SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core i9-12900E + Intel Arc A310

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

Build Configuration

Select your components

PROCESSOR (CPU)

▼

GRAPHICS CARD (GPU)

▼

81 Score

Top 19% Ranking

81 / 100

HIGH-END

Power Build

Top 19% of systems. Excellent for 1440p Ultra or 4K High gaming.

1440p Ultra4K High

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio

Well Balanced

CPU

78%

GPU

85%

PROCESSOR

Intel Core i9-12900E

6,611 Benchmark Score

Top 22% Market Ranking

View Full Specs →

GRAPHICS CARD

Intel Arc A310

7,550 Benchmark Score

Top 15% 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 i9-12900E paired with Intel's Arc A310 is an unusual combination: a sixteen-core desktop CPU sitting in the 62nd percentile of all processors, attached to a single-slot entry-level GPU in the 40th percentile of all graphics cards. The data shows a build that is heavily CPU-dominant, with a combined percentile of 51 — a machine capable of serious multi-threaded productivity work but only modest graphics performance. Note that no measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination in the database; all frame-rate discussion below is estimated from the benchmark scores, not measured data.

CPU Analysis

The Core i9-12900E is an Alder Lake-S processor built on Intel's 10 nm process, with 16 cores and 24 threads arranged across Intel's hybrid architecture. It carries a 30 MB shared L3 cache, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 80 KB of L1 per core, with a base clock of 2.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The multiplier is unlocked, which matters for a 65 W TDP part — there is frequency headroom for builders willing to raise power limits. Launch MSRP was $494.

Benchmark results indicate strong single-core responsiveness for its class: 334 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 1394 in R20, 3321 in R23, and 1775 in Geekbench single-core. The multi-core picture is where this chip flexes. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23529 and an R20 score of 9882 put it firmly in heavyweight territory for rendering-style workloads, and Geekbench multi-core lands at 10280.

Context comes from the nearestRivals list. Its average benchmark score of 6611 sits within a fraction of a percent of the Intel Pentium Gold G6405 (6605, +0.1%), the Core i9-10940X (6605, +0.1%), the Core i5-13500E (6586, +0.4%), and the Core i5-13400E (6638, −0.4%). That cluster is telling: on aggregate scoring, this i9 lands in the same band as newer mid-range Efficiency-line i5s and an older HEDT i9, while delivering the strongest per-test results in heavily threaded rendering where its 16 cores and 24 threads are fully engaged. The 62nd percentile against all CPUs confirms a solidly upper-mid-tier processor.

For real workloads, the R23 multi-core figure translates directly into fast video encodes, quick code compiles, and smooth 3D renders. The single-core scores near the top of the compatibility range mean older game engines and lightly threaded applications — the majority of everyday software — remain responsive.

Balance and Bottleneck

This build is GPU-limited in anything graphics-bound, decisively so. The CPU sits in the 62nd percentile while the Arc A310 sits in the 40th, and the GPU benchmark scores make the gap explicit. Passmark G3D comes in at 5433, GPU compute at 2157, Geekbench OpenCL at 30607, and Vulkan at 28964. Against rivals, the A310 is statistically tied with the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557, −0.1%), the Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580, −0.4%), slightly ahead of the Radeon HD 8850M (7447, +1.4%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (7472, +1%) on aggregate average score — a cluster dominated by entry-level and older mainstream cards.

The consequence is simple: in games, the A310 will be the limiter long before the i9-12900E runs out of threads. The CPU could drive a far faster GPU without breaking a sweat; the inverse is not true. In productivity, the balance flips — the CPU is the engine, and the GPU contributes little beyond display output and light compute. The combined percentile of 51 reflects exactly this: a capable computer held to the middle of the pack by its graphics card, not its processor.

Memory is dual-channel with support for both DDR4 and DDR5, so bandwidth is not a bottleneck for CPU-side work at this tier. The GPU's own 64-bit bus and 124 GB/s of bandwidth are, however, hard constraints on its gaming ceiling.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: Not this build's lane. With a Passmark G3D of 5433 and 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, the data indicates the A310 cannot sustain high frame rates at modern resolutions in demanding titles. Estimates from the benchmark scores point to modest frame rates at reduced settings — high-refresh play is out of reach.

Streaming: CPU-side encoding and multitasking are covered — 16 cores and 24 threads with an R23 multi-core of 23529 handle stream encoding plus game logic comfortably. The problem is the game itself: the GPU cannot render demanding titles well enough to make streaming them practical. Streaming desktop content or lighter games is viable.

Video editing: A strong scenario. The R23 multi-core score of 23529 and Geekbench multi-core of 10280 indicate fast timeline scrubbing, encoding, and exports on the CPU. The A310's 4 GB VRAM limits GPU-accelerated effects, but the processor carries the workload.

3D rendering: The strongest scenario. Cinebench R20 multi-core of 9882 and R23 of 23529 are rendering-class numbers; viewport work in CAD and DCC tools will also benefit from 3321 in R23 single-core. The GPU is not a factor in CPU renderers.

Software development: Excellent fit. Compiling is thread-hungry, and 24 threads with strong Geekbench multi-core results mean fast builds. The 1394 R20 single-core score keeps IDEs and debuggers snappy. The A310 drives four mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs — plenty of monitors for a dev workstation.

Student and office work: More than sufficient. Documents, browsing, video calls, and light photo work barely dent this CPU. The UHD Graphics 770 iGPU even provides a fallback display path if the discrete card is ever removed.

