Revolution Idle

# Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates for Revolution Idle with the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 reveal a dramatic resolution scaling pattern that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 220.7 FPS, but this drops to 168.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 86.9 FPS at 4K — a 60.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This steep decline indicates that the rendering workload is scaling heavily with pixel count, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

The pattern intensifies at higher quality settings. With Ultra settings, the frame rate falls from 124.9 FPS at 1080p to 80.1 FPS at 1440p, then plunges to 42.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result represents only 33.7% of the 1080p Ultra performance, showing that the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings places an enormous load on the graphics processor. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is clearly being exercised heavily at these settings.

Comparing resolution scaling across settings reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, Low delivers 220.7 FPS versus 124.9 FPS for Ultra — a 76.7% advantage for Low. At 4K, Low produces 86.9 FPS versus 42.1 FPS for Ultra — a 106.4% advantage. This widening delta suggests that the additional graphics features enabled by higher settings become more expensive per pixel at higher resolutions, further reinforcing the GPU-bound nature of the workload at 4K.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. The Core i7-12700K's 12 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, provide sufficient processing headroom to feed the RTX 5090 even at 1080p Low where frame rates exceed 220 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau across resolutions, but the consistent and substantial drops with each resolution increase point squarely at GPU limitations.

At 1440p, the combo still delivers strong performance across all settings, with High achieving 119.6 FPS and even Ultra maintaining 80.1 FPS. This resolution represents a sweet spot where the RTX 5090's raw compute capabilities — 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate — are balanced against the rendering demands.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090's specifications directly explain the observed performance characteristics. With a base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz, the Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU delivers substantial compute throughput. The 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs work in concert to produce the frame rates measured across resolutions.

The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) across a 512-bit bus yields 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for Revolution Idle at high resolutions and settings. The 4K Ultra result of 42.1 FPS suggests that the game's texture and buffer requirements at maximum quality settings are substantial, and while the memory capacity is not exhausted, the bandwidth demands are significant.

The RTX 5090's 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores are present in the architecture, though Revolution Idle's idle-genre nature likely does not heavily utilize these specialized units. The benchmark results should be interpreted primarily through the lens of traditional rasterization performance, where the pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are the relevant metrics.

Comparing the measured results to the GPU's benchmark profile provides context. The GPU scores 39,650 in Passmark G3D and 26,756 in Passmark GPU Compute, positioning it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals include the RTX 5090 D at a 0.1% delta and the RTX 5050 Mobile at a 0.2% delta — these are essentially identical performers in synthetic benchmarks. However, the measured FPS in Revolution Idle demonstrates that real-world game performance can differ meaningfully from synthetic scores, as the game's specific rendering characteristics interact with the GPU's feature set.

The GPU's 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU indicate that this is a high-power component, though the benchmark data shows that even with this substantial power envelope, the 4K Ultra setting pushes the hardware to its limits. The 42.1 FPS result at 4K Ultra is the lowest measured value across all tested configurations, highlighting that the RTX 5090, despite its top-tier specifications, cannot maintain high frame rates at maximum settings in this resolution.

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

The Intel Core i7-12700K provides the processing foundation for this combo, and its specifications align well with the observed performance. The Alder Lake-S architecture features 12 cores (with 20 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading), running at a 3.60 GHz base clock and 5.00 GHz boost clock. The 10 nm process node and 215 mm² die size house a 25 MB shared L3 cache, complemented by 80 KB L1 and 1.25 MB L2 per core.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 29,241, while the single-core test reaches 4,128. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 1,043 in single-thread to 9,979 at max threads, indicating strong thread scaling efficiency. Geekbench multicore of 13,892 and Passmark multithread of 34,404 further confirm the processor's robust performance profile.

In Revolution Idle, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but at 1080p the processor's capabilities become more relevant. The 220.7 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU can drive frame rates well beyond typical display refresh rates, and the minimal FPS difference between Low (220.7) and High (196) at 1080p indicates that CPU-side game logic is not a limiting factor even at lower graphics settings.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it ahead of most processors, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 at -0.3% delta and Intel Core i7-13700T at 0.6% delta. These competitors show that the i7-12700K sits in a competitive performance tier, though the differences are marginal in synthetic benchmarks. In game performance, the CPU's 20 threads provide ample parallelism for Revolution Idle's background simulation and idle mechanics, which likely run continuously regardless of rendering load.

The memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 with dual-channel configuration offers flexibility, though the benchmark data does not specify which memory type was used. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 CPU lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the RTX 5090's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, though the GPU's bus interface is technically a generation ahead.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate achievable with this combo in Revolution Idle?

A: The highest measured frame rate is 220.7 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best results are 199 FPS at 1080p Medium and 196 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 42.1 FPS. This is the lowest measured result across all tested configurations, representing a 80.9% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 124.9 FPS.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of performance and quality?

A: The 2560x1440 resolution with High settings delivers 119.6 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p Medium, performance rises to 130.7 FPS, while 1440p Ultra still maintains 80.1 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops consistently from 1080p to 4K across all settings, with the largest relative decline occurring at Ultra settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combo ranks 12th out of 1,774 tested combinations in Revolution Idle, placing it in the top 0.7% of all configs.

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

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 86.9 FPS while Ultra produces 42.1 FPS — a 106.4% advantage for Low. At 1080p, the same comparison shows 220.7 FPS versus 124.9 FPS, a 76.7% difference.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 12 out of 1,774 tested configurations in Revolution Idle. This places the combo in the top 1% of all tested hardware combinations, though not at the absolute pinnacle. The ranking reflects the combined capability of both components, and the data shows that while the RTX 5090 is a top-tier GPU (94th percentile), the i7-12700K at the 89th CPU percentile holds the combo back slightly from the very top positions.

The rank of 12 indicates that 11 other combinations deliver higher performance in this game. Given that the RTX 5090 is one of the most powerful GPUs available, the gap to the top-ranked combos likely stems from CPU differences. Processors with higher single-thread performance or newer architectures may provide marginal advantages in Revolution Idle's game logic, though the measured FPS data suggests these differences would be most apparent at 1080p where the CPU has more influence on final frame rates.

The combo's ranking of 12 out of 1,774 means it outperforms 1,762 tested configurations. This places it in the 99.3rd percentile of all combos tested for this game. The performance consistency across settings — never dropping below playable thresholds except at 4K Ultra — contributes to this strong ranking, as the combination maintains competitive frame rates across the majority of tested scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results across all settings. Low settings achieve 220.7 FPS, Medium reaches 199 FPS, High produces 196 FPS, and Ultra drops to 124.9 FPS. The difference between Low and High at 1080p is only 24.7 FPS (12.6%), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 71.1 FPS (36.3%), showing that Ultra settings impose a significant additional burden.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows more variation across settings. Low delivers 168.4 FPS, Medium achieves 130.7 FPS, High produces 119.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 80.1 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p represents a 52.5% reduction in frame rate. The 1440p High result of 119.6 FPS is notably higher than the 4K Ultra result, demonstrating the resolution's impact.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve flattens and the settings matter more. Low produces 86.9 FPS, Medium achieves 67.5 FPS, High delivers 64.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 42.1 FPS. The difference between Medium and High at 4K is minimal (3 FPS), but Ultra exacts a heavy toll — 22.4 FPS below High, a 34.7% reduction. The 4K results show that even the RTX 5090 cannot maintain high refresh rates at maximum settings in this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the optimal experience depends on the target display resolution. For 1080p displays, High settings at 196 FPS provide an excellent balance of visual quality and performance, with Medium at 199 FPS offering nearly identical performance. Ultra at 124.9 FPS is still highly playable and may be preferred for maximum visual fidelity, especially given that the frame rate remains well above 60 FPS.

For 1440p, High settings at 119.6 FPS deliver the best combination of quality and smoothness. Medium at 130.7 FPS offers a slight performance advantage with marginally reduced visual quality, while Ultra at 80.1 FPS remains playable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate. The 1440p High setting is recommended as the sweet spot, providing a 49.5% performance advantage over Ultra while maintaining most visual features.

For 4K displays, the recommendations become more nuanced. Low settings at 86.9 FPS provide the smoothest experience, while Medium at 67.5 FPS and High at 64.5 FPS both remain above the 60 FPS threshold for acceptable gameplay. Ultra at 42.1 FPS falls below this threshold, making it suitable only for users who prioritize visual quality over smoothness and are willing to accept sub-60 FPS performance. For most 4K users, High settings at 64.5 FPS represent the best compromise, delivering near-60 FPS performance with substantial visual quality improvements over Low.