SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile

Get a comprehensive performance analysis of your gaming rig with detailed benchmarks, bottleneck detection, and upgrade recommendations

89 / 100
HIGH-END

Power Build

Top 11% of systems. Excellent for 1440p Ultra or 4K High gaming.

1440p Ultra4K High

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio
Well Balanced
CPU
82%
VS
GPU
96%
PROCESSOR

AMD Ryzen 5 5500U

14,589 Benchmark Score
Top 18% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile

43,667 Benchmark Score
Top 4% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →

Market Position

How your build compares to others
Budget
0-30
Mid-Range
30-60
High-End
60-85
Enthusiast
85-100
Your Build

Game Performance Benchmarks

Real-world 4K FPS in popular titles
View All Games →

Performance Insights

Tips to maximize your system

Strong Performance

Excellent for 1440p gaming. Most games will run at high/ultra settings smoothly.

Compatible Games See what you can play Compare CPUs Find upgrades Compare GPUs Find upgrades

Performance Tiers Explained

90-100

Ultimate

4K Ultra gaming, VR ready, ray tracing enabled, professional workloads

4K 60+ FPS VR Ready
70-89

High-End

1440p Ultra or 4K High settings, excellent for modern AAA titles

1440p Ultra 4K High
50-69

Mid-Range

1080p Ultra or 1440p Medium, great value for most gamers

1080p Ultra 1440p Med
30-49

Entry Level

1080p Medium settings, suitable for eSports and older titles

1080p Med eSports
0-29

Legacy

Basic gaming, older titles, consider upgrading for modern games

720p-1080p Low Older Games

# Balance and Bottleneck

This combination pairs a low-power mobile APU with a flagship-class discrete GPU, creating one of the most lopsided performance profiles in the benchmark database. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500U is a 15W processor designed for thin-and-light laptops, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is a 120W graphics solution that sits near the top of the mobile GPU hierarchy. The data makes the bottleneck direction unambiguous: the CPU will limit the GPU in almost every workload that depends on single-threaded or lightly-threaded performance.

The CPU's benchmark scores tell the story. In 3DMark single-thread testing, the Ryzen 5 5500U scores 684 points, while its 2-thread score is 1354. The 4-thread score rises to 2446, 8-thread to 3259, and max-thread to 3643. The scaling pattern shows that the processor gains about 80% more performance going from 2 threads to 4, but only 33% more going from 4 to 8, and just 12% more from 8 to max threads. This indicates a chip that exhausts its multi-threading headroom quickly — a classic signature of a 6-core/12-thread part with modest per-core throughput. The single-thread score of 684 places it at the 69th percentile among all CPUs, which is respectable for a mobile part but far below what a flagship GPU needs to stay fed.

The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 84th percentile among all GPUs. Its Passmark G3D score of 27212 dwarfs the CPU's Passmark multithread score of 12831. In compute-heavy tasks, the GPU's Passmark GPU compute score of 12347 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 180831 show a device that can process massive parallel workloads. The mismatch is stark: when a game or application requires both CPU and GPU work, the CPU will frequently stall waiting for its 6 Zen 2 cores to finish their share, leaving the RTX 4090 Mobile underutilized.

For gaming at lower resolutions, the bottleneck intensifies. At 1080p, frame rates are typically constrained by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls and process game logic. The Ryzen 5 5500U's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1172 and Geekbench single-core score of 1292 are modest figures that will limit how many frames per second the CPU can prepare for the GPU to render. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor, but even then, the CPU's 8 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR4 memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s create a data delivery bottleneck that the GPU's 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth cannot compensate for.

The combined percentile for this pairing is 77, which reflects the average of both components. In practice, the system will feel like a high-end GPU attached to a mid-range CPU. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 3741 is only 15% higher than the 8-thread score of 3259, confirming that the CPU's scaling beyond 8 threads is minimal. Games that use more than 8 threads will see some benefit, but the per-core performance ceiling remains the hard limit.

