SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core i5-12600HE + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile

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

86 / 100
HIGH-END

Power Build

Top 14% of systems. Excellent for 1440p Ultra or 4K High gaming.

1440p Ultra4K High

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio
Well Balanced
CPU
76%
VS
GPU
96%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core i5-12600HE

4,980 Benchmark Score
Top 24% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile

43,667 Benchmark Score
Top 4% 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
View All Games →

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 i5-12600HE and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile form a laptop-class pairing that sits at a combined performance percentile of 72 across all CPU-GPU combinations. The processor, a 12-core, 16-thread Alder Lake-H part with a 2.50 GHz base and 4.50 GHz boost clock, delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17217 and a single-core score of 2430, placing it at the 59th percentile among all CPUs. The GPU, an Ada Lovelace AD103 chip with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, achieves a Geekbench OpenCL score of 180831 and a Passmark G3D score of 27212, ranking at the 84th percentile among all GPUs. No measured FPS data exists for this exact combination, so all gaming performance discussion below is estimated from benchmark scores. The data shows a significant imbalance: the RTX 4090 Mobile is a top-tier graphics solution while the i5-12600HE is a mid-range mobile processor, which shapes every workload outcome.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core i5-12600HE is built on the Alder Lake architecture, produced on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 217 mm². It packs 12 cores and 16 threads, a configuration that combines performance and efficiency cores for heterogeneous workloads. The base clock of 2.50 GHz can boost up to 4.50 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. This cache hierarchy is standard for the mobile segment, and the dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 gives system integrators flexibility.

Benchmark results place the i5-12600HE at the 59th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 4980. In Cinebench R23, the multi-core score of 17217 indicates strong sustained throughput for a 45 W TDP part, while the single-core score of 2430 reflects solid per-thread performance for everyday responsiveness. The Cinebench R20 scores of 7231 multi-core and 1020 single-core corroborate this pattern, as do the R15 scores of 1735 and 244. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-12600HE is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-1375PRE (average score 4985, delta -0.1%) and the Intel Xeon W-2150B (average score 4992, delta -0.2%), while edging out the AMD Ryzen Embedded V3C48 (average score 4967, delta 0.3%) and the Intel Core i3-12300HE (average score 4995, delta -0.3%). These deltas are all within one percent, meaning the i5-12600HE sits in a tightly contested mid-range CPU tier.

For real workloads, the multi-core scores translate to competent performance in compile tasks, batch photo processing, and light video encoding, though the 45 W TDP limits sustained boost behavior under heavy all-core loads. The single-core scores suggest snappy application launches and responsive UI interactions. The integrated Iris Xe 80EU graphics provide a fallback display output, but the discrete GPU dominates any graphics workload. The 10 nm process and 16 threads give it enough parallelism for modern productivity software, but it is not a high-end compute part.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is a flagship mobile GPU built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using TSMC's 5 nm process with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. It features 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, alongside 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. The base clock runs at 1335 MHz with a boost clock of 1695 MHz, while memory operates at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers a bandwidth of 576.0 GB/s, which is substantial for mobile rendering and AI workloads.

Compute performance is impressive: FP32 throughput reaches 32.98 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same 32.98 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). Pixel rate is 189.8 GPixel/s and texture rate is 515.3 GTexel/s. Benchmark scores confirm its high-end positioning. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 180831 and Vulkan score of 170774 indicate strong compute and graphics API performance. Passmark G3D score of 27212 places it at the 84th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43667. The GPU compute score of 12347 shows solid parallel processing capability, though the Passmark DirectX scores (173 for DirectX 10, 262 for DirectX 11, 107 for DirectX 12, 310 for DirectX 9) are oddly low, likely reflecting specific driver or test conditions rather than real-world capability.

