Overpower

Overpower, an Action title released in August 2023, presents a demanding scenario for even the most powerful hardware. This analysis examines the pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, using measured frame rate data to understand the dynamics between the processor and graphics card across various resolutions and settings. The data reveals a system capable of high refresh rate gaming, but with distinct bottlenecks that shift depending on the graphical load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 secures the 561st position out of 2,980 tested combos for this specific game. This placement, within the top 18.8% of all configurations, indicates a very strong performer, though it is not at the absolute apex of the leaderboard. The ranking suggests that while the RTX 5090 is an exceptionally powerful GPU, the Core Ultra 5 135H may prevent the system from achieving the top-tier frame rates that the graphics card is capable of in less CPU-intensive scenarios.

The CPU itself holds an 81st percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 29,093. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, scores nearly identically at 29,123, a mere 0.1% difference. This places the Core Ultra 5 135H in a performance class with desktop processors from a previous generation, showing its strength for a mobile chip. However, in the context of this high-end GPU pairing, the CPU's standing is the limiting factor. The data implies that the combo's rank is not determined by the GPU's potential but by the CPU's ability to feed it, a common theme in high-resolution gaming where the processor must manage the game's logic and draw calls.

The gap between this combo and the top performers is likely more pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p, the CPU's influence is at its peak, and the Core Ultra 5 135H's performance, while excellent for a mobile processor, may not match the absolute best desktop CPUs that could be paired with an RTX 5090. The 561st rank out of 2,980 demonstrates the raw power of the RTX 5090, but it also highlights that this specific processor-GPU combination does not fully unlock the GPU's capabilities in every situation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and a 5 nm process. It houses 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipelines, alongside 170 ray tracing cores. The GPU's sheer computational power is evident in its 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This immense processing capability is supported by a massive 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Such resources are designed to handle the most demanding textures and effects at high resolutions without running out of memory or becoming bandwidth-limited.

In Overpower, the GPU's role is to render the visual scene. The data shows that at 4K with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 81 FPS. This is a high score, but it demonstrates that even the RTX 5090 is challenged by the game's maximum graphical fidelity at this resolution. The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz, provide the raw speed for these calculations. The 32 GB VRAM is particularly relevant; it ensures that the game's assets are stored locally, preventing stuttering and texture pop-in that can occur with smaller memory pools.

The GPU's benchmark scores are also telling. It scores 39,650 in Passmark's G3D test and 18,355 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, has a nearly identical average score (79,605 vs. 79,842, a 0.3% difference), which is interesting as the Tesla is a compute-focused card. This comparison highlights that the RTX 5090's gaming performance is top-tier, but the data suggests that in this specific game, the CPU is holding it back from reaching even higher frame rates. The GPU is clearly capable of more, as evidenced by the significant jump in FPS when settings are lowered, which reduces the GPU's workload.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern in how the system scales across resolutions. At 1080p, the average frame rate for Ultra settings is 107 FPS. Moving to 1440p, this drops to 95 FPS, a decrease of 12 FPS. At 4K, the Ultra setting average further falls to 81 FPS, another 14 FPS drop. This scaling indicates that the system is still heavily GPU-bound at 4K, but the impact of resolution is not as dramatic as it would be if the CPU were not a limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The pattern becomes more evident when looking at the Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 222 FPS. This drops to 198 FPS at 1440p and 168 FPS at 4K. The relatively small drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings (from 222 to 168 FPS) suggests that the CPU is becoming a more significant bottleneck. At 1080p, the GPU can render frames very quickly, but the CPU cannot issue draw calls fast enough to keep up, capping the frame rate. As resolution increases, the GPU's rendering time per frame increases, giving the CPU more time to prepare the next frame, thus maintaining a higher utilization and a less severe FPS drop than would be expected if the GPU were the sole bottleneck.

The data implies that for this combo, the optimal resolution for high refresh rate gaming is 1440p. The system can push frame rates above 100 FPS at High settings, which is a sweet spot for the CPU and GPU balance. At 4K, the system is clearly GPU-bound, with the RTX 5090 working hard to maintain playable frame rates on Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 24.5% performance drop at Ultra settings (107 to 81 FPS), but a 24.3% drop at Low settings (222 to 168 FPS). This similarity in percentage drop suggests that while the GPU is the main bottleneck at 4K, the CPU's limitations are still felt even at lower resolutions, preventing a more significant divergence in scaling behavior.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a detailed look at the system's performance. At 1080p, the system delivers an average of 222 FPS on Low settings, 139 FPS on Medium, 129 FPS on High, and 107 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting also recorded a minimum of 118 FPS and a maximum of 160 FPS, indicating some frame time variance. The jump from Low to Medium is 83 FPS, a massive increase in GPU load, whereas the jump from Medium to High is only 10 FPS, suggesting that the High preset introduces effects that are less taxing on the GPU but more demanding on the CPU.

