Overpower

# Overpower with AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + Intel Arc B390

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a striking performance profile in Overpower, one that reveals a massive imbalance between the two components. The measured FPS data shows this combination ranking 2638th out of 2980 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all systems tested for this game. The Arc B390, with its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482, sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 9700X posts an average benchmark score of 37943, placing it at the 86th percentile among CPUs. This 77-percentile gap between the two components is the central story of this benchmark analysis.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K in Overpower is steep and reveals that the Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 72 at 1920x1080 to 64 at 2560x1440, a decline of 11.1%, and then to 54 at 3840x2160, representing a 25% reduction from the 1080p baseline. The scaling pattern is remarkably consistent: at Medium settings, the averages are 45, 40, and 34 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively, showing a 11.1% drop from 1080p to 1440p and then a 15% drop from 1440p to 4K. At High settings, the numbers are 42, 37, and 32 FPS, with a 11.9% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 13.5% reduction from 1440p to 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling issues, starting at 35 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 31 at 1440p (an 11.4% decline), and falling to 26 at 4K (a 25.7% decline from 1080p). What makes this data particularly revealing is that the FPS at 4K Ultra (26) is barely more than one-third of the FPS at 1080p Low (72). This 46-FPS gap between the most demanding and least demanding configurations demonstrates that the Arc B390's rendering pipeline becomes saturated very quickly as pixel count increases. The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for 4K rendering in Overpower, particularly when the game's visual complexity increases with higher presets.

The fact that the delta between 1440p and 4K is consistently smaller than the delta between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (10 FPS versus 8 FPS) but larger at Ultra settings (4 FPS versus 5 FPS) suggests that the B390's memory bandwidth — listed as "System Dependent" since it uses shared system memory — becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU has no dedicated VRAM, instead relying on system memory that is shared with the CPU, which explains why the performance degradation accelerates as the rendering load increases.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 9700X brings substantial processing power to this combination, with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process. Its boost clock reaches 5.50 GHz with a base clock of 3.80 GHz, and the CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache provides ample capacity for game data. The benchmark scores confirm this is a high-end processor: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 20485, single-core reaches 2211, and Geekbench scores are 17906 multicore and 3023 single-core. The 3DMark tests show strong scaling from 2 threads (2525) to 16 threads (9824), with 8 threads achieving 8184, indicating that the CPU maintains efficiency as thread count increases.

In Overpower, however, the CPU's capabilities are largely untapped because the GPU becomes the limiting factor at every resolution and settings combination. The data shows that even at 1080p Low — the configuration where the CPU would have the most headroom to influence FPS — the system only reaches 72 FPS, which is far below what a 9700X could drive if paired with a more capable GPU. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 37161 and single-thread score of 4654 indicate that the processor is not the constraint in this system. The 9700X's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the Intel Core i9-14901E (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (deltaPct 0.1), Intel Core 5 211E (deltaPct 0.3), and AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 (deltaPct 0.4), all of which are essentially tied with the 9700X in average benchmark scores.

The fact that the FPS numbers barely change between settings at the same resolution — 42, 45, and 35 FPS at 1080p for High, Medium, and Ultra respectively — while the resolution changes have a more pronounced effect, further confirms that the GPU's fill rate and memory subsystem are the bottlenecks. A CPU-bound scenario would show more variation across settings relative to resolution, but the data shows the opposite pattern. The 9700X's 65W TDP and efficient 4 nm process mean that thermal throttling is unlikely to be an issue, allowing the CPU to maintain its boost clock of 5.50 GHz during gaming sessions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing Overpower on this hardware combination. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 72 FPS, which is the highest average FPS achieved across any configuration tested. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 and maximum of 52, while High delivers 42 FPS and Ultra drops to 35 FPS. Given that the game is an action title, the jump from 45 to 72 FPS when going from Medium to Low represents a 60% improvement in frame rate, which could be meaningful for gameplay responsiveness.

For 1440p, the Low preset achieves 64 FPS, while Medium drops to 40 FPS (minimum 34, maximum 46) and High falls to 37 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p manages only 31 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth action gameplay. At 4K, the Low preset delivers 54 FPS, but Medium drops to 34 FPS (minimum 29, maximum 39), High falls to 32 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26 FPS. The data suggests that 4K gaming on this combination is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 54 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

The most balanced experience appears to be 1080p Medium, which provides 45 FPS average with a minimum of 38 FPS. This configuration offers a reasonable compromise between visual quality and performance, keeping the frame rate above 30 FPS even in the worst measured moments. For players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, 1080p Low at 72 FPS is the clear choice. The Ultra preset at any resolution is difficult to recommend, as the 4K Ultra configuration at 26 FPS and even the 1080p Ultra at 35 FPS suggest that this GPU cannot handle the maximum visual settings in Overpower without significant performance compromises.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2638 out of 2980 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations tested for Overpower. This ranking is heavily influenced by the Intel Arc B390's position in the GPU hierarchy, as the GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs is the dominant factor. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it alongside the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (deltaPct 1.3), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (deltaPct 1.5), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (deltaPct 2.5), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (deltaPct 2.7) in the benchmark database's nearest rivals list.

