Ready Or Not

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an extremely high-end combination that delivers exceptional performance in Ready Or Not. The data shows this pairing ranks 117th out of 2947 tested combos for this title, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations. This is a system built for maxing out the game at high refresh rates, though the benchmark results reveal some interesting bottlenecks at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 117 out of 2947 is impressive, but it is not the absolute top. This position suggests that while the RTX 4090 is the dominant component for this title, the Core Ultra 7 265 is fully capable of feeding it at most settings. The CPU itself scores in the 93rd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 64640. Its nearest rivals are a tight cluster: the AMD EPYC 4464P is just 0.3% behind, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F is 0.3% ahead, and the AMD EPYC 9124 is 0.7% ahead. This indicates the 265 is a solid, mid-pack performer for high-end gaming, but it is not a class leader in pure compute.

The GPU also performs strongly, sitting in the 88th percentile among all graphics cards with an average score of 60347. Its nearest rivals are less relevant here; the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% faster, while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 is 2.9% slower. The takeaway is that this combo is built on two components that are each near the top of their respective charts, which explains the high overall rank. However, the ranking also indicates that some combos—likely those with faster CPUs like the top-tier X3D parts—can push even higher frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

The fact that this combo does not break the top 100 despite the GPU’s power points to the CPU being the limiting factor in certain conditions. In Ready Or Not, a tactical shooter with complex AI and physics, the CPU has a significant workload. The 265’s 20 cores and 20 threads are plentiful, but its single-thread performance, while strong, is not the absolute best available. This becomes more apparent when you look at the frame rate scaling across resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the data suggests the CPU is the primary limiter. The frame rates at 1080p High (411 FPS) and 1440p High (260 FPS) are incredibly high, but they do not scale proportionally with the GPU’s power. At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, dropping to 95 FPS.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 7 265 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 64640 is nearly identical to its nearest competitors. The AMD EPYC 7343 is 0.7% faster, and the AMD EPYC 9124 is 0.7% faster. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F is 0.3% slower, and the AMD EPYC 4464P is 0.3% slower. These are effectively negligible differences.

Q: What is the best settings preset to use for competitive play?

A: For the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 519 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and speed, the High preset at 1440p is excellent, offering 260 FPS. At 4K, Medium is the sweet spot, providing 149 FPS with a minimum of 127 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s 24GB of VRAM make a difference in this game?

A: The benchmark data does not show VRAM capacity being a limiting factor at any tested settings. The game runs smoothly even on the Ultra preset at 4K, which suggests that the VRAM allocation is well within the card’s capabilities. The sheer bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s helps maintain high throughput.

Q: How does the combo’s performance scale from 1080p to 4K on the High preset?

A: The frame rate drops from 411 FPS at 1080p to 260 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 136 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66.9% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is a typical pattern for a high-end GPU being progressively more stressed by pixel count.

Q: Is the RTX 4090’s performance worth its high rank, or is it overkill?

A: The data shows it is capable of running the game at over 100 FPS on Ultra at 4K, which is a significant achievement for a tactical shooter. However, given that the CPU limits performance at lower resolutions, the full potential of the GPU is only realized at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the star of this show, and its specifications explain why it dominates the higher resolution benchmarks. It is built on the AD102 chip using a 5nm process, housing 76,300 million transistors. The card has a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. Crucially, it is equipped with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a massive 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This is the key specification for 4K gaming, as it allows the GPU to quickly feed the shader cores with texture and geometry data.

The memory clock is listed at 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective. With 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the RTX 4090 is a brute force machine. Its FP32 performance is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS, which is more than enough to handle the lighting and particle effects in Ready Or Not. The card also features 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores, though the benchmark data does not specify whether ray tracing or DLSS were enabled in the tests.

In the measured results, the GPU’s role becomes clear. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 95. This is a demanding setting that pushes the GPU to its limits. The card’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are the engines that allow it to maintain playable frame rates at this resolution. The data indicates that the RTX 4090 is not the bottleneck at 1080p or 1440p; it is the CPU that holds back the frame rates. This is a classic sign of a GPU that has more headroom than the processor can provide.

