Ready Or Not

# Ready Or Not — Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a highly capable Ready Or Not experience, with measured frame rates that scale predictably across resolutions and settings. Benchmark data indicates this pairing is firmly in the upper tier of tested configurations, ranking 246th out of 3,714 combos in this game, placing it in the top 7% of all tested systems. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at lower resolutions, but begins to show a more balanced workload as pixel count rises, with the CPU's 10 cores and 10 threads proving sufficient to feed the RTX 4080's substantial rendering throughput.

Resolution Scaling

Frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep, reflecting the RTX 4080's raw rasterization power being increasingly taxed by pixel count. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 372 FPS at 1920x1080 to 235 FPS at 2560x1440, a 37% reduction, and then further to 123 FPS at 3840x2160, a 67% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates that at 1080p, the system is not fully GPU-bound, as the CPU can keep pace with the GPU's output, leaving headroom that is progressively consumed as resolution climbs.

The Low preset shows a similar trajectory: 469 FPS at 1080p, 296 FPS at 1440p, and 155 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 67%, nearly identical to the High preset's 67% reduction, which suggests that the rendering pipeline's resolution sensitivity is consistent across quality levels. However, the absolute headroom at 1080p Low (469 FPS) versus 1080p High (372 FPS) reveals that the GPU is still the primary limiter even at the lowest settings, as reducing graphical load yields a 26% frame rate increase.

At 4K, the gap between presets narrows considerably in relative terms. The difference between Low (155 FPS) and High (123 FPS) is 26%, while at 1080p the same comparison shows a 21% gap. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint, and even lowering settings cannot fully compensate for the sheer number of pixels being shaded. The Medium preset at 4K (135 FPS) sits between Low and High, as expected, while Ultra drops to 86 FPS, a 44% reduction from High, indicating that Ultra's additional effects impose a significant rendering cost at high resolution.

The scaling behavior implies that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the system can exceed 400 FPS on Medium and Low, suggesting the CPU is nearing its effective limit for this game's simulation and draw-call overhead, though it still manages to drive the GPU to very high output. At 4K, the RTX 4080's compute and memory bandwidth become the clear bottleneck, with even the fastest presets falling to triple-digit frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivers 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth and a boost clock of 2505 MHz. These specifications directly support the measured frame rates: at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 112 ROPs are tasked with heavy pixel shading, resulting in 86 FPS, which is still highly playable but represents a 44% drop from High settings. The 16 GB memory capacity is not a limiting factor in this game at any tested setting, as even Ultra presets at 4K remain well within the memory budget.

The GPU's pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are reflected in the scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 409 FPS, with a minimum of 348 FPS and maximum of 471 FPS, indicating that the GPU is capable of sustaining high throughput without stutter-inducing drops. The 2560x1440 Medium result (258 FPS average, 220 FPS minimum, 297 FPS maximum) shows a 37% reduction from 1080p, consistent with the pixel count increase of 78%, meaning the GPU's fill-rate capabilities are scaling as expected.

The RTX 4080's benchmark profile further contextualizes its gaming performance. It scores 34457 in Passmark G3D and 20671 in GPU Compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567. These synthetic results place it just 0.1% ahead of the RTX 4080 SUPER in average benchmark score, and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, indicating that in-game results are representative of a GPU that is at the upper echelon of current hardware. The 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms that this card outperforms the vast majority of installed hardware, which is consistent with the high frame rates observed in Ready Or Not.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in Ready Or Not?

A: Yes. The measured average frame rate at 3840x2160 Ultra is 86 FPS, which is 43% above the 60 FPS threshold. The data shows no minimum frame rate reported for this preset, but the average suggests comfortable headroom for consistent gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its direct successor in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54247 is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER's 54209, according to nearest rival data. This indicates virtually identical performance in general GPU workloads, with the non-SUPER variant holding a negligible edge in the aggregate score.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average at 2560x1440 High is 235 FPS, with no minimum or maximum values reported. This is 91% higher than the 4K High result, making 1440p High an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests partial CPU limitation at 1080p. The jump from Low (469 FPS) to Medium (409 FPS) to High (372 FPS) shows diminishing returns as settings increase, but even the lowest preset exceeds 460 FPS, indicating the CPU can still drive very high frame rates, albeit not reaching the GPU's theoretical maximum output.

Q: Is the 16 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The RTX 4080's 16 GB GDDR6X memory is not a limiting factor in any measured configuration. The highest memory-intensive preset (4K Ultra) still achieves 86 FPS, and there are no indications of memory-related performance degradation in the data.

