Ready Or Not

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 position it as a compact desktop part, yet the benchmark results in Ready Or Not show it handling even high-refresh scenarios without becoming the primary constraint.

In this tactical shooter, the CPU's single-thread performance appears decisive. The 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and Cinebench R23 single-core result of 1674 points indicate strong per-core capability, which aligns with the game's likely reliance on a few heavily loaded threads for AI, ballistics, and scene logic. The 4-core design, however, limits multi-threaded headroom; the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11860 is respectable for the class, but the 3DMark 8-thread score of 4026 versus the 4-thread score of 2859 shows scaling that flattens quickly beyond four threads.

The data suggests that at lower resolutions, the i3-12100F keeps pace with the RTX 4070, as evidenced by 1080p High producing 291 FPS and 1080p Low reaching 367 FPS. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is 76 FPS, which indicates the GPU still has headroom, but the CPU is not artificially capping the frame rate to a narrow band. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: Low yields 232 FPS, High yields 184 FPS, and Medium sits at 202 FPS. These numbers are well above typical display refresh rates, implying the CPU's boost clock of 4.30 GHz is sufficient to feed the GPU in most situations.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i3-12100F's average benchmark score of 13494 puts it essentially level with the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% delta), while slightly trailing the Intel Core 5 120UL (13594, -0.7% delta). The 4-core architecture is not a liability here because Ready Or Not's frame pacing appears to favor single-core throughput over raw multi-core muscle. The 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs further confirms that this processor sits comfortably in the mid-range, yet the measured FPS in this game exceed what that percentile might suggest, indicating the title's optimization favors the i3-12100F's strengths.

FAQ

Q: Does the Intel Core i3-12100F bottleneck the RTX 4070 in Ready Or Not?

A: Based on the measured data, no. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 367 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it still manages 204 FPS. The CPU's 4.30 GHz boost clock and strong single-thread scores (3DMark single-thread 893, Cinebench R23 single-core 1674) appear sufficient to keep the GPU fed across all tested settings.

Q: How much performance drops when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: At High settings, the average FPS falls from 291 at 1080p to 184 at 1440p, a 107 FPS drop. At Low settings, the drop is from 367 to 232 FPS, a 135 FPS reduction. This indicates the GPU becomes more stressed at higher resolutions, but frame rates remain high.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a balance of visual quality and FPS?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 202 FPS with a minimum of 172 FPS, which is a strong trade-off. At 4K, Medium yields 106 FPS with a 90 FPS minimum, still playable, while High at 4K averages 96 FPS. Ultra at any resolution sees a significant FPS penalty.

Q: How does the i3-12100F compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The average benchmark score of 13494 is nearly identical to the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% delta). It trails the Intel Core 5 120UL by 0.7% (13594 vs 13494), but the differences are within a single percent, making them effectively interchangeable in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: The measured 4K results show 96 FPS on High and 67 FPS on Ultra, which are playable numbers. The 12 GB GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate, as the game does not show catastrophic frame drops at 4K, though Ultra is the only preset dipping below 90 FPS.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 877 out of 3714 indicate?

A: This places the i3-12100F + RTX 4070 pairing in the top 24% of all tested combos for Ready Or Not. Given the CPU's 68th percentile ranking and the GPU's 81st percentile, the combo performs slightly better than the average of its components, suggesting good synergy in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound curve, but with notable characteristics specific to this combo. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 291 at 1080p to 184 at 1440p (a 36.8% reduction), then to 96 at 4K (a 47.8% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4070's rendering load increases dramatically with pixel count, as expected for a game with dense environments and lighting effects.

Low settings show a similar pattern: 367 FPS at 1080p falls to 232 FPS at 1440p (36.8% drop) and then to 121 FPS at 4K (47.8% drop from 1440p). The consistency of the percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution scaling is uniform and does not interact strongly with the graphics preset. This is a sign that the game's rendering pipeline is well-behaved, with no sudden bottlenecks appearing at specific resolutions.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data: at 1080p, the range is 272-368 FPS with an average of 320; at 1440p, the range is 172-232 FPS with an average of 202; at 4K, the range is 90-121 FPS with an average of 106. The min-to-max spread narrows slightly at higher resolutions (96 FPS spread at 1080p, 60 FPS at 1440p, 31 FPS at 4K), which indicates that frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU's variability in handling game logic may cause wider frame swings, whereas at 4K, the GPU's consistent workload smooths out the output.

The limiting component shifts clearly with resolution. At 1080p, the high FPS values (204-367 depending on settings) suggest that neither component is fully saturated, but the CPU's 4-core design may be approaching its ceiling. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU's rendering demands dominate, as evidenced by the substantial FPS drops. This is a balanced pairing for 1440p gaming, where the i3-12100F can keep up with the RTX 4070's output without becoming a bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for optimizing the experience. The Ultra preset, while visually demanding, exacts a heavy toll: 67 FPS at 4K, 129 FPS at 1440p, and 204 FPS at 1080p. These numbers are playable, but the jump from High to Ultra costs 29 FPS at 4K (from 96 to 67), 55 FPS at 1440p (from 184 to 129), and 87 FPS at 1080p (from 291 to 204). The diminishing returns are evident, as Ultra likely adds marginal visual improvements over High for a substantial performance penalty.

