Undisputed

# Undisputed with Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER

The pairing of Intel's 24-core Core i9-14900K with NVIDIA's RTX 2060 SUPER creates a striking imbalance in Undisputed, a sports title that appears far more sensitive to GPU load than CPU throughput. The measured frame rates across three resolutions reveal a familiar pattern: the 8 GB Turing card becomes the decisive bottleneck as pixel count rises, while the processor's enormous multi-threaded capacity sits largely underutilized. This analysis examines how the combination behaves across every measured setting, where its ranking falls among 3,718 tested combos, and what the data implies about the limiting component in this specific configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic and consistent frame rate collapse across all four quality presets, pointing squarely at the GPU as the primary constraint. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 229 at 1080p to 166 at 1440p, then drops further to 105 at 4K — a cumulative reduction of 124 FPS, or roughly 54% of the 1080p figure. The scaling is steeper at Medium: 165 FPS at 1080p becomes 119 at 1440p (a 46 FPS loss) and then 75 at 4K (another 44 FPS drop), leaving the 4K result at just 45% of the 1080p baseline.

High settings follow a similar trajectory but with a more pronounced cliff between 1440p and 4K. The measured averages are 136 FPS at 1080p, 99 at 1440p, and 62 at 4K — meaning the jump to 4K costs 37 FPS, nearly as much as the entire 1440p-to-1080p gap of 37 FPS. Ultra settings amplify this effect even further: 88 FPS at 1080p, 63 at 1440p, and just 40 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 54.5%, nearly identical to the Low preset's 54.1% reduction, suggesting that resolution scaling is largely independent of quality preset in this title.

What does this indicate about the limiting component? The near-linear relationship between pixel count and frame rate — doubling resolution roughly halves performance — is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect 1080p and 1440p results to converge more closely, since the same processor work is required regardless of output resolution. Instead, the data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the RTX 2060 SUPER is pushing 229 FPS, the i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads are not the bottleneck; the GPU is still the ceiling, and it simply runs out of headroom as resolution climbs.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER's specifications provide context for its behavior in Undisputed. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card offers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes increasingly relevant at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS collapses to 40. The GPU's 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs, paired with a boost clock of 1650 MHz, deliver 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These are modest numbers by 2024 standards, yet the card still manages 62 FPS at 4K High, suggesting that Undisputed's visual demands are not extreme at that preset.

The memory configuration deserves scrutiny. At 1080p, the 8 GB frame buffer is unlikely to be saturated, which helps explain the high frame rates across all settings. But at 4K with Ultra details, the combination of higher resolution textures and additional visual effects can push memory usage closer to the 8 GB ceiling. The measured 40 FPS at 4K Ultra — the lowest result in the entire dataset — could reflect not just raw compute limits but also memory bandwidth pressure, as the 448.0 GB/s interface struggles to feed the rendering pipeline at 8.3 million pixels per frame.

Comparing the GPU's synthetic benchmarks to its in-game performance reveals a nuanced picture. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2011 places the card in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, while its nearest rivals include the RTX 3060 Mobile (deltaPct -0.4) and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (deltaPct -0.5). These are close scores, but in Undisputed, the RTX 2060 SUPER's 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS suggests that the card's aging architecture — 12 nm process, Turing generation — is no match for the game's higher-end settings at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience relative to its performance cost. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 165 FPS with a documented minimum of 140 and maximum of 190 — a comfortable margin above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many competitive players target. High at 1080p drops to 136 FPS, still playable but with less headroom, while Ultra at 88 FPS is smooth enough for most but sacrifices the extra 77 FPS that Medium provides. Low at 229 FPS is only useful for extreme competitive play where visual fidelity is irrelevant.

Moving to 2560x1440, the calculus shifts. Medium averages 119 FPS with a minimum of 101, which remains above the 100 FPS threshold for high-refresh gaming. High at 99 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 63 FPS is playable but not ideal. Low at 166 FPS is excellent for esports-style play, but the visual downgrade may not be worth the gain over Medium. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot at 1440p, offering 119 FPS while retaining enough detail for a sports title where visual clarity matters for reading opponent movements.

At 3840x2160, the options narrow considerably. Medium averages 75 FPS with a minimum of 64, which is playable on a 60 Hz display but falls short of 120 Hz panels. High at 62 FPS is nearly identical, and the difference between Medium and High at 4K is only 13 FPS — a small price for improved visuals. Ultra at 40 FPS is not recommended for any serious play. Low at 105 FPS is the only preset that clears 100 FPS at 4K, making it the choice for gamers who prioritize frame rate over resolution fidelity on 4K displays.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3,718 tested combinations in Undisputed, this pairing of the i9-14900K and RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 2,632nd. That places it in the 29th percentile of all combos — a surprisingly low position given the processor's strength, but one that makes sense when considering the GPU's age. The i9-14900K is a top-tier CPU, ranking in the 95th percentile of all processors with an average benchmark score of 79,097, but the RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 62nd percentile of GPUs. The combo's ranking reflects the GPU's limitation, not the CPU's capability.

