Ready Or Not

Ready Or Not is a demanding tactical shooter that stresses both the CPU and GPU, and this specific pairing of an Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional frame rates, placing in the 78th percentile of all tested combos. The data shows that this combination is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU maintains a commanding lead at 1080p, resulting in a system that can push past 500 FPS on low settings but still dips to 98 FPS at 4K Ultra. The benchmark results indicate a top-tier configuration for this title, though the scaling curve reveals where each component's influence begins and ends.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It features a 24 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. In the context of Ready Or Not, this processor's multi-threaded capacity is substantial, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and its Passmark multi-thread score of 37,816.

However, the game's performance relies more heavily on the CPU's single-thread capabilities. The Core Ultra 5 235's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085 and Passmark single-thread score of 4,516 are critical indicators of how well it can process the game's AI routines and physics calculations. The processor's percentile ranking against all CPUs is 89, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of available processors in general tasks. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, with the Core Ultra 5 235 sitting within a 0.1 percent performance delta of both, indicating that its compute power is on par with these high-end mobile and desktop parts.

The relationship between the CPU's core configuration and the game's results is clear when examining the frame rates. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 531 FPS, a figure that is far beyond what any display can refresh, showing that the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution. Even at 1080p Ultra, the system holds 296 FPS, which still demonstrates a surplus of processing headroom. The 14 cores and 14 threads are more than sufficient for Ready Or Not's engine, which typically scales well with a smaller number of fast cores. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures that the game's primary thread is never starved for speed, allowing the GPU to reach its full potential in less demanding scenes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the flagship graphics card in the GeForce 50-series, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node. It houses 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a massive memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The GPU's core operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, with 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs. This hardware configuration gives it a Passmark G3D score of 39,650 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

In Ready Or Not, the RTX 5090's role is to handle the game's visual effects, including lighting, shadows, and texture detail. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what this title requires, ensuring that even at 4K Ultra settings, the memory buffer is never a constraint. The benchmark results confirm that the GPU is the dominant factor in determining performance at higher resolutions. At 4K High, the system produces 139 FPS, while at 4K Low it jumps to 175 FPS, showing that the GPU is sensitive to the graphics workload. The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, but the RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 is significantly higher than these older or lower-tier parts, indicating a generational leap in raw compute power.

The GPU's influence is most evident in the scaling from 1080p to 4K. The RTX 5090 is capable of massive frame generation when the CPU can keep up, but as resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and shading power become the bottleneck. The boost clock of 2407 MHz ensures that the GPU can sustain high throughput even under load, while the 1.79 TB/s bandwidth allows for rapid texture streaming in the game's detailed environments. The result is a card that can deliver 4K Ultra at 98 FPS, which remains smooth for a tactical shooter, but the data shows that the GPU's headroom is best exploited at 1440p where it can exceed 260 FPS on High settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 531 FPS, which drops to 335 FPS at 1440p Low, a 36.9% reduction, and further to 175 FPS at 4K Low, a 47.8% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 5090's rendering workload is increasing substantially with pixel count, while the CPU's contribution becomes less significant.

At High settings, the same trend continues: 421 FPS at 1080p, 266 FPS at 1440p, and 139 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36.8%, and from 1440p to 4K is 47.7%, showing a consistent scaling factor. This suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions above 1080p, as the Core Ultra 5 235 has enough headroom to feed the RTX 5090 at lower resolutions but cannot overcome the GPU's rendering limitations at higher pixel counts.

The transition from Medium to Ultra settings further illustrates the GPU's dominance. At 4K, the average FPS drops from 153 at Medium to 98 at Ultra, a 35.9% performance hit. At 1080p, the drop is from 463 at Medium to 296 at Ultra, a 36.1% reduction. This consistent percentage drop across resolutions indicates that the Ultra preset introduces similar additional GPU load, confirming that the graphics card is the primary bottleneck in these scenarios. The minimum FPS values, such as the 130 FPS at 4K Medium and 394 FPS at 1080p Medium, show that the system maintains stable frame pacing, with no significant CPU-induced stutters.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 78th out of 2,947 tested combos in Ready Or Not. This places the system in the top 2.6% of all configurations, indicating that it is an elite-tier setup for this game. The high rank is driven primarily by the GPU's exceptional performance, as the RTX 5090's percentile of 92 against all GPUs is higher than the CPU's percentile of 89 against all CPUs.

In terms of component pairing, the data shows that the Core Ultra 5 235 does not bottleneck the RTX 5090 in this title. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, have nearly identical average scores, and the fact that this combo achieves such high frame rates suggests that the processor is well-matched to the GPU's capabilities. The 78th rank out of 2,947 combos is a strong indicator that this pairing is effective, though it is not the absolute best, likely because other combos feature higher-end CPUs with even faster single-thread performance.

The measured FPS figures at 1440p High (266 FPS) and 4K High (139 FPS) are particularly impressive, as they exceed the refresh rates of most high-end monitors. The system's ability to maintain over 100 FPS at 4K Ultra (98 FPS is close but slightly under) demonstrates that it can handle the game's maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing playability. When compared to other tested combos, this rank of 78 suggests that there are only 77 configurations that perform better, which likely include combinations of the RTX 5090 with higher-clocked CPUs, but the Core Ultra 5 235's performance is clearly sufficient for this game's demands.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Ready Or Not at 4K Ultra settings smoothly?

A: Yes, the measured FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 98 FPS on average. While this is below the 100 FPS threshold often considered ideal, it is still a smooth experience for a tactical shooter, and the minimum FPS is not reported, but the average indicates stable performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the system achieves 531 FPS on Low and 296 FPS on Ultra, indicating that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The Core Ultra 5 235's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085, allows the RTX 5090 to operate near its maximum capacity at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's performance compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. This shows a small but measurable performance advantage over these parts in general compute tasks.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 335 on Low and 187 on Ultra. This represents a 44.2% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset, indicating that the Ultra settings impose a significant additional load on the GPU.

Q: Does the Core Ultra 5 235 have enough cache for gaming?

A: The CPU features a 24 MB shared L3 cache, which is moderately sized. The benchmark results in Ready Or Not show high frame rates, so the cache configuration does not appear to be a limiting factor in this game.

Q: Is the 32 GB VRAM on the RTX 5090 necessary for Ready Or Not?

A: The game does not require 32 GB of VRAM, as the GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and capacity are more than sufficient for the game's textures and effects. The benchmark results show no signs of memory-related performance drops, even at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional frame rates, with an average of 531 FPS on Low, 463 FPS on Medium, and 421 FPS on High. The Ultra preset reduces this to 296 FPS. The Medium preset includes minimum and maximum FPS values of 394 and 533, respectively, showing a tight frame time distribution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains high but begins to show the GPU's workload. The average FPS is 335 on Low, 292 on Medium, and 266 on High. The Ultra preset drops to 187 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution has a minimum of 248 FPS and a maximum of 336 FPS, indicating that even under heavy load, the frame rate does not dip below 248 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant factor. The average FPS is 175 on Low, 153 on Medium, and 139 on High. The Ultra preset produces an average of 98 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 176 FPS, demonstrating that the system can maintain a playable frame rate even in the most demanding scenes at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, with roughly a 60% reduction in FPS at each preset, confirming that the RTX 5090's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.