Fivem

Fivem, the multiplayer modification platform for Grand Theft Auto V, remains a demanding and inconsistent benchmark target due to its heavy reliance on server-side scripts and player density. The pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT produces a fascinating dataset that reveals distinct bottlenecks depending on resolution and preset. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows to understand where this combo excels, where it struggles, and what the numbers say about the underlying hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS deltas across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveal a classic GPU-bound progression, but with some surprising nuances specific to Fivem’s engine. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 219 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 144 FPS, a 34.2% reduction. Pushing further to 4K Low yields 80 FPS, which is a 44.4% drop from 1440p. This steep decline from 1440p to 4K indicates that the RX 7700 XT’s 12 GB frame buffer and 192-bit memory bus are being saturated, even at the lowest preset. The data implies that at 1080p Low, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is feeding frames efficiently, but the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

The Medium preset tells a similar story but with less severe scaling. At 1080p Medium, the average is 173 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it falls to 114 FPS, a 34.1% drop. At 4K Medium, it reaches 63 FPS, a 44.7% drop from 1440p. This consistent ~34% and ~45% scaling pattern across Low and Medium suggests that the game’s rendering pipeline is scaling predictably with pixel count, and the GPU’s compute units are the primary constraint. The min/max FPS data for Medium (147-199 at 1080p, 97-131 at 1440p, 54-73 at 4K) shows that the variance remains proportionally similar, indicating a stable frame pacing, not a sudden CPU stall.

High and Ultra presets amplify the GPU bottleneck further. At 1080p High, the average is 138 FPS. Dropping to 1440p High yields 91 FPS, a 34.1% decrease. At 4K High, the average plummets to 51 FPS, a 44.0% drop from 1440p. Ultra settings are the most punishing, with 1080p Ultra at 107 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 71 FPS (a 33.6% drop), and 4K Ultra at just 39 FPS (a 45.1% drop from 1440p). The near-identical percentage drops across all four presets strongly indicate that resolution scaling is purely a function of pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth, not shader complexity. The limiting component here is unequivocally the RX 7700 XT, as the CPU’s performance headroom appears ample given the high 1080p numbers.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimal playability. For 4K users, the data suggests that High settings are borderline playable at 51 FPS, but Medium offers a more comfortable 63 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 12 FPS (19.0% decrease), while the jump from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS (21.3% decrease). The sweet spot for 4K appears to be Medium, as it maintains a 54 FPS floor, which is critical for a multiplayer environment where sudden frame drops can be detrimental. Ultra at 4K is effectively unplayable at 39 FPS.

At 1440p, the data recommends High as the best balance. The 91 FPS average is smooth, and the gap to Ultra (71 FPS) represents a 22.0% performance loss for marginal visual gains. Low at 1440p hits 144 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but the visual sacrifice is substantial. Medium at 114 FPS is a strong alternative, but High’s 91 FPS still clears the 60 FPS threshold with significant headroom. For 1080p, High at 138 FPS is the clear recommendation for most users, offering a smooth experience that leverages the monitor’s refresh rate. Low at 219 FPS is for esports-style play, but Ultra at 107 FPS remains perfectly playable, showing that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to handle max settings without dropping below 100 FPS.

The data implies that the best experience per the measured rows is 1440p High, as it delivers 91 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity, with Medium as a fallback for those prioritizing frame rate consistency (114 FPS). The 4K Medium preset is the only viable 4K option, while 1080p users have the luxury of choosing between High and Ultra without worrying about hitting a playability floor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the decisive factor in this combo’s Fivem performance. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which explains the sharp 4K performance cliff. The core clocks, with a base of 1435 MHz and a boost of 2544 MHz, are high, but the game’s 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS suggests that raw shader throughput (35.17 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for the highest pixel counts. The 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs are tasked heavily at 4K, and the 244.2 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the bottleneck.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile (67th vs all GPUs) and its Passmark G3D score of 22547 place it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, has a deltaPct of -1.5%, meaning the RX 7700 XT is slightly slower in general compute. However, in Fivem, the data shows that the GPU’s memory subsystem is more critical than raw compute, as evidenced by the 4K scaling. The 12 GB capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the combination of bandwidth and capacity likely triggers texture swapping, causing the pronounced FPS drops.

The GPU’s clock behavior is also relevant. The boost clock of 2544 MHz is high, but the game’s engine may not sustain it consistently under load, particularly in multiplayer scenarios with many NPCs and physics calculations. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (219) is close to the theoretical limit of the engine’s draw call submission, suggesting that the GPU is not the limiting factor at that resolution. Instead, the CPU is likely waiting on the game’s single-threaded server code. As resolution increases, the GPU’s fill rate takes over, and the data shows a linear degradation that is characteristic of a memory-bandwidth-bound workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset offers a granular view of performance across all twelve measured configurations.

At 3840x2160, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 80 FPS. Medium settings yield 63 FPS average, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS. High settings drop to 51 FPS average. Ultra settings produce a meager 39 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 51.3% performance loss (80 to 39 FPS), demonstrating the heavy cost of shader effects and draw distance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the numbers improve significantly. Low settings hit 144 FPS average. Medium settings reach 114 FPS, with a 97 FPS minimum and 131 FPS maximum. High settings achieve 91 FPS average. Ultra settings settle at 71 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 50.7% (144 to 71 FPS), slightly better than 4K, but still substantial.

