Roblox

Roblox is a peculiar title for benchmarking because its performance ceiling is rarely a fixed target—the game’s procedural, user-generated worlds scale wildly with content complexity. For this specific pairing of an Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, the measured frames per second reveal a system that is heavily front-end bound at lower resolutions but still delivers a remarkably playable experience across the board. The data shows a clear division of labor: the CPU dominates at 1080p, while the GPU begins to assert its influence as the resolution climbs toward 4K. This combination of a top-tier 24-core processor with a mid-range Ada Lovelace GPU creates a distinct performance profile that is worth dissecting for builders targeting high refresh rates in this sandbox title.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K on this system shows a classic pattern of shifting bottlenecks, but with unusually small absolute frame rate losses. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 364 FPS, which drops to 243 FPS at 2560x1440 and then to 138 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 62% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, which might sound steep, but the absolute numbers remain so high that the experience never becomes compromised. The more telling metric is the delta between High and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 126 FPS (364 vs 238), while at 4K, that same gap narrows to 48 FPS (138 vs 90). This compression of performance scaling at higher resolutions indicates that the RTX 4060 is becoming the limiting factor, but only in the sense that it cannot keep pace with the CPU’s ability to feed frames.

What is particularly striking is how well the system holds up at 4K. Even at Ultra settings, the average FPS never dips below 90, which is well within the bounds of smooth gameplay for most monitors. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a consistent drop of roughly 43-45% across all settings, suggesting that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are being taxed evenly. The RTX 4060’s 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth are clearly sufficient for Roblox’s art style, which does not rely on heavy texture streaming or complex shader work. If this were a modern AAA title, the 8 GB VRAM capacity might be a concern, but the data here indicates that Roblox’s rendering demands are modest enough that the GPU’s raw compute—15.11 TFLOPS FP32—remains the primary driver at 4K.

The most interesting data point is the 1080p to 1440p transition. At Low settings, the drop is 121 FPS (364 to 243), which is a 33% decrease. At Ultra settings, the drop is only 79 FPS (238 to 159), a 33% decrease as well. The consistency of this percentage across all quality presets suggests that the CPU is still the primary limiter at 1440p, and the GPU only starts to take over when the pixel count reaches 4K. For a user with a 144Hz monitor, this system delivers the full refresh rate at 1440p on any settings, and even at 4K, it can push past 100 FPS on High and Medium presets. The bottleneck analysis favors the CPU heavily until 4K, where the GPU’s 48 ROPs and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate start to show their limitations.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend entirely on the display’s refresh rate and resolution. At 1920x1080, the data suggests that Ultra settings are the best choice for most users. The system still produces 238 FPS average, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all 1080p monitors on the market. There is no practical reason to drop below Ultra at this resolution, as the 126 FPS penalty for maxing out the preset is invisible to the eye on a standard 144Hz panel. Even the minimum FPS at Medium settings (282 FPS) is far beyond what any display can show, so the only reason to reduce settings at 1080p would be to minimize input latency in competitive scenarios.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts slightly. Medium settings produce 221 FPS with a minimum of 188 FPS, which is still comfortably above the 144Hz threshold. High settings drop to 196 FPS, and Ultra drops to 159 FPS. For a 144Hz monitor, Ultra is still viable, but it leaves only 15 FPS of headroom above the refresh rate, which could result in occasional dips below 144 FPS in complex scenes. The data shows that Medium is the sweet spot for 1440p if you want to guarantee a locked 144 FPS with no compromises, but High is a reasonable middle ground if you prefer visual fidelity over absolute frame rate stability. The 188 FPS minimum at Medium is the safest bet for competitive play, while Ultra’s 159 FPS average is acceptable for casual exploration.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations become more prescriptive. Ultra settings produce 90 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced games. Medium settings jump to 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS, making it the best choice for a 120Hz display. High settings sit in between at 111 FPS, which is fine for a 60Hz or 120Hz panel but does not offer the same stability as Medium. Low settings at 4K yield 138 FPS, which is the only preset that can reliably drive a 144Hz 4K monitor. Given that Roblox is a sandbox game where visual clarity matters less than responsiveness, the data supports using Medium at 4K as the best balance of image quality and performance, with Low reserved for those who prioritize maximum frame rates above all else.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is an absolute monster for this game. With 24 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, the processor is essentially overkill for Roblox’s single-threaded rendering pipeline. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor until the frame rates reach their absolute peak. At 1080p Low, the system hits 364 FPS, which is almost certainly a CPU limitation, as the RTX 4060 is not being taxed at such low resolutions and quality settings. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and multi-core score of 51731 put this chip in the top 4% of all CPUs (96th percentile), and that raw single-thread performance is what drives Roblox’s physics and game logic.