To contextualize the GPU's position: its average benchmark score of 18,093 places it just 0.4% below the RTX 3060 Mobile and 1.5% below the AMD Radeon RX 460 in the nearest rivals table. These are not flattering comparisons for a desktop card, and in Undisputed specifically, the GPU's 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS drags the overall combo ranking down. The processor, meanwhile, outperforms the Intel Core i9-14900KF by 0.3% and the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus by 0.6% in synthetic benchmarks, but those margins are irrelevant when the GPU caps frame rates at 62 FPS in the most demanding scenario.

The rank of 2,632 out of 3,718 implies that roughly 71% of tested combos outperform this pairing in Undisputed. This is not a condemnation of either component individually — the i9-14900K is clearly capable — but rather a statement about the combination's balance. Undisputed appears to be a GPU-bound title at most resolutions and settings, which means the CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads contribute little beyond ensuring the GPU is never starved of draw calls or physics data.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K brings formidable specifications to this pairing: 24 cores (8 performance and 16 efficiency), 32 threads, a base clock of 3.20 GHz, and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide ample on-die storage for game data. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 39,399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,262.5 in single-core, with a PassMark multithread score of 58,674. These are elite numbers, placing the CPU in the 95th percentile of all processors.

Yet in Undisputed, the CPU's role is almost certainly secondary. The measured FPS patterns — particularly the steep drops from 1080p to 4K — indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution. The i9-14900K's single-core performance (2,265.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core, 4,697 in PassMark single-thread) is far beyond what a sports title like Undisputed would need for game logic, physics, or AI. The game's genre typically involves relatively simple scene complexity compared to open-world titles, so the CPU is likely idle much of the time, waiting for the RTX 2060 SUPER to finish rendering each frame.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are not directly reflected in frame rates, but the processor's ability to maintain high clocks under load — up to 6.00 GHz boost — ensures that frame pacing remains consistent when the GPU does become the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, where the GPU produces 229 FPS, the CPU must generate draw calls and update game state at that rate, but the i9-14900K's single-core throughput is more than sufficient. The measured minimum FPS at 1080p Medium (140) and 1440p Medium (101) suggest no CPU-related stuttering or frame drops, reinforcing that the processor is not the constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings sweep shows: Low averages 229 FPS, Medium averages 165 FPS with a minimum of 140 and maximum of 190, High averages 136 FPS, and Ultra averages 88 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 141 FPS, a 61.6% reduction that reflects the GPU's struggle with higher-quality shadows, textures, and post-processing effects at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the numbers compress: Low averages 166 FPS, Medium averages 119 FPS (minimum 101, maximum 137), High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 63 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 103 FPS, or 62% of the Low result — a nearly identical percentage drop to 1080p, confirming that resolution and quality settings interact multiplicatively rather than additively.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 105 FPS, Medium 75 FPS (minimum 64, maximum 87), High 62 FPS, and Ultra 40 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 65 FPS, or 61.9% of the Low score. Across all three resolutions, the percentage loss from Low to Ultra remains remarkably consistent at 61-62%, which suggests that Undisputed's quality settings impose a fixed computational overhead regardless of resolution. This is an unusual finding — many games show greater percentage drops at higher resolutions when quality settings increase — and it may indicate that the GPU's shading units are the limiting factor rather than memory bandwidth or fill rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and setting combination for 60 FPS play?

A: At 3840x2160, Medium averages 75 FPS (minimum 64), and High averages 62 FPS — both clear the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 63 FPS, also above 60, while High at 99 FPS offers more headroom. At 1080p, all settings exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra at 88 FPS being the lowest.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K or the RTX 2060 SUPER the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting component. Frame rates drop by roughly 54% from 1080p to 4K at Low and 54.5% at Ultra, which is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering. The CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads are far beyond what Undisputed requires, as evidenced by the consistent FPS patterns across resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations in Undisputed?

A: This pairing ranks 2,632nd out of 3,718 tested combos, placing it in the 29th percentile. This low ranking is attributable to the GPU's age and performance class, not the CPU, which ranks in the 95th percentile of all processors.

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

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 99 FPS while Ultra averages 63 FPS — a difference of 36 FPS, or 36.4% lower performance for Ultra. The minimum FPS data is not provided for either preset at this resolution, but the average gap is substantial.

Q: Does the RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K?

A: The measured data shows 4K Ultra at 40 FPS and 4K High at 62 FPS, but there is no direct evidence of VRAM-related stuttering or texture pop-in in the available metrics. The GPU's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB capacity are modest for 4K, but the frame rates suggest compute limits are the primary constraint rather than memory overflow.

Q: Are the frame rate differences between settings consistent across resolutions?

A: Yes, the percentage loss from Low to Ultra is 61.6% at 1080p, 62.0% at 1440p, and 61.9% at 4K. This consistency indicates that Undisputed's quality settings impose a fixed computational overhead independent of resolution, which is an unusual characteristic for a modern game.