Overpower

# Overpower with Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This combination pairs Intel's flagship 24-core Raptor Lake refresh processor with NVIDIA's top-tier Blackwell 2.0 GPU, delivering exceptional frame rates across all tested resolutions in Overpower. The benchmark data shows a system that remains highly playable even at 4K Ultra, though the scaling patterns reveal where each component takes the lead. With the CPU sitting in the 95th percentile among all processors and the GPU in the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards, this combo represents near-flagship hardware that should handle anything the game throws at it.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 311 FPS, which drops to 291 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 248 FPS at 4K Low. That represents a 20% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and another 15% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The relatively modest scaling penalties at Low settings suggest the CPU is doing heavy lifting at lower resolutions, keeping frame rates extremely high while the GPU has headroom to spare.

Moving to Medium settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The 1080p Medium average of 204 FPS drops to 182 FPS at 1440p (an 11% reduction), then to 155 FPS at 4K (a 15% reduction from 1440p). The minimum FPS readings tell a similar story: 174 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p, and 132 FPS at 4K. These minimums suggest that even at the heaviest moments, the system stays well above playable thresholds.

At High settings, the resolution scaling steepens. The combo delivers 189 FPS at 1080p, 169 FPS at 1440p, and 144 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 11% from 1080p to 1440p and 15% from 1440p to 4K. This pattern indicates the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as settings increase, though the i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads ensure the CPU never bottlenecks the pipeline.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. The 1080p Ultra average of 157 FPS falls to 140 FPS at 1440p (an 11% drop) and then to 119 FPS at 4K (a 15% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 119 FPS remains comfortably above 60 FPS, meaning this combo can drive maximum settings at 4K without compromising smoothness. The scaling pattern across all settings presets — roughly 10-15% penalties per resolution step — indicates a well-balanced system where the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus prevent any memory bandwidth bottlenecks from emerging at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 2,980 tested combinations in Overpower, this pairing ranks 6th overall. That places it in the top 0.2% of all tested combos, a position that reflects both the CPU's and GPU's high benchmark percentiles. The i9-14900K's average benchmark score of 79,097 puts it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 D's average score of 77,712 places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks show how close the top processors are. The Intel Core i9-14900KF scores 79,371, a mere 0.3% higher than the 14900K's average. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79,574, just 0.6% ahead. The AMD EPYC 7413 leads by 1.2% with a score of 80,041. However, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 trails by 1.7% with 77,740. These small deltas indicate that processor choice among top-tier options has minimal impact on overall system performance in Overpower.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals present a different picture. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904, which is 1.1% lower than the 5090 D's average. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, 1.6% higher. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396, 2.1% higher, and the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605, 2.4% higher. These comparisons are interesting because the Tesla cards are compute-focused rather than gaming-oriented, yet they still edge out the 5090 D in aggregate benchmark scores.

The 6th place ranking out of 2,980 combos means only five other CPU-GPU pairings produce higher frame rates in Overpower. This suggests that while individual component benchmarks show some rivals with higher synthetic scores, the real-world gaming performance of this specific pairing is exceptional.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, the data shows that Ultra settings are viable with a 119 FPS average, but the jump to High settings yields a 21% improvement to 144 FPS. Given that the difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 25 FPS, players with high-refresh-rate 4K displays might prefer High to stay closer to 144 Hz. Medium at 4K provides 155 FPS, which is 30% faster than Ultra and may be the sweet spot for competitive play where every frame matters.

At 1440p, the choices become more interesting. Ultra delivers 140 FPS, High bumps that to 169 FPS, and Medium reaches 182 FPS. For most 1440p displays capped at 144 Hz or 165 Hz, High settings offer the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, sitting just above the 144 Hz threshold. Competitive players could drop to Medium for 182 FPS or even Low for 291 FPS, though the visual trade-offs at Low are substantial.

For 1080p, all settings presets exceed 150 FPS, making this resolution almost trivial for the hardware. Ultra runs at 157 FPS, High at 189 FPS, Medium at 204 FPS, and Low at 311 FPS. Players with 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitors could push toward Low or Medium to maximize refresh rate utilization. However, the visual fidelity loss at Low is significant, and Medium at 204 FPS is likely the best compromise for high-refresh 1080p displays.

