Undisputed

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is a top-tier combination for Undisputed, landing in the 182nd spot out of 2813 tested combos. This places it firmly in the top tier of configurations. The data shows a system that obliterates 1080p and 1440p and remains highly capable at 4K, but the performance scaling reveals a clear shift in bottleneck as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Undisputed shows a predictable and significant drop in performance as resolution scales up, but the pattern tells a story about where the system's limits lie. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 497 FPS. Stepping up to 2560x1440 reduces this to 359 FPS, a 27.8% decrease. Moving further to 3840x2160 drops the average to 227 FPS, which is a 36.8% reduction from the 1440p figure. This scaling suggests that even at 4K, the CPU is still providing enough headroom to keep the GPU fed, as the frame rates remain exceptionally high.

Looking at the High preset, the scaling is more linear. The system delivers 296 FPS at 1080p, 214 FPS at 1440p (a 27.7% drop), and 135 FPS at 4K (a 36.9% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings indicates that the game's engine scales its load predictably with pixel count. The RTX 5080's 16 GB of VRAM and 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth are clearly sufficient to handle the increased memory pressure at higher resolutions, as the frame rate declines are not steep enough to suggest a VRAM capacity bottleneck.

The most telling data point for bottleneck analysis comes from the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the system hits 190 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 137 FPS, a 27.9% reduction. However, at 4K, the Ultra preset yields only 87 FPS, a 36.5% drop from 1440p. While the frame rate is still playable, the 4K Ultra figure suggests the GPU is finally starting to feel the strain of rendering the highest quality settings at maximum resolution. The system is not hitting a wall, but the margins are tightening, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at this extreme configuration.

In contrast, the Medium preset shows the system's resilience. It delivers 357 FPS at 1080p, 258 FPS at 1440p, and 163 FPS at 4K. The 4K result here is still faster than the 1080p Ultra result, which underscores the massive headroom available. The data indicates that for most players, the CPU and GPU combination is overkill at 1080p and 1440p, with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus's 24 cores and 24 threads providing more than enough processing power to push frame rates into the hundreds. The scaling behavior confirms that Undisputed is not a particularly demanding title for this hardware, and the transition from 1440p to 4K is the only place where the system's performance starts to feel more conventional.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the workhorse of this configuration, and its specifications directly correlate with the benchmark results. With a boost clock of 2617 MHz and 10752 shading units, the card has the raw compute power to drive high frame rates. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Undisputed at any of the tested settings, as evidenced by the lack of a severe performance cliff at 4K.

The GPU's performance percentile of 87 places it well above the average, and its average benchmark score of 56083 is competitive. When compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 5080 is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon 8060S and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB. It also leads the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 2.3%. However, it trails the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE by 2.2%. These deltaPct values are small, indicating that the RTX 5080 is in a tightly contested performance bracket, but for Undisputed specifically, its 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is clearly being utilized effectively.

The measured FPS figures show the GPU's scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 497 FPS, which is likely a frame rate cap or a scenario where the CPU is the limiting factor. As settings increase, the GPU load increases, and the frame rate scales down accordingly. The transition from Medium to High at 1440p shows a drop from 258 FPS to 214 FPS, which is a 17.1% reduction, reflecting the increased shading and texture work. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p is more significant, dropping from 214 FPS to 137 FPS, a 36.0% reduction. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU's shading units and memory subsystem.

At 4K, the GPU's role becomes even more dominant. The RTX 5080 manages 227 FPS at Low, but this drops to 163 FPS at Medium and 135 FPS at High. The Ultra preset at 4K, yielding 87 FPS, is the only configuration where the system dips below the 100 FPS mark. This shows that while the GPU is extremely capable, the combination of 4K resolution and Ultra settings is a demanding workload. The 16 GB of VRAM is not exhausted, but the sheer number of pixels requiring processing is what limits performance. The data suggests that for a smooth 4K experience, players should consider High settings, while those with high refresh rate 1440p monitors can comfortably use Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this system to maintain a stable frame rate above 100 FPS?

A: The data shows that at 2560x1440, the system achieves 137 FPS on Ultra settings, which is above the 100 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160, the High preset yields 135 FPS, but the Ultra preset drops to 87 FPS. Therefore, 1440p Ultra is the highest quality setting that maintains over 100 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the system at 1080p compared to 4K on the High preset?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 296 FPS, while at 3840x2160 with High settings it is 135 FPS. This represents a 54.4% reduction in average frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K.

