Overpower

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Overpower, placing the system in the 92nd percentile for both CPU and GPU performance. The measured data shows this pairing is capable of triple-digit frame rates even at extreme resolutions, with a clear trend where lower settings unlock significantly higher FPS across all tested resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions that shifts toward a more balanced workload as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 306 FPS at 1920x1080 to 273 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 33 FPS, and then to 232 FPS at 3840x2160, another 41 FPS drop. This 24.2% total reduction from 1080p to 4K shows the RTX 5090's massive bandwidth headroom, as even the 4K Low result remains far above what most displays can refresh.

At High settings, the scaling pattern changes. The 1080p result of 178 FPS drops to 158 FPS at 1440p, then to 135 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 24.2%, nearly identical to Low settings, suggesting the rendering workload scales consistently with pixel count once the GPU is fully engaged. However, the absolute FPS values at High are substantially lower than Low, indicating that the additional graphical effects at High settings consume GPU resources that could otherwise be used for raw frame generation.

The Medium settings row provides the only complete min/max data in the measured set, offering insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 191 FPS with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 220 FPS, creating a spread of 57 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 171 FPS with a min of 145 and max of 196, a 51 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the average is 145 FPS with a min of 123 and max of 167, a 44 FPS spread. The narrowing min-max range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes the consistent bottleneck, reducing the variance caused by CPU-driven frame spikes.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across all resolutions, as expected. The 147 FPS at 1080p Ultra drops to 131 FPS at 1440p, then to 112 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 1080p-to-4K reduction of 35 FPS represents a 23.8% decrease, consistent with the other settings tiers. This uniformity across settings strongly suggests the RTX 5090's rendering pipeline is the primary limiter at 4K, while at 1080p the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient to feed the GPU without becoming a constraint.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its 3DMark scores show strong scaling from 2,519 points in the 2-thread test to 13,929 points in the max-thread test, indicating the chip maintains efficiency as workload increases. The single-thread score of 1,286 points and 8-thread score of 9,114 points demonstrate that even lightly threaded game logic benefits from the high boost clocks.

In Overpower, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low settings, where the 306 FPS average exceeds what most GPUs could sustain without CPU assistance. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32,172 points and single-core score of 2,253 points place this processor in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD EPYC 9015 at a -0.1% delta and Intel Core i9-14900 at -1.1%. These margins are negligible, confirming that the 9900X is not a performance outlier but rather a solidly high-end part that pairs well with the RTX 5090.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU can still influence results when settings drop to Low. The jump from 178 FPS at High to 306 FPS at Low represents a 71.9% increase, which is larger than the corresponding jump at 4K (135 FPS to 232 FPS, a 71.9% increase as well). Interestingly, the percentage improvement from High to Low is identical at both resolutions, suggesting the CPU and GPU scale in tandem rather than one component dominating the other.

The Geekbench multicore score of 22,174 points and single-core score of 3,010 points provide additional context for the CPU's capability. PassMark results show strong integer math performance at 181,056 points and floating-point math at 120,083 points, both of which contribute to game physics and AI calculations. The 64 MB of L3 cache, split across the dual-chiplet design with 1 MB L2 per core, ensures that frequently accessed game data stays close to the processing cores.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The highest average FPS in the measured data is 306 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rival in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842, which is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, while trailing the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4%.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 9900X bottleneck the RTX 5090 at any resolution?

A: At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 112 FPS while 1080p Ultra achieves 147 FPS, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions; at 1080p Low, the 306 FPS result shows the CPU can still drive very high frame rates, but the identical High-to-Low percentage improvement at all resolutions suggests balanced scaling.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 145 FPS, with a maximum of 196 FPS and an average of 171 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: The 1080p Low average of 306 FPS is 194 FPS higher than the 4K Ultra average of 112 FPS, representing a 173.2% increase.

*Q: Where does this CPU+GPU combo rank among all tested configurations in Overpower?*

A: The combination ranks 41st out of 3,713 tested combos, placing it in the top 1.1% of all systems measured for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5090 delivers its highest raw performance. Low settings produce an average of 306 FPS, while High settings yield 178 FPS. Medium settings sit between these at 191 FPS with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 220 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 147 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 159 FPS, showing that settings have a profound impact on frame rates even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction from the increased pixel count. Low settings average 273 FPS, High settings average 158 FPS, and Medium settings average 171 FPS with a minimum of 145 FPS and maximum of 196 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p produce 131 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 142 FPS at this resolution, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the load of both higher resolution and more demanding settings.

At 3840x2160, the full 4K resolution, the RTX 5090 still maintains impressive performance. Low settings average 232 FPS, High settings average 135 FPS, and Medium settings average 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 167 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 112 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap at 4K is 120 FPS, further narrowing as the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

Across all resolutions, the Medium settings row is the only one with complete min/max data. The minimum FPS values of 163 at 1080p, 145 at 1440p, and 123 at 4K show that even the lowest frame rates remain well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The maximum values of 220, 196, and 167 FPS respectively demonstrate that the system can burst well above its averages when scenes are less demanding.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz drive 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores support the game's DirectX 12 Ultimate features, and the 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides substantial raw compute power.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 39,650 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 and Vulkan score of 376,728 show strong API versatility, while the PassMark GPU compute score of 26,756 confirms its compute capability. The nearest rivals in the database include the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at a 0.3% delta and the Radeon RX 6850M XT at 1.1%, all within a narrow performance band.

In Overpower, the GPU's role is defined by the settings scaling. At 1080p Low, the 306 FPS result is likely constrained by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls, but at 4K Ultra the 112 FPS result shows the GPU working near its limits. The 32 GB of VRAM ensures that even the highest texture quality settings at 4K will not exceed memory capacity, and the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provides ample headroom for high-resolution frame buffers.

The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are theoretical maxima, but the measured results show real-world performance that scales predictably with resolution. The 176 ROPs handle the final pixel output, and the 680 TMUs process texture lookups efficiently. The RTX 5090's dual-slot design with a 575 W TDP requires the suggested 950 W power supply, but the data shows no thermal throttling indicators in the FPS measurements.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 191 FPS average with a 163 FPS minimum provides a comfortable margin above high-refresh-rate displays, while at 4K Medium the 145 FPS average with a 123 FPS minimum remains well above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot where the game's visual effects are sufficiently detailed without imposing the performance penalty seen at High and Ultra.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low settings at 1080p deliver the highest measured average of 306 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play where response time matters more than visual fidelity. The 232 FPS result at 4K Low is also noteworthy, as it shows the RTX 5090 can drive 4K at frame rates typically associated with 1080p gaming on lesser hardware.

Ultra settings, while producing the lowest frame rates, still maintain playable performance. The 147 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 112 FPS at 4K Ultra exceed the requirements for most high-refresh-rate monitors, though the 112 FPS at 4K Ultra leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The data indicates that players with 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays can comfortably use High settings at 1440p, where the 158 FPS average exceeds the refresh rate, while 4K players should consider Medium settings to stay above 144 FPS.

The High settings tier presents a middle ground that may be optimal for 1440p displays, where the 158 FPS average is only slightly below the 171 FPS Medium result. The 4K High result of 135 FPS is also respectable, but the Medium preset's 145 FPS provides a better buffer against frame drops, especially considering the 123 FPS minimum recorded at 4K Medium. Ultimately, the choice between Medium and High depends on whether visual fidelity or frame rate stability takes priority, with Medium offering the safer experience based on the measured data.