Ready Or Not

Ready Or Not is a demanding tactical shooter, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces exceptionally high frame rates across all tested settings. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with the CPU only becoming a notable factor at 1080p. This pairing delivers a smooth experience even at 4K Ultra, though the performance scaling between presets reveals clear optimization opportunities for players.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern as resolution increases, with the most significant performance drop occurring between 1080p and 1440p. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 411 FPS at 1920x1080 to 260 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 151 FPS. Moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) at High settings brings the average down to 136 FPS, another 124 FPS drop. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4090 is the primary limiting component at 1440p and 4K, as the workload shifts entirely to the GPU's rendering pipeline.

At 1080p, the system achieves staggeringly high frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of virtually all consumer monitors. The Low preset at 1080p produces an average of 519 FPS, while Medium reaches 452 FPS and High hits 411 FPS. These numbers suggest that at 1080p, the CPU begins to influence performance more heavily, as the GPU has spare capacity to render frames well beyond what the Core Ultra 5 245 can feed it. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is 108 FPS, which is proportionally smaller than the gap at 4K, where Low (171 FPS) and High (136 FPS) differ by only 35 FPS.

The 4K results are particularly telling for understanding the bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 95 FPS on Ultra to 171 FPS on Low. The spread of 76 FPS across presets at 4K is much narrower than the 230 FPS spread at 1080p (289 FPS on Ultra to 519 FPS on Low). This compression of performance at 4K confirms that the GPU is saturated, and changing graphical settings has a diminished impact on frame rate because the pixel fill rate and shader workload dominate. At 1080p, the GPU is underutilized, so lowering settings can unlock significantly more frames, but the CPU's 14 threads become the constraining factor.

The Medium preset at each resolution provides the only min/max FPS data in the measurements. At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 385 and the maximum is 520, showing a 135 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the minimum drops to 243 FPS with a maximum of 328 FPS, a variance of 85 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 127 FPS and the maximum is 172 FPS, a variance of 45 FPS. This decreasing variance at higher resolutions further supports the GPU-bound analysis, as frame time consistency improves when the GPU is the sole bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 117 out of 2947 tested combinations for Ready Or Not, placing it in the top 4% of all systems tested. This is a strong result, though it might seem surprising given the use of the flagship RTX 4090. The rank reflects the entire system's performance in this specific game, and the Core Ultra 5 245's position as the limiting factor at lower resolutions likely prevents this combo from ranking higher.

The Core Ultra 5 245 sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 48995. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (scoring 49196, a 0.4% difference), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (scoring 49228, a 0.5% difference), and the Intel Core i5-14600K (scoring 48618, a 0.8% difference). These margins are tiny, meaning the CPU is in a highly competitive performance tier where small architectural differences determine the ranking. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is also close, scoring 48698 with a 0.6% delta.

For the GPU, the RTX 4090 sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (scoring 60326, a 0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (scoring 60140, a 0.3% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (scoring 61896, a -2.5% delta). The RTX 4090's score is essentially tied with these workstation-class GPUs, though the gaming performance in Ready Or Not is clearly exceptional given the measured FPS figures.

The discrepancy between the GPU's 88th percentile ranking and the combo's 117th place out of 2947 combos suggests that the CPU is holding back the overall result. In a game like Ready Or Not, which is not heavily multi-threaded, the Core Ultra 5 245's 14 threads are sufficient for the game logic, but the single-thread performance may not be enough to fully feed the RTX 4090 at 1080p. At 4K, the combo's ranking would be much higher relative to other systems, as the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck and the CPU's limitations are masked.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache.

In Ready Or Not, the CPU's role is primarily to handle game logic, AI pathfinding, and physics calculations. The game is not known for heavy multi-threading, so the 14 threads are more than adequate. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz is what matters most for single-threaded performance, and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 reflects strong per-core capability. The multi-core score of 32924 in Cinebench R23 shows that the processor can handle heavily threaded workloads, but this is less relevant for this game.

The measured FPS data indicates that the CPU becomes the bottleneck at 1080p, where the RTX 4090 could theoretically render even more frames. At 1080p Low, the system averages 519 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability. The fact that the 1080p Ultra preset drops to 289 FPS shows that while the CPU can push high frame rates, it cannot fully compensate for the increased GPU workload at lower resolutions.