# Gaming Performance

No measured FPS rows exist for this exact CPU-GPU combination in the FACT PACK. The data contains no game-specific frame rate measurements, so all FPS figures discussed here are estimates derived from the benchmark scores of each component. Treat these as directional indicators, not laboratory measurements.

Based on the CPU's 69th percentile standing and the GPU's 84th percentile standing, the gaming experience will be defined by resolution. At 1080p, the CPU becomes the primary limiter. The Ryzen 5 5500U's Passmark single-thread score of 2419 and 3DMark single-thread score of 684 suggest that many esports titles and fast-paced shooters will see frame rates capped well below what the RTX 4090 Mobile could theoretically deliver. For example, a game that typically runs at 200+ FPS on a stronger CPU might plateau around 120-150 FPS with this processor, regardless of GPU headroom.

At 1440p, the balance improves. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 576.0 GB/s bandwidth can handle higher resolutions without running out of memory or bandwidth, but the CPU's 2.10 GHz base clock and 4.00 GHz boost clock still constrain minimum frame rates. The 8 MB of L3 cache is small by modern standards, which can cause cache misses in open-world games with large streaming datasets.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. The RTX 4090 Mobile's 32.98 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 76 RT cores provide ample raw power for 4K rendering. The 112 ROPs and 189.8 GPixel/s pixel rate support high-resolution output. However, the CPU's PCIe Gen 3 interface with only 12 lanes may throttle data transfer from storage and system memory, potentially increasing load times and stutter in asset-streaming scenarios.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12_2 feature level ensure compatibility with modern titles, while its Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 support cover older and cross-platform games. The Passmark DirectX 12 score of 107 and DirectX 11 score of 262 indicate strong low-level API performance, but these scores are relative to the GPU's own capabilities — the CPU bottleneck persists regardless of API choice.

# CPU Analysis

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500U is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Lucienne. It belongs to the 5000 series and is manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process node with 9,800 million transistors on a 156 mm² die. The chip has a 15W TDP, making it a power-efficient part designed for mobile systems where battery life and thermal management are priorities.

The CPU's cache hierarchy consists of 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 8 MB of shared L3. This configuration is modest for modern workloads, particularly when paired with a high-end GPU. The 8 MB L3 is shared across all 6 cores, which means heavy multi-threaded applications may experience cache contention. The DDR4 dual-channel memory support provides 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for general computing but restrictive for feeding a GPU that has 576.0 GB/s of its own bandwidth.

Benchmark results paint a clear picture of a mid-range mobile CPU. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7186 and single-core score of 1172 place it in the upper-midrange for mobile processors. The Geekbench multi-core score of 4965 and single-core score of 1292 confirm this positioning. The Passmark multithread score of 12831 and single-thread score of 2419 are consistent with a 6-core Zen 2 part.

Real-world implications are significant. For productivity tasks like software compilation or video encoding that scale well across cores, the 12 threads provide decent throughput. The Passmark integer math score of 45258 and floating-point math score of 26029 indicate solid arithmetic performance. The data compression score of 174584 and encryption score of 10405 show capable handling of data-intensive workloads. However, the extended instructions score of 10838 and prime number finding score of 26 reveal limitations in highly specialized or latency-sensitive tasks.

The CPU's percentile rank of 69 among all CPUs means it outperforms roughly two-thirds of all processors in the database. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7473X (0.1% faster), Intel Xeon 6315P (0.1% faster), Intel Core i5-9600K (0.1% slower), and AMD Ryzen 3 4100 (0.6% slower). This clustering shows that the 5500U performs at parity with desktop parts from several generations ago, which is impressive for a 15W mobile chip but insufficient for feeding a flagship GPU.

# Who Should Build It

This combination targets a narrow niche: users who want maximum GPU performance in a laptop without prioritizing CPU-bound tasks. The RTX 4090 Mobile's 16 GB of VRAM and 84th percentile GPU rank make it suitable for 4K gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning inference. The Ryzen 5 5500U's 69th percentile CPU rank supports these workloads adequately, provided the user does not expect top-tier CPU performance.

