Overpower

Overpower, a 2023 action title, places a significant load on both the processor and graphics card. The measured data for the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti provides a detailed look at how these components handle the game across different resolutions and quality presets. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, component roles, and performance scaling based strictly on the provided benchmark data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for the highest average frame rate in Overpower?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 183 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is followed by 163 FPS at 2560x1440 on Low and 138 FPS at 3840x2160 on Low.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 1015 out of 2980 tested combos in Overpower, placing it in the upper portion of the field.

Q: What is the performance difference between the CPU and its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003. It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX, and 1.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 9135. It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors in raw compute?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 29945. This places it 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile, 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, but 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 3070 Ti appear to be a limiting factor in the measured results?

A: The data shows the biggest FPS drops occur when moving from Low to Medium settings at all resolutions, which is often associated with increased memory pressure and shader complexity. The RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory is paired with a 256-bit bus, and the results suggest it handles the tested presets, though the larger jumps in FPS cost between Low and Medium indicate a significant increase in workload.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like for the Medium preset, which is the only setting with min/max data?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 114 with a minimum of 97 and a maximum of 131. At 1440p Medium, the average is 102 with a range of 87 to 117. At 4K Medium, the average is 87 with a range of 74 to 100. These ranges suggest a consistent frame pacing with no severe stutters in the measured data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the primary driver of visual fidelity in Overpower. Its performance profile, based on the data, is defined by its memory subsystem and compute capabilities. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. This bandwidth is crucial for feeding the 6144 shading units at high resolutions. The card's boost clock is rated at 1770 MHz, with a base clock of 1575 MHz, and its architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is relevant for modern game features.

The measured FPS data indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti is a capable card for this title, but its performance scaling is heavily influenced by the settings preset. Moving from Low to Medium settings results in a substantial FPS penalty at every resolution. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 183 on Low to 114 on Medium, a 69 FPS reduction. This gap suggests that the Medium preset introduces a significant increase in GPU workload, likely involving more complex shading, textures, and geometry. The card's 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present, but the data doesn't isolate their specific impact on Overpower's rendering.

The GPU's position relative to its peers helps contextualize its performance. Its average benchmark score of 29945 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (deltaPct -0.5). In Overpower, this translates to a level of performance that is competitive with those cards, though the exact in-game FPS may vary. The 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is a theoretical measure; the practical effect is seen in the high average frame rates at lower settings, such as 138 FPS at 4K Low. The GPU is clearly the component that scales the frame rate with resolution, as the CPU's role remains constant.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience depends on the user's priority for frame rate versus visual quality. The data provides clear points for each preset.

At 1920x1080, the High preset offers a strong balance with an average of 106 FPS. This is a significant step up from the Ultra preset's 88 FPS, but a considerable downgrade from the Medium preset's 114 FPS. The 8 FPS difference between High and Medium is relatively small, suggesting that High provides most of the visual benefits of Medium with a minor performance cost. For users seeking maximum smoothness, the Low preset at 183 FPS is the clear choice, but it likely sacrifices a substantial amount of visual detail.

At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 94 FPS, which is a very playable frame rate. The Medium preset at 102 FPS offers a marginal improvement, while Ultra drops to 78 FPS. The 16 FPS gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is more pronounced than at 1080p, indicating that the higher resolution amplifies the cost of the Ultra settings. The Low preset again provides the highest FPS at 163.

At 3840x2160, the High preset maintains a playable average of 80 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 67 FPS, which may be below the target for some users with high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data, showing an average of 87 FPS with a range of 74 to 100 FPS, indicating it is a stable option. The Low preset at 138 FPS is the only way to achieve a high refresh rate experience at this resolution.

The data suggests that the High preset is the recommended starting point for a balanced experience across all resolutions. It provides a significant visual upgrade over Low and Medium while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS even at 4K. The jump to Ultra is not justified by the FPS cost, particularly at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

This section details the exact measured average frame rates for each resolution and settings combination.

1920x1080:

• Low: 183 FPS average.
• Medium: 114 FPS average, with a minimum of 97 and a maximum of 131.
• High: 106 FPS average.
• Ultra: 88 FPS average.

The progression from Low to Ultra shows a clear and consistent decline in performance. The largest single drop is from Low to Medium, which costs 69 FPS. The subsequent steps are smaller, with a 8 FPS drop from Medium to High and an 18 FPS drop from High to Ultra.

