Overpower

# Overpower with Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

This combination pairs a top-tier 24-core desktop processor with an end-of-life Pascal-era GPU, creating a lopsided system where CPU headroom vastly exceeds graphics capability. The data shows this combo ranks 2453 out of 2980 tested combinations in Overpower, placing it in the bottom 18% of all pairings. The GTX 1070, with its 8 GB GDDR5 memory and 1506 MHz base clock, becomes the clear limiting factor across all resolutions, while the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus—boasting 24 cores, a 5.80 GHz boost clock, and a 96th percentile standing among all CPUs—sits almost entirely idle in this action game. Benchmark results indicate that users should treat this as a GPU-bound configuration and adjust settings accordingly.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate can I expect at 1920x1080 with this combo?

A: At 1080p, the measured results show 106 FPS on Low settings, 66 FPS on Medium, 62 FPS on High, and 51 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset provides the best balance, with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Overpower?

A: The combo ranks 2453 out of 2980 tested combinations, meaning roughly 82% of all tested pairings perform better. This places it firmly in the lower quartile of system configurations for this game.

Q: Is the GTX 1070 a bottleneck for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus?

A: Yes. The CPU sits in the 96th percentile of all processors with an average benchmark score of 84003, while the GPU ranks in the 47th percentile with an average score of 9780. The massive gap between these percentiles indicates the GPU cannot keep pace with the CPU's capabilities in gaming workloads.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this hardware?

A: The data shows 4K Low settings deliver 80 FPS, while Medium drops to 50 FPS, High to 47 FPS, and Ultra to 39 FPS. For playable 4K performance, Low settings are the only viable option, as the 47 FPS at High and 50 FPS at Medium approach the edge of smoothness.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals in raw performance?

A: The GTX 1070's average benchmark score of 9780 is nearly identical to the AMD FirePro W5000 (9803, -0.2% delta) and NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9832, -0.5% delta). It sits slightly ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9724, +0.6% delta) and Tesla C2070 (9716, +0.7% delta).

Q: Does the CPU's 24-core configuration help in Overpower?

A: The game is classified as Action genre, and the measured FPS figures show GPU-bound behavior at every resolution. The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads provide massive compute headroom, but Overpower's workload does not appear to scale with core count, as FPS drops consistently with increased resolution regardless of CPU capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on Arrow Lake Refresh architecture using a 3 nm process from TSMC. It operates at a 3.70 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.80 GHz, with a 125 W TDP and support for DDR5 memory over a dual-channel interface providing 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU features 36 MB of shared L3 cache, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 192 KB of L1 cache per core, plus an integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU unit.

Benchmark results place this processor in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84003. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K at 83807 (0.2% higher), followed by the AMD EPYC 4584PX at 83090 (1.1% higher) and AMD EPYC 9135 at 82980 (1.2% higher). The only rival it trails is the AMD EPYC 7F72 at 85072 (-1.3% delta), meaning the 290K Plus sits in a tight competitive cluster at the very top of processor performance.

In specific synthetic tests, the CPU achieves 51731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7303 in single-core, along with 21727 in Cinebench R20 multi-core and 3067 in single-core. PassMark results show 60860 in multithread, 4823 in single-thread, and 698346 in data compression. These figures confirm extraordinary computational throughput, yet the Overpower FPS measurements show no corresponding benefit in gaming performance.

The CPU's role in this combo is essentially to provide headroom that the GPU cannot utilize. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 106 FPS, but this figure is constrained by the GTX 1070's rendering capabilities rather than the CPU's processing power. Even at the highest CPU demand scenario—1080p Low with high frame rates—the 290K Plus's 5.80 GHz boost clock and 24 cores remain far from saturated. The processor's 96th percentile standing versus the GPU's 47th percentile creates a 49-percentage-point gap that defines this pairing's character.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is a Pascal-architecture GPU from the GeForce 10-series, built on a 16 nm TSMC process with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. It features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, with a base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz. Memory consists of 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, with a 150 W TDP and single 8-pin power connector.

The GTX 1070's average benchmark score is 9780, placing it in the 47th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close: the AMD FirePro W5000 at 9803 (-0.2%), NVIDIA Quadro M2000M at 9832 (-0.5%), NVIDIA Tesla M10 at 9724 (+0.6%), and NVIDIA Tesla C2070 at 9716 (+0.7%). These margins of less than 1% indicate the GTX 1070 sits in a dense cluster of mid-range performance, far from the top tier.

