SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core i3-12100 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Get a comprehensive performance analysis of your gaming rig with detailed benchmarks, bottleneck detection, and upgrade recommendations

Build Configuration

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PROCESSOR (CPU)

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GRAPHICS CARD (GPU)

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89 Score

Top 11% Ranking

89 / 100

HIGH-END

Power Build

Top 11% of systems. Excellent for 1440p Ultra or 4K High gaming.

1440p Ultra4K High

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio

Well Balanced

CPU

80%

GPU

98%

PROCESSOR

Intel Core i3-12100

12,054 Benchmark Score

Top 20% Market Ranking

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GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

79,842 Benchmark Score

Top 2% Market Ranking

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Market Position

How your build compares to others

Budget

0-30

Mid-Range

30-60

High-End

60-85

Enthusiast

85-100

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Game Performance Benchmarks

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Strong Performance

Excellent for 1440p gaming. Most games will run at high/ultra settings smoothly.

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Performance Tiers Explained

90-100

Ultimate

4K Ultra gaming, VR ready, ray tracing enabled, professional workloads

4K 60+ FPS VR Ready

70-89

High-End

1440p Ultra or 4K High settings, excellent for modern AAA titles

1440p Ultra 4K High

50-69

Mid-Range

1080p Ultra or 1440p Medium, great value for most gamers

1080p Ultra 1440p Med

30-49

Entry Level

1080p Medium settings, suitable for eSports and older titles

1080p Med eSports

0-29

Legacy

Basic gaming, older titles, consider upgrading for modern games

720p-1080p Low Older Games

# Intel Core i3-12100 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090: A Curious Pairing

This build pairs Intel's entry-level 12th Gen quad-core processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell 2.0 graphics card, creating one of the most lopsided CPU-GPU combinations in the database. The Core i3-12100 sits at the 67th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 12,054, while the RTX 5090 commands the 92nd percentile among GPUs with an average score of 79,842. The combined percentile for this desktop pairing is 80, which suggests the system overall outperforms the vast majority of configurations, yet the 575 W GPU and 60 W CPU create a power asymmetry that raises immediate questions about workload suitability. This analysis examines what the benchmark data reveals about this unconventional desktop build.

FAQ

Q: What is the single-threaded performance of the Core i3-12100, and how does it compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i3-12100 scores 890 in 3dmark_single_thread, 1,499 in Cinebench R23 single-core, and 1,962 in Geekbench single-core. Its average benchmark score of 12,054 places it 0.2% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 6314U (12,026), 0.3% ahead of the Intel Xeon Bronze 3408U (12,019), 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 3500X (12,000), and 1.2% ahead of the Intel Core i7-7700 (11,914).

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 5090 comes with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 28 Gbps effective.

Q: What socket does the Core i3-12100 use, and what memory types does it support?

A: The Core i3-12100 uses the Intel Socket 1700 and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. It does not support ECC memory.

Q: What is the TDP of each component, and what PSU is suggested?

A: The Core i3-12100 has a TDP of 60 W, while the RTX 5090 has a TDP of 575 W. The suggested PSU for this GPU is 950 W.

Q: What are the key benchmark scores for the RTX 5090?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 18,355 in 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12, 334,370 in Geekbench OpenCL, 376,728 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 39,650 in PassMark G3D. Its average benchmark score is 79,842.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 support ray tracing and tensor operations?

A: Yes, the RTX 5090 has 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: Is there measured FPS data for this CPU-GPU combination?

A: No, there is no measured FPS data for this exact combination. The FACT PACK contains no measuredFps rows, so all frame rate discussions must be treated as estimates derived from the benchmark scores.

Usage Scenarios

High-Refresh Gaming: At lower resolutions, the Core i3-12100's single-thread score of 890 in 3dmark_single_thread and 1,499 in Cinebench R23 single-core will likely become the limiting factor. The RTX 5090's PassMark G3D score of 39,650 indicates enormous graphics headroom, but the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads may struggle to feed frames fast enough for 240 Hz or 360 Hz displays. The data suggests this pairing is better suited to 4K gaming, where GPU load dominates and the CPU's 67th percentile rank is less likely to bottleneck.

Streaming: The RTX 5090's 680 tensor cores and 32 GB VRAM provide ample hardware for encoding and overlaying, but the Core i3-12100's 4 cores and 8 threads may be taxed when simultaneously running a game and encoding software. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 12,170 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10,623 indicate modest parallel processing capability, so streamers should expect to rely heavily on GPU-based encoding to offload work from the CPU.

Video Editing: The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth make it exceptionally strong for GPU-accelerated effects, color grading, and rendering in applications that leverage CUDA. However, the Core i3-12100's Cinebench R20 multicore score of 4,461 and Geekbench multicore score of 7,214 suggest that CPU-bound tasks like timeline scrubbing and export encoding will be comparatively slow, making this a GPU-centric editing workstation with a clear bottleneck in CPU-heavy workflows.

