SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core i3-12100F + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

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

Build Configuration

Select your components

PROCESSOR (CPU)

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GRAPHICS CARD (GPU)

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85 Score

Top 15% Ranking

85 / 100

HIGH-END

Power Build

Top 15% of systems. Excellent for 1440p Ultra or 4K High gaming.

1440p Ultra4K High

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio

Well Balanced

CPU

81%

GPU

88%

PROCESSOR

Intel Core i3-12100F

13,494 Benchmark Score

Top 19% Market Ranking

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GRAPHICS CARD

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

13,543 Benchmark Score

Top 12% Market Ranking

View Full Specs →

Market Position

How your build compares to others

Budget

0-30

Mid-Range

30-60

High-End

60-85

Enthusiast

85-100

Your Build

Game Performance Benchmarks

Real-world 4K FPS in popular titles

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Performance Insights

Tips to maximize your system

Strong Performance

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

Compatible Games See what you can play Compare CPUs Find upgrades Compare GPUs Find upgrades

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

The Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT represent a stark contrast in performance tiers. The CPU is a 4-core, 8-thread Alder Lake-S desktop part with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, built on Intel's 10 nm process with a 163 mm² die size. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and offers PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes. The GPU, in contrast, is a massive RDNA 4.0 architecture chip, the Navi 48, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm node with 53,900 million transistors across a 357 mm² die. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, yet the combined build percentile is 62. This pairing is emblematic of a high-resolution gaming system where the GPU is the dominant investment, but the data reveals a nuanced performance relationship that depends heavily on the workload and resolution.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a quad-core processor with 8 threads, a configuration that has been the entry-level standard for gaming for years. Its benchmark scores show a clear split between single-threaded capability and multi-threaded throughput. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 1674 points in single-core and 11860 points in multi-core. The multi-core score is 7.08 times the single-core score, which is close to the theoretical maximum for a 4-core/8-thread part, indicating that scaling is efficient when all threads are engaged. The Geekbench scores of 1932 single-core and 7252 multi-core reinforce this, with the multi-core score being 3.75 times the single-core figure. This suggests that while the processor can handle multi-threaded workloads like video encoding or compilation, its physical core count of 4 remains a hard limit.

In the 3DMark thread scaling tests, the data shows a plateau after 8 threads. The score for 8 threads is 4026, and the score for max threads is 4023, which is essentially identical. This confirms that the processor has no more compute headroom beyond its 8 logical threads. The 16-thread score of 4051 is marginally higher, likely due to measurement variance, but it does not indicate additional scaling. The single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark is relatively strong, positioning the CPU well for games that rely on a few fast cores. However, the PassMark multi-thread score of 14015 and the PassMark single-thread score of 3444 show that in heavy integer and floating-point math, the CPU's performance is respectable but not class-leading.

The nearest rivals for the i3-12100F are the Intel Core 3 N355, Intel Core i5-9500, Intel Core 5 120UL, and Intel Core i7-1250U. The average benchmark score for the i3-12100F is 13494. The Core 3 N355 scores 13492, a delta of 0%, meaning they are functionally tied. The Core i5-9500 is 0.3% slower with a score of 13452, and the Core 5 120UL is 0.7% faster with 13594. The Core i7-1250U is 1.1% faster with 13351. What this reveals is that the i3-12100F is in a tightly contested performance window among low-power and older mainstream chips. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache is a notable advantage over older designs, and the 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache helps with latency-sensitive workloads. For real-world tasks, the CPU excels in office productivity, light coding, and gaming at high resolutions where the GPU is the bottleneck, but it will struggle in heavily multi-threaded rendering or simulation tasks where a 6-core or 8-core part would be significantly faster.

FAQ

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile and what does it mean?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F is in the 68th percentile among all CPUs. This means it performs better than 68% of all processors in the benchmark database, indicating it is a solid mid-tier performer, though not a high-end chip. Its average benchmark score is 13494.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has an average benchmark score of 13543. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7770M, scores 13536, a delta of 0.1%. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 scores 13515 (0.2% slower), and the NVIDIA P106-090 scores 13470 (0.5% slower). The AMD Radeon Pro 555 is 1% slower with a score of 13407. Despite being a modern card, these benchmark scores place it in a performance bracket with much older hardware.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The RX 9070 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This high bandwidth is crucial for 4K gaming and texture-heavy workloads, as it allows the GPU to feed its 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs without stalling.

