Overpower

# Overpower: Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

This pairing of Intel's Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested configurations in Overpower, an Action title released in August 2023. The measured data shows a system that maintains triple-digit average FPS even at 4K Ultra, placing it in the 38th spot out of 2,980 tested combos. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 lands in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, indicating a well-matched pair where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but shows signs of CPU influence at lower settings. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 178 FPS at 1080p to 158 FPS at 1440p (an 11.2% reduction), then to 135 FPS at 4K (a 14.6% further reduction). This relatively modest scaling curve suggests the RTX 5090 has substantial headroom, with the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth—clearly sufficient to feed the 176 ROPs at any tested resolution.

The Low settings data tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 306 FPS average, dropping to 273 FPS at 1440p and 232 FPS at 4K. The 4K-to-1080p ratio of 75.8% indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU remains the primary limiter. However, the gap between 1080p Low (306 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (147 FPS) is substantial—a 52% reduction—demonstrating that Overpower's Ultra preset imposes significant rendering costs that scale predictably with resolution.

Medium settings show the most consistent scaling pattern: 191 FPS at 1080p, 171 FPS at 1440p, and 145 FPS at 4K. The min FPS values at Medium (163 at 1080p, 145 at 1440p, 123 at 4K) indicate that frame time consistency holds up well, with the 4K min FPS still comfortably above 120 FPS. Ultra settings produce the largest resolution impact: 147 FPS at 1080p, 131 FPS at 1440p, and 112 FPS at 4K—a total 23.8% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is surprisingly modest for an Ultra preset.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Overpower?

A: All four tested resolutions maintain playable frame rates. The 4K Ultra setting averages 112 FPS, while 4K High reaches 135 FPS. For maximum visual fidelity, 4K Ultra is viable; for higher refresh rates, 1440p High delivers 158 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64,640, sitting 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 4464P (64,823) and 0.7% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7343 (64,202). It also trails the AMD EPYC 9124 by 0.7% (65,104) and leads the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F by 0.3% (64,438).

Q: Is the RTX 5090's performance consistent with its benchmark standing?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 79,842 places it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940) and 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4% (80,959), yet in Overpower it delivers 135 FPS at 4K High.

Q: What is the frame time variance like at Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset shows tight min-to-max spreads: at 1080p, the range is 163–220 FPS (57 FPS spread); at 1440p, 145–196 FPS (51 FPS spread); and at 4K, 123–167 FPS (44 FPS spread). The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates consistent GPU utilization.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 38th out of 2,980 combos tested in Overpower, placing it in the top 1.3% of all configurations evaluated for this game.

Q: Does the CPU's 20-core configuration matter for this game?

A: Overpower's measured results show the GPU remains the bottleneck even at 1080p Low (306 FPS), so the CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads are sufficient. The 5.30 GHz boost clock provides ample single-thread performance for game logic.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-S architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors. Its base clock of 2.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz provide a wide operating range, while the 30 MB shared L3 cache helps with data locality. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42,216 and a single-core score of 5,960, with the PassMark multi-thread score reaching 49,682.

In Overpower, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The evidence comes from the Low settings data: at 1080p Low, the system produces 306 FPS, which is likely near the practical rendering limit for the RTX 5090 at that workload. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the 4K Low result (232 FPS) to be much closer to the 1080p Low result, since lower resolution reduces GPU load and shifts bottleneck potential toward the CPU. Instead, the 24.2% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings indicates the GPU is still doing meaningful work even at minimal quality settings.

The Core Ultra 7 265's percentile ranking of 93 among all CPUs, combined with its PassMark single-thread score of 4,689, suggests it has enough processing power to avoid becoming a limiting factor in this title. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5 is adequate for feeding the GPU's 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, as evidenced by the consistent FPS scaling across resolutions. The 65 W TDP is notably low for a 20-core processor, indicating efficient power delivery that doesn't compromise game performance.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K resolution, the data shows a clear trade-off between visual quality and frame rate. The Ultra preset averages 112 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. High settings at 4K deliver 135 FPS—a 20.5% improvement over Ultra—while Medium reaches 145 FPS (a 29.5% improvement over Ultra). Given that the Medium preset at 4K also provides the best min FPS data (123 FPS minimum), it represents the most balanced choice for 4K gaming, offering both a high average and consistent frame delivery.

