Undisputed

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is an unusual matchup—a mobile processor built for efficiency driving the most powerful desktop GPU on the market. The benchmark data for Undisputed reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but which shows surprising CPU limitations at 1080p. The results are clear: this is a combo that excels at 4K and 1440p, but leaves performance on the table for esports-style play at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the system produces 234 FPS at 1920x1080, which falls to 169 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 107 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 54% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 5090 is doing the heavy lifting, and its workload increases proportionally with resolution.

The Low settings preset shows an even more extreme version of this trend. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 394 FPS, but this collapses to 284 FPS at 1440p and 180 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is still well above playable, but the 54% drop from the 1080p peak is identical to the High preset, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor across all settings. The RTX 5090's raw compute power is being taxed by the sheer pixel count, not by the game's visual complexity.

Medium settings follow the same pattern: 283 FPS at 1080p, 205 FPS at 1440p, and 129 FPS at 4K. The 4K result includes a minimum of 110 FPS and a maximum of 149 FPS, showing a spread of about 39 FPS. This variance suggests that while the average is solid, there are moments where the scene complexity causes the frame rate to dip, though it never approaches unplayable territory.

The Ultra preset provides the most interesting data point. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 151 FPS, which is still excellent. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 109 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 69 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only one in the entire dataset that dips below 60 FPS, and it does so by a significant margin. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 54% reduction, identical to the other presets. This consistency across all four settings levels strongly indicates that the RTX 5090 is the sole performance arbiter at 4K, regardless of how much graphical load you pile on.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for 4K gaming at High or Medium settings. The 107 FPS at 4K High is smooth and leaves headroom for dips. At 1440p, every preset is playable, with even Ultra hitting 109 FPS. The 1080p results are the anomaly—they are so high that they expose the CPU's limitations, as we will explore in the CPU Role section.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 571st out of 2813 tested combos in Undisputed. This places it in the top 20% of all configurations tested, which is a strong showing for a system that pairs a mobile CPU with a desktop GPU. However, the ranking is lower than the GPU's individual percentile would suggest.

The RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 7 165H sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. In a game like Undisputed, which is a sports title with relatively simple geometry, the GPU should dominate the performance equation. A rank of 571 out of 2813 means that roughly 2242 other combos outperform this specific pairing. This discrepancy is almost certainly due to the CPU's mobile pedigree. The Core Ultra 7 165H is designed for laptops, with a 28W TDP, and while it has 16 cores and 22 threads, its performance in gaming is limited by its power envelope.

The combo's rank is not a reflection of the RTX 5090's capability, but rather a measure of how effectively the CPU can feed it. In most games, a slower CPU will cap the frame rate, and Undisputed appears to be no exception at lower resolutions. The fact that this combo still manages to rank in the top 20% reflects the sheer power of the RTX 5090, which can brute-force its way to high frame rates even when the CPU is struggling to keep up.

Compared to other combos, this pairing is likely to be outperformed by systems using desktop-class CPUs like the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, which has an average benchmark score that is 0.5% higher than the Core Ultra 7 165H. The nearest rivals also include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 and the AMD EPYC 4244P, both of which have similar average scores. This indicates that the Core Ultra 7 165H is not a weak processor, but it is not in the same league as the high-end desktop chips that would typically be paired with an RTX 5090.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a monster of a GPU, and its specs are almost absurd on paper. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. It has 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. The boost clock is 2407 MHz, with a base clock of 2017 MHz. The GPU is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die.

In Undisputed, the GPU's role is absolutely dominant. The 32 GB of VRAM is far more than the game could ever need, so there is zero risk of memory capacity becoming a bottleneck. The 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and memory access are never a concern, even at 4K Ultra settings. The sheer number of shading units and the high boost clock allow the GPU to maintain high frame rates even at the most demanding settings.

The benchmark results confirm the GPU's dominance. At 4K Low, the system produces 180 FPS. At 4K High, it drops to 107 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 69 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 111 FPS, which shows that the GPU is being fully utilized across the settings spectrum. There is no point where the GPU appears to be idling or waiting on the CPU; it is always working at or near its capacity.