2560x1440:

• Low: 163 FPS average.
• Medium: 102 FPS average, with a minimum of 87 and a maximum of 117.
• High: 94 FPS average.
• Ultra: 78 FPS average.

At 1440p, the pattern is similar to 1080p. The drop from Low to Medium is again the most significant, with a 61 FPS reduction. The difference between Medium and High is 8 FPS, and the difference between High and Ultra is 16 FPS. The overall performance is lower than at 1080p, as expected.

3840x2160:

• Low: 138 FPS average.
• Medium: 87 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100.
• High: 80 FPS average.
• Ultra: 67 FPS average.

At 4K, the resolution begins to heavily tax the system. The drop from Low to Medium is 51 FPS, which is still the largest single step. The difference between Medium and High is 7 FPS, and the difference between High and Ultra is 13 FPS. The Ultra preset at 67 FPS is the lowest measured average frame rate in the entire dataset.

The data shows that the RTX 3070 Ti can deliver high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p on most settings, but only the Low preset at 4K truly unlocks a high refresh rate experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is placed at rank 1015 out of 2980 tested combos in Overpower. This places it in the 66th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it outperforms a majority of configurations but is not at the top tier.

This ranking is a result of the balance between the CPU and GPU. The CPU is a high-end part, with a percentile rank of 96 against all CPUs, while the GPU is a mid-to-high-end part, with a percentile rank of 75 against all GPUs. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a strong but not flagship GPU results in a system that is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at lower resolutions, but it is not the absolute best for 4K Ultra settings.

The data suggests that the ranking is likely limited by the GPU. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 67 FPS, which is playable but not exceptional. If the goal is to maximize the combo's rank, the data indicates that using lower settings at 1080p or 1440p will yield frame rates in the 100-180 FPS range, which is more competitive with higher-ranked combos that may feature more powerful GPUs. The CPU's strength ensures that it is not a bottleneck in most scenarios, allowing the GPU to be the primary determinant of the final ranking.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. This high boost clock is critical for gaming performance, as it ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is often the primary factor in game engine physics and game logic. The processor also features 36 MB of shared L3 cache, which helps reduce memory latency and improve data access speeds for frequently used game assets.

In the context of Overpower, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game state. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this configuration. For example, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 183 FPS. This high frame rate is only possible if the CPU can process the game simulation fast enough to keep up with the GPU's rendering speed. The CPU's strong single-core performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303, is a key contributor to this.

The CPU's performance relative to its rivals is very close. It has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is only 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX. This suggests that in a CPU-bound scenario, the differences in frame rates would be negligible. However, the data indicates that Overpower is primarily GPU-bound at higher settings and resolutions, as seen in the significant FPS drops when increasing resolution. The CPU's high memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s and support for DDR5 memory also contribute to a smooth overall experience, ensuring that data is transferred quickly between the CPU, memory, and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of how performance scales with resolution. This scaling is a direct indicator of which component is the limiting factor in the system.

At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 183 FPS at 1080p to 163 FPS at 1440p, and then to 138 FPS at 4K. This represents a relative drop of 10.9% from 1080p to 1440p and a further 15.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. These relatively small decreases suggest that at Low settings, the system is not heavily limited by the GPU's fill rate or memory bandwidth. The CPU is able to maintain a high level of performance, and the GPU can render the simple scenes quickly.

At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 114 FPS at 1080p to 102 FPS at 1440p, and then to 87 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 10.5%, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 14.7%. This indicates that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as the resolution increases, with the 4K resolution requiring significantly more processing power.

At High settings, the frame rate drops from 106 FPS at 1080p to 94 FPS at 1440p, and then to 80 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 11.3%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 14.9%. The pattern is consistent with the Medium preset, showing an increasing GPU load at higher resolutions.

At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 88 FPS at 1080p to 78 FPS at 1440p, and then to 67 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 11.4%, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 14.1%. This is the steepest decline in absolute terms, with the 4K Ultra preset being the most demanding.

The data shows that the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not proportional to the increase in pixel count (which is 4x). This indicates that the system is not purely pixel-bound. The CPU's strong performance ensures that it can keep up with the game logic, and the GPU's memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s is sufficient to handle the increased data, but the shading and compute load at 4K is what drives the FPS down. The limiting component at higher resolutions and settings is clearly the GPU. This is evidenced by the fact that the CPU's performance is constant, while the GPU's workload increases with resolution, leading to the observed FPS declines.