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

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 246th out of 3,714 tested combos in Ready Or Not, placing it in the top 7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the balanced performance of the Ultra 5 225 and RTX 4080 pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 469 FPS, Medium 409 FPS (with a minimum of 348 and maximum of 471), High 372 FPS, and Ultra 261 FPS. The 1080p results show that even the most demanding Ultra preset exceeds 260 FPS, making this resolution suitable for extreme refresh rate displays, though the CPU's 10 threads may begin to limit the absolute ceiling above 400 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very high but scale predictably. Low averages 296 FPS, Medium 258 FPS (220 minimum, 297 maximum), High 235 FPS, and Ultra 165 FPS. The 1440p Medium result shows a tight 77 FPS range between minimum and maximum, suggesting stable frame pacing. The Ultra preset at 1440p still delivers 165 FPS, which is 92% higher than the 4K Ultra result, making 1440p Ultra a viable option for high-refresh 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes substantial. Low averages 155 FPS, Medium 135 FPS (115 minimum, 155 maximum), High 123 FPS, and Ultra 86 FPS. The 4K Medium preset's minimum of 115 FPS indicates that even in demanding scenes, the system stays well above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset's 86 FPS average is the only measured configuration below 100 FPS, but it remains comfortably playable for immersive 4K gameplay.

The preset scaling within each resolution is consistent: Low to Medium yields a 12-13% frame rate reduction, Medium to High another 8-9%, and High to Ultra a 30-33% drop. This pattern suggests that Ultra settings impose a disproportionately high rendering cost, likely due to advanced lighting and shadow effects, while Medium offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination holds the 246th rank out of 3,714 tested combos in Ready Or Not, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all configurations. This ranking is consistent with the hardware's individual standings: the CPU ranks in the 85th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 86th percentile among all graphics cards. The combo's top-7% placement suggests that the pairing works harmoniously, with neither component disproportionately limiting the other's performance in this game.

Relative to the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ultra 5 225's average benchmark score of 36938 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36945, 0% delta), and slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta). This indicates that the CPU's gaming performance is well-matched to its peers, and the combo's high rank is attributable more to the GPU's strength than any CPU advantage. The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar picture: the RTX 4080's 54247 average score is within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 SUPER, and 2.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB.

The rank of 246 out of 3714 means that 93.4% of tested combos score lower in this game. This places the system in the upper tier of gaming configurations, suitable for high-refresh-rate 1440p and smooth 4K gameplay, as the measured frame rates confirm. The combination's strong ranking is a direct result of the RTX 4080's high-end rasterization performance paired with a CPU capable of sustaining high frame rates without bottlenecking.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225, with 10 cores and 10 threads, operates at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boosts to 4.90 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture processor, built on TSMC's 3 nm process, features 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. In Ready Or Not, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI, and draw-call submission, which is reflected in the 1080p frame rates exceeding 400 FPS on Medium and Low presets.

The CPU's benchmark scores support its gaming capability: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655 indicate strong single-thread performance, which is critical for this game's frame pacing. The Passmark single-thread score of 4412 and multithread score of 30459 further corroborate balanced performance. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms 85% of tested CPUs, which is sufficient to avoid significant bottlenecks at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

At 1080p, the CPU's 10 threads appear to be the limiting factor for frame rates above 400 FPS, as the scaling from Low (469 FPS) to Medium (409 FPS) shows a 13% reduction, which is larger than the equivalent 9% reduction at 1440p. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU's ability to issue draw calls becomes the bottleneck, while at higher resolutions, the GPU's rendering workload dominates. The CPU's 4.90 GHz boost clock helps mitigate this limitation, but the 10-thread configuration means it cannot fully utilize the GPU's potential at the lowest resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that Medium settings offer the best balance of performance and visual quality across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 409 FPS with a minimum of 348 FPS, providing a 17% frame rate improvement over High and a 57% improvement over Ultra, while still maintaining high visual fidelity. At 1440p, Medium's 258 FPS (220 minimum) is 10% faster than High and 56% faster than Ultra, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate 1440p displays.

For 4K gaming, Medium at 135 FPS (115 minimum) is the recommended choice, as it stays above 100 FPS even in the worst-case minimum, while High drops to 123 FPS and Ultra to 86 FPS. The 4K Medium result offers a 57% frame rate advantage over Ultra while likely retaining most of the visual enhancements, based on the preset scaling pattern. Low settings are only recommended for competitive play at 1080p, where 469 FPS provides the lowest latency, but the visual compromise is significant.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, with 4K Ultra at 86 FPS being the only measured configuration below 100 FPS. While still playable, the 30-33% frame rate drop from High to Ultra across all resolutions suggests that Ultra's additional effects carry a heavy cost. For systems targeting 100+ FPS at 4K, High settings at 123 FPS are the better choice, while 1440p users can comfortably run Ultra at 165 FPS if visual fidelity takes priority over the 70 FPS headroom that Medium provides.