SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

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

92 / 100
ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 8% of systems. Capable of 4K Ultra gaming and advanced rendering.

4K 60+ FPSVR ReadyRay Tracing

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio
Well Balanced
CPU
93%
VS
GPU
90%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 5 235

46,062 Benchmark Score
Top 7% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

17,208 Benchmark Score
Top 10% 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

Optimal Performance

Your system is in the top tier. You can run any modern game at maximum settings.

4K Gaming Ready

Consider a 4K 144Hz monitor to fully utilize your hardware capabilities.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 pairing represents a modern desktop configuration built around Intel’s Arrow Lake architecture and NVIDIA’s Ampere GPU generation. The CPU, released in early 2025, is a 14-core, 14-thread processor with a 65 W TDP, while the GPU, though end-of-life, remains a capable 8 GB solution. Combined, this pair sits at the 75th percentile of all tested configurations, with the CPU performing in the 89th percentile of all CPUs and the GPU in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. The data paints a picture of a system that is heavily weighted toward processor performance, with the graphics card serving as a solid but not exceptional contributor to the overall experience.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The foundation of this build is the Intel Socket 1851 platform, which is exclusive to the Core Ultra Series 2 processors. This socket supports the Arrow Lake architecture, and the Core Ultra 5 235 specifically is built on a 3 nm process node from TSMC, containing 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. Memory support is limited to DDR5, operating on a dual-channel bus with a peak bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The platform does not support ECC memory, and the CPU provides 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, which is a significant consideration for storage and expansion cards.

For a sensible next upgrade, the data suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor. The RTX 3070 sits at the 61st percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is at the 89th percentile. This indicates that a user could replace the graphics card with a higher-performing model without needing to change the motherboard or CPU, as the processor has substantial headroom. The power delivery is also worth noting: the CPU has a 65 W TDP, and the GPU has a 220 W TDP, with a suggested PSU rating of 550 W. This leaves room for a more power-hungry GPU in the future, as long as the total system draw remains within the PSU’s capacity. The CPU’s 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes provide ample bandwidth for a modern GPU, so an upgrade path exists purely on the graphics side without platform changes. The motherboard would need to be re-used, but the socket and memory support are current enough to remain relevant for a few more generations.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU’s benchmark results are consistently strong across synthetic tests. In Cinebench R23, it scores 14,769 points in multi-core and 2,085 points in single-core. The single-core score is particularly notable, as it places the processor in the upper echelon of desktop CPUs. In PassMark, the CPU achieves 45,166 points in single-thread testing and 37,816 in multithread, with an average benchmark score of 46,062. The CPU’s percentile rank of 89 against all CPUs is supported by its nearest rivals: it is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and 0.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4364P, while being 0.1% behind the Intel Core i9-13900HX. This places it in the company of high-end laptop HX chips and workstation EPYC processors, which is impressive for a 65 W desktop part.

The GPU’s performance is more modest. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3,162 points, and in PassMark G3D, it achieves 22,214 points. The average benchmark score for the GPU is 17,208, with a percentile rank of 61. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which is 0.7% ahead, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, which is 1% behind. The GPU also scores 11,195 in PassMark GPU Compute and 112,821 in Geekbench OpenCL. Combined with the CPU, the pair ranks 1,564 out of 3,732 tested pairs, with an average FPS across games of 134.6. This indicates that while the CPU is a top-tier performer, the GPU drags the overall system percentile down to 75, making it a mid-to-high-range configuration rather than a top-tier one.

Usage Scenarios

For high-refresh gaming at 1080p, this system excels. In Counter-Strike 2, it hits 209 FPS, and in Valorant, it reaches 478 FPS at 1080p, easily clearing the 144 Hz or 240 Hz thresholds. The CPU’s strong single-core performance (2,085 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that frame times remain consistent in esports titles. At 1440p, these numbers drop but remain playable, with Counter-Strike 2 at 138 FPS and Valorant at 408 FPS.

For streaming, the data shows a balanced picture. The GPU’s 184 tensor cores can handle encoding workloads, while the CPU’s 14 cores provide enough multitasking headroom. In a game like Call of Duty: Warzone, the system delivers 176 FPS at 1080p, and the CPU’s multithread score of 37,816 in PassMark suggests it can handle the background encoding without significant frame drops.

Video editing is a strong suit for this CPU. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 is competitive with the Intel Core i9-13900HX, which is only 0.1% ahead in average benchmark score. The PassMark data compression score of 390,711 and encryption score of 29,293 indicate that the CPU can handle heavy data manipulation tasks, which are common in video editing workflows. The GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM may limit very large projects, but for 1080p and 1440p editing, it is sufficient.

3D rendering is where the GPU becomes a bottleneck. In Blender-style workloads, the GPU’s FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS is decent, but its 61st percentile rank means it is not a top-tier renderer. The CPU, however, with its 14 cores and 24 MB of L3 cache, will handle CPU-based rendering well, as evidenced by its 14,769 Cinebench R23 multi-core score. For software development, the CPU’s single-core performance is critical, and its 4,516 PassMark single-thread score ensures fast compilation times for single-threaded tasks. The 14 threads are also sufficient for parallel builds, with the multithread score of 37,816 providing a solid foundation.

For student and office work, this system is overkill. The CPU’s 89th percentile rank means it will breeze through document editing, spreadsheet calculations, and web browsing. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU can handle basic display output, though the discrete GPU will take over for any graphics-intensive tasks.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data clearly shows that the GPU is the limiting factor in most workloads. The CPU sits at the 89th percentile, while the GPU is at the 61st percentile. In gaming, this means that at 1080p, the CPU can push high frame rates, but the GPU will cap performance in demanding titles. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, the system achieves 62 FPS at 1080p, which is below the 100+ FPS that the CPU could theoretically support. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM also becomes a constraint at higher resolutions, with the game dropping to 30 FPS at 4K.

