Overpower

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers a narrow performance envelope in Overpower, with measured results that place the combo near the bottom of the database. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the configuration produces playable frame rates only at the lowest settings, while higher presets dip into uncomfortable territory. The data indicates that the Low preset is the only viable option for a consistent experience, though even this requires a compromise on resolution to maintain smooth motion.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show a clear hierarchy: Low settings consistently provide the highest average frame rates at every resolution, with a significant gap over the next preset. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 72 FPS, which is the only result in the entire dataset that clears the 60 FPS threshold. This represents a 60% improvement over the Medium preset at the same resolution, which manages only 45 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is substantial, indicating that the preset scaling has a steep cost curve in this title.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset drops to 64 FPS, still above the 60 FPS mark but with less headroom. The Medium preset at this resolution falls to 40 FPS, a 37.5% reduction from Low. The High preset at 1440p yields 37 FPS, and Ultra drops to 31 FPS. The pattern repeats at 3840x2160, where Low produces 54 FPS, Medium 34 FPS, High 32 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium at 4K is 20 FPS, or 58.8%, which is the largest percentage gap between adjacent presets in the dataset.

Given these numbers, the recommended preset is Low across all resolutions. The Medium preset offers marginal visual improvements but at a cost of roughly 40-60% of the frame rate, which is not justifiable when the baseline performance is already limited. For users prioritizing a stable frame rate, Low at 1080p is the only configuration that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset, which averages 35 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K, should be avoided entirely as it consistently lands below 36 FPS, which is generally considered the minimum for playable action games.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this configuration, and the data reflects its modest compute capabilities. The GPU’s benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, a 1.3% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, a 1.5% delta). This places the B390 in the company of entry-level mobile parts from over a decade ago, which explains the consistently low frame rates across all settings.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with the bus width and bandwidth labeled as "System Shared" and "System Dependent" respectively. This means the GPU relies on the CPU’s DDR4 memory subsystem, which for the Ryzen 5 5500 is dual-channel with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The shared memory architecture likely contributes to the performance cliff between Low and Medium settings, as higher presets increase memory pressure and compete with the CPU for bandwidth.

The GPU’s pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute at 7.680 TFLOPS. Despite these specifications, the measured results show that the GPU cannot sustain high frame rates even at 1080p. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482, combined with the 9th percentile ranking, indicates that this is a low-power integrated part (80 W TDP, IGP slot width) that is not designed for demanding 3D workloads. The data suggests that the GPU’s shared memory and limited ROP count are the limiting factors in Overpower, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to push higher frame rates if the GPU could keep up.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Overpower, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2638 out of 2980 tested combos. This places the configuration in the bottom 11.5% of all results, confirming that this is a low-performance pairing for this specific title. The rank reflects the GPU’s weak standing relative to other graphics cards, as the CPU’s own percentile (73rd among all CPUs) is comparatively strong.

The combo rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU’s 9th percentile performance. The nearest GPU rivals — the GT 520MX, 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710 — all score within 2.7% of the B390 in 3DMark, indicating that this GPU is clustered with parts that are not intended for modern gaming. The result is that the combo sits near the bottom of the ranking, with only 342 combinations performing worse in Overpower. This suggests that users with this hardware should expect frame rates that are among the lowest tested, with no settings combination reaching the 60 FPS target at 1440p or above.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured averages are as follows: Low 72 FPS, Medium 45 FPS (with a minimum of 38 and maximum of 52), High 42 FPS, and Ultra 35 FPS. The Medium preset’s min-max range of 38-52 FPS shows some variance, but the average of 45 FPS is still 37.5% below the Low preset. The gap between Medium and High is small (3 FPS), while the drop from High to Ultra is 7 FPS, or 16.7%. The Low preset’s 72 FPS is the only result above 60 FPS in the entire dataset.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 64 FPS, Medium 40 FPS (34-46 min-max), High 37 FPS, and Ultra 31 FPS. The Low preset remains above 60 FPS, but with only a 4 FPS margin. The Medium preset’s min-max range of 34-46 FPS indicates frame pacing that could be problematic during action sequences. The drop from Low to Medium is 24 FPS, or 37.5%, which is the same percentage drop as at 1080p. High and Ultra are within 6 FPS of each other, both below 40 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 54 FPS, Medium 34 FPS (29-39 min-max), High 32 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. The Low preset falls below 60 FPS for the first time, and the Medium preset’s minimum of 29 FPS suggests significant frame drops below the average. The drop from Low to Medium is 20 FPS, or 37%, while the drop from High to Ultra is 6 FPS. None of the 4K results are playable for a smooth experience, with even the best (Low) averaging 54 FPS with likely dips below 50 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Low is always the best, Medium is roughly 37-38% slower, High is 2-8% slower than Medium, and Ultra is 11-19% slower than High. The Medium preset’s min-max values (where available) show a range of 10-14 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s frame delivery is not stable even at moderate settings.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reveals how the GPU scales with pixel count. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 72 at 1080p to 64 at 1440p (an 11.1% decrease) and then to 54 at 4K (a 15.6% decrease from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 18 FPS, or 25%. At Medium settings, the drop is from 45 to 40 (11.1%) to 34 (15% from 1440p), for a total of 11 FPS (24.4%). At High, the drop is from 42 to 37 (11.9%) to 32 (13.5%), totaling 10 FPS (23.8%). At Ultra, the drop is from 35 to 31 (11.4%) to 26 (16.1%), totaling 9 FPS (25.7%).

