Overpower

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

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor built on the Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process node from TSMC. It operates at a 3.40 GHz base clock and reaches 5.00 GHz boost, with a 65 W TDP. This CPU sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 46,062. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46,030 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46,098 (0.1% lower), and the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45,970 (0.2% higher). The competitive parity here is striking — the Core Ultra 5 235 is essentially tied with these alternatives, with deltas under one-third of a percent.

In Overpower, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the measured FPS across settings and resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 299 FPS average, which is the highest recorded figure in this dataset. The fact that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to hit near-300 FPS at the lightest settings indicates that its single-thread performance — demonstrated by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4,516 — is more than adequate for this action game. The 14 threads, while not hyper-threaded, provide enough parallelism for the game's engine, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769.

The L3 cache is 24 MB shared, with 192 KB L1 and 3 MB L2 per core. Memory bandwidth is rated at 102.4 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5. These memory characteristics likely contribute to the smooth scaling seen when moving between settings presets. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 37,816 and data compression score of 390,711 suggest robust general-purpose throughput, though the game itself appears more dependent on GPU performance at higher resolutions.

What the data does not show is any significant CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the combo still delivers 147 FPS, and at 1440p Ultra it drops to 131 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 152 FPS (from 299 to 147), which is substantial but not indicative of a CPU limitation — rather, it reflects the increased GPU workload from higher quality settings. The Core Ultra 5 235's 5.00 GHz boost clock appears sufficient to avoid becoming the limiting factor in this pairing, even with a flagship GPU like the RTX 5090.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Overpower?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 299, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this pairing in the tested configurations.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 5 235 compare to its closest CPU rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46,030 versus the Core Ultra 5 235's 46,062, a delta of just 0.1%. The Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46,098, which is 0.1% higher than the Core Ultra 5 235. These are statistical ties in overall benchmark performance.

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

A: This combo ranks 47th out of 2,980 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1.6% of all configurations evaluated in this game.

Q: How much FPS is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 147. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 112 FPS. This represents a 35 FPS reduction, or approximately 23.8% lower performance.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM get fully utilized at any tested setting?

A: The data does not include VRAM utilization figures. However, the 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is the largest memory configuration in this dataset, and the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking suggests it handles all tested settings without memory-related degradation.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in any tested configuration?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 123, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings (average 145 FPS, max 167 FPS). This indicates the combo never drops below 123 FPS in any measured scenario.

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

The resolution scaling pattern in Overpower reveals a GPU-bound configuration at higher resolutions, with the CPU remaining largely unconstrained. At Low settings, the progression is clear: 299 FPS at 1080p, 273 FPS at 1440p, and 232 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 26 FPS (8.7%), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 41 FPS (15.0%). This accelerating degradation as resolution increases is the classic signature of GPU limitation — the RTX 5090's pixel throughput (423.6 GPixel/s) becomes the binding constraint as pixel count grows.

At Medium settings, the pattern holds: 191 FPS at 1080p, 171 FPS at 1440p, and 145 FPS at 4K. The relative drops are 10.5% and 15.2% respectively. At High settings, the figures are 178, 158, and 135 FPS, with drops of 11.2% and 14.6%. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 147, 131, and 112 FPS, with drops of 10.9% and 14.5%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings presets is notable. Regardless of whether the game runs at Low or Ultra, moving from 1440p to 4K consistently costs roughly 14-15% performance. This uniformity strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at these resolutions — the RTX 5090's shading units (21,760), texture mapping units (680), and render output units (176) scale predictably with pixel count.

At 1080p, the picture changes slightly. The gap between Low (299 FPS) and Ultra (147 FPS) is 152 FPS, which is a 50.8% reduction. This wider spread at 1080p indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU can more easily feed frames, and the GPU's workload is more heavily influenced by settings complexity rather than pure pixel count. The Core Ultra 5 235's 5.00 GHz boost clock and 14 threads are sufficient to support even the 299 FPS Low-settings result without becoming a bottleneck.

The data suggests that for this combo, Overpower is GPU-limited at all tested resolutions, with the CPU headroom becoming more apparent at 1080p where the GPU can stretch its legs. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth are the primary drivers of the scaling behavior observed.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This configuration of Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 47 out of 2,980 tested combos in Overpower. This places the setup in the top 1.58% of all combinations evaluated, which is an elite standing given the breadth of the comparison pool.

