Pairing your components requires some thought to work well
Updated: February 13, 2023 1:22 p.m
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ASUS GeForce RTX 3060TI ROG Strix Gaming OC
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ASUS ROG STRIX RX 6600 XT GAMING OC
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ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 OC Edition
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ASUS TUF GAMING Radeon RX 6800 XT OC 16GB
The i7-12700K is an Alder Lake CPU in the LGA 1700 socket. As the chip size increases, so does the socket size. For this we look at which GPU bottlenecks Intel i7-12700K has.
As a mid-range CPU option, you’ll want to pair it well with a GPU of a similar range. Asa both will complement each other and bring out the best in each other.
The 12700k has 12 cores with 20 threads. And these run at a frequency of 3.6 GHz and can boost up to 5 GHz. All this runs at a TDP of 125W.
What GPU bottlenecks Intel i7-12700K?
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING

Disadvantages
Design can be a little simple for some
XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 XT

Bottlenecks now arise when the performance of the components does not match. This means that one slower part will keep the other from reaching its full potential.
So for the i7-12700K, a low-end GPU is enough to keep it from performing. So the RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6600 XT will be too weak to match the performance of the i7 processor.
Since they’re both on the budget end, they can’t match what the mid-range CPU can do. While these are very capable cards, they are better paired with a matching lower-end CPU, which complements each other better.
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra Gaming

XFX RX 6800 XT 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Card

Advantages
Hardware ray tracing (72 cores)
Solid frame rate performance in high resolutions
Integrated AMD Fidelity FX
AMD Freesync reduces the likelihood of screen tearing
Great XFX chassis and triple fan cooling system
Disadvantages
Not quite as fast as our top picks
For the best GPU for the 12700K, RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT are your best choices. What is also from an earlier generation better matches the performance of the CPU.
Now the bottleneck also works in the other direction. And you can find that the CPU is too weak for the GPU as well. This is when the CPU can’t keep up with the graphics, which is less likely in most situations.
This will be the case when choosing the best GPUs for the 12700K. This will be something like the RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX.
The top-end GPUs are better suited to a top-end CPU. Since price and performance will cut off better.
Asus ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC

Advantages
Excellent air cooling solution
Elevates performance above the rest of the range
Updated design cooling and aesthetically focused
Disadvantages
A more expensive choice over the other picks and will cost a lot

ASUS TUF Radeon RX 7900 XTX OC

Advantages
Great cooling solution that improves thermals and fan curves over the reference
Improved energy management from an experienced brand
Highly crafted and overclocked for best-in-class performance
Disadvantages
A slightly more expensive option for its better performance and quality
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