Compared to nearest rivals, the RTX 4090 Mobile edges out the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (average score 43301, delta 0.8%) and the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (average score 43268, delta 0.9%), while trailing the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (average score 44075, delta -0.9%) by a similar margin. All deltas are under one percent, placing this GPU in a performance band where small driver or thermal variations can shift rankings. The 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are key for ray-traced rendering and DLSS-based upscaling, with 16 GB VRAM sufficient for high-resolution textures and large scenes. The 120 W TDP is modest for the performance level, though it limits sustained boost clocks compared to higher-power variants.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data reveals a clear bottleneck structure. The CPU sits at the 59th percentile while the GPU sits at the 84th percentile, a 25-point gap that indicates the processor will frequently limit frame rates in GPU-bound scenarios. In CPU-intensive workloads like physics simulation, game logic, or single-threaded application tasks, the i5-12600HE's single-core score of 2430 in Cinebench R23 (which is at a mid-range level) will cap performance. For GPU-bound tasks such as high-resolution rendering or ray tracing, the RTX 4090 Mobile has ample headroom that the CPU cannot fully feed.

Benchmark results show the CPU's average score of 4980 is nearly identical to its rivals, meaning there is no hidden margin to exploit. The GPU's average score of 43667 is significantly higher than its nearest competitors, suggesting it is near the top of its class. In gaming, this imbalance typically manifests as the GPU waiting on the CPU at lower resolutions, where frame rates are high and per-frame CPU work becomes a larger fraction of total time. At higher resolutions, the GPU's workload increases and the bottleneck shifts toward the graphics card, but the CPU may still limit minimum frame rates.

The 16 GB VRAM and 576.0 GB/s bandwidth on the GPU mean memory capacity and bandwidth are rarely constraints, but the CPU's 18 MB L3 cache and dual-channel memory support could become a limiting factor in data-heavy workloads. The combination of a 45 W CPU and 120 W GPU also suggests thermal and power constraints in a laptop chassis, where the CPU's boost behavior may degrade under sustained loads, further widening the performance gap.

Who Should Build It

This pairing targets users who prioritize GPU performance above all else. Gamers playing at high resolutions with ray tracing enabled will benefit most, as the RTX 4090 Mobile's 76 RT cores and 32.98 TFLOPS FP32 throughput handle demanding effects while the CPU's mid-range scores are less critical at 4K where GPU load dominates. Content creators working with 8K video or complex 3D scenes will appreciate the 16 GB VRAM and high memory bandwidth, though they should expect CPU-bound tasks like timeline scrubbing or effects processing to be slower than with a higher-end processor.

Software developers compiling large codebases will find the 12-core, 16-thread CPU adequate but not exceptional, with Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17217 indicating moderate parallel performance. Students and small business users doing office work, web browsing, and document editing will see no tangible difference from the powerful GPU, as the CPU's single-core score of 2430 is sufficient for those tasks, but the GPU sits idle. System integrators building portable workstations for AI inference or machine learning prototyping will value the 304 tensor cores and 32.98 TFLOPS FP16 performance, which are competitive with desktop GPUs in a laptop form factor.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The CPU uses the Intel BGA 1744 socket, which is a soldered mobile package, meaning the processor is not user-upgradable. Memory support includes DDR4 and DDR5 in dual-channel configuration, so the only memory upgrade path is increasing capacity or switching between these standards if the motherboard supports both. The PCIe interface is Gen 4 with 20 lanes from the CPU, which is sufficient for the GPU's PCIe 4.0 x16 bus interface, though future GPUs might benefit from more lanes.

The GPU has a TDP of 120 W, but no suggested PSU is listed, which is typical for a laptop where power delivery is handled by the chassis and external adapter. The CPU's 45 W TDP combined with the GPU's 120 W TDP indicates a total platform power budget that requires a robust cooling solution. Since the GPU is integrated into the motherboard (slot width is listed as IGP), there is no upgrade path for the graphics card either. The production status for both components is Active, so replacements are available, but the platform is effectively closed.

A sensible next upgrade for this system would be increasing RAM to the maximum supported capacity, since the CPU's memory bandwidth is shared between CPU and GPU workloads. Storage upgrades via PCIe Gen 4 NVMe drives would improve load times without changing the core performance balance. For users needing more CPU throughput, the only option is a different laptop platform, as the BGA 1744 socket offers no socket-compatible upgrades.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: At 1080p or 1440p, the RTX 4090 Mobile's high FP32 throughput and 576.0 GB/s bandwidth can push very high frame rates, but the CPU's single-core score of 2430 will likely cap maximum FPS in esports titles. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary driver, and the 16 GB VRAM handles large textures without issue. The 84th GPU percentile versus 59th CPU percentile means frame pacing may vary.