Q: What is the combined performance percentile of this CPU+GPU build?

A: The combined percentile for this specific pairing is 62. This indicates that when used together, the system performs better than 62% of all tested CPU+GPU combinations, reflecting the strong GPU carrying the overall experience.

Q: What is the pair's ranking by average FPS across all tested games?

A: This CPU+GPU pair ranks 907 out of 3732 pairs, with an average FPS across all games of 161.7. This places it in the top 24% of all pairings in terms of raw gaming frame rate output.

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

A: The CPU has a TDP of 58 W, and the GPU has a TDP of 304 W. The suggested PSU for this combination is 700 W, which provides adequate headroom for the combined 362 W of component power draw plus other system components.

Q: What is the GPU's ray tracing capability?

A: The RX 9070 XT features 64 dedicated RT cores based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture. This hardware is designed to accelerate ray-traced lighting and shadow effects in supported games, though the specific performance impact is not quantified in the benchmark data.

GPU Analysis

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the centerpiece of this build, featuring the Navi 48 chip on the RDNA 4.0 architecture. It is built on a 4 nm process by TSMC, with 53,900 million transistors packed into a 357 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. This high boost clock, combined with 4096 shading units, delivers a peak FP32 performance of 48.66 TFLOPS. The FP16 performance is also 48.66 TFLOPS (1:1), which is notable for compute workloads that can utilize reduced precision. The texture rate is 760.3 GTexel/s, and the pixel rate is 380.2 GPixel/s, driven by 256 TMUs and 128 ROPs.

The memory subsystem is robust: 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with a memory clock of 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), yielding 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This is ample for 4K gaming and large datasets in creative applications. The GPU supports PCIe 5.0 x16 and requires a 700 W PSU, with 2x 8-pin power connectors. It has a dual-slot design and outputs 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1a. The API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, ensuring compatibility with modern titles.

Benchmark results for the GPU show a mixed picture. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 7260. Geekbench scores are 17428 for OpenCL and 65879 for Vulkan. The Vulkan score is significantly higher, suggesting strong driver optimization for that API. PassMark scores are more revealing: G3D score is 26795, but the DirectX 12 score is only 78, while DirectX 11 is 292 and DirectX 9 is 353. The low DirectX 12 score is anomalous and may indicate a benchmark-specific issue rather than a real-world deficiency. The GPU compute score is 15864, and the G2D score is 1328. The GPU is in the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13543. Its nearest rivals, the Radeon HD 7770M and GeForce GTX 570, are over a decade old, which illustrates that the average score is heavily weighted by these legacy DirectX tests. In modern synthetic tests like 3DMark Steel Nomad, the RX 9070 XT is clearly a high-end part, but the legacy benchmark scores drag its percentile down.

Usage Scenarios

High-Refresh Gaming: At 1920x1080, the build excels in esports and competitive titles. Counter-Strike 2 runs at 254 FPS, Valorant at 430.4 FPS, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege at 302 FPS. These frame rates are far above the 144 Hz threshold, making this an excellent pairing for players with high-refresh monitors. At 2560x1440, Valorant still hits 406.6 FPS, and Counter-Strike 2 drops to 165.7 FPS, which remains very playable.

Streaming: The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are a limitation for software encoding. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4051 and the PassMark multi-thread score of 14015 indicate modest throughput. However, the GPU's 64 RT cores and high compute capability (48.66 TFLOPS FP32) can handle hardware encoding offload. The system will perform best using the GPU for streaming while the CPU focuses on the game, but heavy multi-tasking may cause hitches.

Video Editing: The CPU is a bottleneck here. Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11860 is adequate for 1080p editing but will struggle with 4K timelines and complex effects. The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth can accelerate rendering and previews, but the final export will be limited by the CPU's 4 physical cores. The PassMark data encryption score of 8071 and integer math score of 40978 show it can handle basic encoding tasks, but professional workflows would benefit from more cores.

3D Rendering: This is the weakest scenario. The CPU's Cinebench R20 multicore score of 4981 and R15 multicore score of 1195 are low for rendering workloads that scale across many threads. The GPU can help with GPU-accelerated renderers, but the CPU will be a severe bottleneck for physics simulations or cloth calculations. The 3DMark max threads score of 4023 confirms the CPU's limited parallel capability.

