Ready Or Not

Ready Or Not is a demanding tactical shooter, and the benchmark results for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B390 reveal a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics solution. The data shows a configuration where the CPU’s substantial processing power is largely left unused, as the integrated GPU becomes the primary bottleneck across all tested resolutions and settings. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, scaling characteristics, and what users can realistically expect from this specific hardware combination.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 99 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 62 FPS, representing a 37% performance loss. The jump to 4K High is even more severe, with the average plummeting to 33 FPS, which is a 47% reduction from the 1440p figure and a 67% drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the Intel Arc B390’s rendering capabilities are being saturated quickly as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern across all settings confirms this GPU limitation. With Low settings, the system achieves 125 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 41 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 37%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 48%. These percentages are nearly identical to those seen at High settings, suggesting that the GPU is the limiting factor regardless of the graphical load. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the percentage drops to widen significantly at lower resolutions where the CPU has more work relative to the GPU.

At 4K Ultra, the system bottoms out at 23 FPS average, which is barely playable. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 18 FPS (41 vs 23), while at 1080p that same gap is 56 FPS (125 vs 69). This compression of performance at higher resolutions further underscores that the Arc B390 is running out of pixel-pushing capability. The data indicates that this combo is only viable for smooth gameplay at 1080p, with 1440p being a stretch and 4K being largely impractical for anything beyond static scenes or low-intensity firefights.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and performance is found at 1080p Medium, which delivers an average of 109 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold for most players while still offering better visual fidelity than Low settings. The 16 FPS difference between Medium and High at 1080p (109 vs 99) is noticeable, but the Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 92 ensures more consistent frame pacing during chaotic encounters.

For users who prioritize smoothness above all else, 1080p Low is the only preset that pushes beyond 120 FPS average, hitting 125 FPS. However, the visual downgrade in a game like Ready Or Not, which relies heavily on environmental readability and lighting, may hinder situational awareness. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 69 FPS average, which is playable but leaves little headroom for drops during intense firefights or when multiple AI opponents are active.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the only reasonable choice, producing 69 FPS average with a minimum of 58 FPS. This is borderline but can work with adaptive sync. High at 1440p drops to 62 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS; Medium is the best at 36 FPS average, but even this is likely too choppy for a tactical shooter where precision aiming is critical. The data strongly suggests sticking to 1080p for this combo.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2611 out of 2947 tested combos in Ready Or Not. This places it in the bottom 11% of all configurations, which is a poor result for a system built around a flagship-class CPU. The ranking is almost entirely dragged down by the GPU’s performance, as the CPU itself sits in the 96th percentile among all processors.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in general benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scores 0.2% higher on average, and the AMD EPYC 4584PX, which is 1.1% higher. These are all high-end desktop and server parts, confirming that the processor is not the limiting factor in this gaming scenario. The GPU, however, ranks in the 9th percentile among all graphics cards, with its nearest rivals being legacy NVIDIA parts like the GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% higher) and the GeForce 800M (1.5% higher). This places the Arc B390 in the company of entry-level mobile GPUs from over a decade ago in terms of raw compute performance.

The disparity between the CPU’s 96th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 9th percentile ranking creates a profoundly unbalanced system for gaming. The combo’s 2611th place finish out of 2947 is a direct consequence of this mismatch. In practical terms, this means the system has the theoretical headroom to run Ready Or Not at much higher frame rates if paired with a discrete GPU, but as configured, it is firmly in the low-end tier for this specific title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 125 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 109 FPS with a minimum of 92 and a maximum of 125. High settings average 99 FPS, while Ultra drops to 69 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 16 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs another 10 FPS. The largest single-step drop is from High to Ultra, which costs 30 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset includes effects that are particularly heavy on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, performance falls off sharply. Low settings average 79 FPS, which is a 37% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 69 FPS with a minimum of 58 and a maximum of 79. High settings average 62 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 35 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 56 FPS gap at 1080p, but the absolute numbers are much lower, making even the Low preset feel less responsive.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 41 FPS, Medium averages 36 FPS with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 41, High averages 33 FPS, and Ultra drops to 23 FPS. The minimum FPS of 30 at 4K Medium is significant because it represents the floor of the system’s performance envelope; this is the worst-case scenario for the combo in this game. No 4K preset achieves a 60 FPS average, and even the best case (Low at 41 FPS) is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a first-person shooter.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated GPU based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel’s 3nm process node. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. Its memory configuration is listed as "System Shared," meaning it draws from the main system DDR5 memory rather than having dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is described as "System Dependent," which means performance can vary based on the system’s RAM configuration and speed.

With 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, the Arc B390 has a peak pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards. The GPU also includes 12 ray tracing cores, and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so it is feature-complete for Ready Or Not’s rendering requirements. The issue is not a lack of API support, but rather raw throughput.

The GPU’s 80 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm it is a power-efficient integrated solution, not a high-performance discrete card. Its benchmark score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 is 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile. This low score is the clearest indicator of its performance class. In Ready Or Not, the GPU’s limited memory bandwidth and compute capacity are the primary reasons why 4K performance collapses to 23-41 FPS. The system memory sharing also means that the CPU and GPU compete for the same memory bandwidth, which can introduce additional latency in demanding scenes.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where the system consistently exceeds 60 FPS across most settings. At 1440p, only the Low preset averages above 70 FPS, while 4K never reaches 60 FPS on any preset.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Ready Or Not?

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 41 on Low settings, and the Ultra preset drops to 23 FPS. These results are below the playable threshold for a tactical shooter.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus perform compared to its closest rival?

A: The CPU scores 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K in average benchmark scores, and 1.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 4584PX. This places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is not the bottleneck in this system.

Q: Why does the combo rank so low (2611 out of 2947) if the CPU is powerful?

A: The combo’s rank is determined by the overall gaming performance, which is limited by the Intel Arc B390 GPU. The GPU ranks in the 9th percentile, dragging the entire system’s rank down despite the CPU’s high percentile.

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

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 30, which occurs at 4K Medium settings. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 58 FPS, and at 1080p Medium, the minimum is 92 FPS.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 69 FPS, which is 40 FPS lower than the Medium preset. Given that the Medium preset offers a 109 FPS average with a 92 FPS minimum, the visual gains from Ultra do not justify the significant performance hit.