3D Rendering: The RTX 5090's Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 and Vulkan score of 376,728 indicate outstanding compute performance for GPU renderers like Octane or Redshift. The Core i3-12100's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10,623 and PassMark floating point math score of 28,015 are modest by comparison, meaning CPU-based rendering will be limited, but hybrid rendering pipelines that offload to the GPU will excel.

Software Development: For compilation and code analysis, the Core i3-12100's PassMark integer math score of 35,678 and data compression score of 142,060 provide reasonable single-threaded performance, but the 4-core/8-thread configuration and 12 MB shared L3 cache will struggle with large parallel builds. The RTX 5090 is largely irrelevant for most development tasks, though its 32 GB VRAM could be useful for local machine learning model training or GPU-accelerated data processing.

Student and Office Work: The Core i3-12100's PassMark single-thread score of 3,173 and Geekbench single-core score of 1,962 handle everyday productivity tasks with ease, while the 60 W TDP keeps power consumption low during light workloads. The RTX 5090's 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU are wildly excessive for document editing, spreadsheets, and web browsing, making this pairing impractical for typical student or office scenarios where the GPU would sit mostly idle.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Core i3-12100 is built on the Intel Socket 1700 platform with Alder Lake architecture on a 10 nm process. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode, giving builders flexibility in choosing memory kits, though the 12 MB shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 (per core) plus 1.25 MB L2 (per core) cache structure are modest by modern standards. The CPU provides PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes, which matches the RTX 5090's PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface, ensuring the GPU has full bandwidth available.

The RTX 5090 is a dual-slot card measuring 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, requiring a 1x 16-pin power connector. The suggested PSU of 950 W provides headroom for the 575 W GPU TDP and 60 W CPU TDP, leaving ample room for drives, fans, and other peripherals. The CPU's 60 W TDP means even a modest air cooler suffices, but the GPU's dimensions and cooling requirements demand a case with good airflow and sufficient clearance.

A sensible next upgrade would be a higher-core-count Socket 1700 CPU, such as a Core i7 or i9 from the 12th Gen family, which would better complement the RTX 5090's performance class. The platform's dual memory support means existing DDR4 or DDR5 kits can be retained, and the PCIe Gen 5 lanes ensure the GPU remains fully utilized. The 950 W PSU is already sized for a much more powerful CPU, so no power supply change would be needed for such an upgrade.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data reveals a severe imbalance between the Core i3-12100 and RTX 5090. The CPU's 67th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average score of 12,054, places it near the Intel Core i7-7700 (11,914, 1.2% slower) and AMD Ryzen 5 3500X (12,000, 0.5% slower). Meanwhile, the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking, with an average score of 79,842, puts it in the company of data-center Tesla P100 cards and high-end Radeon Pro parts.

In gaming workloads, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads will likely be the limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p resolutions, where frame rates depend heavily on per-core performance. The Core i3-12100's 3dmark_4_threads score of 2,845 and 3dmark_8_threads score of 4,014 indicate that even fully utilizing all threads provides limited throughput. At 4K, however, the RTX 5090's massive compute resources shift the bottleneck to the GPU, and the CPU's single-thread score of 890 becomes less critical.

For compute-heavy workloads like 3D rendering or machine learning, the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 170 RT cores dominate, and the CPU becomes a minor contributor. The Core i3-12100's PassMark physics score of 776 and find prime numbers score of 49 indicate weak computational throughput, but these workloads rarely stress the CPU when the GPU is fully engaged. The combined percentile of 80 reflects this lopsided performance profile, where the GPU carries the system's overall ranking.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core i3-12100 is a 4-core, 8-thread desktop processor from the Core 12th Gen series, based on the Alder Lake architecture and manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 60 W TDP. The die size is 163 mm², and the cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 12 MB shared L3 cache.

Benchmark results show a processor that excels in single-threaded tasks but is limited in multi-threaded workloads. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 890 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,499 are respectable for a budget chip, while the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10,623 and Geekbench multicore score of 7,214 reflect the constraints of 4 physical cores. PassMark scores are mixed: integer math at 35,678 and floating point math at 28,015 are moderate, but find prime numbers at 49 and physics at 776 are notably low.

The integrated UHD Graphics 730 provides basic display output but is not intended for gaming or compute. Memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 in dual-channel mode offers flexibility, though the lack of ECC memory support may matter for certain professional workloads. The CPU's average benchmark score of 12,054 places it just ahead of the Xeon Gold 6314U (12,026, 0.2% slower) and Bronze 3408U (12,019, 0.3% slower), showing that it competes with older server chips in aggregate performance despite having far fewer cores.

Who Should Build It

Gamers targeting 4K resolution with maximum settings are the most logical audience for this pairing. The RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth handle 4K textures and ray tracing with ease, and the Core i3-12100's single-thread performance is sufficient to drive frame rates that are GPU-limited at this resolution. The PassMark G3D score of 39,650 indicates the GPU will not be the bottleneck for years to come.

Content creators who rely heavily on GPU-accelerated rendering will benefit from the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 376,728 Vulkan score, provided their software can offload most work to the GPU. Video editors using CUDA-accelerated effects will see strong performance, though CPU-bound tasks like encoding will reveal the Core i3-12100's limitations. 3D artists using GPU renderers will find the 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores invaluable for final-frame rendering.

