Overpower

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 90 out of 3,713 tested combinations in Overpower. This places the pairing in the top 2.4% of all systems evaluated for this title, a position that reflects the substantial performance headroom of the RTX 5090 rather than the CPU's raw throughput capabilities. The data shows that this combo outperforms the vast majority of alternatives, with only 89 other combinations delivering higher average frame rates in the game's benchmark suite.

Breaking down the individual component standings provides context for this overall rank. The RTX 5090 sits in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842 across its tested workloads. The Core i7-12700K, meanwhile, holds an 84th percentile position against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,287. The gap between these percentiles suggests that the GPU is the primary driver of the combo's high rank, while the CPU's contribution is adequate but not extraordinary. The nearest CPU rivals—the Intel Core i5-13600T at 35,305 average score, the Core i7-12700KF at 35,365, the Core i7-13700T at 35,403, and the Core 5 213PE at 35,428—all cluster within 0.4% of the i7-12700K, indicating that no single processor in this performance band offers a meaningful advantage over another in synthetic benchmarks.

On the GPU side, the nearest rivals to the RTX 5090 include the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79,605 average score (0.3% higher), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79,396 (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.1% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X at 80,959 (1.4% lower). These deltas are small, but the RTX 5090's position relative to these workstation and mobile parts underscores its standing as a top-tier consumer GPU. In Overpower specifically, the combo's rank of 90 out of 3,713 suggests that the game's engine scales well with the RTX 5090's capabilities, delivering frame rates that place this system among the elite configurations tested.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Overpower, and how many combinations were tested?

The combo ranks 90th out of 3,713 tested combinations in Overpower, placing it in the top 2.4% of all systems evaluated for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rivals include the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79,605 (0.3% higher), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79,396 (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.1% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X at 80,959 (1.4% lower).

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and average benchmark score?

The Intel Core i7-12700K holds an 84th percentile ranking against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,287 across its tested workloads.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts, and what clock speeds does it achieve?

The CPU features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It uses the Alder Lake-S architecture on a 10 nm process node.

Q: What memory and PCIe capabilities does the CPU support?

The i7-12700K supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. It provides PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes (CPU only) and includes integrated UHD Graphics 770.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and bandwidth?

The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective transfer rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, with a transistor density of 122.9 million per mm². Its base clock runs at 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz under load. The memory subsystem is substantial: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which directly supports the high frame rates observed in Overpower at demanding resolutions.

The GPU's compute resources are extensive, with 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. It also includes 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores, enabling DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 API support. The pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance reaches 104.8 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio), figures that explain the GPU's ability to maintain playable frame rates even at 4K resolution with Ultra settings in Overpower.

In the context of this game's measured results, the RTX 5090's role is dominant. The GPU's average benchmark score of 79,842 places it in the 92nd percentile, and its closest rivals in synthetic testing are within a narrow band. However, the measured FPS data in Overpower shows that the GPU's performance is not fully utilized at lower resolutions, where the CPU becomes a limiting factor. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 118 FPS (265 to 147), while at 4K, the same settings spread is 120 FPS (232 to 112). This consistency across resolutions suggests that the GPU's capabilities are sufficiently robust to handle the game's rendering demands, but the CPU's throughput caps the maximum achievable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 265 FPS on Low settings, 191 FPS on Medium, 178 FPS on High, and 147 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 163 FPS and a maximum of 220 FPS, indicating some frame time variance. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 255 FPS on Low, 171 FPS on Medium, 158 FPS on High, and 131 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p records a minimum of 145 FPS and a maximum of 196 FPS. At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 232 FPS on Low, 145 FPS on Medium, 135 FPS on High, and 112 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Medium preset shows a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 167 FPS.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: lowering the resolution from 4K to 1080p yields meaningful gains at every settings level. At Low settings, the jump from 232 FPS at 4K to 265 FPS at 1080p represents a 14% increase. At Medium settings, the gain from 145 to 191 FPS is a 32% improvement. High settings see an increase from 135 to 178 FPS, a 32% gain. Ultra settings improve from 112 to 147 FPS, a 31% increase. These percentages indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, but as resolution drops, the CPU's limitations become more apparent, particularly at Low settings where the 1080p result of 265 FPS is only 14% higher than the 4K result.

The measured FPS values also show that the RTX 5090's raw power is sufficient to push Overpower well beyond typical display refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, even on Ultra settings. At 4K, the Ultra preset's 112 FPS average remains comfortably above 60 FPS, making high-refresh-rate 4K gaming viable with this combination. The absence of min/max data for most settings means only the Medium preset provides frame time information, but the available figures suggest consistent delivery without major stutters.

Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K across settings reveals how the system scales with resolution. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 265 at 1080p to 255 at 1440p (a 3.8% decrease) and then to 232 at 4K (a 12.5% decrease from 1080p). Medium settings show a decline from 191 at 1080p to 171 at 1440p (10.5% decrease) and 145 at 4K (24.1% decrease from 1080p). High settings drop from 178 at 1080p to 158 at 1440p (11.2% decrease) and 135 at 4K (24.2% decrease from 1080p). Ultra settings fall from 147 at 1080p to 131 at 1440p (10.9% decrease) and 112 at 4K (23.8% decrease from 1080p).

These scaling patterns indicate a shift in the system's limiting component as resolution increases. At Low settings, the relatively small drop from 1080p to 4K (12.5%) suggests that the CPU is the primary constraint, since the reduced graphics workload at Low settings means the GPU has ample headroom even at 4K. The i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, are sufficient to maintain high frame rates, but they cannot push beyond the 265 FPS ceiling observed at 1080p Low. As settings increase to Medium, High, and Ultra, the GPU's workload grows, and the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K becomes more pronounced, reaching approximately 24% across these presets.

The limiting component analysis is clear: at 1080p, the CPU's single-threaded performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,043) and multi-threaded capabilities (3DMark max-threads score of 9,979) cap frame rates, particularly at Low settings where the GPU is underutilized. At 4K, the RTX 5090's 21760 shading units and 176 ROPs become the bottleneck, as the pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are taxed by the higher resolution. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor, even at 4K Ultra where the 112 FPS average indicates the GPU's compute resources are fully engaged.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 191 FPS average with a minimum of 163 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes. At 1440p, Medium maintains 171 FPS average with a 145 FPS minimum, still well above typical high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K, Medium achieves 145 FPS average with a 123 FPS minimum, providing a comfortable margin above 120 FPS for most gaming monitors.

The High preset presents a compelling alternative for users prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rate. At 1080p, High delivers 178 FPS average; at 1440p, 158 FPS; and at 4K, 135 FPS. These figures remain playable on high-refresh-rate displays, though the 4K result dips below the 144 FPS threshold that some competitive players might prefer. The Ultra preset, while offering maximum visual fidelity, drops to 112 FPS at 4K, which is still playable but sacrifices the headroom that competitive gaming often requires. The Low preset, while achieving 265 FPS at 1080p and 232 FPS at 4K, sacrifices visual quality to a degree that most users would find unnecessary given the system's capabilities.

The data suggests that Medium is the safe recommendation for most users, as it provides the highest minimum frame rates (163 FPS at 1080p, 145 FPS at 1440p, 123 FPS at 4K) among the tested presets where min/max data is available. This consistency in minimum frame rates indicates a stable experience without significant stuttering. For users with 240 Hz displays at 1080p or 1440p, the High preset's 178 FPS and 158 FPS averages respectively may be preferable to Medium's slightly lower averages, but the Medium preset's lower minimums (163 and 145 FPS) versus High's unspecified minimums make the choice less clear-cut. At 4K, Medium's 145 FPS average with a 123 FPS minimum provides the best overall experience for high-refresh-rate gaming, as Ultra's 112 FPS average leaves less margin for frame time spikes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration)Skip, and its PCIe Gen 4 interface provides 20 lanes. Its launch MSRP is $409, and it was released on 2021-11-03.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700K demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19,784 and a single-core score of 1,850.5. Geekbench scores are 15,790 multi-core and 2,308 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score is 34,404, with a single-thread score of 4,013. These figures place the CPU in the 84th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,287. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the Core i5-13600T at 35,305 (-0.1%), the Core i7-12700KF at 35,365 (-0.2%), the Core i7-13700T at 35,403 (-0.3%), and the Core 5 213PE at 35,428 (-0.4%). The small deltas indicate that this performance tier is highly competitive, with no single processor offering a decisive advantage.

In Overpower specifically, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 265 FPS average suggests that the CPU's single-threaded performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,043) is the limiting factor, as the GPU is not fully utilized at this settings level. The i7-12700K's 20 threads support the game's multi-threaded workload, as evidenced by the 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,276 and max-threads score of 9,979. However, the frame rate ceiling at 1080p Low (265 FPS) indicates that even this capable CPU cannot fully feed the RTX 5090's massive compute resources when the graphics workload is light.

At 4K Ultra, the CPU's contribution is less critical, as the GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance becomes the bottleneck. The 112 FPS average at this setting reflects the GPU's rendering limits rather than CPU constraints. The data indicates that the i7-12700K provides sufficient throughput to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5090 at higher resolutions and settings, but at 1080p Low, the CPU's performance ceiling is exposed. This is a common pattern for high-end GPU pairings, where the CPU's maximum frame rate output becomes the defining factor at lower graphics loads.