Undisputed

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a striking contrast: a high-end 12-core desktop processor driving an integrated-class GPU. The measured frame rates in Undisputed reveal a system where graphical output is the definitive bottleneck, yet the CPU’s headroom ensures consistent, predictable scaling across settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and tells a clear story. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 127 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 92 FPS, a 27.5% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 58 FPS, which is 54.3% below the 1080p result. This pattern is consistent across all settings, indicating that the rendering pipeline, not the CPU, is the limiting factor.

The data suggests a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p High, the average is 76 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 55 FPS (a 27.6% decrease), and at 4K High, it plummets to 35 FPS (a 53.9% decrease from 1080p). The nearly identical percentage drops across Low and High presets are a strong signal that the CPU is feeding frames faster than the GPU can process them, even at lower resolutions. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are not the constraint here; the GPU's fill rate and shader output are.

The most telling data point is the 4K Ultra result: 22 FPS. This is a 82.7% drop from the 1080p Low score. The scaling is not linear; it's exponential, which is typical when the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute units are saturated. The B390's 1536 shading units and 24 ROPs are simply overwhelmed by the pixel count at 2160p. The 1080p Medium result of 91 FPS versus the 1440p Medium result of 66 FPS shows a 27.5% penalty, again mirroring the other presets. This consistency implies that the game's engine is scaling resolution demands uniformly, and the GPU is the sole arbiter of performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves?

A: The highest measured average is 127 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 22 FPS, which is not playable for most users.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The FPS drops are directly proportional to resolution increases, and the CPU's high multi-threaded scores (e.g., 32,172 in Cinebench R23) suggest it has ample headroom.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 92 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 35 FPS. This represents a 61.9% performance reduction when moving to the highest preset.

Q: Does the combo's rank reflect its gaming performance?

A: The combo ranks 2491 out of 2813 tested combos in Undisputed. This low rank (in the bottom 11.4%) is consistent with the GPU's low benchmark percentile of 9, confirming that the graphics solution is the limiting factor.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate is stable enough for competitive play?

A: At 1080p Low, the 127 FPS average provides a smooth experience. At 1080p Medium, the 91 FPS average with a minimum of 78 FPS also offers a stable, high-refresh-rate experience.

Settings Recommendations

Given the data, the optimal experience balances visual fidelity with frame rate stability. For 1080p, the Medium preset is the sweet spot. It delivers an average of 91 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS, ensuring consistent performance above 60 FPS. High settings at 1080p (76 FPS) are also viable, but the 15 FPS drop from Medium is a significant trade-off for marginal visual gains. Low settings at 1080p (127 FPS) are only recommended for users with high-refresh-rate monitors (144Hz+) who prioritize maximum smoothness over visual quality.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset (92 FPS) is the only setting that guarantees a consistently high frame rate. Medium (66 FPS) is playable, but the minimum of 56 FPS means it will dip below 60 FPS in demanding scenes. High (55 FPS) and Ultra (35 FPS) are not recommended for a fluid experience. For 4K, none of the presets offer a consistently playable experience; even Low (58 FPS) is borderline, and the Ultra preset (22 FPS) is a slideshow.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming. The 91 FPS Medium result provides the best balance, offering a 78 FPS minimum that keeps the action smooth. The measured minimums for Medium (78 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, 36 FPS at 4K) are crucial; they show that the GPU's performance is not just average-bound but has significant frame time variance at higher resolutions. The recommendation is clear: stick to 1080p Medium for a stable, visually acceptable experience, or drop to Low for maximum frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the results are: Low at 127 FPS, Medium at 91 FPS (with a minimum of 78 FPS and maximum of 105 FPS), High at 76 FPS, and Ultra at 49 FPS. This shows a clear hierarchy where each preset increment costs roughly 15-20% performance.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are: Low at 92 FPS, Medium at 66 FPS (minimum 56, maximum 76), High at 55 FPS, and Ultra at 35 FPS. The jump from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 27% performance across all settings, which is a substantial penalty. The Medium preset's minimum of 56 FPS is notably close to the average of 66 FPS, suggesting some frame pacing inconsistencies.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 58 FPS, Medium at 42 FPS (minimum 36, maximum 48), High at 35 FPS, and Ultra at 22 FPS. The 4K results are universally poor for smooth gameplay. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 16 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is only 7 FPS. This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU is hitting a hard architectural limit at this resolution. The Ultra preset's 22 FPS is less than a third of the 1080p Low score, highlighting the GPU's inability to handle the pixel throughput required at 2160p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2491 out of 2813 tested combinations in Undisputed. This places it in the bottom 11.4% of all tested systems. This ranking is largely dictated by the GPU, which has a percentile of 9 among all GPUs. The Intel Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad is extremely low, and its nearest rivals are legacy parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (deltaPct of 1.3) and GT 710 (deltaPct of 2.7).

