpower. This high standing is consistent with the individual component performance: the GPU sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 84th percentile among all CPUs. The combination of a top-decile GPU with a slightly less dominant but still robust CPU creates a balanced system that excels in most scenarios. The data shows that the pairing is particularly effective at higher resolutions and settings, where the GPU's heavy lifting minimizes the CPU’s bottleneck potential. While it does not top the charts, the rank reflects a system that can deliver a highly playable and visually rich experience across the board, with the primary constraint being the CPU's performance in low-resolution, high-refresh-rate contexts.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. Its architecture, Ada Lovelace, is built on a 5 nm process and features 10240 shading units, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a substantial 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for feeding the high pixel and texture rates at 4K resolutions. The card’s boost clock of 2550 MHz, paired with a base clock of 2295 MHz, enables a raw compute throughput of 52.22 TFLOPS. In Overpower, this hardware muscle translates directly to high average FPS, with the GPU clearly being the primary determinant of performance in the Ultra and High settings at 1440p and 4K. The benchmark scores reinforce this, with a Passmark G3D score of 34245 and an average benchmark score of 53610, which is only slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT by 0.2% and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M by 0.4%.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 259.8 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 238.9 FPS, a modest 8% decrease, and then to 201.8 FPS at 4K Low, a further 15.5% drop. This relatively shallow curve at Low settings suggests the CPU is a limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom and is not being fully saturated. Conversely, at Ultra settings, the scaling is steeper. From 129 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate drops to 118.1 FPS at 1440p (an 8.4% decrease) and then to 95.7 FPS at 4K (a 19% decrease from 1440p). This more pronounced drop at Ultra settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck, as the increased graphical load stresses its resources. The data suggests that at lower settings, the Intel Core i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads are unable to feed the RTX 4080 SUPER fast enough, capping performance. At higher settings, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor, and the system scales more predictably with resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the High preset offers the most compelling balance of visual fidelity and performance across all resolutions. At 4K, the High preset delivers 121 FPS, which is a 20.9% improvement over the Ultra preset's 95.7 FPS, while the visual difference between High and Ultra in a fast-paced action game is often negligible. At 1440p, High provides 136.7 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors, while Ultra drops to 118.1 FPS. At 1080p, High yields 156.7 FPS, a figure that will satisfy most competitive players. The Medium preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing frame rates over image quality, offering 124.7 FPS at 4K, 148.1 FPS at 1440p, and 165.7 FPS at 1080p. However, the jump from Medium to High is substantial in terms of visual quality, and the FPS cost is relatively small, making High the recommended starting point. For the absolute maximum frame rate, the Low preset can push the system to 259.8 FPS at 1080p, but this comes with significant visual compromises.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 259.8 FPS
• Medium: 165.7 FPS
• High: 156.7 FPS
• Ultra: 129 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 238.9 FPS
• Medium: 148.1 FPS
• High: 136.7 FPS
• Ultra: 118.1 FPS

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 201.8 FPS
• Medium: 124.7 FPS
• High: 121 FPS
• Ultra: 95.7 FPS

The data shows a consistent pattern: the gap between Medium and High settings is small, while the gap between High and Ultra is more significant, particularly at 4K where the average FPS drops from 121 to 95.7. The 1080p Low setting stands out as an outlier, achieving 259.8 FPS, which is 21 FPS higher than the 1440p Low result, indicating that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution and settings combination.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combo in Overpower?*

A: The combo ranks 108th out of 1744 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.2% of all configurations.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4080 SUPER compared to its closest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M.

Q: At which settings and resolution does the combo achieve its highest frame rate?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 259.8 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1080p with Low settings?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, as the frame rate only drops by 8% when moving to 1440p Low, suggesting the GPU is not fully saturated.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves 121 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 95.7 FPS, a difference of 25.3 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827, which is effectively tied with the Intel Core i9-10900K (27829) and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i7-13700H (27716).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF plays a supporting but critical role in this system. With 10 cores (a mix of performance and efficiency cores) and 16 threads, it provides sufficient parallel processing power for modern game engines. Its architecture, Alder Lake, features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, allowing for strong single-thread performance, which is often critical for game logic and draw calls. The CPU’s benchmark results are solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23444 and a single-core score of 3309. Its average benchmark score of 27827 places it in the 84th percentile, and it is essentially on par with the Intel Core i9-10900K (0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (-0.1% delta). In Overpower, the CPU’s influence is most visible at lower resolutions and settings. The fact that the 1080p Low frame rate (259.8 FPS) is significantly higher than the 1440p Low rate (238.9 FPS) suggests that the CPU is hitting a performance ceiling around the 260 FPS mark, preventing the GPU from pushing even higher. At higher settings like Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU has sufficient headroom to ensure consistent frame delivery without causing stutters. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory help ensure smooth data flow, but the data confirms that this is a system where the GPU leads and the CPU follows.