The GPU's performance in this game is also reflected in its average benchmark score of 79842, which places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, but the RTX 5090 outperforms them by a significant margin in synthetic benchmarks. In Undisputed, the GPU's raw power translates directly into playable frame rates at every resolution except 4K Ultra, where it still manages a respectable 69 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend entirely on your target resolution and refresh rate. If you are gaming at 4K, the High preset at 107 FPS is the sweet spot. It offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium's 129 FPS while maintaining a frame rate that is well above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 69 FPS is playable, but it is too close to the 60 FPS threshold for comfort, especially in a fast-paced sports game where frame drops are noticeable.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 205 FPS, which is more than enough for any high-refresh-rate monitor. The High preset at 169 FPS is also excellent. The Ultra preset at 109 FPS is still very smooth, and if you have a 120Hz or 144Hz display, it is worth considering for the visual fidelity. The Low preset at 284 FPS is unnecessary unless you are competing in a tournament and want the absolute minimum input lag.

At 1080p, the situation is different. The High preset at 234 FPS is superb, and the Medium preset at 283 FPS is even better. However, the Low preset at 394 FPS is the standout. While the frame rate is extraordinarily high, it is likely that the CPU is the limiting factor here, as we will discuss in the CPU Role section. For most players, the High or Medium presets at 1080p will provide the best balance of visual quality and performance.

The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 151 FPS, which is still very good. However, given that the High preset offers 234 FPS, there is little reason to sacrifice 83 FPS for the modest visual gains of Ultra. The data suggests that the High preset is the most efficient choice across all resolutions, offering a strong balance between image quality and frame rate. The Medium preset is a close second, and the Ultra preset is only recommended for 1440p or 1080p if you have a monitor with a relatively low refresh rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a detailed picture of the combo's performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 394 FPS, Medium produces 283 FPS with a minimum of 241 and a maximum of 326, High produces 234 FPS, and Ultra produces 151 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 243 FPS, which shows that the settings have a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops across the board. Low settings produce 284 FPS, Medium produces 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 and a maximum of 235, High produces 169 FPS, and Ultra produces 109 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 175 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 174 FPS is still extremely high, indicating that there are no noticeable frame rate dips even during intense gameplay moments.

At 3840x2160, the results are more moderate. Low settings produce 180 FPS, Medium produces 129 FPS with a minimum of 110 and a maximum of 149, High produces 107 FPS, and Ultra produces 69 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 111 FPS, which is the smallest of all three resolutions. This is expected, as the GPU is more heavily taxed at 4K, and the relative impact of each settings level is reduced.

The only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values is Medium, across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 241 FPS and the maximum is 326 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 174 FPS and the maximum is 235 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 110 FPS and the maximum is 149 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum is consistent at roughly 39-40 FPS across all resolutions, suggesting that the game's frame time variance is consistent regardless of resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. It is a mobile processor with a 28W TDP, which is a critical detail for understanding its gaming performance.

In Undisputed, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p. At this resolution, the GPU is not the limiting factor, and the frame rates are exceptionally high. The fact that the system produces 394 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is working hard to feed the GPU. However, the CPU's performance is not sufficient to push the frame rate even higher. The average benchmark score for the Core Ultra 7 165H is 34083, which places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, which is 0.3% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, which is 0.5% faster.

The CPU's limitations become apparent when comparing the 1080p and 1440p results. At 1080p Low, the system hits 394 FPS. At 1440p Low, it hits 284 FPS. This is a 28% drop, which is less than the 44% drop expected from the pixel count difference alone. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is capping the frame rate, and the GPU is not being fully utilized. At 1440p, the GPU becomes more of a factor, but the CPU is still contributing to the performance envelope.

The 16 cores and 22 threads are more than enough for a sports game like Undisputed, which is unlikely to use more than a handful of threads. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is respectable, but the 28W TDP limits how long the CPU can sustain that clock speed under load. The data indicates that the Core Ultra 7 165H is a capable gaming CPU, but it is not in the same class as the desktop processors that would typically be paired with an RTX 5090. In this specific combo, the CPU is the weak link, and it prevents the system from achieving the maximum possible frame rates at 1080p.