The High preset offers a better balance: 96 FPS at 4K, 184 FPS at 1440p, and 291 FPS at 1080p. This is the sweet spot for most users, as it maintains high frame rates across all resolutions while presumably retaining most of the visual fidelity. For competitive play, the Low preset at 1440p (232 FPS) or 1080p (367 FPS) provides maximum responsiveness, though the visual downgrade may hinder target identification in a tactical shooter.

The Medium preset, with its complete min/max data, shows a 202 FPS average at 1440p and 106 FPS at 4K, with minimums of 172 and 90 respectively. This is the safest recommendation for users who want consistent frame pacing, as the min FPS figures are within 15% of the averages. For 4K gaming, Medium is the only preset that keeps the minimum FPS above 90, making it the pragmatic choice for maintaining smooth gameplay on higher refresh rate displays.

For this combo, the data recommends: 1080p users should use High or Ultra (291 or 204 FPS) if they have a 144Hz+ monitor, 1440p users should stick to High (184 FPS) or Medium (202 FPS) for a balance of quality and speed, and 4K users should prefer Medium (106 FPS) over High (96 FPS) to gain a more comfortable margin above the 90 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 877th out of 3714 tested combos in Ready Or Not, placing it in the top 23.6% of all pairings. This is a strong showing given that the CPU alone sits at the 68th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 81st percentile among all graphics cards. The combo's performance exceeds what the CPU's percentile alone would predict, suggesting that Ready Or Not does not heavily penalize the 4-core processor.

The rank of 877 indicates that this pairing competes effectively with systems using more expensive or higher-core-count CPUs. The delta between the i3-12100F and its nearest CPU rivals is minimal (0% to 1.1%), so the rank is likely driven more by the GPU's performance. The RTX 4070's 81st percentile ranking and its average benchmark score of 37648 put it well ahead of the average GPU, which explains why the combo punches above the CPU's weight class.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 shows a 0.1% delta over the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37648 vs 37628) and a 0.4% delta over the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37648 vs 37507), while trailing the RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3% (37648 vs 38135). These small deltas indicate that the RTX 4070 is tightly clustered with its peers, yet in Ready Or Not, the measured FPS figures suggest the card's architecture is well-suited to the game's engine.

The 877th rank out of 3714 means there are 2837 combos that perform worse, which underscores that this mid-range pairing delivers solid results. It does not crack the top 500, but for a 4-core CPU paired with a mainstream GPU, the placement is respectable. The data implies that users with this setup can expect a smooth experience at 1440p, with 4K being viable at Medium settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo is as follows:

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 367 FPS average
• Medium: 320 FPS average, 272 FPS minimum, 368 FPS maximum
• High: 291 FPS average
• Ultra: 204 FPS average

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 232 FPS average
• Medium: 202 FPS average, 172 FPS minimum, 232 FPS maximum
• High: 184 FPS average
• Ultra: 129 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 121 FPS average
• Medium: 106 FPS average, 90 FPS minimum, 121 FPS maximum
• High: 96 FPS average
• Ultra: 67 FPS average

At 1080p, all presets exceed 200 FPS, with Low reaching 367 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 272 FPS ensures that even demanding scenes stay well above 240 Hz refresh rates. The spread between Low and Ultra is 163 FPS, demonstrating that the RTX 4070 has ample headroom at this resolution, though the CPU's 4 cores may introduce occasional frame time spikes that are not captured in the average.

At 1440p, the range narrows to 232 FPS (Low) down to 129 FPS (Ultra), a spread of 103 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 172 FPS is still above most high-refresh displays, making this the resolution where the combo truly shines. High at 184 FPS offers a strong balance, while Ultra at 129 FPS remains playable for those prioritizing visuals.

At 4K, the numbers become more moderate: 121 FPS on Low, 106 FPS on Medium, 96 FPS on High, and 67 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 90 FPS is the only 4K configuration that stays above the 90 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. The Ultra preset at 67 FPS may cause noticeable stutter on 120Hz panels, though it remains usable on 60Hz displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the texture and geometry loads in Ready Or Not at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz, combined with 5888 shading units, enable the high frame rates observed in the measured data.

The RTX 4070's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores provide hardware support for advanced lighting effects, though the measured data does not specify whether ray tracing is enabled in the tested presets. The 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 37648 place it in the upper tier of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, scores 37628 (0.1% delta), while the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507 (0.4% delta), showing the RTX 4070 is slightly ahead of both.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the card's raw power (29.15 TFLOPS FP32) is underutilized, as evidenced by the 367 FPS on Low settings. At 4K, the GPU is likely the limiting factor, as the FPS drops to 67-121 depending on preset, consistent with the increased pixel count demanding more from the 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity proves adequate for this title, as no data suggests memory-related stuttering or texture pop-in. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-efficient card for its performance class. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) aligns with modern game engines, and the Vulkan 1.4 API support provides additional optimization paths. The RTX 4070's end-of-life production status does not diminish its current performance, as the measured FPS figures demonstrate strong results across all tested resolutions and settings.