The measured minimum FPS values for Medium settings — 174 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p, and 132 FPS at 4K — indicate that even the worst-case frame times remain smooth. For the most consistent experience, Medium settings provide the largest margin above display refresh rates across all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 311 FPS average
• Medium: 204 FPS average, 174 FPS minimum, 235 FPS maximum
• High: 189 FPS average
• Ultra: 157 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 291 FPS average
• Medium: 182 FPS average, 155 FPS minimum, 209 FPS maximum
• High: 169 FPS average
• Ultra: 140 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 248 FPS average
• Medium: 155 FPS average, 132 FPS minimum, 178 FPS maximum
• High: 144 FPS average
• Ultra: 119 FPS average

The frame rate deltas between settings presets are consistent across resolutions. Moving from Low to Medium costs roughly 20-35% of performance depending on resolution. The jump from Medium to High is smaller, ranging from 7-8% across all resolutions. The High to Ultra transition costs another 16-17%, making Ultra the most expensive setting tier in relative terms. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial: 154 FPS at 1080p, 151 FPS at 1440p, and 129 FPS at 4K. This represents a 50% or greater performance difference between the lowest and highest quality presets.

The Medium preset's minimum FPS values provide useful data for frame pacing analysis. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 132 FPS is only 15% below the average of 155 FPS, indicating consistent frame delivery. The 1440p Medium minimum of 155 FPS sits 15% below the 182 FPS average. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 174 FPS is 15% below the 204 FPS average. This consistent 15% gap between average and minimum suggests stable performance without major frame time spikes.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Overpower at 4K 120 FPS?

A: Yes. At 4K High settings, the average FPS is 144, which exceeds 120. Even at 4K Ultra, the average of 119 FPS is just barely below 120. For a locked 120 FPS experience, High settings at 4K provide a comfortable margin.

Q: How much performance does dropping from Ultra to High settings buy at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, High is 32 FPS faster than Ultra (189 vs 157, a 20% improvement). At 1440p, High is 29 FPS faster (169 vs 140, a 21% improvement). At 4K, High is 25 FPS faster (144 vs 119, a 21% improvement).

Q: What is the best settings preset for competitive play at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 1440p deliver 182 FPS average with a 155 FPS minimum, which provides a strong margin above 144 Hz displays. Low settings reach 291 FPS but sacrifice visual quality significantly. Medium offers the best balance for competitive play.

Q: Is there a big difference between Low and Medium settings?

A: Yes. At 1080p, Low runs at 311 FPS while Medium runs at 204 FPS, a difference of 107 FPS (34% faster on Low). At 1440p, the gap is 109 FPS (291 vs 182, 37% faster on Low). At 4K, the gap is 93 FPS (248 vs 155, 38% faster on Low).

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: It ranks 6th out of 2,980 tested combos in Overpower. This places it in the top 0.2% of all tested CPU-GPU pairings for this game.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D have enough memory for 4K Ultra settings?

A: The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The 4K Ultra average of 119 FPS indicates no memory-related performance limitations in Overpower.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K brings 24 cores and 32 threads to this pairing, running at a base clock of 3.20 GHz with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. This Raptor Lake-R architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, features a 36 MB shared L3 cache alongside 2 MB L2 cache per core and 80 KB L1 cache per core. The high boost clock of 6.00 GHz is particularly relevant for gaming workloads, which often rely on single-thread performance.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark results show strong multi-core capability: 39,399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 20,793 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 6,103 in Cinebench R15 multi-core. Single-core scores of 2,262.5 in Cinebench R23 and 324.5 in Cinebench R15 indicate excellent per-thread performance. The Geekbench scores of 21,697 multi-core and 2,655 single-core further confirm this processor's balanced capabilities. PassMark tests show a multi-thread score of 58,674 and a single-thread score of 4,697.

The CPU's 95th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms 95% of CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the Core i9-14900KF at 79,371 (0.3% higher), the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 79,574 (0.6% higher), the AMD EPYC 7413 at 80,041 (1.2% higher), and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 at 77,740 (1.7% lower). These tight deltas show that at the top of the CPU hierarchy, gaming performance differences are minimal.

In Overpower specifically, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining Low settings performance. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 311 FPS, which drops only to 291 FPS at 1440p Low. This relatively small penalty suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with frames even at lower resolutions where GPU load decreases. The 6.00 GHz boost clock likely plays a significant role in maintaining high minimum FPS values, as single-thread performance directly impacts game logic and draw call processing.

The CPU also supports ECC memory and comes with UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics, though the dedicated RTX 5090 D makes the iGPU irrelevant for gaming. With a TDP of 125 W and a launch MSRP of $589, this processor represents a high-end desktop platform choice. The fact that the combo achieves 6th place out of 2,980 combinations indicates that the i9-14900K provides enough headroom to fully utilize the RTX 5090 D's capabilities in Overpower.