In CPU-bound scenarios, such as esports titles, the balance shifts. In Valorant, the system hits 478 FPS at 1080p, which is far above what the GPU would typically deliver, indicating that the CPU is not limiting here. However, in GPU-bound workloads like 3D rendering or 4K gaming, the CPU will be idle while the GPU works at full capacity. The average FPS across all games is 134.6, which is a solid number, but the pair rank of 1,564 out of 3,732 suggests that many other combinations offer better GPU performance for the same CPU level. The bottleneck is unequivocally the RTX 3070, and users looking for more balanced performance would need to upgrade the GPU.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy consists of 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration is notable for having no hyperthreading, as the thread count equals the core count, which is a design choice that prioritizes power efficiency over multi-threaded throughput. The 3 nm process node from TSMC is a key differentiator, as it allows for high clock speeds at a relatively low TDP.

In terms of benchmark scores, the CPU’s Cinebench R20 multi-core score is 6,202, and its single-core score is 875. The PassMark integer math score is 87,948, while the floating-point math score is 117,951. These numbers indicate strong all-around performance, with the floating-point score being particularly high, which benefits scientific and engineering applications. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 46,062 places it in the same league as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030) and the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098). For real workloads, this means that the CPU can handle video encoding, 3D rendering, and software compilation with ease, but its lack of threads may show in heavily parallelized tasks where a 16-thread or 24-thread CPU would have an advantage.

Who Should Build It

This system is ideal for gamers who play at 1080p or 1440p and prioritize high frame rates in esports titles. The CPU’s 89th percentile rank ensures that it will not be a bottleneck in games like Valorant (478 FPS at 1080p) or Counter-Strike 2 (209 FPS at 1080p). Content creators who work primarily in CPU-bound applications like video editing or software development will also benefit, as the CPU’s multithread performance is comparable to much more expensive processors. Students and office workers will find this system far more powerful than needed, but the headroom ensures longevity.

For small business workstations, the CPU’s 65 W TDP and the GPU’s 220 W TDP make for a system that can be cooled and powered without excessive infrastructure. The lack of ECC memory support, however, may be a concern for mission-critical data integrity. Industries that rely on single-threaded performance, such as financial modeling or CAD software that is not well-parallelized, will see significant benefits from the CPU’s 5.00 GHz boost clock. However, users who need high-end GPU compute for machine learning or 3D rendering at 4K should look elsewhere, as the RTX 3070’s 61st percentile rank and 8 GB VRAM will be a limiting factor.

Gaming Performance

The measured FPS data covers a wide range of games, with all figures representing ultra settings. At 1080p, the system is highly capable, with many titles exceeding 100 FPS. For instance, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege hits 248 FPS, and Roblox reaches 270 FPS. Even demanding titles like Call of Duty: Warzone achieve 176 FPS, and the system handles Red Dead Redemption 2 at 56 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh monitors.

At 1440p, performance drops but remains playable in most titles. Counter-Strike 2 runs at 138 FPS, and Valorant at 408 FPS. More demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 drop to 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 4K, the system struggles, with Cyberpunk 2077 at 30 FPS and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 28 FPS, indicating that this is not a 4K gaming rig. The average FPS across all games is 134.6, which is a strong number, but it is skewed by the high performance in esports titles. The data shows that this system is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a compromise for less demanding titles.

Build Overview

This is a desktop build that pairs a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a modern processor in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is an older GPU in the 61st percentile. The combined percentile of 75 reflects this imbalance, placing the system in the upper-middle tier of desktop configurations. The CPU’s performance is comparable to that of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, both of which are high-end laptop processors, suggesting that the 235 offers exceptional desktop performance for its 65 W TDP. The GPU, while not top-tier, is still capable of delivering smooth 1080p gaming and decent 1440p performance. Overall, this is a system that prioritizes processor power, making it a strong choice for productivity tasks and esports, but it will need a GPU upgrade for 4K or high-fidelity AAA gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the CPU’s launch MSRP?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has a launch MSRP of $257.

Q: How does the CPU compare to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375?

A: The CPU is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 in average benchmark score, with 46,062 versus 46,030.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 has a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, using 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus.

Q: What is the system’s average FPS across all games?

A: The pair has an average FPS across all games of 134.6, based on measured data at ultra settings.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: No, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 does not support ECC memory; it only supports DDR5 in a dual-channel configuration.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile rank among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 has a percentile rank of 61, meaning it performs better than 61% of all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock speed?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is based on the Ampere architecture, using the GA104 chip manufactured on an 8 nm process from Samsung. It contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, with a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The GPU has 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It features 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, which are essential for DLSS and ray-traced workloads. The base clock is 1500 MHz, with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz, effective 14 Gbps.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is 20.31 TFLOPS, which is identical to its FP16 performance, indicating a 1:1 ratio. The pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s. In benchmark tests, the GPU scores 3,162 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and 22,214 in PassMark G3D. Its average benchmark score is 17,208, placing it in the 61st percentile. The nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which is 0.7% ahead, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, which is 1% behind. For rendering, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is a limitation, as modern high-resolution textures can exceed this capacity. However, for 1080p and 1440p gaming, the GPU provides adequate performance, as evidenced by the measured FPS data. The 184 tensor cores also make this a competent GPU for AI-accelerated tasks like DLSS, which can boost performance in supported titles.