Software Development: The single-thread performance is strong, with a Geekbench single-core score of 1932 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674. This helps with compilation of small projects and IDE responsiveness. However, large builds that use multiple cores will be slow. The PassMark find prime numbers score of 60 is very low, indicating weak integer compute for intensive algorithms. The 12 MB L3 cache helps with code locality.

Student and Office Work: This build is overkill for basic tasks. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 3444 and the GPU's G2D score of 1328 ensure smooth desktop navigation, web browsing, and document editing. The system will idle efficiently, and the high single-core performance of the CPU handles spreadsheet calculations and programming assignments with ease. The 16 GB of GPU VRAM is unused in this scenario, but it does not hinder performance.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's benchmark scores are consistent with a modern quad-core part. In Cinebench R23, it scores 11860 multi-core and 1674 single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 7252 multi-core and 1932 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score is 14015, and the single-thread score is 3444. The CPU is in the 68th percentile, with an average score of 13494. Its rivals are within a 1.1% band, showing that it is a competitive performer in its class.

The GPU's benchmark scores are more variable. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 7260. Geekbench OpenCL is 17428, and Vulkan is 65879. PassMark G3D is 26795, but PassMark DirectX 12 is only 78. The GPU is in the 55th percentile, with an average score of 13543. The GPU's performance is heavily dependent on the benchmark type, with modern APIs like Vulkan showing exceptional results.

The combined picture is a system that ranks 907 out of 3732 pairs, with an average FPS of 161.7 across all games. The combined percentile is 62, which is higher than the GPU's individual percentile of 55 due to the CPU's higher 68th percentile. This indicates that the CPU is not dragging the system down as much as the GPU's raw percentile might suggest. The data shows a system that is excellent for high-refresh 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the GPU's legacy benchmark scores and the CPU's core count limit the system's overall percentile ranking.

Who Should Build It

This build is targeted at gamers who prioritize frame rates at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. The measured FPS data shows that the system delivers over 100 FPS in most titles at 1080p, including 137.1 FPS in Call of Duty: Warzone and 108 FPS in Control. At 1440p, the system still maintains high frame rates, such as 117.2 FPS in Warzone and 75 FPS in Fortnite. This makes it suitable for competitive gamers and enthusiasts who want a smooth experience without stepping up to a more expensive CPU.

Content creators who work primarily with GPU-accelerated applications will benefit from the 16 GB of VRAM and the 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The GPU's Vulkan score of 65879 suggests strong performance in APIs favored by creative software. However, video editors and 3D artists who rely on CPU rendering should look elsewhere, as the i3-12100F's 4 cores will severely limit export times and simulation fidelity.

Software developers who focus on front-end web development or scripting will find the single-core speed adequate, but those compiling large C++ or Rust projects will be frustrated by the multi-core performance. Students and small business workstations that need a reliable machine for office tasks, spreadsheets, and light multitasking will find this system exceptionally responsive, though the GPU is overkill for such workloads. The high cost of the GPU is justified only if gaming or GPU compute is a primary use case.

Balance and Bottleneck

The performance balance between the Intel Core i3-12100F and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is heavily skewed toward the GPU. The CPU's 68th percentile and the GPU's 55th percentile suggest that the CPU is relatively stronger in the overall database, but in gaming, the GPU is the dominant factor. At 1920x1080, the CPU can become a bottleneck in CPU-intensive games. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, the system scores 75 FPS at 1080p, but this drops to 56 FPS at 1440p and 37 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is 74.7%, and from 1440p to 4K is 66.1%, which indicates the GPU is still the primary limiter at higher resolutions.

However, in esports titles, the CPU bottleneck is more apparent. In Counter-Strike 2, the system hits 254 FPS at 1080p, but this is likely limited by the CPU's single-thread performance, as the GPU could push higher. The 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and the PassMark single-thread score of 3444 show that the CPU has a ceiling around 250-300 FPS in light games. In Valorant, the system achieves 430.4 FPS at 1080p, which suggests the CPU can handle high frame rates, but it is near its limit.

The bottleneck shifts to the CPU in multi-threaded workloads like 3D rendering or video encoding. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11860 is just 7.08 times the single-core score, indicating that the CPU is tapped out. In contrast, the GPU's compute capabilities can handle large parallel tasks. The PassMark GPU compute score of 15864 is 1.13 times the CPU's multi-thread score of 14015, showing that the GPU is not massively ahead in compute. For gaming at 4K, the GPU is almost always the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 4K FPS in most games being less than half of the 1080p FPS, such as in Ark: Survival Ascended (39.8 FPS at 1080p vs 12.5 FPS at 4K). The system is best balanced for 1440p gaming, where the CPU and GPU work together to deliver high frame rates without excessive bottlenecking.

