Ready Or Not

# Ready Or Not with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces an extraordinary performance profile in Ready Or Not, with measured average frame rates ranging from 95 FPS at 4K Ultra to 519 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination sits at rank 117 out of 2,947 tested combos in this tactical shooter, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations. The data reveals a system with immense headroom at lower resolutions, while the 4K Ultra preset finally begins to stress the hardware meaningfully, suggesting a complex interplay between the 14-core Arrow Lake processor and the AD102-based flagship GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling at higher settings, but the shape of that scaling curve is far from uniform. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, average FPS drops from 411 to 260, a reduction of approximately 37%. The same resolution step at Low settings shows a smaller relative decline, from 519 to 327 FPS, roughly 37% as well. However, the 1440p to 4K transition tells a different story: at High settings, FPS falls from 260 to 136, a 48% drop, while at Low settings, the decline is from 327 to 171 FPS, a 48% reduction. This consistent proportional scaling across resolution steps suggests the RTX 4090's 24 GB GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are being exercised heavily, but the GPU remains the primary constraint at every resolution.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (519 FPS) and Ultra (289 FPS) is 230 FPS, or roughly 44% lower performance at Ultra. At 4K, Low delivers 171 FPS while Ultra drops to 95 FPS, a 76 FPS gap that represents a 44% reduction as well. Interestingly, the proportional penalty for Ultra settings stays nearly constant across resolutions, which implies that the additional shading work from Ultra settings scales uniformly with pixel count rather than exposing a different bottleneck. The 4K Ultra result of 95 FPS is the only measured row below 100 FPS, indicating that this combo only begins to feel constrained at the absolute maximum settings and resolution combination.

What the data suggests about the limiting component is nuanced. At 1080p Low, the system produces 519 FPS, a figure so high that it likely approaches the engine's internal frame rate limits or the CPU's single-thread ceiling. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235's boost clock of 5.00 GHz and its PassMark single-thread score of 4,516 support this interpretation, as does the fact that the 1080p Medium min FPS of 385 is still extraordinarily high. When resolution jumps to 4K, the RTX 4090's pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s becomes the more relevant specification, and the FPS drops accordingly. The data implies a system that is CPU-limited at 1080p, transitioning to GPU-limited territory at 4K, with the crossover occurring somewhere between 1440p and 4K depending on settings.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 117 out of 2,947 tested combos, this configuration sits comfortably within the top percentile of all systems tested in Ready Or Not. The combo rank reflects the synergistic performance of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and RTX 4090 together, and the data shows that this pairing achieves frame rates that most systems cannot approach. The CPU alone holds an 89th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, while the GPU holds an 88th percentile versus all GPUs, so both components are individually strong performers. However, the combined rank of 117 out of 2,947 suggests that the pairing extracts more from Ready Or Not than either component's standalone percentile would predict.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for why this combo ranks so highly. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235's average benchmark score of 46,062 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030) and within 0.1% of the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098). This tight clustering means the Ultra 5 235 is essentially performance-equivalent to those mobile flagship processors in general benchmarks, but in Ready Or Not specifically, the desktop platform advantages may contribute to the high combo rank. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth on dual-channel DDR5 likely help maintain consistent frame delivery in this tactical shooter's CPU-intensive scenarios.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database tell a different story. The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60,347 is essentially tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, 0% delta) and within 0.3% of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140). Yet the RTX 4090's measured performance in Ready Or Not, particularly the 4K High result of 136 FPS, far exceeds what those workstation-class rivals would likely achieve in gaming workloads. This discrepancy between synthetic benchmark scores and real-world game performance highlights the RTX 4090's gaming-oriented design, with its 16,384 shading units and 128 RT cores providing capabilities that generic compute benchmarks may not fully capture.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's specifications paint a picture of a GPU designed to obliterate resolution and settings barriers. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which the 4K results suggest is being utilized effectively. The memory clock of 1,313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) combined with the 176 ROPs and 512 TMUs enables the 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate that the measured frame rates depend on. In Ready Or Not, a game that features detailed environments and multiple AI opponents, these specifications translate directly to the 136 FPS average at 4K High and 95 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's boost clock of 2,520 MHz and base clock of 2,235 MHz are relatively modest for a flagship, but the Ada Lovelace architecture's efficiency means those clocks produce 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. This compute throughput, combined with 512 tensor cores and 128 RT cores, provides headroom for any ray-traced effects or DLSS features that Ready Or Not might utilize, though the measured data does not specify which rendering features were active. The fact that 4K Medium produces 149 FPS versus 136 FPS at 4K High, a 13 FPS difference, suggests that the GPU has sufficient resources to handle the step from Medium to High without dramatic cost, but the jump to Ultra (95 FPS) represents a much larger 36% performance hit.

The RTX 4090's PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 271,631 indicate strong raw graphics performance, but the Ready Or Not data reveals that even this GPU has limits. The 4K Ultra result of 95 FPS, while still playable, shows that the game's Ultra preset demands more than even the most powerful consumer GPU can deliver at 60+ FPS with massive headroom. The transition from 1440p Ultra at 182 FPS to 4K Ultra at 95 FPS represents a 48% performance drop, which aligns closely with the pixel count increase from 3.7 million to 8.3 million pixels, indicating purely pixel-bound scaling at Ultra settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for this combo shows consistent performance hierarchy across all twelve tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 519 FPS at Low, 452 FPS at Medium (with a min of 385 and max of 520), 411 FPS at High, and 289 FPS at Ultra. These numbers are so high that they likely exceed the refresh rate capabilities of most displays, suggesting that at 1080p, the system is delivering frame rates that are effectively limited by CPU or engine constraints rather than GPU capabilities. The 1080p Medium min FPS of 385 is higher than the 4K Ultra average of 95 FPS by a factor of four, illustrating the massive performance range available from this hardware.

