Ready Or Not

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a fascinating dataset in Ready Or Not — a tactical shooter where frame rates reach extraordinary heights, yet the scaling patterns reveal much about where the true bottleneck lies. This combination, ranking 53rd out of 1,748 tested combos, demonstrates that even a last-generation 8-core CPU can feed one of the fastest consumer GPUs ever made, but only at specific resolutions and settings. The data invites a closer look at how each component contributes to the final frame count.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frames per second (FPS) drop is steep and consistent as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies dramatically by settings preset. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 sees the average FPS fall from 509.5 to 171.2 — a reduction of 338.3 FPS, or roughly 66% fewer frames. This massive decline at Low settings strongly implies the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU has plenty of headroom to feed frames at 1080p.

However, the Ultra preset tells a different story. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo averages 97.1 FPS, while at 1920x1080 Ultra it reaches 290.2 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is about 66.5% — nearly identical to the Low preset's drop. This consistency suggests that while the RTX 4090 is heavily loaded at 4K, the Ryzen 7 5700X is also being pushed hard at 1080p Ultra, creating a balanced scaling curve rather than a pure GPU cliff.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground: 455.7 FPS at 1080p, 284.8 FPS at 1440p, and 147.6 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Medium (137.2 FPS) is larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p (170.9 FPS), indicating that pixel count begins to dominate GPU load beyond 1440p. The data suggests that at 1080p, even with this powerful GPU, the CPU's single-thread performance plays a significant role in reaching those 400+ FPS figures.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X is a 5000-series processor built on the Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz can boost up to 4.60 GHz, and it carries 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 921 points in 3dmark_single_thread and 6,858 in 3dmark_16_threads, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-11900KF, scores nearly identically (26,196 avg vs. 26,214 for the 5700X), with a deltaPct of just 0.1%.

In Ready Or Not, the CPU's impact is most visible at 1080p Low, where the average FPS hits 509.5. This figure is not limited by the GPU's raw throughput but by how quickly the CPU can process game logic and draw calls. The 5700X's boost clock of 4.60 GHz appears sufficient to keep the RTX 4090 fed at this resolution, as the frame rate is over double what the GPU achieves at 4K Low (171.2 FPS). The 3dmark_max_threads score of 6,850 indicates that multi-threaded scaling is near-linear (from 6,858 at 16 threads), which likely helps maintain consistent frame delivery in a tactical shooter with many AI-driven entities.

Comparing to the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (avg score 26,272, deltaPct -0.2%), the 5700X is effectively tied in overall CPU performance, yet the 7600X is a newer architecture. This suggests that for Ready Or Not's engine, the 5700X's 8-core/16-thread configuration is not holding back the RTX 4090 in a meaningful way at any settings, except possibly at 1080p Ultra where the 290.2 FPS figure may approach the CPU's practical limit for frame generation.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 53rd out of 1,748 tested combinations in Ready Or Not, which places it in the top 3% of all tested systems. This is a strong result for a CPU that was released in April 2022 with a launch MSRP of $299 and a GPU that launched in September 2022. The rank reflects the RTX 4090's exceptional performance (91st percentile among all GPUs) combined with a CPU that, while not top-tier, provides adequate support.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (avg score 66,733, deltaPct -0.4%) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (avg score 67,097, deltaPct -0.9%). These are workstation or datacenter cards, not gaming-focused, yet the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth make it uniquely suited for high-resolution gaming. The 53rd rank out of 1,748 suggests that only a handful of CPU+GPU pairings — likely those with newer, higher-clocked CPUs — can extract even more from the RTX 4090 in this specific title.

Given that the CPU's percentileVsAllCpus is 83, the rank of 53 implies that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. If the CPU were a significant bottleneck, we would expect the combo rank to be lower (closer to 1,000). The data indicates that the 5700X is a capable partner, though not the absolute best, for the RTX 4090 in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 290.2 at Ultra to 509.5 at Low, with High at 415.0 and Medium at 455.7. The step from Medium to High costs 40.7 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 124.8 FPS — a dramatic jump that suggests the Ultra preset introduces rendering features (likely shadows, reflections, or ambient occlusion) that are disproportionately expensive at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the figures drop to 185.9 (Ultra), 257.9 (High), 284.8 (Medium), and 327.9 (Low). The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 72.0 FPS, while the gap between Low and Medium is 43.1 FPS. This pattern shows that as resolution increases, the absolute FPS differences between settings compress, because the GPU's fill-rate limits become more dominant.

At 3840x2160, the numbers are 97.1 (Ultra), 137.9 (High), 147.6 (Medium), and 171.2 (Low). The Ultra preset falls below 100 FPS, which is notable for a competitive tactical shooter where frame pacing matters. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 74.1 FPS, indicating that even at this resolution, turning down settings can nearly double the frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node and features 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines. Its boost clock is 2520 MHz, and it carries 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's passmark_g3d score is 38,194, and its 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score is 9,223, placing it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs.

In Ready Or Not, the GPU's role becomes clear when examining the 4K Ultra result of 97.1 FPS. This is the only measured configuration where the frame rate dips below 100 FPS, and it aligns with the GPU being the primary bottleneck. The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is immense, but the game's Ultra settings at 4K demand more than raw compute; the 176 ROPs and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are taxed heavily by 8.3 million pixels per frame.

The transition from Medium to High at 1080p (455.7 to 415.0 FPS) is only a 8.9% drop, while the same transition at 4K (147.6 to 137.9 FPS) is a 6.6% drop. This suggests that the High preset's additional effects are relatively cheap on the GPU, but the CPU's frame generation at 1080p High (415.0 FPS) still leaves headroom. The GPU's nearest rivals — Tesla T4, Tesla P40, Radeon Pro Vega 56 — are all outperformed by the RTX 4090 in gaming scenarios, as their benchmark scores are within 1% yet they lack the gaming-specific optimizations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 509.5, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does the combo maintain above 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra average is 97.1 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS, though it is the lowest measured result.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X has an average benchmark score of 26,214, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26,196) and 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT (26,161).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 is in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473.

Q: Is the 1080p Low result CPU-limited or GPU-limited?

A: The 509.5 FPS at 1080p Low is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU has ample headroom; the CPU's single-thread score of 921 in 3dmark suggests this is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the combo's rank out of all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 53rd out of 1,748 tested combinations in Ready Or Not.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the High preset at 415.0 FPS offers an excellent balance, as the jump to Ultra only gains 124.8 FPS in reverse (i.e., reduces FPS) but the visual fidelity increase may not justify the 30% frame rate loss. The Medium preset at 455.7 FPS is ideal for competitive play where maximum frame rate is desired, as it is only 53.8 FPS slower than Low but likely provides better visual clarity for spotting enemies.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 257.9 FPS is the recommended choice, as it sits comfortably above 240 Hz refresh rates. The Ultra preset at 185.9 FPS still provides a smooth experience for 144 Hz displays, but the High preset offers a 38.7% FPS increase with minimal visual compromise.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 147.6 FPS is the best experience per the measured rows, as it delivers high frame rates while maintaining playable visuals. The High preset at 137.9 FPS is acceptable, but Ultra at 97.1 FPS, while playable, may introduce stutter on high-refresh 4K displays. Given that the game is a tactical shooter where reaction time matters, the Medium preset at 4K provides the best combination of frame rate and visual quality, with the data showing a 50.5 FPS advantage over Ultra.