At 1440p, the averages are 198 FPS on Low, 124 FPS on Medium, 115 FPS on High, and 95 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting's minimum and maximum were 105 and 142 FPS, respectively. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, ranging from 24 FPS at Low to 12 FPS at Ultra. This shows that the GPU is scaling its workload predictably with the increase in pixel count. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 20 FPS, a more significant difference than at 1080p (22 FPS), indicating that Ultra settings are particularly demanding at higher resolutions.

At 4K, the averages are 168 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium, 98 FPS on High, and 81 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting's minimum and maximum were 90 and 121 FPS. The performance drop from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced, with a 30 FPS drop on Low, 19 FPS on Medium, 17 FPS on High, and 14 FPS on Ultra. This pattern shows that at 4K, the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 87 FPS, highlighting the significant impact of the game's graphical presets on the RTX 5090's performance. The data clearly shows that 4K Ultra is a demanding target, but the system maintains an average of 81 FPS, which is respectable for a mobile CPU paired with a flagship GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo depends on the user's display and refresh rate. For a 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate, the High preset is the best choice. It delivers an average of 129 FPS, which is above the 144Hz threshold for a majority of the time, providing a smooth and responsive experience. The Ultra preset at 107 FPS is also playable but may not fully saturate a high-refresh-rate panel. For a 1440p display, the High preset again offers the best balance, with an average of 115 FPS. This is a significant upgrade over the Medium preset's 124 FPS, but the jump to Ultra (95 FPS) is not worth the 20 FPS loss for the marginal visual improvement in a fast-paced action game.

At 4K, the choice is between High and Medium. The High preset's 98 FPS average is excellent and provides a fluid gaming experience on a 4K display. The Medium preset, with an average of 105 FPS, offers a 7 FPS improvement but at a lower visual fidelity. If a user prioritizes frame rate above all else, the Medium preset is the better choice. However, for most users, the High preset at 4K is the recommended setting, as it provides a substantial visual upgrade over Medium while still maintaining an average frame rate that is above 60 FPS and close to the 100 FPS mark. The Low preset, while offering high frame rates, sacrifices too much visual quality for the relatively small gain in performance.

The data suggests that the system is best utilized at 1440p or 4K with the High preset. At 1080p, the CPU becomes a limiting factor, and the GPU is often not fully utilized, as seen by the smaller performance drops between settings compared to 4K. The sweet spot for this pairing is to push the resolution and settings to a level where the GPU is heavily loaded but not overwhelmed, which is exactly what the High preset at 1440p and 4K achieves.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking for Overpower?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combo ranks 561st out of 2,980 tested configurations for this game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Core Ultra 5 135H has an average benchmark score of 29,093, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X's score of 29,123.

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate this combo achieves at 4K?

A: At 4K with Low settings, the combo achieves its highest average frame rate of 168 FPS. With Ultra settings, it drops to 81 FPS.

Q: At what resolution and settings does the system hit its highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 222 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is a significant bottleneck at 1080p. The frame rate at Low settings (222 FPS) is very high, and the performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is less severe than expected, suggesting the CPU limits the GPU at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, supported by its 512-bit bus and GDDR7 memory.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. The CPU's cache configuration includes 112 KB of L1 and 2 MB of L2 per core, along with 18 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications point to a capable mobile processor, but its role in this gaming combo is to feed the RTX 5090 with data.

In Overpower, the CPU's performance is crucial for maintaining high frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions. The benchmark results show a Passmark multithread score of 22,422 and a single-thread score of 3,521. The Cinebench R23 multicore score is 11,875.5, while the single-core score is 1,700. These scores place the CPU in the 81st percentile of all processors, indicating strong performance for a mobile chip, but they are not exceptional when compared to high-end desktop CPUs that could be paired with an RTX 5090.

The measured FPS data confirms this analysis. At 1080p Low, the system hits 222 FPS, a very high number, but it is not the 300+ FPS that a top-tier desktop CPU might achieve with this GPU. The CPU's 18 threads are likely well-utilized by the game, but the single-thread performance is the key factor for frame pacing and draw call submission. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rate is capped by the CPU's ability to process the game's logic, not the GPU's rendering speed. This is why the jump from Medium to High at 1080p is only 10 FPS, as the CPU is already working near its limit. The Core Ultra 5 135H is a strong processor, but in this pairing, it is the component that prevents the system from reaching the absolute highest frame rates possible with the RTX 5090.