Overpower

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process at TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, drawing a 120 W TDP. The processor features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 64 MB L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 over a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, and the CPU provides PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 9900X shows strong scaling from 2 threads to maximum threads. The 3DMark scores progress from 2519 at 2 threads to 4886 at 4 threads, 9114 at 8 threads, and peak at 13929 with all threads active. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU can leverage its multi-threading capabilities effectively, which matters for games that spawn numerous background tasks—though Overpower's measured results suggest the GPU becomes the limiting factor early.

The single-thread performance is respectable, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2253. These figures place the 9900X in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9015 (delta -0.1%), AMD EPYC 7313 (delta +0.2%), Intel Core i9-14900 (delta -1.1%), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (delta -1.4%). The 9900X effectively sits in a tight cluster with these processors, none of which are more than 1.4% away in average score.

For Overpower specifically, the CPU's role is to feed frames to the GPU. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 106 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. This suggests that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU is capable of driving the GTX 1070 to its limits. However, as resolution increases or settings are raised, the framerate drops in a pattern that points to GPU saturation rather than CPU bottlenecking. The 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for the game's threading model, but the data shows that the GTX 1070's performance ceiling is reached well before the CPU becomes a constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average framerate measured for this CPU-GPU combo in Overpower?

A: The highest average framerate is 106 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X compare to its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The closest rival is the AMD EPYC 9015 with an average score of 57555, which is 0.1% higher than the 9900X's 57498. The Intel Core i9-14900 is 1.1% higher at 58115.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Overpower?

A: The combo ranks 3070 out of 3713 total tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the ranking.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance translate into higher framerates at 4K?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average framerate drops to 39 FPS, which is the lowest measured. The 3DMark max-threads score of 13929 does not prevent the GPU from becoming the bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the framerate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 95 FPS average, while Ultra settings yield 46 FPS average—a difference of 49 FPS.

Q: Is there any data on minimum or maximum framerates for most settings?

A: Only the Medium settings rows include min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the range is 56-76 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 50-68 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 43-58 FPS.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

Examining the measured FPS across resolutions reveals a consistent pattern of decline as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the progression from 1080p to 1440p to 4K shows average framerates of 106, 95, and 80 FPS respectively. This represents a 10.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 15.8% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 26 FPS, or approximately 24.5%.

At High settings, the same resolution progression yields 62, 55, and 47 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 7 FPS (11.3%), and from 1440p to 4K is 8 FPS (14.5%). The total reduction is 15 FPS, about 24.2% of the 1080p value. Interestingly, the percentage drops are very similar between Low and High settings, suggesting a consistent scaling behavior.

Medium settings show 66 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. The drops are 7 FPS (10.6%) and 9 FPS (15.3%) respectively. Ultra settings produce 51, 46, and 39 FPS, with drops of 5 FPS (9.8%) and 7 FPS (15.2%). Across all settings, the relative decline from 1080p to 4K hovers around 24%, which is a moderate scaling curve.

This scaling pattern indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect framerates to remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not increase significantly with resolution. Instead, the steady decline with increasing pixel count demonstrates that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070's rendering throughput is the constraining factor. The GTX 1070, with its 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 performance, simply cannot maintain higher framerates as the pixel workload grows.

The fact that even at 1080p Low settings the combo only reaches 106 FPS—not a particularly high value for a modern CPU—further confirms that the GPU is limiting performance. A CPU-bound scenario would typically show framerates well above 150 FPS at low settings and resolution. The data therefore points to the GTX 1070 as the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 3070 out of 3713 tested combinations in Overpower. This places it in the bottom 17.3% of all configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's modest performance profile. The GTX 1070's percentile rank among all GPUs is 47, meaning it sits near the median of all graphics cards in the database. Its average benchmark score is 9780, with nearest rivals including the AMD FirePro W5000 (delta -0.2%), NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (delta -0.5%), NVIDIA Tesla M10 (delta +0.6%), and NVIDIA Tesla C2070 (delta +0.7%).

The CPU, by contrast, is a high-end part with a 92nd percentile ranking among all CPUs. This creates a significant imbalance in the pairing: a top-tier processor paired with a mid-range GPU. The combo's overall rank of 3070 reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. In fact, the CPU's performance headroom is largely wasted in this configuration, as the GPU cannot deliver framerates that would stress the 12-core processor.