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is nearly identical across all presets, hovering around 24-26%. This uniform scaling suggests that the GPU is not bandwidth-limited at higher resolutions, but rather compute-limited. If memory bandwidth were the constraint, the higher resolutions would show a steeper drop-off relative to 1080p. Instead, the consistent ~25% reduction indicates that the GPU’s shading and rasterization throughput is the primary limiter. The fact that the drop from 1440p to 4K is slightly larger than from 1080p to 1440p (around 15% vs 11%) is consistent with the 2.25x pixel increase from 1440p to 4K versus a 1.78x increase from 1080p to 1440p.

The scaling behavior points to the GPU being the limiting component at all resolutions. The CPU, with 6 cores and 12 threads at boost clocks up to 4.20 GHz, has ample headroom for Overpower, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale smoothly with pixel count rather than hitting a CPU-imposed ceiling. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across resolutions at a given setting, which is not the case. The data shows that the GPU is fully saturated, and the only way to improve performance is to reduce graphical load via the Low preset.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve in Overpower?*

A: The highest measured average is 72 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration in the dataset that exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% higher than the GT 710. These rivals all score between 1443 and 1463.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 5500 ranks in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. The uniform FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K across all presets confirms the GPU is compute-limited.

Q: What is the performance gap between Low and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 64 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 40 FPS. This represents a 24 FPS, or 37.5%, reduction in performance.

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: No. The best 4K result is 54 FPS at Low settings. The Medium, High, and Ultra presets at 4K average 34, 32, and 26 FPS respectively, all well below 60 FPS.

*Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Overpower?*

A: This pairing ranks 2638 out of 2980 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations. Only 342 combinations perform worse.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides the compute foundation for this pairing, with 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename). The CPU operates at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with a dual-channel bus, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU’s benchmark results show a single-thread score of 836 in 3DMark and a max-thread score of 5411, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429 and single-core of 2319.

In the context of Overpower, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that the Ryzen 5 5500 is a capable mid-range processor, comfortably outperforming its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark scores. The nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (scoring 19617, a -0.1% delta), Intel Core i5-12500 (19668, -0.4%), Intel Core i7-10700F (19499, 0.5%), and Intel Core i5-11600KF (19723, -0.7%). These deltas are all within 1%, showing that the Ryzen 5 5500 is competitive with a range of modern and previous-generation parts.

However, the CPU’s performance is largely irrelevant in this pairing because the GPU cannot keep up. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU limitation — if the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions, which they do not. The CPU’s 12 threads and 4.20 GHz boost clock provide more than enough processing power for Overpower’s action gameplay, but the Intel Arc B390’s 9th percentile GPU performance caps the entire system. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 for the GPU, compared to the CPU’s 16-thread score of 5386, illustrates the massive disparity between the two components. The CPU is not the limiting factor; it is the GPU that holds this combo back from achieving higher frame rates in Overpower.