Undisputed

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Undisputed, but the optimal settings depend heavily on your target resolution. The data shows that the game scales aggressively with settings, and the Ultra preset creates a significant performance cliff. For the most balanced experience, the High preset is the clear recommendation, offering frame rates well above 60 FPS at 4K and exceeding 120 FPS at 1440p. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset is playable, but the High preset provides a substantial headroom advantage for competitive play.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate a clear tiering of performance across the four tested presets. The Low preset consistently delivers the highest frame rates but sacrifices visual fidelity. Conversely, the Ultra preset provides the most demanding visual load, resulting in a dramatic performance drop. The data shows that the Medium preset offers a middle ground, but the High preset emerges as the most efficient choice. At 1920x1080, High produces an average of 169.2 FPS, which is 59.1 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 110 FPS. This substantial difference allows for smoother motion and lower input latency, which is critical in a sports simulation.

The case for High becomes even stronger at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, the High preset yields 121.7 FPS, which is 40.2 FPS more than the Ultra preset's 81.5 FPS. This places the High preset comfortably in high-refresh-rate territory, making it ideal for 144Hz monitors. At 3840x2160, the High preset maintains an average of 80.8 FPS, which is playable on standard 60Hz displays and provides headroom for VRR. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 51.3 FPS, which risks noticeable stuttering on fixed-refresh displays. The data strongly suggests that High is the "sweet spot" preset, balancing visual quality with consistently high performance across all resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The High preset is superior at 2560x1440, delivering 121.7 FPS. This is significantly higher than the Medium preset's 153 FPS is misleading, but Ultra drops to 81.5 FPS. The High preset offers a robust balance, exceeding 120 FPS for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 3840x2160, the High preset produces 80.8 FPS, which is playable. The Ultra preset, however, falls to 51.3 FPS, which may be below the refresh rate of some displays. The Low preset at 4K achieves 132.7 FPS, indicating the CPU and GPU are capable, but visual quality is heavily compromised.

Q: How much performance is lost by switching from High to Ultra?

A: A significant performance penalty is observed. At 1920x1080, the drop is 59.1 FPS (from 169.2 to 110). At 2560x1440, the drop is 40.2 FPS (from 121.7 to 81.5). At 3840x2160, the drop is 29.5 FPS (from 80.8 to 51.3). The Ultra preset imposes a heavy load on the GPU.

Q: Is the game more CPU or GPU bound?

A: The data suggests a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings. The frame rate drops significantly from Low to Ultra at the same resolution, indicating the graphics card is the primary bottleneck. For example, at 1080p, the Low preset hits 286.5 FPS, while Ultra falls to 110 FPS, showing the GPU struggles with the increased graphical load.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K on the High preset?

A: The difference is substantial. The average frame rate falls from 169.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This reduction of 88.4 FPS highlights the demanding nature of 4K resolution on the RTX 5060.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever recommended?

A: Only for players prioritizing maximum visual fidelity over frame rate. At 1080p, the 110 FPS average is still smooth, but at 1440p and 4K, the frame rates of 81.5 and 51.3 FPS respectively, may not be ideal for all users. The High preset offers a better trade-off.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. The most significant drop occurs between 1080p and 1440p, with a secondary, less severe drop between 1440p and 4K. This indicates that the RTX 5060’s 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit memory bus are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the pixel throughput demand at 4K begins to strain the GPU.

For the High preset, the progression is 169.2 FPS at 1920x1080, 121.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and 80.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 28% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 34% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, suggesting that the GPU’s compute units and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at higher resolutions.

The Low preset shows a similar trend, with 286.5 FPS at 1080p, 206.6 FPS at 1440p, and 132.7 FPS at 4K. The fact that the Low preset still scores above 130 FPS at 4K indicates that the CPU (Intel Core i9-14900K) is not a bottleneck in this game, even at lower graphical loads. The performance drop is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering workload. The scaling pattern confirms that the RTX 5060 is a capable 1440p card, with 4K performance being playable but requiring a reduction in settings from Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a comprehensive picture of the combo's performance. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high across the board. The Low preset achieves an average of 286.5 FPS, while Medium reaches 206.1 FPS. High follows with 169.2 FPS, and Ultra trails at 110 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combo is rarely constrained, offering a wide range of options for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows more variance. The Low preset delivers 206.6 FPS, and Medium produces 153 FPS. The High preset maintains a high average of 121.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset falls to 81.5 FPS. This resolution is the sweet spot for the RTX 5060, allowing for high settings with excellent frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limits. The Low preset still manages 132.7 FPS, and Medium drops to 97.5 FPS. The High preset averages 80.8 FPS, which is playable, but the Ultra preset drops to 51.3 FPS. The data shows a clear hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra, with the gap between High and Ultra being particularly pronounced at every resolution, highlighting the heavy cost of the Ultra preset's effects.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 780th out of 1580 combos in Undisputed. This places it in the middle of the pack, meaning that while it is a competent performer, there are many other combinations that achieve higher frame rates. The rank is influenced by the GPU's position in the market, as the RTX 5060 sits in the mid-range segment.

The GPU's benchmark percentile is 73, indicating it outperforms a majority of other graphics cards. However, its average benchmark score of 30109 places it in close competition with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (deltaPct: 0), and it is only 0.2% behind the older AMD Radeon RX 570. This suggests that the RTX 5060's performance is comparable to a previous-generation high-end card and a current-generation mid-range card. The CPU, in contrast, is a top-tier part with a percentile of 97, but its performance contribution is less impactful in this GPU-bound title.

The combo's mid-pack ranking is a direct result of the GPU's performance ceiling. While the CPU is exceptionally fast, the frame rates in Undisputed are limited by the RTX 5060, especially at higher settings and resolutions. The ranking shows that for this game, the GPU is the more critical component for achieving higher frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a high-end processor with 24 cores and 32 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It features a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, which contributes to its strong single-thread performance. The processor's benchmark results are exceptional, with a multi-core score of 49872 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 7040 in the same test. This places it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs.

In Undisputed, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The frame rates at the Low preset are remarkably high across all resolutions, with 286.5 FPS at 1080p and 132.7 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the processor is capable of feeding the GPU with data faster than it can render, thus not acting as a bottleneck. The high single-core performance is likely beneficial for the game's simulation logic, but the measured FPS is primarily determined by the GPU's workload.

The CPU's cache configuration, including 36 MB of shared L3 cache, helps maintain high memory bandwidth and low latency for game assets. Its 125W TDP and support for DDR5 memory ensure it has sufficient power and bandwidth for demanding titles. However, the data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield larger FPS gains than a CPU upgrade for this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the primary driver of performance in Undisputed. It features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 3840 shading units and operates at a boost clock of 2497 MHz. Its benchmark scores, such as a Geekbench OpenCL score of 120785 and a Passmark G3D score of 20891, place it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs.

The game's frame rates are heavily dependent on the GPU's capabilities. The transition from the Low to Ultra preset at any resolution causes a significant FPS drop, demonstrating that the graphical settings are the primary load on the GPU. For example, at 1440p, the FPS drops from 206.6 on Low to 81.5 on Ultra. This shows that the RTX 5060's rendering power is the limiting factor when visual quality is maximized.

The 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra preset, which yields 51.3 FPS, may be pushing the memory capacity. The GPU's 145W TDP and PCIe 5.0 x8 interface are standard for its class. The data confirms that the RTX 5060 is a solid performer for 1080p and 1440p, but its mid-range positioning means it requires lower settings to achieve high frame rates at 4K, as seen in the benchmark results.