Ready Or Not

# Ready Or Not with Intel Core i5-12600KF + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a peculiar performance profile in Ready Or Not, a tactical shooter that demands both CPU discipline and GPU throughput. The measured data shows a system that can deliver playable frame rates at 1080p across all settings, but struggles significantly as resolution climbs, with 4K Ultra falling to just 23 FPS average. The Arc B390, an integrated graphics solution built on the Xe3-LPG architecture, ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 79th percentile, creating a substantial imbalance where the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck at higher resolutions. This combination ranks 2611th out of 2947 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower quartile of system configurations.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Ready Or Not with this hardware combination?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the most practical resolution. At 1080p, average FPS ranges from 69 at Ultra settings to 125 at Low, with Medium and High delivering 109 and 99 FPS respectively. At 2560x1440, even High settings only reach 62 FPS average, and 4K results drop to 33 FPS or below across all settings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, placing it 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M, 2.5% ahead of the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% ahead of the GT 710. These are extremely close scores, indicating the B390 performs in the same class as these older entry-level parts.

Q: What CPU performance tier does the Intel Core i5-12600KF belong to?

A: The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27799, which places it in the 79th percentile among all CPUs. It scores within 0.3% of the Intel Core i9-10900K, AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE, AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, making it competitive with several high-end processors from previous generations.

Q: Does the Arc B390 have dedicated VRAM for gaming?

A: No, the Arc B390 uses system shared memory. Its memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as "System Shared," with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This means performance relies entirely on the system's main memory configuration rather than dedicated graphics memory.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p in Ready Or Not?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 79. At Medium, the average drops to 69 FPS, and at High it falls to 62 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p produce just 44 FPS average. The minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium is 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Ready Or Not?

A: The combination ranks 2611th out of 2947 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11th percentile of all tested configurations. This reflects the GPU's low performance tier relative to the broader benchmark database.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Panther Lake chip, built on Intel's 3 nm process with the Xe3-LPG architecture. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, containing 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation pipelines. The GPU also includes 12 ray tracing cores, though its FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s.

The critical limitation for gaming is the memory configuration. The Arc B390 uses system shared memory, meaning there is no dedicated VRAM. Memory bandwidth is system dependent, which explains why this GPU ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of just 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. The GPU's 80 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm its integrated nature, and it requires no power connectors.

In Ready Or Not, the GPU's performance ceiling becomes apparent through the measured FPS data. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 125 FPS average, which suggests the GPU can handle lighter loads well. However, the scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates severe limitations. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 99 FPS at 1080p to 62 FPS at 1440p and then to 33 FPS at 4K — a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This pattern indicates that the shared memory bandwidth and limited GPU compute power cannot sustain higher resolution workloads.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all NVIDIA parts from a much older era: the GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710. These comparisons place the Arc B390 in a performance class that is fundamentally mismatched with modern gaming expectations at high resolutions. For Ready Or Not specifically, the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 1440p and above, where even Low settings cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K (41 FPS average).

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all four settings presets produce playable frame rates, with High settings at 99 FPS average representing a good balance between visual quality and performance. Medium at 109 FPS offers a slight performance boost, while Low at 125 FPS is the fastest option. Ultra at 69 FPS remains playable but shows a significant 30% drop from High, suggesting that the Ultra preset demands more GPU resources than the visual upgrade justifies.

At 2560x1440, the situation changes dramatically. High settings produce 62 FPS average, which is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Medium at 69 FPS is the best option for smooth gameplay, though the minimum FPS of 58 recorded at Medium settings indicates occasional dips below 60. Low at 79 FPS provides the most comfortable margin. Ultra at 44 FPS is not recommended for a tactical shooter where quick aiming and situational awareness are critical.