The CPU, in contrast, is a top-tier part. The Ryzen 9 9900X has a percentile of 92 against all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 57,498. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900 (deltaPct of -1.1) and the AMD EPYC 9015 (deltaPct of -0.1). This massive discrepancy between CPU and GPU capability is the defining characteristic of this combo. The ranking suggests that in a game like Undisputed, which is not heavily CPU-dependent, the GPU's low performance floor drags the entire system down to the bottom percentile. If the game were more CPU-bound, the ranking might be higher, but the data shows that resolution scaling is the dominant factor.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture. Its base clock is 4.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This CPU is a performance powerhouse, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,172 and a single-core score of 2,253. The single-thread performance is critical for game logic and physics, and the data shows it is more than sufficient for Undisputed.

The CPU's memory bandwidth is 89.6 GB/s, and it supports DDR5 memory. In this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process the boxing simulation's AI and physics. The high multi-threaded scores (e.g., 54,643 in Passmark multithread) suggest that even if the game were to use multiple threads for crowd simulation or physics, the 9900X would not break a sweat. The fact that FPS scales so consistently with resolution changes proves that the CPU is not the bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, we would see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions (e.g., 1080p Low and 1080p Medium would have similar FPS), but the data shows a clear 36 FPS difference between those two settings.

The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache and 1 MB per-core L2 cache provide low-latency access to frequently used data, which is beneficial for maintaining high minimum frame rates. The measured minimums at 1080p Medium (78 FPS) and 1440p Medium (56 FPS) indicate that the CPU is successfully keeping the frame pipeline full, and the FPS drops are purely due to GPU rendering time. The 9900X is a high-end part with an unlocked multiplier, but its performance headroom is irrelevant here because the GPU cannot utilize it.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the stark opposite of the CPU. It is an integrated graphics solution (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, fabricated on a 3nm process. Its GPU clocks are 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost, with 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. Critically, the memory is "System Shared," meaning it uses a portion of the system's DDR5 RAM, and the bandwidth is "System Dependent." This shared memory architecture is a major bottleneck, as the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory access.

The GPU's benchmark scores are extremely low. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score is 1,482, and its percentile is 9. The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (deltaPct of 1.3) and the GeForce GT 710 (deltaPct of 2.7), which are both over a decade old. The FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, but the system-shared memory limits the practical throughput. The 24 ROPs are a severe limitation for high-resolution rendering, as they handle the pixel fill rate.

The GPU's pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, but this is clearly insufficient for 4K. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU can only manage 22 FPS, which is 82.7% lower than the 1080p Low result. The lack of dedicated VRAM means that at higher resolutions, the GPU must constantly access system memory, which adds latency and reduces effective bandwidth. The measured FPS at 1440p High (55 FPS) versus 1080p High (76 FPS) shows a 27.6% penalty, which is a direct result of the increased memory pressure and pixel load. The GPU is the sole reason this combo ranks in the bottom 11% for this game. Its 12 RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are irrelevant when the fundamental rasterization and fill-rate performance is this low.