Gamers who play at 1440p or 4K with graphics settings maxed out will benefit most from this pairing. At these resolutions, the GPU's 32.98 TFLOPS and 16 GB of memory are the primary drivers of visual quality, and the CPU's limitations become less noticeable. Users who prioritize high-refresh gaming at 1080p should look elsewhere, as the CPU will bottleneck the GPU in most competitive titles.

Content creators working with GPU-accelerated workflows will find this combination serviceable. The GPU's 304 tensor cores and 76 RT cores accelerate AI-based tasks like denoising and ray tracing. Video editors using GPU-accelerated effects and exporters will see strong performance, though CPU-based rendering tasks will be slower than on higher-end processors.

Students and small business users who occasionally game or run GPU-accelerated applications can benefit from the GPU's headroom. The CPU's 15W TDP contributes to longer battery life in light workloads, while the GPU provides power when needed. However, users who primarily run CPU-intensive applications like software development or large spreadsheet analysis may find the 5500U underwhelming.

# Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 14589, placing it at the 69th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD EPYC 7473X with an average score of 14574, a 0.1% difference. The Intel Xeon 6315P matches at 14574, also 0.1% different. The Intel Core i5-9600K scores 14605, 0.1% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 3 4100 scores 14505, 0.6% lower. These tiny margins show that the 5500U performs at the level of a mid-range desktop CPU from several generations ago.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 43667, placing it at the 84th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA RTX A6000 with an average score of 44075, 0.9% higher. The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 scores 43301, 0.8% lower, and the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 43268, 0.9% lower. The Quadro M6000 24 GB scores 43262, 0.9% lower. These comparisons show the RTX 4090 Mobile performing at workstation GPU levels.

The combined percentile for this pairing is 77. This reflects the average of the CPU's 69th percentile and GPU's 84th percentile. The gap between the two components is the defining characteristic of this build. The GPU is substantially stronger than the CPU, and this imbalance will manifest in most real-world applications.

The CPU's 3DMark scores show a clear scaling pattern: 684 single-thread, 1354 2-thread, 2446 4-thread, 3259 8-thread, 3643 max-thread, and 3741 16-thread. The near-flat scaling from 8 to 16 threads confirms that the 6-core/12-thread configuration reaches diminishing returns quickly. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 27212 and compute score of 12347 demonstrate a device that excels at parallel workloads but depends on the CPU to feed it data.

# Upgrade Path and Platform

The Ryzen 5 5500U uses AMD Socket FP6, which is a mobile-specific socket. This means the CPU cannot be upgraded independently in most laptops. The platform supports DDR4 dual-channel memory, which is a mature technology at this point. The CPU provides PCIe Gen 3 with 12 lanes, which is sufficient for a single GPU but limits expansion options.

The GPU uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, but it is an IGP (integrated graphics package) with no power connectors, meaning it is soldered to the motherboard in a laptop. There is no upgrade path for the GPU either. The entire system is a sealed laptop package, so the only meaningful upgrades are memory and storage, provided the laptop has accessible slots.

The CPU's 15W TDP and GPU's 120W TDP together require a cooling solution capable of dissipating 135W of heat. The suggested PSU field is null in the FACT PACK, indicating that no specific power supply recommendation exists — laptops have proprietary power adapters. The GPU's lack of power connectors and IGP slot width suggest a compact design, but the thermal demands of the RTX 4090 Mobile are substantial.

For users considering a next upgrade, the sensible path is to replace the entire laptop. The platform offers no CPU or GPU upgrade options, and the CPU's performance will increasingly lag behind newer processors. The GPU's 16 GB of VRAM will remain useful for several years, but the CPU's modest single-thread performance will become a growing bottleneck as games and applications demand more per-core throughput.

# GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process. It contains 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, with a transistor density of 121.1 million per mm². The chip is designated AD103, and it is part of the GeForce 40-series mobile lineup.

The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2250 MHz, with an effective data rate of 18 Gbps. This memory configuration is generous for a mobile GPU and supports 4K texture-heavy workloads without running out of VRAM.