Comparatively, the combo's rank suggests that many other tested configurations achieve better performance in Overpower. The gap between the CPU and GPU performance tiers is substantial: the 9900X's nearest rivals are server and high-end desktop processors, while the GTX 1070's nearest rivals include workstation and older data-center GPUs. This mismatch is the defining characteristic of the combo's ranking.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium settings preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 66 FPS average with a range of 56-76 FPS. This framerate is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay, and the minimum of 56 FPS indicates acceptable stability. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 59 FPS with a range of 50-68 FPS, which is borderline playable. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 50 FPS with a range of 43-58 FPS.

High settings provide slightly better visual quality but at the cost of framerate. At 1080p High, the average is 62 FPS, which is only 4 FPS lower than Medium. At 1440p High, the average is 55 FPS, and at 4K High, it is 47 FPS. The difference between Medium and High is small enough that High may be preferable for users who prioritize visuals over a few extra frames.

Low settings deliver the highest framerates—106 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 80 FPS at 4K—but sacrifice visual fidelity. Ultra settings provide the lowest framerates: 51 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The drop from High to Ultra is significant, particularly at 4K where the 39 FPS average is below the playability threshold for most users.

For the best experience, Medium at 1080p or 1440p is recommended. At 1080p, Medium offers a solid 66 FPS average, while at 1440p, the 59 FPS average is acceptable for most users. 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings, where 80 FPS is achievable, but this undermines the purpose of 4K resolution. Ultra settings should be avoided at all resolutions, as the framerate drops below 60 FPS even at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, with average framerates reported for all configurations. Minimum and maximum framerates are only available for Medium settings.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 106 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 66 FPS, with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. High settings produce an average of 62 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 51 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline of 55 FPS, representing a 51.9% reduction in framerate.

At 2560x1440, the results show: Low settings average 95 FPS. Medium settings average 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS. High settings average 55 FPS. Ultra settings average 46 FPS. The total drop from Low to Ultra is 49 FPS, or 51.6%.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low settings average 80 FPS. Medium settings average 50 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS. High settings average 47 FPS. Ultra settings average 39 FPS. The total drop from Low to Ultra is 41 FPS, or 51.3%.

The consistency of the percentage drop from Low to Ultra across all resolutions (approximately 51-52%) indicates that the settings presets scale uniformly regardless of resolution. The Medium settings' min/max data shows that at 1080p, the framerate range is 56-76 FPS, indicating a 20 FPS spread. At 1440p, the range is 50-68 FPS, an 18 FPS spread. At 4K, the range is 43-58 FPS, a 15 FPS spread. The narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated as pixel count increases, reducing framerate variance.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture (GP104 chip) using a 16 nm process at TSMC. It features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz, with memory running at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory is accessed over a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. The card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GTX 1070 achieves a PassMark G3D score of 13498 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 44700. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1082. The GPU's percentile rank among all GPUs is 47, with an average benchmark score of 9780. Nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro W5000 (delta -0.2%), NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (delta -0.5%), NVIDIA Tesla M10 (delta +0.6%), and NVIDIA Tesla C2070 (delta +0.7%). These rivals are predominantly workstation or data-center parts, indicating that the GTX 1070 occupies a mid-range desktop gaming position.

The GTX 1070's performance in Overpower is directly tied to its memory bandwidth and compute capabilities. The 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the GPU must move more texture and geometry data per frame. The 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 performance determines the pixel and vertex processing throughput, which explains the framerate declines observed across settings and resolutions.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not explicitly tested in the measured data, but the framerate behavior suggests that memory capacity is not the primary constraint—rather, it is the combination of bandwidth and compute throughput. The GPU's 47th percentile ranking among all GPUs aligns with its mid-range positioning, and the combo's 3070 rank out of 3713 reflects this GPU's limitations when paired with a high-end CPU. The GTX 1070's end-of-life production status and 2016 release date further contextualize its performance relative to modern hardware, though the data shows it remains capable of playable framerates at lower settings and resolutions.