Build Overview

This is a desktop build that pairs the Intel Core i3-12100F, a 4-core/8-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S generation, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, a high-end RDNA 4.0 GPU. The CPU has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a TDP of 58 W. The GPU has a TDP of 304 W and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. The combined percentile for this build is 62, placing it in the upper third of all systems. The average FPS across all games is 161.7, and the pair ranks 907 out of 3732, which is in the top 24%. This is a gaming-focused build where the GPU is the star, but the CPU is a capable budget partner that does not severely limit 1080p and 1440p gaming performance.

The CPU is a locked multiplier part with a launch MSRP of $97, making it an entry-level processor. The GPU has a launch MSRP of 599 USD. The system supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on Socket 1700, allowing for flexible memory choices. The GPU uses PCIe 5.0 x16, which is fully compatible with the CPU's PCIe Gen 5 lanes. This build is best classified as a high-refresh 1080p and 1440p gaming machine, with the capability to handle 4K in less demanding titles, but it is not a workstation-class system due to the CPU's core count.

Gaming Performance

The measured FPS data is comprehensive, with results for 53 games across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers excellent performance in most titles. Esports games are exceptionally smooth: Counter-Strike 2 hits 254 FPS, Valorant 430.4 FPS, and Rainbow Six Siege 302 FPS. Older titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive reach 558.9 FPS, and Minecraft: Java Edition hits 249.8 FPS. For AAA games, performance is strong: Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 75 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 at 65.5 FPS, and Call of Duty: Warzone at 137.1 FPS. Heavily demanding games like Ark: Survival Ascended only manage 39.8 FPS, indicating a need for lower settings.

At 2560x1440, the system remains capable. Valorant still hits 406.6 FPS, and Counter-Strike 2 drops to 165.7 FPS. Warzone runs at 117.2 FPS, and Cyberpunk 2077 at 56 FPS. The Medium is more demanding, dropping to 43.5 FPS, and Ark: Survival Ascended falls to 21.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear bottleneck. Valorant still achieves 382 FPS, but Cyberpunk 2077 drops to 37 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 to 33.4 FPS, and Call of Duty: Warzone to 98.5 FPS. The system is not suited for 4K gaming in the most demanding titles, but it can handle 4K in less intensive games like Roblox (122.6 FPS) and Dave The Diver (107.2 FPS). Overall, the gaming performance is best described as excellent for 1080p high-refresh, very good for 1440p, and marginal for 4K in AAA titles.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Intel Core i3-12100F uses the LGA 1700 socket, which supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The CPU provides 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, which are fully utilized by the GPU's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. The memory bus is dual-channel, and the CPU does not support ECC memory. The CPU has a TDP of 58 W, while the GPU has a TDP of 304 W, and the suggested PSU is 700 W. This provides significant headroom for future upgrades, as the total system draw is around 362 W plus other components.

A sensible next upgrade would be a more powerful CPU on the same LGA 1700 socket. The platform supports higher-core-count Alder Lake or Raptor Lake processors, which would alleviate the bottleneck in multi-threaded workloads and esports titles. The memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 means that users can keep their existing memory if they choose a compatible motherboard, though upgrading to a newer CPU would benefit from faster memory. The PCIe Gen 5 support ensures that future GPUs will not be bottlenecked by the interface. The PSU headroom of 700 W is sufficient for most CPU upgrades, but a more power-hungry GPU would require a higher-wattage unit. The GPU itself is already high-end, so the most impactful upgrade would be the CPU, moving to a 6-core or 8-core part to better match the GPU's capabilities in CPU-bound scenarios.

Rate My PC: Intel Core i3-12100F + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

Power Build

System Balance Analysis

Intel Core i3-12100F

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

Market Position

Game Performance Benchmarks

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Valorant

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Valorant

Minecraft

Performance Insights

Strong Performance

Performance Tiers Explained

Ultimate

High-End

Mid-Range

Entry Level

Legacy

CPU Analysis

FAQ

GPU Analysis

Usage Scenarios

Benchmark Performance

Who Should Build It

Balance and Bottleneck

Build Overview

Gaming Performance

Upgrade Path and Platform

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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