At 2560x1440, the results remain extremely high: 327 FPS at Low, 286 FPS at Medium (min 243, max 328), 260 FPS at High, and 182 FPS at Ultra. The 1440p Medium min FPS of 243 is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many high-end monitors offer, meaning this combo can drive fast refresh displays at 1440p with any settings. The step from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 78 FPS (260 to 182), a 30% reduction, which is less severe than the 36% reduction seen at 4K for the same settings step. This suggests that at 1440p, the GPU has enough bandwidth and compute headroom to absorb some of the Ultra preset's additional demands without proportional FPS loss.

At 3840x2160, the results become more stratified: 171 FPS at Low, 149 FPS at Medium (min 127, max 172), 136 FPS at High, and 95 FPS at Ultra. The 4K Medium min FPS of 127 is the lowest measured minimum across all resolutions and settings, indicating that even at Medium settings, 4K can produce frame dips below 130 FPS. The gap between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 76 FPS, which is significant but still leaves the Ultra preset at a playable 95 FPS average. The measured data shows that every settings tier at 4K, from Low to Ultra, remains above 60 FPS, which is the key threshold for smooth gameplay experience in a tactical shooter.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235's role in this combo becomes evident when examining the 1080p results, where the GPU is not the primary constraint. With 14 cores and 14 threads running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz, this Arrow Lake-S processor provides substantial single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,516. Ready Or Not, like many tactical shooters, likely depends heavily on single-threaded game logic and AI pathfinding, which would explain why the 1080p Low result of 519 FPS appears to be CPU-limited rather than GPU-limited.

The CPU's multi-core capabilities, demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and PassMark multi-thread score of 37,816, ensure that background tasks and game threads do not starve the main simulation loop. The 24 MB shared L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming, as it allows frequently accessed game data to remain on-die, reducing memory latency. The dual-channel DDR5 memory interface providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth is adequate for feeding both the CPU and GPU, though it is notably lower than the RTX 4090's own 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, reinforcing that the GPU has its own dedicated memory pool.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46,062, places it in the same performance tier as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% faster) and Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% slower). However, the fact that this desktop CPU with a 65 W TDP achieves parity with those higher-power mobile parts suggests excellent efficiency from the 3 nm TSMC process. In Ready Or Not, the CPU's performance is sufficient to never bottleneck the GPU at 4K, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, but with frame rates above 400 FPS at most settings, this limitation is purely academic for real-world use.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings based on display capabilities and performance priorities. For 4K displays, the High preset at 136 FPS offers the best balance between visual quality and performance, delivering nearly double the frame rate of Ultra (95 FPS) while maintaining substantially better visuals than Medium (149 FPS). The 13 FPS difference between Medium and High at 4K is small enough that High is the obvious choice for 4K users, as the visual upgrade likely outweighs the modest FPS cost. For users with 120 Hz 4K displays, the High preset delivers 136 FPS, comfortably above the refresh rate, while Ultra at 95 FPS would require VRR to avoid screen tearing.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 286 FPS with a minimum of 243 FPS is arguably the sweet spot for competitive play, as it offers the highest guaranteed frame rate above 240 Hz that the data shows. The High preset at 260 FPS is also excellent, and the 26 FPS difference between Medium and High is small enough that High may be preferable for visual quality without sacrificing the ability to drive a 240 Hz display. Ultra at 1440p delivers 182 FPS, which still exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, making it viable for high-refresh displays that are not 240 Hz. The choice between Medium, High, and Ultra at 1440p depends on whether the user prioritizes absolute frame rate or visual fidelity, with all three options providing excellent performance.

For 1080p displays, the data shows that even Ultra settings at 289 FPS exceed the refresh rate of all but the most extreme gaming monitors. The Medium preset at 452 FPS with a minimum of 385 FPS provides the highest minimum frame rate of any configuration, making it the safest choice for maintaining consistent frame delivery. However, since all 1080p settings produce average FPS above 280, the recommendation is to use Ultra settings for maximum visual quality, as the 289 FPS average still provides headroom above 240 Hz displays. The 1080p Low result of 519 FPS is only relevant for esports-style play where frame rate is the sole priority, but the visual quality sacrifice at Low is substantial in a game like Ready Or Not where environmental detail affects situational awareness.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Ready Or Not?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 519, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The 1080p Medium preset delivers 452 FPS, while 1080p High produces 411 FPS.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 95 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Ultra preset does not list a minimum FPS, but the average suggests comfortable performance.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 46,062 is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030), 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098), and 0.2% higher than both the AMD EPYC 4364P (45,970) and AMD EPYC 7303 (45,960).

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 411 at 1920x1080 to 260 at 2560x1440, and further to 136 at 3840x2160. This represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM sufficient for Ready Or Not at maximum settings?

A: The data shows the 4K Ultra preset averages 95 FPS, indicating the 24 GB GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's demands at all tested settings and resolutions.

Q: What is this combo's rank among all tested configurations in Ready Or Not?

A: This combo ranks 117th out of 2,947 tested combos, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations tested in this game.