The Core Ultra 5 245's 14 threads are arranged without hyper-threading, meaning each core handles one thread. This is a design choice that favors power efficiency over multi-threaded throughput, but for a game like Ready Or Not, it is sufficient. The processor's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is a capable gaming CPU, though not at the very top tier. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, performs within 0.8% in average benchmark scores, indicating that the Core Ultra 5 245 offers comparable performance to a popular gaming processor from the previous generation.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Ready Or Not with this combo for competitive play?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 519 FPS, which is ideal for maximum responsiveness. The 1440p Low preset still delivers 327 FPS, providing a good balance between visual clarity and frame rate for competitive play.

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

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 136, which is above the 120 Hz threshold for many high-refresh-rate 4K monitors. The Ultra preset drops to 95 FPS, which is still playable but less smooth than High settings.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 5 245 compare to the Ryzen 9 7900 in overall CPU performance?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900 has an average benchmark score of 49228, while the Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995. This represents a 0.5% difference, meaning the two processors are effectively tied in performance, with the Core Ultra 5 245 slightly behind.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 worth pairing with a mid-range CPU like the Core Ultra 5 245?

A: The data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, making the CPU pairing less critical. At 1080p, the CPU limits performance, but the system still achieves over 400 FPS on High settings, so the pairing is more than adequate for most users.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only minimum FPS measurements are at Medium settings: 385 FPS at 1080p, 243 FPS at 1440p, and 127 FPS at 4K. These represent the worst-case frame drops during the test runs.

Q: Does the Core Ultra 5 245 support overclocking?

A: The multiplier is locked, meaning the CPU cannot be overclocked. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz is the maximum achievable frequency under load, and the 65 W TDP indicates it runs efficiently within its stock power limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, with the AD102 chip containing 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The GPU has 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, with 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores. The base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and memory runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed.

In Ready Or Not, the RTX 4090's massive memory bandwidth and compute resources are what drive the high frame rates at 4K. The GPU's 24 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what this game requires, ensuring no texture or geometry data ever needs to be streamed from system memory. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth allows for rapid loading of high-resolution textures, which is critical for maintaining consistent frame times in a game with complex environments.

The RTX 4090's measured performance in Ready Or Not shows it can handle even the most demanding settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 95, which is playable but shows the game's heavy use of advanced effects. The drop from High (136 FPS) to Ultra (95 FPS) at 4K is 41 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings include features that are particularly taxing on the GPU. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it is a top-tier performer, though its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are workstation cards like the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, which scores 61896, a 2.5% difference.

The GPU's performance scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the expected behavior for a high-end card. At 1080p High, the average is 411 FPS, at 1440p High it drops to 260 FPS, and at 4K High it falls to 136 FPS. The 4K result is roughly one-third of the 1080p result, which is consistent with the pixel count increasing from 2.07 million to 8.29 million. The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient to feed even high-refresh-rate displays at 1440p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of which settings preset offers the best experience for different priorities. For players targeting 4K, the High preset at 136 FPS is the optimal choice, as it provides a 41 FPS improvement over Ultra (95 FPS) while maintaining visual quality that is nearly indistinguishable from the highest settings. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 149 FPS, which is even higher than High, but the visual downgrade may not be worth the extra 13 FPS. The Low preset at 4K reaches 171 FPS, which is only 35 FPS higher than High, suggesting that the GPU is still the bottleneck even at Low settings.

At 1440p, the High preset at 260 FPS is the best balance for most users, as it exceeds the refresh rate of 240 Hz monitors and provides substantial visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 182 FPS is still smooth for high-refresh-rate displays, but the 78 FPS difference between High and Ultra represents a significant performance cost for marginal visual gains. The Medium preset at 286 FPS offers the highest frame rate among the quality presets, but the difference from High is only 26 FPS, making High the better value in terms of visual quality per frame.

For players using 1080p displays with high refresh rates (240 Hz or 360 Hz), the Medium preset at 452 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides a massive frame rate buffer while maintaining decent visual quality. The High preset at 411 FPS is also excellent and offers better visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 289 FPS is still above the threshold for 240 Hz monitors, but it is the least efficient option at 1080p, as the CPU becomes the limiting factor and the GPU's extra work does not translate into proportionally higher frame rates.

The best overall recommendation is to use the High preset at any resolution, as it consistently delivers strong performance without the steep performance penalty of Ultra settings. For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, the Low preset at 1080p (519 FPS) or 1440p (327 FPS) offers the highest possible responsiveness, though the visual quality is significantly reduced. The data clearly shows that the RTX 4090 is capable of running Ready Or Not at high frame rates in all scenarios, and the choice of preset should be based on the display's refresh rate and personal preference for visual quality over raw FPS.