In DirectX-specific tests, the GPU scores 100 in PassMark DirectX 11, 48 in DirectX 12, 82 in DirectX 10, and 197 in DirectX 9. The PassMark G3D score of 13498 and G2D score of 846 reveal modest 2D and 3D capabilities, while the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1082 confirms limited modern API performance. Compute workloads show 6102 in PassMark GPU Compute, with Geekbench scores of 44700 in OpenCL, 22121 in Vulkan, and 18801 in Metal.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the settings tested, but the card's raw throughput becomes the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra settings, the combo manages only 39 FPS, while 4K Low reaches 80 FPS—a 41 FPS swing driven entirely by GPU workload. The 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 performance determine these outcomes, and the card's end-of-life production status suggests no further driver optimizations are likely to improve results.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2453 out of 2980 tested combinations in Overpower, placing it in the 18th percentile of all system pairings. This rank reflects the fundamental imbalance between the CPU and GPU components. The processor's 96th percentile standing would suggest a top-tier system, but the GPU's 47th percentile pulls the overall ranking down dramatically.

To contextualize this rank: roughly 527 tested combos perform worse, while 2452 perform better. This places the system in the lower fifth of all configurations, despite featuring one of the most powerful desktop CPUs available. The data indicates that Overpower is highly sensitive to GPU performance, and the GTX 1070's mid-range position dominates the outcome.

The 49-percentage-point gap between CPU and GPU percentiles is unusually large. Most balanced systems show a narrower spread, and the benchmark results suggest that pairing this CPU with a more capable GPU would yield substantially better frame rates. However, within this specific pairing, the measured FPS figures represent the ceiling of achievable performance.

At 1080p, the system delivers 106 FPS on Low, which is playable but not exceptional by modern standards. At 1440p, the best result is 95 FPS on Low, and at 4K, only 80 FPS on Low. These figures align with the GPU's 47th percentile ranking, confirming that the CPU's 96th percentile performance contributes little to the gaming experience in Overpower.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data supports a settings-by-resolution approach rather than a single universal preset. At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 66 FPS average with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS, providing the smoothest combination of visual quality and performance. High settings drop to 62 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 51 FPS—both playable but with diminishing returns.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings yield 59 FPS average with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, making it the recommended choice. High settings at 55 FPS and Low at 95 FPS offer alternatives, but Medium provides the best balance. Ultra at 46 FPS approaches the edge of acceptable smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. Low settings at 80 FPS is the only fully playable option. Medium at 50 FPS (minimum 43, maximum 58) is borderline, High at 47 FPS is marginal, and Ultra at 39 FPS is too choppy for smooth gameplay. For 4K users, Low settings are the practical recommendation.

The measured data shows a consistent pattern: Medium settings offer the best quality-to-performance ratio at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K requires Low settings for acceptable frame rates. The 8 GB VRAM capacity does not appear to be the limiting factor, as even the highest settings remain within memory constraints. Instead, the GPU's compute throughput and memory bandwidth cap performance at each resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 106 FPS average
• Medium: 66 FPS average, 56 FPS minimum, 76 FPS maximum
• High: 62 FPS average
• Ultra: 51 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 95 FPS average
• Medium: 59 FPS average, 50 FPS minimum, 68 FPS maximum
• High: 55 FPS average
• Ultra: 46 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 80 FPS average
• Medium: 50 FPS average, 43 FPS minimum, 58 FPS maximum
• High: 47 FPS average
• Ultra: 39 FPS average

The scaling pattern reveals a predictable relationship between resolution and performance. Moving from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 10% of average FPS across all settings, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs an additional 15-20%. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution: 55 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K.

The Medium preset's minimum FPS figures—56 at 1080p, 50 at 1440p, and 43 at 4K—indicate frame pacing that remains above 40 FPS in all cases. These minimums are within 10-15 FPS of the averages, suggesting relatively stable performance rather than severe drops. The maximum FPS values (76, 68, and 58 respectively) show that the GPU can burst above its average, but sustained performance settles at the mean.

For users prioritizing frame rate, the 1080p Low setting at 106 FPS is the clear winner. For visual quality, 1440p Medium at 59 FPS offers the best compromise. For 4K, the 80 FPS Low setting is the only option that maintains smooth gameplay, while 47 FPS at High and 39 FPS at Ultra are suitable only for less demanding scenarios or screenshot purposes.