The rank reflects the combined capability of both components, but the GPU's contribution is likely dominant given the resolution scaling analysis. The RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs (average benchmark score 79,842) is higher than the CPU's 89th percentile (average score 46,062). The GPU's nearest rivals — the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% higher), Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% higher), and RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.1% higher) — are all within 1.1% of the RTX 5090's average score, indicating that the GPU sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

The fact that this combo ranks 47th despite the GPU being in the 92nd percentile suggests that the CPU, while strong, is not the absolute top-tier option. The Core Ultra 5 235's 89th percentile ranking puts it below the very best CPUs, but the delta to its nearest rivals is negligible (all within 0.2%). This means the rank is more likely determined by the GPU's position relative to other GPUs in the test pool, combined with how the specific game engine responds to this particular pairing.

At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 112 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for smooth gameplay. At 1080p Low, the 299 FPS result puts this combo in the upper echelon for competitive play scenarios. The rank of 47 out of 2,980 indicates that 46 other combinations outperformed this setup, but given the GPU's near-tie with its closest rivals, the differences are likely small in real-world terms.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 2,017 MHz with a boost clock of 2,407 MHz, and memory operates at 1,750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). With 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores, this is a massive chip — 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die.

In Overpower, the RTX 5090's role is most clearly demonstrated by the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 112 FPS average, which is a demanding workload for any GPU. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what this game likely requires, but the bandwidth — 1.79 TB/s — is what enables the smooth scaling from 1080p to 4K. The 512-bit bus width ensures that memory bandwidth does not become a constraint even at the highest pixel counts.

The GPU's benchmark results reinforce its capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355, Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,728, and Passmark G3D score of 39,650 all point to a GPU that excels in both rasterization and compute workloads. The Passmark GPU Compute score of 26,756 indicates strong general-purpose compute performance, which can benefit game physics and other non-rendering tasks.

The RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper tier, though its nearest rivals are surprisingly close. The Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 (0.3% higher), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (0.6% higher), and the RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.1% higher). These are data center and mobile parts, respectively, yet they hover within 1.1% of the RTX 5090's average score of 79,842. This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 is not dramatically ahead of its nearest competitors, but in Overpower specifically, the combo rank of 47 out of 2,980 indicates strong real-world game performance.

The GPU's power characteristics — 575 W TDP with a 950 W suggested PSU — are not directly reflected in the FPS data, but they indicate the thermal and power headroom available for sustained performance. The dual-slot design and 304 mm length are physical attributes that would matter for system integration, though the benchmark data does not capture thermal throttling effects.

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

The measured FPS data for this combo in Overpower covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive picture of performance.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 299 FPS average
• Medium: 191 FPS average, with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 220 FPS
• High: 178 FPS average
• Ultra: 147 FPS average

The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 152 FPS, with the Medium settings showing the only recorded min/max range in this resolution (163-220 FPS). The gap between Low and Medium is 108 FPS, which is the largest jump between any adjacent settings at any resolution. This suggests that Medium settings introduce a significant increase in GPU workload compared to Low, likely through more complex shading and texture filtering.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 273 FPS average
• Medium: 171 FPS average, with a minimum of 145 FPS and maximum of 196 FPS
• High: 158 FPS average
• Ultra: 131 FPS average

The 1440p results show a compressed range compared to 1080p — the spread from Low to Ultra is 142 FPS. The Medium settings min/max range (145-196 FPS) is narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more consistently loaded. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 26 FPS (299 to 273), while at Ultra settings it is 16 FPS (147 to 131). This smaller absolute drop at Ultra settings reinforces the GPU-bound analysis — at Ultra, the GPU is already working hard at 1080p, so adding pixels has a proportionally smaller effect.

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 232 FPS average
• Medium: 145 FPS average, with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 167 FPS
• High: 135 FPS average
• Ultra: 112 FPS average

The 4K results show the narrowest spread from Low to Ultra: 120 FPS (232 to 112). The Medium settings at 4K record the lowest minimum FPS in the entire dataset at 123 FPS, though the average of 145 FPS remains well above playable thresholds. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings is 41 FPS (273 to 232), which is the largest single resolution-based drop recorded. At Ultra settings, the drop is 19 FPS (131 to 112).

Across all resolutions, the Medium settings consistently show a min/max range that brackets the average by roughly 15-25 FPS on either side. This consistency suggests stable frame pacing at Medium settings, while Low, High, and Ultra settings do not have recorded min/max values — the data only provides averages for those presets. The minimum recorded FPS across all tested configurations is 123 (4K Medium), and the maximum is 220 (1080p Medium), though the 299 FPS average at 1080p Low implies that frame rates can exceed 220 FPS in that configuration.