At 1920x1080, the combo shows its strength. Low settings produce a blistering 219 FPS average. Medium settings hit 173 FPS, with a 147 FPS minimum and 199 FPS maximum. High settings deliver 138 FPS average. Ultra settings still maintain 107 FPS average. The Low to Ultra drop is 51.1% (219 to 107 FPS), which is consistent with the other resolutions, confirming that the percentage loss is resolution-independent and purely preset-driven.

The min and max FPS data for Medium settings across all resolutions shows a consistent spread: 147-199 at 1080p, 97-131 at 1440p, and 54-73 at 4K. This indicates that frame pacing is stable and that the game does not exhibit sudden spikes, which is critical for a multiplayer environment. The absence of min/max data for Low, High, and Ultra presets means we can only infer stability from the averages, but the Medium data suggests the engine is well-behaved.

How This Combo Ranks

This pairing holds a combo rank of 1081 out of 3005 tested combinations in Fivem. This places it in the 64th percentile of all combos, which is respectable given the GPU’s mid-range positioning. The CPU, however, is a top-tier part, ranking in the 96th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 84003. The GPU’s 67th percentile ranking drags the overall combo down, as the CPU’s potential is not fully realized in this game’s GPU-bound scenarios.

When comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is 0.2% ahead of the Core Ultra 9 285K, 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX, and 1.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9135. It is 1.3% behind the AMD EPYC 7F72. These deltas are minuscule, indicating that the CPU is not the differentiator in Fivem’s performance. The GPU’s nearest rivals show a slightly wider spread: the RX 7700 XT is 0.5% ahead of the RTX 5060 Mobile, 1.7% ahead of the RX 5700, but 0.8% behind the RTX 4060 Mobile and 1.5% behind the RTX 2080.

The rank of 1081 suggests that many combos with cheaper CPUs and more powerful GPUs outperform this setup in Fivem. The data implies that the 290K Plus is overkill for this game, as the bottleneck is clearly the GPU. A combo with a less powerful CPU and an RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX would likely rank much higher, as Fivem’s multiplayer code is not heavily multi-threaded. The 1080p Low result of 219 FPS reflects the CPU’s capability, but it is wasted in most configurations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread behemoth with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 demonstrate exceptional raw performance. In Fivem, however, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU. The 1080p Low result of 219 FPS is likely near the engine’s limit for draw call submission, which is typically single-threaded. The CPU’s 5.80 GHz boost clock helps here, but the game’s archaic engine cannot leverage the 24 cores.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU has ample headroom. At 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 107, indicating that the GPU is now the bottleneck. The transition point is somewhere between Low and Medium at 1080p, where the workload shifts from CPU-bound to GPU-bound. The 24 threads are largely idle, as Fivem’s server-side scripts run on a few cores at most. The L3 cache of 36 MB and the 3 MB per-core L2 cache are beneficial for the game’s asset streaming, but they do not offset the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions.

The CPU’s Passmark multithread score of 60860 and single-thread score of 4823 confirm its dominance, but in this game, the single-thread performance is what matters most. The 736 Cinebench R15 single-core score is excellent, yet the measured FPS at 4K (39-80) shows that the CPU is never the limiting factor above 1080p. The data suggests that this CPU is wasted in Fivem unless paired with a significantly stronger GPU, as the current RX 7700 XT cannot push the frame rate high enough to stress the CPU’s capabilities. The 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth of the CPU is also not a factor, as the game’s memory access patterns are not bandwidth-intensive.

FAQ

Q: Why does the FPS drop so dramatically from 1080p to 4K, even at Low settings?

A: The data shows a consistent ~45% drop from 1440p to 4K across all presets. This is due to the RX 7700 XT’s 12 GB frame buffer and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth being saturated at 4K, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p, overwhelming the GPU’s fill rate.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus a bottleneck in Fivem?

A: Only at 1080p Low, where the combo hits 219 FPS. At all other resolutions and presets, the GPU is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the linear FPS scaling with resolution. The CPU’s 24 cores and 5.80 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for the game’s single-threaded engine.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: High settings at 1440p, which yields 91 FPS average. This provides a smooth experience while maintaining visual quality. Medium is the fallback at 114 FPS, but High offers better fidelity without dropping below 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to other tested systems in Fivem?

A: It ranks 1081 out of 3005 combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier. The CPU is in the 96th percentile, but the GPU is in the 67th percentile, and the game’s GPU-bound nature at higher resolutions drags the overall rank down.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings in Fivem?

A: No, the data shows 39 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which is unplayable. Even 4K High (51 FPS) is borderline. The 4K Medium preset (63 FPS) is the only viable 4K option, as it maintains a 54 FPS minimum.

Q: Why is the GPU’s performance in Fivem different from its general benchmark scores?

A: The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 22547 places it near the RTX 2080, but Fivem’s engine is sensitive to memory bandwidth and ROP throughput. The 192-bit bus and 96 ROPs are the limiting factors at 4K, which is not always reflected in synthetic tests that focus on compute shaders.