Pc Building Simulator

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 lands at rank 667 out of 3,002 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator. That places this configuration in the top 22% of all tested systems, a strong showing for a mobile CPU paired with a desktop-class GPU. The combo rank reflects the unusual nature of this pairing: a 28-watt mobile processor driving one of the most powerful graphics cards available. The data suggests that while the GPU dominates raw frame production, the CPU's position in the overall hierarchy prevents this combo from climbing higher.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU sits at the 84th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 34,083. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, which scores 33,989 (a 0.3% delta), and the AMD EPYC 4244P at 34,220 (a -0.4% delta). The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 also lands at 34,222, again a -0.4% delta. The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X completes the rival group at 34,260, a -0.5% delta. These tight margins show that the Ultra 7 165H is firmly in a competitive mid-pack tier for CPU performance, not at the top where the fastest desktop chips reside.

The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 88th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 60,347. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60,140 (0.3% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores higher at 61,896, a -2.5% delta from the RTX 4090's perspective, while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 trails at 58,657, a 2.9% delta. The GPU's percentile ranking is only four points higher than the CPU's, but the raw performance gap in gaming workloads is far more pronounced, as the measured FPS data demonstrates.

The 667th rank out of 3,002 combos suggests that many other configurations achieve higher frame rates in Pc Building Simulator, likely those pairing high-end desktop CPUs with the RTX 4090. The mobile CPU's power envelope and thermal constraints likely cap performance in CPU-bound scenarios, even though the GPU has ample headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings formidable specifications to this pairing. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates across a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Memory clock speed sits at 1313 MHz, with an effective data rate of 21 Gbps. The GPU's base clock is 2235 MHz, boosting to 2520 MHz. The AD102 chip, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, contains 76,300 million transistors across a 609 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 125.3M per mm².

The RTX 4090's compute resources are substantial: 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. It also includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores. Pixel rate reaches 443.5 GPixel/s, while texture rate hits 1,290.2 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16. The card carries a 450 W TDP and requires an 850 W suggested power supply, drawing power through a single 16-pin connector.

In Pc Building Simulator specifically, the GPU's role changes depending on settings and resolution. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 58, which is only 3 frames below the High preset's 61 FPS at the same resolution. This clustering of results at 4K Ultra and High suggests the GPU is nearing its limits, though 58 FPS remains playable. The 4K Low setting achieves 122 FPS, showing that reducing graphical load more than doubles performance compared to Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 86 FPS with a range of 73 to 99 FPS, offering a balanced middle ground.

The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM is far more than needed for a simulation game of this era, but the memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures that texture streaming and asset loading at 4K resolutions are unlikely to bottleneck. The data shows that the GPU can push 350 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that at lower resolutions, the card is nowhere near its full utilization potential.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a mobile processor built on the Meteor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 7 nm process. It features 16 cores and 22 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU's TDP is rated at 28 watts, highlighting its efficiency-focused design for laptops. Cache configuration includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5, dependent on motherboard, with dual-channel configuration providing 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's capabilities: Cinebench R15 multicore scores 2,641, while single-core hits 257. Cinebench R20 improves to 9,233 multicore and 1,303 single-core. Cinebench R23 reaches 14,551 multicore and 1,759 single-core. Passmark results include 291,161 for data compression, 17,169 for data encryption, 17,299 for extended instructions, 66,273 for floating-point math, 89,415 for integer math, 25,933 for multithread, and 3,509 for single-thread performance.

In Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's impact is most visible when comparing frame rates across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 350 FPS, while at 4K Low, it drops to 122 FPS. This 228 FPS gap is primarily GPU-driven, as resolution scaling directly affects GPU load. However, at 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 176 FPS, only 9 FPS higher than 1440p Ultra's 111 FPS and 118 FPS higher than 4K Ultra's 58 FPS. The relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings (176 to 111 FPS, a 65 FPS reduction) suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's demands even at higher resolutions.

The CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads provide ample parallelism for simulation games, which often rely on multiple threads for physics, AI, and game logic. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures responsive single-threaded performance, which is critical for frame pacing in simulation titles. The 24 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, though the mobile platform's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s is modest compared to desktop platforms.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Pc Building Simulator with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1440p High delivers 117 FPS, which is smooth and visually detailed. For higher fidelity, 1440p Ultra still achieves 111 FPS. At 4K, High drops to 61 FPS and Ultra to 58 FPS, which are playable but not ideal for high-refresh displays.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H scores 34,083 on average, placing it 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (33,989) and 0.4% behind the AMD EPYC 4244P (34,220) and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (34,222). The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X scores 34,260, which is 0.5% higher.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU or vice versa?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 350 FPS, indicating the GPU has massive headroom. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 58 FPS, showing the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's 28 W TDP and mobile design likely cap performance in CPU-intensive scenarios, but the measured data shows the GPU is the primary constraint at higher settings.