The core configuration includes 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. The GPU has 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features like DLSS. The base clock is 1335 MHz with a boost clock of 1695 MHz. The pixel rate is 189.8 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 515.3 GTexel/s. The FP32 and FP16 performance both measure 32.98 TFLOPS, indicating a 1:1 ratio for these precision levels.

Benchmark results confirm the GPU's high-end positioning. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 180831 and Vulkan score of 170774 demonstrate strong compute performance across different APIs. The Passmark G3D score of 27212 places it at the 84th percentile among all GPUs. The Passmark GPU compute score of 12347 shows robust parallel processing capability.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (0.9% faster), Quadro M6000 (0.8% slower), RTX 5050 Mobile (0.9% slower), and Quadro M6000 24 GB (0.9% slower). This clustering indicates that the RTX 4090 Mobile performs at the level of professional workstation GPUs, making it suitable for rendering, scientific computing, and other GPU-intensive tasks.

The DirectX 12 Ultimate support with feature level 12_2 ensures compatibility with the latest gaming features, while Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 provide broad API coverage. The Passmark DirectX scores — 173 for DirectX 10, 262 for DirectX 11, 107 for DirectX 12, and 310 for DirectX 9 — show varying performance across API generations, with DirectX 12 being the most demanding.

# FAQ

Q: Will the Ryzen 5 5500U bottleneck the RTX 4090 Mobile in games?

A: Yes, particularly at 1080p. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 684 and Passmark single-thread score of 2419 are modest, limiting frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes more dominant, but the CPU's 8 MB L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth still constrain data delivery.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4090 Mobile have?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth. This is sufficient for 4K gaming and GPU-accelerated rendering workloads.

Q: What is the CPU's core and thread count?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500U has 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz.

Q: Can the CPU be upgraded?

A: No, the CPU uses AMD Socket FP6, which is a mobile-specific socket soldered to the motherboard. The GPU is also an IGP package with no power connectors, meaning neither component can be upgraded independently.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500U has an average benchmark score of 14589. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7473X, scores 14574 (0.1% higher). The Intel Xeon 6315P also scores 14574 (0.1% higher), while the Intel Core i5-9600K scores 14605 (0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 3 4100 scores 14505 (0.6% lower).

Q: What is the GPU's ray tracing capability?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, supporting hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2.

Q: Is this combination suitable for 4K gaming?

A: Yes, at 4K the GPU's 32.98 TFLOPS and 16 GB VRAM can handle high-resolution rendering. The CPU's limitations become less noticeable at 4K, though the PCIe Gen 3 interface with 12 lanes may affect data transfer speeds.

# Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: This scenario is compromised by the CPU bottleneck. At 1080p, the Ryzen 5 5500U's 3DMark single-thread score of 684 will limit frame rates well below what the RTX 4090 Mobile's 32.98 TFLOPS can deliver. Users seeking 240Hz or 360Hz esports performance should expect lower results than the GPU alone would suggest.

Streaming: The GPU's 304 tensor cores and 76 RT cores can handle video encoding and AI-based streaming enhancements. The CPU's 12 threads provide adequate support for encoding workloads, though the 8 MB L3 cache may cause occasional stutter in demanding titles.

Video editing: GPU-accelerated effects and exports will run quickly on the RTX 4090 Mobile's 180831 OpenCL score. CPU-based tasks like timeline scrubbing will be slower, constrained by the 5500U's Geekbench multi-core score of 4965.

3D rendering: The GPU's 84th percentile rank and 16 GB VRAM excel at GPU-based rendering engines. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7186 supports CPU-based rendering, but users should expect slower performance than with higher-end processors.

Software development: The CPU's Passmark integer math score of 45258 and data compression score of 174584 handle compilation and data processing tasks. The GPU's compute capabilities accelerate parallel workloads like unit testing or data analysis.

Student and office work: The 15W TDP CPU provides efficient performance for everyday tasks, with a Passmark multithread score of 12831 handling multitasking. The GPU's power is largely unused in this scenario, but the system's combined 77th percentile ensures smooth operation for typical productivity software.