Who Should Build It

The target user is someone who needs workstation-class multi-threaded CPU throughput without gaming as a priority: developers and compile-heavy engineering teams, small-business workstations running spreadsheets, virtualization, and database work, students in engineering or computer science programs, and content creators whose workflows are CPU-render-bound. The 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes make it attractive for compact, cool, quiet systems that still post an R23 multi-core of 23529. Gamers should look elsewhere or plan a GPU upgrade: at 1080p and above, the A310's 5433 Passmark G3D score is the binding constraint, and the CPU is wasted on it. Anyone whose workload is exclusively gaming should not build this pairing as-is.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-12900E good for gaming? A: The CPU itself is strong — 62nd percentile versus all CPUs, with a 3321 R23 single-core score — but this pairing is GPU-limited. The Arc A310's Passmark G3D score of 5433 is entry-level.

Q: How many cores and threads does the i9-12900E have? A: 16 cores and 24 threads, built on the Alder Lake-S architecture at 10 nm, with a 30 MB shared L3 cache.

Q: Can this build run modern games at 1080p? A: Only modestly, and at reduced settings. No measured FPS data exists for this combination; estimates from benchmark scores indicate limited performance, with the GTX 1650-class rival positioning confirming entry-level expectations.

Q: Is the CPU overclockable? A: Yes, the multiplier is unlocked, which is notable for a 65 W TDP part. The base clock is 2.30 GHz with a 5.00 GHz boost.

Q: What memory does it support? A: Both DDR4 and DDR5, dual-channel, on Intel Socket 1700.

Q: What power supply is needed? A: The A310's suggested PSU is 200 W. The GPU itself has a 30 W TDP and requires no power connectors; the CPU TDP is 65 W, so a 200 W unit covers this pairing with headroom.

Q: Is the Arc A310 still in production? A: No — its production status is End-of-life. The successor line is Battlemage. The CPU remains Active.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination in the database — the FACT PACK contains no measuredFps data, and dataIsMeasured is false. All frame-rate discussion here is estimated from benchmark scores.

The estimates are sobering. A Passmark G3D score of 5433 places the A310 alongside the Radeon R7 250 and Radeon Pro WX 3100, with DirectX benchmarks scoring between 29 (DirectX 12) and 69 (DirectX 9). The Passmark DirectX results are the clearest signal: older DirectX 9-era titles will run acceptably, while modern DirectX 12 games will run at low frame rates without heavy setting reductions. At 1080p with ultra settings, demanding modern games are outside this card's envelope; expectation should be reduced settings and resolutions for playable results. The 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 124 GB/s of bandwidth caps texture quality and resolution headroom. With the i9-12900E never the limiter, every frame gained must come from the GPU side.

Benchmark Performance

CPU scores: Cinebench R15 multi-core 2371, single-core 334; R20 multi-core 9882, single-core 1394; R23 multi-core 23529, single-core 3321; Geekbench multi-core 10280, single-core 1775. Average benchmark score 6611, 62nd percentile versus all CPUs.

GPU scores: Geekbench OpenCL 30607, Vulkan 28964; Passmark G3D 5433, GPU compute 2157, G2D 625; Passmark DirectX 9/10/11/12 at 69/31/33/29. Average benchmark score 7550, 40th percentile versus all GPUs.

The combined picture is a 51st-percentile desktop — precisely average as a whole, but with an unusual internal split. The CPU outclasses the GPU by twenty-two percentile points. In any workload that leans on the graphics card, results track the 40th-percentile component; in CPU-bound tasks, the machine performs like the upper-mid-tier processor it contains. Builders should read the combined number as "average computer" while understanding that the two halves are far from equal.

Build Overview

This is a desktop-class pairing of Intel's Core i9-12900E — a 16-core, 24-thread Alder Lake-S processor in the 62nd percentile — with the Intel Arc A310, a single-slot, 30 W Xe-HPG graphics card in the 40th percentile, built on TSMC's 6 nm process with 7,200 million transistors on a 157 mm² die. The A310 offers 768 shading units, 32 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and 6 RT cores, with 2.688 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput. Both parts hail from the same 2022-era Intel platform push, with the CPU still Active and the GPU End-of-life.

Tier-wise, this is an upper-mid-tier CPU paired with an entry-level GPU in a mid-tier overall build (51st percentile). It functions best understood as a compact productivity workstation that happens to include a discrete display card rather than a gaming rig.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The platform foundation is solid. Intel Socket 1700 supports the CPU, with dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory — DDR5 being the forward-looking choice. PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes means modern GPUs and fast storage connect without bandwidth compromise; the A310 itself uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface. Four mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs on the GPU support multi-monitor setups, and the UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics remain available as a backup.

Power is a non-issue: the CPU's 65 W TDP plus the GPU's 30 W TDP (no power connectors required, single-slot) sit comfortably under the 200 W suggested PSU. That headroom is the upgrade story. The single most sensible next step is replacing the Arc A310 with a substantially faster GPU — the i9-12900E has the threads and single-core speed to drive one, and the PSU and PCIe platform are ready. A capacity-bumping PSU swap may accompany a high-end card, but within the 200 W envelope suggested here, meaningful GPU upgrades already fit. The CPU itself, unlocked and within striking distance of the i5-13400E and i5-13500E on aggregate scores while exceeding them in threaded rendering, has no urgent replacement path — it is the stronger half of this build and worth keeping.

Rate My PC: Intel Core i9-12900E + Intel Arc A310

Power Build

System Balance Analysis

Intel Core i9-12900E

Intel Arc A310

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

CPU Analysis

Balance and Bottleneck

Usage Scenarios

Who Should Build It

FAQ

Gaming Performance

Benchmark Performance

Build Overview

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

Related Processors

Related Graphics Cards

Compare Your CPU

Compare Your GPU

Related PC Builds

Same CPU with Different GPUs

Same GPU with Different CPUs

Other Popular Builds