Software developers working on GPU-accelerated applications, particularly those involving machine learning or compute, will appreciate the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and tensor core capabilities. The Core i3-12100 is adequate for code editing and compilation of small-to-medium projects, but large parallel builds will be slow. Students in computer science or data science fields could use this system for coursework, but the power requirements and cost make it impractical for most academic settings.

Small business workstations that need occasional GPU compute for tasks like video transcoding or 3D visualization might benefit from the RTX 5090's speed, but the Core i3-12100's modest multi-threaded performance limits its appeal for general office multitasking. The 950 W PSU requirement and 575 W GPU TDP also imply significant cooling and electricity costs that most small businesses would find prohibitive.

Benchmark Performance

The Core i3-12100 achieves an average benchmark score of 12,054, placing it at the 67th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Xeon Gold 6314U (12,026, 0.2% slower), Intel Xeon Bronze 3408U (12,019, 0.3% slower), AMD Ryzen 5 3500X (12,000, 0.5% slower), and Intel Core i7-7700 (11,914, 1.2% slower). Key CPU scores include 3dmark_single_thread at 890, Cinebench R23 multicore at 10,623, and PassMark multithread at 12,170.

The RTX 5090 achieves an average benchmark score of 79,842, placing it at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% slower), Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% slower), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.1% slower), and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959, 1.4% faster). Key GPU scores include 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 at 18,355, Geekbench OpenCL at 334,370, and PassMark G3D at 39,650.

The combined picture shows a system at the 80th percentile overall, with the GPU contributing far more to this ranking than the CPU. The CPU's 67th percentile and GPU's 92nd percentile create a gap of 25 percentage points, which is unusually large for a desktop build. This suggests that in GPU-bound workloads, the system performs near the top of the database, but in CPU-bound tasks, it falls to the upper-middle range.

Build Overview

This is a desktop-class build that pairs Intel's entry-level Alder Lake quad-core processor with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell 2.0 graphics card. The Core i3-12100 is a 4-core, 8-thread CPU with a 60 W TDP, while the RTX 5090 is a dual-slot, 575 W GPU with 32 GB GDDR7 memory. The combined percentile of 80 places this system above the majority of configurations in the database, but the performance profile is heavily skewed toward GPU-accelerated workloads.

The RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs makes it one of the most powerful graphics cards in the database, while the Core i3-12100's 67th percentile ranking is solidly mid-pack. This pairing represents a maximal GPU-first strategy, where the graphics card is chosen for its raw compute and rendering capabilities without regard for CPU balance. The result is a system that excels in GPU-bound scenarios but leaves significant performance on the table in CPU-limited situations.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS data exists for this exact CPU-GPU combination, as the FACT PACK contains no measuredFps rows. All frame rate discussions that follow are estimates derived from the benchmark scores and should be treated as approximations rather than measured results.

Based on the RTX 5090's PassMark G3D score of 39,650 and 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355, the GPU is capable of extremely high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p in most games. However, the Core i3-12100's 3dmark_4_threads score of 2,845 and 3dmark_8_threads score of 4,014 suggest that at lower resolutions, the CPU may limit frame rates in CPU-intensive titles. The 890 single-thread score indicates strong per-core performance for a budget chip, but 4 cores are simply fewer than modern games typically use.

At 4K resolution, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensure that texture streaming and high-resolution assets are handled without issue. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores provide ample ray tracing and DLSS performance, which can further boost frame rates in supported titles. For esports titles that are lightly threaded, the Core i3-12100's single-thread score of 890 should suffice for high refresh rates, but for AAA games that scale across many cores, the CPU may hold back the GPU's potential.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

Memory consists of 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This is one of the largest memory configurations in the database, suitable for 4K gaming, high-resolution texture packs, and GPU compute workloads that require large datasets. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s indicate exceptional fill rates for high-resolution rendering.

Compute performance is outstanding, with 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 104.8 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1). The Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 and Vulkan score of 376,728 place it far above most consumer GPUs, and the PassMark GPU compute score of 26,756 confirms strong general-purpose compute capability. The 92nd percentile ranking, with an average score of 79,842, shows it competes with professional-grade Tesla cards, though the nearest rivals (Tesla P100 variants) are older architectures with different feature sets.

The RTX 5090's 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU make it one of the most power-hungry GPUs in the database, requiring robust cooling and a high-capacity power supply. The dual-slot form factor and 304 mm length necessitate a spacious case with good airflow. Display outputs include 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, supporting high refresh rates and multiple monitors.

Rate My PC: Intel Core i3-12100 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Power Build

System Balance Analysis

Intel Core i3-12100

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Market Position

Game Performance Benchmarks

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

Performance Insights

Strong Performance

Performance Tiers Explained

Ultimate

High-End

Mid-Range

Entry Level

Legacy

FAQ

Usage Scenarios

Upgrade Path and Platform

Balance and Bottleneck

CPU Analysis

Who Should Build It

Benchmark Performance

Build Overview

Gaming Performance

GPU Analysis

4K Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

1440p Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

1080p Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

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