*Q: Is the RTX 5080's 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in Undisputed?*

A: Yes. The benchmark results show no indication of a VRAM capacity issue. The frame rate scales consistently with resolution, and the 4K High preset delivers 135 FPS, which is a strong result. The 960.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth appears adequate for the game's needs.

*Q: How does this CPU+GPU combo rank against other tested combinations in Undisputed?*

A: The combination ranks 182nd out of 2813 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.5% of all configurations tested for this game, indicating a very high-performance pairing.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 359 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 137 FPS. This is a difference of 222 FPS, or a 61.8% reduction in performance from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU may be the limiting factor at 1080p Low, where the system hits 497 FPS. This is an extremely high frame rate that is difficult to achieve, and the scaling from Low to Medium (497 to 357 FPS) is a 28.2% drop, which is less than the drop from Medium to High (357 to 296 FPS, a 17.1% drop). This indicates that the GPU is not maximally utilized at the lowest settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of what settings to use for different priorities. For competitive play or those with a 360Hz monitor, the 1920x1080 Low preset at 497 FPS is the obvious choice. It offers the highest possible frame rate, and in a sports game, the reduced graphical fidelity is often a worthwhile trade-off for maximum responsiveness. The 1440p Low preset at 359 FPS is also an excellent option for high refresh rate 1440p panels.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the 2560x1440 Ultra preset at 137 FPS is the sweet spot. This configuration provides the maximum visual fidelity while maintaining a frame rate that is smooth on any 1440p display. At 1440p, the High preset at 214 FPS is also a strong contender if you prefer higher frame rates over the marginal visual improvements from Ultra.

At 4K, players must make a choice. The High preset at 135 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it delivers a smooth, high-fidelity experience. The Ultra preset at 87 FPS is playable but may not be ideal for all players, especially on displays with a 120Hz or higher refresh rate. The 4K Medium preset at 163 FPS is a good alternative for those who want a higher frame rate buffer, but the visual upgrade from Medium to High is significant enough to justify the frame rate drop for most users. The 4K Low preset at 227 FPS is not recommended, as the visual compromise is too severe.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a complete breakdown of the measured average FPS for the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination in Undisputed.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 497 FPS
• Medium: 357 FPS (min 304, max 411)
• High: 296 FPS
• Ultra: 190 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 359 FPS
• Medium: 258 FPS (min 219, max 297)
• High: 214 FPS
• Ultra: 137 FPS

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 227 FPS
• Medium: 163 FPS (min 139, max 188)
• High: 135 FPS
• Ultra: 87 FPS

The data shows a consistent pattern. The Medium preset is the only one with min and max FPS data, showing a stable frame delivery with a range of about 49 FPS at all resolutions. The transition from 1440p to 4K on the Medium preset results in a 36.8% drop in average FPS, which is in line with the other presets. This consistency suggests that the game's performance scaling is well-optimized for this hardware.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding, and it is the only setting where the system drops below 100 FPS at 4K. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is 48 FPS, a 35.6% reduction, which is the largest single-setting jump in the data. This indicates that the Ultra preset in Undisputed includes computationally expensive effects that have a significant impact on the GPU. The 1080p Ultra result of 190 FPS is still exceptionally high, showing that the system has enough headroom to run the game at maximum settings on lower resolutions without issue.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. With a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, it is designed to deliver both high multi-threaded performance and strong single-threaded speed. In Undisputed, the CPU's role is to feed the RTX 5080 with draw calls and game logic, and the data shows it does this exceptionally well.

The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 51731, and its single-core score is 7303. This single-core performance is critical for games, as many game engines are still heavily dependent on one or two threads. The Passmark single-thread score of 4823 confirms this strength. The processor's percentile of 96 places it in the top 4% of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 84003 is slightly higher than its nearest rivals. It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX, though it trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%.

In Undisputed, the CPU's impact is most visible at lower resolutions. The fact that the system can hit 497 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is capable of issuing a massive number of frames. The performance scaling from 1080p to 1440p is relatively consistent across all settings, which indicates that the CPU is not a bottleneck even at 1440p. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the primary constraint, but the frame rates are still high enough to show that the CPU is not holding the system back.

The processor's memory support for DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth provides adequate memory throughput for the game. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache is also a healthy amount for gaming workloads. The data indicates that the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is more than sufficient for Undisputed, and it will not be the limiting factor in this system until frame rates reach levels that are far beyond what most displays can show. The 497 FPS result at 1080p Low is likely approaching the CPU's practical limit, but for all other scenarios, the RTX 5080 is the component that determines the final frame rate.