Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a performance profile in Minimum that is heavily dictated by resolution and graphics settings. The data reveals a system capable of extreme high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, but one that transitions into a more balanced, GPU-limited experience as pixel count increases. The measured frame rates show a clear and consistent scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is significant, but the pattern of loss is not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p to 4K results in a 65% reduction in average frame rate, from 325 FPS down to 113 FPS. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is being progressively saturated as resolution increases, even at the lowest graphical fidelity.

The scaling becomes more gradual at higher settings. With High settings, the drop from 1080p (209 FPS) to 1440p (135 FPS) is a 35% performance loss, while moving from 1440p to 4K (72 FPS) represents another 47% reduction. This suggests that at High settings, the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, but the GPU workload becomes dominant as resolution scales. The Ultra setting shows a similar relative trend, with 159 FPS at 1080p dropping to 103 FPS at 1440p and then down to 55 FPS at 4K.

The Medium setting provides the only complete data set with minimum and maximum frame rates. At 1080p Medium, the average is 249 FPS with a minimum of 211 FPS, indicating excellent frame pacing. At 1440p Medium, the average is 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS. The 4K Medium result shows an average of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 FPS and a maximum of 99 FPS. The fact that the minimum frame rate at 4K Medium (73 FPS) is still above the average at 4K Ultra (55 FPS) suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy load that can cause occasional dips.

The limiting component shifts clearly with resolution. At 1080p, the extreme frame rates—325 FPS on Low and 249 FPS on Medium—indicate that the CPU is the primary limiter, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly. By 4K, the frame rates compress into a narrower band across settings (55 FPS on Ultra to 113 FPS on Low), which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings widens from a 2.04x difference at 1080p to a 2.05x difference at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant factor in 4K performance. Its 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for high-resolution textures. The GPU’s boost clock of 2498 MHz and game clock of 2365 MHz are the speeds that determine the raw rendering throughput. The data shows that the GPU’s 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is sufficient to push 4K High to 72 FPS, but the Ultra preset, which likely increases shading and texture complexity, overwhelms it, resulting in 55 FPS.

The GPU’s memory configuration is a critical asset. The 24 GB capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor in Minimum, a game from 2014, even at 4K with Ultra settings. The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the GPU’s 6144 shading units and 192 ROPs are fed with data efficiently. The pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s further indicate that the card can handle high fill-rate demands.

However, the GPU’s benchmark percentile tells a more nuanced story. The RX 7900 XTX sits in the 64th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, which has an average score 0.4% higher, and the NVIDIA TITAN Xp, which is 1.2% lower. This is a surprisingly low ranking for a card with this specification sheet, but it reflects the database’s broad mix of workloads. In Minimum, the measured FPS data shows the GPU performing as expected for a high-end part, but the benchmark percentile suggests that its strengths are not universal.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12_2 feature level are relevant for modern rendering paths, but Minimum’s age means it likely relies on older APIs. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 support provide compatibility, but the game’s performance is more dependent on raw shader and ROP throughput than on API-specific features. The card’s 96 RT cores are present, but the game does not use ray tracing, so they have no impact on these results.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz are the key frequencies for gaming performance. The CPU’s benchmark results are exceptional: it scores 51731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7303 in single-core, placing it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs.

In Minimum, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 200 FPS. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 325 FPS, which is a CPU-limited scenario where the processor’s single-thread performance becomes the determining factor. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 indicates that the CPU has the per-thread strength to handle the game’s draw calls and physics calculations at very high frame rates. The 24 threads are more than sufficient for a game from 2014, which likely utilizes only a fraction of the available cores.

As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the CPU’s workload remains constant, but the GPU’s frame time increases, making the CPU’s advantage less visible. At 1440p High, the system still achieves 135 FPS, which is likely still above the point where the CPU would become a bottleneck. At 4K, the frame rates drop to a range where the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor; the GPU’s rendering time dominates the total frame time.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5 is adequate for feeding the GPU, but it is significantly lower than the GPU’s own 960.0 GB/s. This mismatch is not a problem in practice, as the GPU has its own dedicated memory. The CPU’s 36 MB of L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which benefits game performance.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database are all server or workstation parts, which confirms its multi-threaded capability. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is only 0.2% faster in average benchmark score, while the AMD EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% faster. This places the 290K Plus in a performance tier that is effectively tied with the previous flagship, but the gaming results in Minimum show that its high boost clock is more relevant than its core count.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 55 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 7303, while the multi-core score is 51731, indicating a 7.1x scaling advantage for multi-threaded workloads.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 325 FPS, which indicates the CPU is the primary limiter, as the GPU is capable of rendering frames faster than the CPU can issue draw calls.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between 1440p High and 4K High?

A: The average frame rate drops from 135 FPS at 2560x1440 to 72 FPS at 3840x2160, a 47% reduction.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The GPU is in the 64th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19410.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: The minimum frame rate is 73 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, with an average of 86 FPS and a maximum of 99 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 368th out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum. This places it in the top 12.5% of all combos, which is a strong showing. However, given the individual components’ high benchmark percentiles—the CPU at 96th and the GPU at 64th—the combo rank suggests that the GPU’s lower relative standing drags down the overall result.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the database are all within 1.3% of its average score, meaning the processor choice has minimal impact on the combo ranking. The GPU’s rivals, however, include parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, which achieves a nearly identical average benchmark score. This is a bizarre pairing of performance tiers, but it highlights that the RX 7900 XTX’s strengths in Minimum are not fully captured by its aggregate benchmark score.

The rank of 368 out of 2939 is respectable, but it is not a top-tier result. The data indicates that this combo excels at high refresh rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it is not optimized for the absolute highest 4K frame rates. The combination is balanced in the sense that neither component is a severe bottleneck at 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU’s limits are clearly the constraining factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact measured average frame rates for each resolution and settings combination. The Medium setting includes minimum and maximum values, while other settings only provide the average.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 325 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 249 | 211 | 286 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 209 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 159 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 209 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 160 | 136 | 184 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 135 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 103 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 113 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 86 | 73 | 99 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 72 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 55 | — | — |

At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-bound, as evidenced by the 325 FPS result on Low. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 51% decrease in frame rate, from 325 to 159 FPS. The 1440p results show a similar pattern, with the Low preset achieving 209 FPS and the Ultra preset reaching 103 FPS, a 51% reduction. The 4K results compress the range, with Low at 113 FPS and Ultra at 55 FPS, a 51% reduction as well.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data, and it shows consistent frame pacing across all resolutions. The gap between average and minimum FPS is 38 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K. This tightening of the min-to-avg gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU’s consistent frame times smooth out the variance that the CPU introduces at lower resolutions. The maximum FPS at 4K Medium (99) is close to the average at 1080p Ultra (159), highlighting the dramatic performance cliff that resolution scaling creates.