Overpower

Overpower, the 2023 action title, proves to be a demanding but highly scalable experience. The pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers exceptional performance, firmly placing this configuration in the top tier of tested systems. Benchmark data shows that this combo consistently produces high frame rates across all resolutions and settings, with the primary bottleneck shifting from the GPU at 4K to the CPU at 1080p. The results are clear: this is a high-performance pairing that excels at high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and is more than capable of handling 4K with visual compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the gradient is not uniform, revealing the changing dynamics between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p with High settings, the system achieves an average of 157 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 140 FPS, a modest 10.8% reduction, indicating that the system is still heavily reliant on the CPU's capability to feed frames at this resolution. However, the transition to 4K is far more punishing. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS falls to 119, a 15% decrease from 1440p and a 24.2% decrease from 1080p.

This scaling pattern is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario emerging at higher resolutions. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235, with its 14 cores and 14 threads, provides ample headroom at 1080p, allowing the RTX 4080 to flex its muscles. Yet, as resolution increases, the demand on the GPU's fill rate and pixel processing power grows exponentially. The RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth are pushed harder, and the frame rate drops become more pronounced. The data suggests that at 1080p, the limiting component is the CPU's single-thread performance, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck.

The pattern is consistent across all settings. With Low settings, the system jumps from 271 FPS at 1080p to 241 FPS at 1440p, a 11.1% drop, and then down to 205 FPS at 4K, a 14.9% drop from 1440p. The deltas are smaller in percentage terms at lower settings, but the absolute FPS loss is still significant, confirming that the RTX 4080's rendering workload is the primary factor limiting performance at 4K. This combination is not optimized for 4K Ultra settings, where the average dips to 99 FPS, but it remains highly playable. The real sweet spot for this hardware is clearly 1440p, where the CPU can still push high frame rates and the GPU has enough work to produce stunning visuals without being overwhelmed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for different priorities. For players seeking the absolute highest frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers an outstanding 271 FPS average, which is ideal for competitive play on high-refresh-rate monitors. However, this comes at a significant visual cost. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a more balanced experience, with an average of 169 FPS and a minimum of 144 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. This is a strong recommendation for a high-refresh-rate experience without sacrificing too much fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset is the standout choice. It delivers an average of 140 FPS, a figure that remains well above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold for many monitors. While the Ultra preset at 1440p still provides a very playable 116 FPS average, the marginal visual gain over High is often not worth the 17.1% performance reduction. The data suggests that High settings at 1440p provide the best balance of visual quality and performance for this hardware combination. The Medium preset at 1440p, with an average of 151 FPS, is also a viable option for those who want to guarantee maximum frame rates, but High provides a more immersive experience for a relatively small FPS cost.

For 4K gaming, the decision is more complex. The Ultra preset drops to an average of 99 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset at 4K, with an average of 119 FPS, is a much better option, offering a significant improvement in smoothness. The Medium preset at 4K provides a more comfortable margin, with an average of 128 FPS and a minimum of 109 FPS. Given the visual demands of 4K, the High preset is the recommended starting point, with a fallback to Medium if a more stable frame rate is desired. The Low preset at 4K, while hitting 205 FPS, is not recommended as it severely compromises the visual experience that makes 4K worthwhile.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a formidable processor built on the Arrow Lake architecture and a 3 nm process node. It features 14 cores and 14 threads, a configuration that prioritizes multi-threaded performance. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide strong single-thread capabilities, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085. This is crucial for gaming, where the main thread often determines the maximum frame rate ceiling.

In the context of Overpower, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the system's frame rates are exceptionally high, with the Low preset reaching 271 FPS. This indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU with more than enough data at this resolution. However, the data also shows that the CPU is not the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are substantial, even with a powerful CPU, which means the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

The processor's performance profile, with a Passmark multithread score of 37816 and a single-thread score of 4516, places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. This is a high-performance part, but its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, show an almost identical average benchmark score, with a deltaPct of 0.1% and -0.1%, respectively. This suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p, the Core Ultra 5 235 is on par with these other high-end processors, and the overall frame rate will be determined by the game's engine and the GPU. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support further contribute to its solid gaming performance, ensuring that data is readily available for the processing cores.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 secures a position of 201 out of 3713 tested combos in the database for Overpower. This places it in the top 5.4% of all tested systems, proof of its high-end performance. This ranking reflects the strength of both components. The RTX 4080, with its Passmark G3D score of 34457, is a top-tier GPU, and the Core Ultra 5 235 is a highly capable processor that does not bottleneck it in most scenarios.

This high ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data. The system can achieve 130 FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings, a figure that many lower-ranked combos cannot reach. The performance gap is more pronounced at 4K, where the RTX 4080's raw power is fully utilized. The combo's position in the 201st spot suggests that only a select few pairings, likely featuring even more powerful GPUs like the RTX 4090, can outperform it. This ranking is a strong indicator that this is a future-proof configuration capable of handling demanding games like Overpower at high settings for years to come. The CPU's percentile ranking of 89 and the GPU's percentile of 86 are both strong, but their combination in this game context results in a synergistic effect that pushes the system into the top tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the undisputed performance driver in this pairing, especially at higher resolutions. Based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and built on a 5 nm process, it is a powerhouse with 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a massive 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is essential for handling the high-resolution textures and complex effects in Overpower.

The GPU's role is clearly defined by the resolution scaling data. The RTX 4080's performance is the limiting factor at 4K, where its 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is pushed to its limits. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 99, and while this is playable, it is a significant drop from the 130 FPS achieved at 1080p Ultra. This demonstrates that the GPU is fully saturated at 4K. The 16 GB of VRAM is likely a key asset here, as it prevents texture swapping and maintains consistent performance in memory-intensive scenes.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its high-end status. Its Passmark G3D score of 34457 places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, shows a nearly identical average score with a deltaPct of 0.1%, suggesting that for this game, there is little performance difference between the two. The RTX 4080's high texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s are critical for maintaining high frame rates with detailed geometry and lighting. At 1440p, the GPU has enough headroom to deliver exceptionally high frame rates, making it the ideal resolution for this graphics card. The data shows that the RTX 4080 is a stellar performer that can handle any settings at 1440p and offers a great 4K experience with minor adjustments.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS data for this combination is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 271 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 169 FPS, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 194 FPS. The High preset averages 157 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 130 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset yields an average of 241 FPS. The Medium preset averages 151 FPS, with a minimum of 128 FPS and a maximum of 173 FPS. The High preset delivers 140 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 116 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance is more constrained. The Low preset averages 205 FPS. The Medium preset averages 128 FPS, with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 147 FPS. The High preset delivers an average of 119 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 99 FPS.

This data illustrates a clear performance hierarchy. The system is most comfortable at 1080p and 1440p, where it can consistently maintain frame rates above 100 FPS even at the highest settings. At 4K, the performance is still strong, but the Ultra preset dips to just under 100 FPS. The minimum FPS figures for the Medium presets are also noteworthy, with the 4K Medium preset showing a minimum of 109 FPS, which ensures a smooth experience. This data confirms that the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + RTX 4080 combo is an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p and a highly capable 4K gaming machine.