Q: What is the frame rate range for the Medium preset at different resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average is 262 FPS with a range of 222 to 301 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 165 FPS with a range of 140 to 190 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 86 FPS with a range of 73 to 99 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's synthetic benchmark performance compare to its rivals?

A: The RTX 4090 averages 60,347, which is virtually tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60,140 (0.3% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61,896 (-2.5% delta), while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 trails at 58,657 (2.9% delta).

Q: Is this combo better suited for high-refresh gaming or 4K gaming?

A: The data indicates strong performance at 1440p, where High and Ultra presets deliver 117 and 111 FPS respectively, suitable for high-refresh monitors. At 4K, the combo manages 61 FPS on High and 58 FPS on Ultra, which is acceptable for 60 Hz displays but not for high-refresh 4K panels.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 350 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low reduces this to 233 FPS, a 33% drop. At 4K Low, the average falls to 122 FPS, a 65% drop from 1080p. This steep decline indicates the GPU is increasingly burdened as pixel count rises, while the CPU maintains similar per-frame work.

For High settings, the progression is 185 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p, and 61 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 68 FPS, while from 1440p to 4K it is 56 FPS. This pattern suggests diminishing returns as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the dominant bottleneck at 4K.

Ultra settings follow a similar trajectory: 176 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 65 FPS, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 53 FPS. The consistency of these deltas across presets indicates that resolution scaling is uniform, with the GPU's rendering load increasing proportionally to pixel count.

At Medium settings, the data includes min and max FPS values: 262 average (222-301) at 1080p, 165 average (140-190) at 1440p, and 86 average (73-99) at 4K. The range between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, suggesting that frame time variance becomes less pronounced at higher GPU loads.

The scaling behavior implies that at 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough frames to reach very high rates. However, at 4K, the GPU's rendering workload dominates, and the CPU's influence diminishes. The data shows that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high FPS across all presets, but at 4K, users must choose between High settings at 61 FPS or Medium at 86 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, delivering an average of 86 FPS with a range of 73 to 99 FPS. This is a 28 FPS improvement over High (61 FPS) and a 28 FPS improvement over Ultra (58 FPS), while still maintaining playable frame rates. The Low preset at 4K achieves 122 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely unnecessary for a simulation game.

At 1440p, the High preset is recommended, achieving 117 FPS average. This is only 6 FPS lower than Ultra's 111 FPS, making the extra graphical fidelity of Ultra largely unnecessary. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 165 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh displays, but High provides a better visual experience at a still-smooth frame rate.

For 1080p, the Medium preset stands out with 262 FPS average, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all monitors. High at 185 FPS and Ultra at 176 FPS are also well above 144 Hz thresholds. The Low preset hits 350 FPS, but this is overkill for any display and sacrifices visual quality. The data suggests that 1080p users should favor Ultra settings, as the 176 FPS average remains exceptionally smooth.

Considering the entire data set, the Medium preset at 1440p provides the most balanced experience, with 165 FPS average and a range of 140 to 190 FPS. This configuration maximizes the combo's strengths without pushing the GPU into diminishing returns at 4K. For users prioritizing visual fidelity, 1440p High at 117 FPS is a strong alternative that remains well within the playable range.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 (4K), the combo achieves the following averages: Low at 122 FPS, Medium at 86 FPS (73-99 range), High at 61 FPS, and Ultra at 58 FPS. The progression shows a steep drop from Low to Medium (36 FPS), a smaller drop from Medium to High (25 FPS), and a minimal drop from High to Ultra (3 FPS). This pattern indicates that the Ultra preset offers negligible improvement over High while costing 3 FPS, making High the more efficient choice at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 233 FPS, Medium at 165 FPS (140-190 range), High at 117 FPS, and Ultra at 111 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 68 FPS, from Medium to High is 48 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 6 FPS. The small delta between High and Ultra mirrors the 4K result, reinforcing that the Ultra preset provides marginal visual gains at significant performance cost.

At 1920x1080, the averages are: Low at 350 FPS, Medium at 262 FPS (222-301 range), High at 185 FPS, and Ultra at 176 FPS. The deltas are 88 FPS from Low to Medium, 77 FPS from Medium to High, and 9 FPS from High to Ultra. The 1080p data shows larger absolute gaps between presets, but the relative pattern remains consistent: the High-to-Ultra transition is the least punishing.

The min and max FPS data, available only for Medium presets, shows that frame variance is highest at 1080p (222-301, a 79 FPS spread) and narrows at 1440p (140-190, a 50 FPS spread) and 4K (73-99, a 26 FPS spread). This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU's frame delivery varies more, while at higher resolutions, the GPU's consistent workload smooths out frame pacing.