Undisputed

# Undisputed with Intel Core i5-12600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a striking performance envelope in Undisputed, a sports title that clearly rewards both high-frequency CPU work and substantial GPU throughput. This combination ranks 504th out of 1,580 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all configurations while showing distinct scaling patterns across resolutions and settings that reveal where each component's influence dominates. The data paints a picture of a balanced pairing that can push well past 200 frames per second at 1080p but requires careful settings management to maintain competitive frame rates at 4K Ultra.

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

The Core i5-12600KF brings a 10-core, 16-thread configuration built on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This hybrid design combines performance and efficiency cores, though the game's engine appears to leverage the thread count effectively given that the CPU's 3DMark scores scale from 1,016 in single-thread to 7,952 in max-thread tests. The Cinebench R23 results further confirm this scaling: single-core scores hit 3,309 while multi-core reaches 23,444, indicating that Undisputed can utilize multiple cores when needed, but single-thread performance remains critical for the game's core simulation loop.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide ample on-die storage for game assets and physics calculations. In the measured frame rates, the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p Low, where the configuration hits 356.7 FPS — a figure that suggests the processor is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings. The benchmark data shows the CPU sits at the 84th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 27,827. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27,829 with a 0% delta, meaning these two processors are effectively performance twins in general benchmarks. The i5-12600K is 0.1% behind, while the Core Ultra 5 125H trails by 0.2%, and the Core i7-13700H leads by 0.4%.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS across all settings, the High preset emerges as the optimal balance for most users. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 217 FPS, which drops to 152.9 FPS at 1440p and maintains a playable 95.7 FPS at 4K. This progression shows High settings keep frame rates above 60 FPS even at the most demanding resolution, making it the only preset besides Low and Medium that achieves this across all three resolutions. Medium settings offer a slight boost — 256.2 FPS at 1080p, 186 FPS at 1440p, and 116.8 FPS at 4K — but the visual fidelity trade-off may not justify the 18% improvement at 4K.

Ultra settings, by contrast, create a steep performance cliff. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 63.5, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes or background tasks. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 54.7 FPS (152.9 to 98.2), a 36% reduction that many players would find unacceptable for marginal visual gains. Low settings, while delivering 356.7 FPS at 1080p and 258.7 FPS at 1440p, sacrifice too much visual quality for a sports game where crowd detail and arena atmosphere contribute to immersion. For competitive play where maximum frame rates matter, Low at 1440p offers the best balance of speed and resolution, but for general enjoyment, High at 1440p or 4K is the recommended starting point.

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

The resolution scaling reveals a classic GPU-bound profile with some CPU sensitivity at the low end. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, frame rates drop from 217 to 152.9 FPS — a 29.5% reduction. Continuing to 4K High brings the average down to 95.7 FPS, another 37.4% loss from 1440p. This consistent degradation with increasing pixel count indicates the RTX 3080 is the primary bottleneck as resolution rises, which is expected given the GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth being increasingly taxed by higher pixel workloads.

However, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p Low, where the combo achieves 356.7 FPS. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is 139.7 FPS (356.7 vs 217), which is proportionally larger than the gap at 4K (162.9 vs 95.7, a 67.2 FPS difference). This suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU's 4.90 GHz boost clock and 16 threads are better able to feed the GPU, allowing frame rates to scale upward until the GPU becomes the constraint. At 4K, the GPU's workload dominates, and the CPU's contribution becomes less visible in the frame rate numbers.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

With a rank of 504 out of 1,580 tested combinations, this pairing sits comfortably in the top 32% of all configurations tested in Undisputed. This ranking reflects the balance between the RTX 3080's 80th percentile GPU score and the i5-12600KF's 84th percentile CPU score, though the combo rank suggests the game's engine slightly favors GPU throughput over CPU compute. The GPU's average benchmark score of 35,787 places it near the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which scores 36,101 with a -0.9% delta, meaning the RTX 3080 is 0.9% slower on average. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo scores 35,860 (0.2% faster), while the AMD Radeon 880M trails by 0.4% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile leads by 1%.

The combo rank of 504 indicates that many configurations with newer or higher-tier components outperform this pairing, but the data also shows that this setup remains competitive in a demanding title like Undisputed. The rank is more meaningful when contextualized with the actual frame rates: 95.7 FPS at 4K High is a strong result that many lower-ranked combos cannot achieve. The ranking suggests that while this hardware is not top-tier in 2025, it still delivers a high-refresh-rate experience at mainstream resolutions and a solid 60+ FPS experience at 4K with the right settings.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip, provides the graphical muscle for this pairing. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus delivers 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for Undisputed's texture-heavy scenes at 4K High but may be strained at Ultra. The GPU's base clock of 1440 MHz and boost clock of 1710 MHz, combined with 8,704 shading units and 272 texture mapping units, produce a pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to a fp32 compute throughput of 29.77 TFLOPS, which the game's rendering engine leverages differently across settings.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,407 and PassMark G3D score of 25,086 confirm the GPU's general capability, but the game-specific results show how settings impact performance. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 63.5 indicates the GPU is heavily loaded, while at 4K Medium the 116.8 FPS result shows that reducing certain effects (likely shadows, reflections, and post-processing) frees up substantial headroom. The GPU's 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores are present but not explicitly utilized in the measured settings, suggesting Undisputed relies more on traditional rasterization than ray-traced effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 356.7 FPS, Medium reaches 256.2 FPS, High scores 217 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 137.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 219.3 FPS, showing the dramatic impact of settings on the GPU's workload. At 2560x1440, the numbers scale down proportionally: Low yields 258.7 FPS, Medium hits 186 FPS, High achieves 152.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 98.2 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result remains above 60 FPS, making it a viable option for players with 144Hz displays who prioritize visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings deliver 162.9 FPS, which is still highly playable and demonstrates the RTX 3080's raw power. Medium settings reduce this to 116.8 FPS, High further lowers it to 95.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 63.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that drops below 90 FPS, and its 63.5 FPS average leaves minimal margin for frame time spikes. The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent pattern: Low settings scale most gracefully (356.7 to 162.9 FPS, a 54% reduction), while Ultra settings suffer the largest relative drop (137.4 to 63.5 FPS, a 54% reduction as well).

FAQ

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in Undisputed?

A: Yes, barely. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 63.5, which is above the 60 FPS threshold but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes or background processes.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play with this setup?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the combo achieves 356.7 FPS, while 1440p Low reaches 258.7 FPS. Both far exceed the refresh rates of most gaming monitors, so 1440p Low provides excellent responsiveness with higher visual clarity.

Q: How does the i5-12600KF compare to its nearest CPU rival in general benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i9-10900K scores 27,829 versus the i5-12600KF's 27,827, a 0% delta. The i5-12600K is 0.1% behind, the Core Ultra 5 125H trails by 0.2%, and the Core i7-13700H leads by 0.4%.

Q: Is the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gameplay in this title?

A: The data suggests yes for most settings. The GPU maintains 95.7 FPS at 4K High and 116.8 FPS at 4K Medium, though the 4K Ultra result of 63.5 FPS indicates the VRAM and compute resources are heavily taxed at maximum settings.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 217 at 1080p High to 152.9 at 1440p High, then to 95.7 at 4K High. This represents a 56% total reduction from 1080p to 4K, confirming the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: What GPU is the RTX 3080 most comparable to based on average benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE scores 36,101, which is 0.9% faster than the RTX 3080's 35,787. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo is 0.2% faster, while the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% slower and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1% faster.