The stark contrast between the CPU's 86th percentile ranking and the GPU's 9th percentile ranking creates a system that is profoundly unbalanced for gaming. While the Ryzen 7 9700X is capable of driving much higher frame rates in Overpower, the Arc B390's limited rendering capabilities cap the system's performance at levels that are more typical of entry-level GPUs from over a decade ago. The deltaPct values between the B390 and its nearest rivals are remarkably small (1.3% to 2.7%), indicating that the GPU is clustered with very low-performance parts.

The combo's rank of 2638 out of 2980 suggests that there are 342 tested combinations that perform worse than this system in Overpower, but the vast majority of tested systems deliver better performance. This ranking is particularly notable given the CPU's strength, as most systems ranked near this position likely have both a weak CPU and GPU, whereas this system's weakness is almost entirely attributable to the GPU. The data implies that if this same CPU were paired with a mid-range GPU, the combo's ranking would improve dramatically, potentially moving from the bottom 11.5% to the top 50% or higher.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Overpower with this hardware combination?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset achieving 72 FPS average. At 2560x1440, the best result is 64 FPS at Low settings, while 3840x2160 tops out at 54 FPS at Low settings. For consistent performance above 60 FPS, 1080p Low is the only configuration that achieves this target.

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

A: The B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482 places it just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). These deltaPct values indicate that the B390 is grouped with very low-performance GPUs.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 9700X bottleneck the system in Overpower?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores — including Cinebench R23 multicore of 20485 and Geekbench single-core of 3023 — indicate it has substantial processing power. The FPS patterns across resolutions and settings show that the GPU is the limiting component, as frame rates drop more with resolution increases than with settings changes.

Q: What is the highest FPS achieved in any measured configuration?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 72, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The next highest is 64 FPS at 2560x1440 Low, followed by 54 FPS at 3840x2160 Low. No configuration in the measured data exceeds 72 FPS average.

Q: How much FPS is lost when going from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop from 72 FPS to 54 FPS represents a 25% reduction. At Medium settings, the drop from 45 FPS to 34 FPS is a 24.4% reduction. At High settings, the drop from 42 FPS to 32 FPS is a 23.8% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop from 35 FPS to 26 FPS is a 25.7% reduction.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution?

A: The Ultra preset achieves 35 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. While these frame rates are technically above 24 FPS (the traditional minimum for playable), they are below the 30 FPS threshold commonly considered acceptable for action games, suggesting that Ultra settings are not recommended on this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combination shows consistent patterns across all nine resolution and settings pairs. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 72 FPS average, Medium achieves 45 FPS (minimum 38, maximum 52), High achieves 42 FPS, and Ultra achieves 35 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low achieves 64 FPS, Medium achieves 40 FPS (minimum 34, maximum 46), High achieves 37 FPS, and Ultra achieves 31 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low achieves 54 FPS, Medium achieves 34 FPS (minimum 29, maximum 39), High achieves 32 FPS, and Ultra achieves 26 FPS.

The Medium preset is the only settings level where minimum and maximum FPS values were recorded across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the range spans from 38 to 52 FPS, a 14 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 34 to 46 FPS, a 12 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range tightens further to 29 to 39 FPS, a 10 FPS spread. This pattern indicates that as resolution increases, the frame time variance decreases, likely because the GPU becomes consistently saturated at higher pixel counts, reducing the opportunity for frame rate spikes.

The incremental FPS cost of each settings tier is consistent across resolutions. Moving from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 27 FPS, while moving from Medium to High costs only 3 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 7 FPS. At 1440p, the Low to Medium transition costs 24 FPS, Medium to High costs 3 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 6 FPS. At 4K, Low to Medium costs 20 FPS, Medium to High costs 2 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 6 FPS. This pattern reveals that the Low to Medium transition is by far the most expensive in terms of performance, while the Medium to High transition is relatively inexpensive.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the defining component in this system's Overpower performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU uses the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture on Intel's 3 nm process, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 raster output pipelines, and 12 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 of 15.36 TFLOPS.

The most critical specification for understanding Overpower's performance is the memory configuration. The B390 uses "System Shared" memory with "System Dependent" bandwidth, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM. This shared memory architecture explains why the GPU's performance degrades so significantly at higher resolutions, as the memory bandwidth available to the GPU is determined by the system's memory configuration rather than dedicated VRAM. The GPU's 80W TDP and IGP form factor (slot width "IGP", power connectors "None") confirm that this is an integrated graphics solution rather than a discrete card.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 and 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs place it in the lowest tier of graphics hardware. The nearest rival data shows the B390 is only 1.3% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, a GPU from the early 2010s, and just 2.7% faster than the GeForce GT 710. This context is essential for interpreting the Overpower results: the game's engines and rendering techniques are clearly designed for more capable hardware, and the B390's limitations in fill rate, texture processing, and memory bandwidth manifest as the low FPS figures measured across all configurations.

The GPU's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 indicates that it has modern API support, but the raw compute and memory resources are insufficient to leverage these APIs effectively in a demanding action game like Overpower. The 12 ray tracing cores are present but likely contribute little to actual performance in this title, as the FPS data shows the GPU struggling even without accounting for ray tracing workloads. The data suggests that this GPU is positioned for basic display output and light workloads rather than gaming, and the Overpower results reflect that positioning clearly.