Streaming: The GPU's 304 tensor cores can handle NVENC encoding (though not explicitly listed, the architecture supports it), while the CPU's 16 threads handle encoding fallback. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17217 provides enough headroom for game capture and streaming software, but concurrent heavy encoding and gameplay may strain the CPU.

Video editing: The GPU's 32.98 TFLOPS FP32 performance accelerates effects and color grading, and 16 GB VRAM allows for multiple high-resolution video tracks. The CPU's multi-core score of 17217 in R23 is adequate for export tasks but not class-leading, so 4K timeline previews may rely heavily on GPU acceleration.

3D rendering: The RTX 4090 Mobile excels in GPU-accelerated renders, with 76 RT cores for ray tracing and 32.98 TFLOPS compute. The CPU's 45 W TDP limits CPU-based rendering, but hybrid renderers that offload to the GPU will see strong performance.

Software development: The 12 cores and 16 threads compile code in parallel, with the Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 7231 indicating moderate build times. Single-threaded tooling benefits from the 4.50 GHz boost clock. The GPU is largely unused except for shader compilation or testing.

Student and office work: The CPU's single-core score of 2430 in R23 ensures smooth office suite performance, and the integrated Iris Xe graphics handle basic display output. The discrete GPU consumes power unnecessarily in these tasks, reducing battery life, but performance is more than sufficient.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12600HE a good match for the RTX 4090 Mobile?

A: The data shows a 25-percentile gap (59th CPU vs 84th GPU), meaning the CPU will limit the GPU in many workloads, especially at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more significant.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4090 Mobile have and what is its bandwidth?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the CPU's core and thread count?

A: The i5-12600HE has 12 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: No, the FACT PACK lists ECC memory support as false for the i5-12600HE.

Q: What is the GPU's process node and transistor count?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile is built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die.

Q: How does the CPU compare to the Intel Core i7-1375PRE?

A: The i5-12600HE has an average benchmark score of 4980, which is 0.1% lower than the i7-1375PRE's 4985, indicating nearly identical performance.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile ranks at the 84th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 43667.

Build Overview

This is a laptop-class build (buildClass: "laptop") combining a mid-range mobile CPU with a top-tier mobile GPU. The Intel Core i5-12600HE offers 12 cores and 16 threads on the Alder Lake architecture, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile delivers flagship-class graphics with 16 GB GDDR6 and 32.98 TFLOPS FP32 compute. The combined percentile is 72, reflecting the GPU's dominance in the pairing. The CPU's 45 W TDP and the GPU's 120 W TDP fit within a high-performance laptop chassis, but the performance gap between the two components defines this system's character.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's benchmark suite shows consistent mid-range results: Cinebench R15 multi-core 1735, single-core 244; R20 multi-core 7231, single-core 1020; R23 multi-core 17217, single-core 2430. The average benchmark score is 4980, placing the CPU at the 59th percentile. The GPU's scores are substantially higher in relative terms: Geekbench OpenCL 180831, Vulkan 170774, Passmark G3D 27212, and GPU Compute 12347, with an average score of 43667 at the 84th percentile. The combined picture is a system where the GPU outperforms the CPU by a wide margin, with the GPU's average score being 8.77 times higher than the CPU's, though they measure different workloads.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS data exists for this exact CPU-GPU combination, so the following figures are estimates based on the benchmark scores. The RTX 4090 Mobile's 84th percentile and 32.98 TFLOPS FP32 performance suggest it can handle demanding titles at 4K with high settings, while the CPU's 59th percentile indicates potential frame rate capping in CPU-bound scenarios like large multiplayer battles or physics-heavy games. At 1080p, the CPU's single-core score of 2430 will likely limit maximum FPS to mid-range levels, while at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the primary factor, allowing the graphics card to stretch its legs. Ray tracing performance benefits from the 76 RT cores, but the CPU may struggle to feed the GPU in scenes with many dynamic objects. For esports titles at high refresh rates, the CPU will be the bottleneck, while for visually intensive single-player games at high resolutions, the GPU will dominate. These are estimates only, as the FACT PACK contains no measured gaming data for this pairing.