The processor’s L3 cache of 36 MB shared and L2 cache of 3 MB per core provide ample room for the game’s assets, though Roblox is not a particularly cache-hungry title. The memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 is more than sufficient for the game’s needs. What matters more is the raw clock speed and IPC. The 5.80 GHz boost clock is the highest in the Core Ultra Series 2 lineup, and that translates directly to higher frame rates in a game that is often limited by a single main thread. The PassMark single-thread score of 4823 confirms this, placing it ahead of most desktop processors.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the 290K Plus is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX in average benchmark score. In Roblox specifically, the difference between the 290K Plus and the 285K would be negligible, as both have similar single-thread capabilities. However, the 290K Plus’s higher boost clock gives it a slight edge in frame rate consistency, particularly in scenarios where the game’s main thread is the bottleneck. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is doing the heavy lifting, and any user upgrading from a slower processor will see massive gains in Roblox performance with this chip.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested configurations, this combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1591 out of 3010 combos in Roblox. That places it in the 47th percentile of all tested systems, which might seem low for such a powerful CPU, but it is important to consider the context. The combo rank is likely dragged down by the GPU, which is only in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. The CPU is in the 96th percentile, but the RTX 4060’s mid-range positioning means that many lower-tier CPUs paired with high-end GPUs will outperform this setup at 4K, where the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

The ranking is not a reflection of poor performance; rather, it highlights the CPU-heavy nature of Roblox at lower resolutions. At 1080p, this combo would likely rank much higher than its overall position, as the RTX 4060 is more than capable of keeping up with the 290K Plus’s output. At 4K, the combo falls behind systems with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs, such as an RTX 4080 or 4090 paired with a mid-range chip. For a builder focused on Roblox, this ranking suggests that the CPU is overkill for the GPU, and a more balanced pairing might offer similar in-game performance for less silicon. However, for users who play other titles or run productivity workloads, the 290K Plus provides headroom that the ranking does not fully capture.

The delta between the RTX 4060 and its nearest GPU rivals is minuscule—it is 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7790 and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon 780M in average benchmark score. This tells us that the GPU is not a performance outlier in either direction; it is a solid, predictable mid-range part. The combo’s rank of 1591 out of 3010 is a direct result of this balanced, unremarkable GPU performance combined with an exceptional CPU. If the GPU were swapped for a higher-tier part, the ranking would improve dramatically, but as configured, it represents a system that is optimized for CPU-bound scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the weaker link in this pairing, but it still delivers surprisingly strong results in Roblox. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the GPU’s 272.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest by modern standards, yet the game’s low texture overhead means this is rarely a limiting factor. The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, provides 3072 shading units and 24 RT cores, though ray tracing is not a significant factor in Roblox’s default rendering. The boost clock of 2460 MHz is respectable, and the 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance is more than enough for the game’s simple geometry.

The GPU’s percentile ranking of 61 places it in the upper half of all GPUs, but its nearest rivals are all older or integrated parts, which underscores its mid-range positioning. The data shows that the RTX 4060’s performance is not the bottleneck until 4K, where its 48 ROPs and 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate struggle to keep up with the CPU’s frame generation. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is effectively idle, waiting for the CPU to feed it draw calls. The measured FPS at 1440p Ultra (159 FPS) reflects the GPU’s efficiency, as it can still push high frame rates without breaking a sweat.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for Roblox, which does not require large texture pools. However, the 128-bit memory bus could be a limitation in future updates if the game introduces higher-resolution assets. For now, the GPU’s role is to render the frame buffer and handle post-processing effects, which it does admirably. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 and PassMark G3D score of 19545 confirm that this is a competent 1080p and 1440p card, but it is not built for 4K gaming at high refresh rates. In this combo, the GPU is the ceiling for 4K performance, capping Ultra at 90 FPS and Low at 138 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 364 FPS average, which is the highest measured in this dataset. Medium settings drop to 332 FPS with a minimum of 282 FPS and a maximum of 381 FPS, indicating stable performance with only minor dips. High settings yield 293 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 238 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 126 FPS, which represents the cost of visual enhancements, but even at Ultra, the system is far beyond the refresh rate of any 1080p monitor. The minimum FPS at Medium (282 FPS) is noteworthy because it shows that even in the most demanding scenes, the system does not drop below 282 FPS, ensuring a perfectly smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains outstanding. Low settings produce 243 FPS, which is a 33% drop from 1080p. Medium settings yield 221 FPS with a minimum of 188 FPS and a maximum of 255 FPS, maintaining a smooth experience on 144Hz displays. High settings drop to 196 FPS, which is still very playable, and Ultra settings produce 159 FPS, which is just above the 144Hz threshold. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, with an average drop of about 33%. The minimum FPS at Medium (188 FPS) is critical for competitive play, as it ensures that the frame rate never dips below the refresh rate of a 144Hz monitor.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still impressive for a mid-range GPU. Low settings produce 138 FPS, which is the only preset that can drive a 144Hz 4K monitor. Medium settings yield 125 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 144 FPS, making it the best choice for a 120Hz display. High settings drop to 111 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 90 FPS, which is playable but on the edge of smoothness for fast-paced games. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in a 43-45% performance drop across all settings, which is consistent with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck. The minimum FPS at Medium (106 FPS) is still above 100 FPS, ensuring a responsive experience, but users with 144Hz 4K monitors will need to drop to Low settings to fully utilize their display’s refresh rate.