At 1440p, the situation is more forgiving. Ultra averages 131 FPS, which is entirely adequate for most displays. High settings at 158 FPS provide a 20.6% uplift over Ultra, while Medium at 171 FPS offers a 30.5% improvement. The Medium preset's min FPS of 145 at 1440p ensures smooth gameplay even during intense action sequences. For players prioritizing frame rate over absolute visual fidelity, Low at 1440p reaches 273 FPS, which would satisfy even the highest refresh rate monitors.

The 1080p results show diminishing returns for lower settings. Ultra at 147 FPS is already quite high, and stepping down to High (178 FPS) offers a 21.1% improvement. Medium (191 FPS) and Low (306 FPS) provide increasingly higher rates, but the visual degradation may not justify the extra frames. Based on the measured data, the Medium preset at 1080p (191 FPS average, 163 FPS minimum) appears to be the sweet spot for competitive play, offering a substantial frame rate cushion while maintaining acceptable visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 38th out of 2,980 tested combos in Overpower, placing it in the top 1.3% of all systems evaluated for this game. This ranking reflects the combined strength of the Core Ultra 7 265 and the RTX 5090, both of which are near the top of their respective benchmark hierarchies. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking and the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking suggest that this system is better matched than many high-end configurations where one component significantly outperforms the other.

The combo's ranking is notably strong given that the CPU is not a flagship part. The Core Ultra 7 265 sits below the top-tier processors in Intel's lineup, yet its benchmark scores (42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5090 in Overpower. This indicates that the game is not exceptionally CPU-demanding, or that the CPU's 5.30 GHz boost clock provides adequate single-thread performance for the game's engine.

The 38th position out of 2,980 combos means there are 37 configurations that outperform this system in Overpower. Given the RTX 5090's position as one of the most powerful consumer GPUs available, those higher-ranked combos likely feature even more capable CPUs. However, the performance gap is likely small in practical terms, as the FPS data shows this system already exceeds 100 FPS at 4K Ultra in nearly all tested scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160 (4K):

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

2560x1440 (1440p):

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

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: 147 FPS average
• High: 178 FPS average
• Medium: 191 FPS average, 163 FPS minimum, 220 FPS maximum
• Low: 306 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only configuration with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. The data shows a consistent pattern: at Medium settings, the average FPS drops by 10.5% from 1080p to 1440p (191 to 171), then by 15.2% from 1440p to 4K (171 to 145). The min FPS values follow a similar trend: 163 at 1080p, 145 at 1440p, and 123 at 4K, representing drops of 11.0% and 15.2% respectively. This consistent scaling suggests the RTX 5090's memory subsystem and compute resources are being utilized efficiently across all resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors. Its 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs provide massive raw compute capability, reflected in its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance. The GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for feeding the high-resolution textures and effects that Overpower's Ultra preset likely employs.

The GPU's clock behavior is noteworthy: a base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz. This 19.3% boost headroom allows the card to scale performance dynamically based on thermal and power conditions. The 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU indicate this is a power-hungry card, but the measured FPS data shows the power is well-utilized. The GPU's benchmark scores—3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355 and PassMark G3D score of 39,650—place it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

In Overpower, the GPU's role is clearly dominant. The evidence is the FPS progression at each settings level: at 1080p Ultra (147 FPS) versus 4K Ultra (112 FPS), the 23.8% reduction is less than the 31.7% reduction seen at High settings (178 to 135 FPS). This suggests that at Ultra settings, the game's rendering workload becomes more uniform across resolutions, possibly due to GPU-side effects like ray tracing or advanced shading that scale differently than traditional rasterization. The Low settings data (306 FPS at 1080p vs. 232 FPS at 4K) shows a 24.2% reduction, which aligns closely with the pixel count difference between these resolutions (2.07x more pixels at 4K), indicating that the GPU's compute resources are the primary factor at minimal settings.

The RTX 5090's nearest rivals in benchmark scores—the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants and AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT—are all within 1.1% of its average score, yet the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and Blackwell architecture provide features that likely benefit modern games like Overpower. The measured FPS data confirms that this GPU delivers excellent performance across all tested configurations, with the lowest average FPS being 112 at 4K Ultra, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.