For 3840x2160, no settings preset achieves a reliably playable frame rate. Low settings produce 41 FPS average, Medium 36 FPS, High 33 FPS, and Ultra just 23 FPS. Even the minimum FPS recorded at Medium is 30 FPS, which is below the standard for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that 4K is not viable with this hardware combination in Ready Or Not.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1080p High settings at 99 FPS average. This provides a solid frame rate while maintaining visual fidelity above the Low preset. For players prioritizing frame rate, 1080p Low at 125 FPS is the fastest option, though the visual trade-off may not be worth it given that High is already above the 60 FPS threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is covered. Low settings deliver the highest average FPS at 125, followed by Medium at 109, High at 99, and Ultra at 69. The Medium preset records a minimum FPS of 92 and maximum of 125, showing a 33 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. The transition from Low to Ultra represents a 45% performance reduction, from 125 to 69 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the same settings hierarchy persists but with lower absolute values. Low settings average 79 FPS, Medium 69 FPS, High 62 FPS, and Ultra 44 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution has a minimum FPS of 58 and maximum of 79, a 21 FPS spread. The performance drop from Low to Ultra is 44%, from 79 to 44 FPS.

At 3840x2160, performance falls below playable thresholds for most settings. Low settings average 41 FPS, Medium 36 FPS, High 33 FPS, and Ultra 23 FPS. The Medium preset records a minimum FPS of 30 and maximum of 41, an 11 FPS spread. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 44%, from 41 to 23 FPS, a similar percentage drop as seen at 1440p.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: the gap between Low and High settings is smaller than the gap between High and Ultra. At 1080p, the Low-to-High difference is 26 FPS (125 to 99), while the High-to-Ultra difference is 30 FPS (99 to 69). This suggests the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that disproportionately impact performance on the Arc B390.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At High settings, the progression is 99 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. From 1080p to 1440p, the frame rate drops by 37.4%, and from 1440p to 4K it drops by 46.8%. From 1080p to 4K, the total reduction is 66.7%.

At Low settings, the pattern is similar: 125 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 48.1% drop from 1440p to 4K, with a 67.2% total reduction from 1080p to 4K.

These scaling patterns are consistent with a system where the GPU is the primary limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU workload stays constant. Instead, the nearly linear relationship between resolution and FPS reduction indicates that the Arc B390's compute and memory bandwidth capabilities are being saturated at higher resolutions.

The fact that even Low settings at 4K cannot reach 60 FPS further confirms this analysis. The system shared memory configuration means that as resolution increases, the memory bandwidth demands grow, and the system-dependent bandwidth becomes a limiting factor. The result is that this combination is only suitable for 1080p gaming in Ready Or Not, with 1440p being marginal at best and 4K being impractical.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 CPU lanes.

In CPU benchmarks, the i5-12600KF demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 23391 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3302 in single-core, with a 3DMark 16-thread score of 7956 and a maximum threads score of 7952. The PassMark multi-thread score is 27575, with a single-thread score of 3925. Its average benchmark score of 27799 places it in the 79th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-10900K with an average score of 27872 (0.3% higher), the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE at 27712 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U at 27887 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D at 27896 (0.3% higher). These near-identical scores indicate that the i5-12600KF offers performance parity with several high-end CPUs, including the 5800X3D which is known for gaming performance.

In Ready Or Not, the CPU is unlikely to be the limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 125 FPS, which is well within the CPU's capability given its strong multi-threaded scores. The CPU's 16 threads and 20 MB L3 cache provide ample resources for the game's AI, physics, and simulation workloads. As resolution increases and FPS drops, the CPU workload remains constant, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck well before CPU limitations emerge.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2611th out of 2947 tested combos in Ready Or Not, placing it in the bottom 11.4% of all configurations. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 79th percentile.

The mismatch between CPU and GPU performance is stark. The i5-12600KF delivers performance within 0.3% of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, a processor widely regarded as excellent for gaming. However, the Arc B390 delivers performance within 2.7% of the GeForce GT 710, a GPU from a completely different era. This creates a situation where the system's potential is severely constrained by the graphics solution.

The benchmark data supports this interpretation. At 1080p, the combo can deliver 99 FPS at High settings, which is respectable, but the GPU's shared memory architecture and low compute throughput prevent it from maintaining playable frame rates at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS average is among the lowest expected for any modern system.

For comparison, the CPU alone outperforms 79% of all CPUs in the database, while the GPU outperforms only 9% of all GPUs. This 70-percentage-point gap illustrates the fundamental imbalance of this configuration. In a game like Ready Or Not, which requires both CPU and GPU resources, this imbalance means the system underperforms relative to what the CPU alone would suggest, ranking in the bottom quartile of all tested combinations.