The GPU’s overall benchmark score of 60347 places it in the 88th percentile, which is high but not the very top. This is likely due to the fact that the card is now end-of-life, and newer GPUs have surpassed it in raw compute. However, in this specific game, the 4090’s combination of VRAM and bandwidth makes it an ideal choice for 4K gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. The most complete data comes from the Medium preset, which includes minimum and maximum frame rates. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 452 FPS, with a minimum of 385 FPS and a maximum of 520 FPS. This shows excellent frame pacing, with the minimum still being far above any refresh rate on the market. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average drops to 286 FPS, with a minimum of 243 FPS and a maximum of 328 FPS. The consistency remains strong. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 149 FPS, with a minimum of 127 FPS and a maximum of 172 FPS. The minimum here is still very playable on a high-refresh 4K monitor.

For the High preset, the averages are 411 FPS at 1080p, 260 FPS at 1440p, and 136 FPS at 4K. The Low preset shows the system’s maximum potential: 519 FPS at 1080p, 327 FPS at 1440p, and 171 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding 289 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration where the average frame rate falls below 100 FPS.

These numbers paint a picture of a system that is overkill for 1080p and 1440p gaming. Even the Ultra preset at 1440p, which is a very high visual quality setting, produces 182 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The data strongly suggests that players with a 1440p monitor can max out the game and still enjoy a fluid experience. The 4K results are more nuanced, with the Medium preset offering a great balance of visual fidelity and performance.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the system’s bottleneck. Looking at the High preset, the performance drops from 411 FPS at 1080p to 260 FPS at 1440p, a 36.7% decrease. The drop from 1440p to 4K is from 260 FPS to 136 FPS, a 47.7% decrease. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 66.9%. This pattern indicates that the GPU is becoming more heavily utilized as resolution increases.

At 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor. The Core Ultra 7 265 is capable of producing 411 FPS on the High preset, but the RTX 4090 could likely produce more if it were not waiting for the CPU to send draw calls. This is a common scenario in CPU-bound games. The frame rate increase from High to Low at 1080p (411 to 519 FPS) shows that the CPU has a hard ceiling around 500 FPS. This is an excellent score, but it means the GPU is not working at full capacity.

As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck. At 4K, the difference between Low and High settings is 171 FPS versus 136 FPS, a 20.5% difference. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is 136 FPS versus 95 FPS, a 30.1% drop. This shows that the GPU’s pixel processing capabilities are the limiting factor at this resolution. The data clearly indicates that for this combo, 4K is the resolution where the RTX 4090’s power is fully utilized, while 1080p is where the CPU’s single-thread performance is the ceiling.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the best settings presets for different priorities. For players with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, the High preset is the recommended choice. At 1440p High, the system produces 260 FPS, which is more than enough for any high-refresh monitor. The visual quality is excellent, and the performance headroom means that any slight dips in complex scenes will not be noticeable. The Low preset offers a marginal increase in frame rate (327 FPS at 1440p) but sacrifices too much visual quality for a tactical shooter where seeing enemies is critical.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the clear winner. It produces an average of 149 FPS with a minimum of 127 FPS. This is a perfect balance. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 95 FPS, which is still playable but may feel less smooth on a 120Hz or 144Hz display. The Medium preset’s minimum of 127 FPS ensures that the game remains fluid even during intense firefights. The High preset at 4K is also viable, but the 136 FPS average is only slightly higher than Medium, suggesting that the extra visual fidelity is not worth the potential for lower minimums.

The Ultra preset is best reserved for 1440p, where it delivers 182 FPS. This provides a significant visual upgrade over High while still maintaining a frame rate that is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. In summary, the data suggests a simple rule: use High at 1080p and 1440p, and use Medium at 4K. This will provide the best experience in terms of both visual quality and smoothness. The system is so powerful that players can prioritize visual fidelity without worrying about frame rates, except at 4K Ultra, where a compromise is necessary.