SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235A + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

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

Build Configuration

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PROCESSOR (CPU)

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GRAPHICS CARD (GPU)

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93 Score

Top 7% Ranking

93 / 100

ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 7% 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

94%

GPU

93%

PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 5 235A

48,201 Benchmark Score

Top 6% Market Ranking

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GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

27,565 Benchmark Score

Top 7% 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

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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 235A paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is a desktop configuration that lands in the 82nd percentile overall, combining a strong modern CPU with a high-end but older GPU. The data shows a system where the CPU significantly outpaces the GPU in relative standing, creating a distinct balance of capabilities that favors multi-threaded productivity while still delivering very high frame rates in gaming. This analysis covers the raw specifications, benchmark scores, and performance characteristics of this pairing, with the caveat that no measured FPS data exists for this exact combination, so all gaming performance discussions are estimates derived from the component benchmark scores.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA102 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. This is a large GPU with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. The memory subsystem is a defining feature, with 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 936.2 GB/s. This massive frame buffer and bandwidth make the card exceptionally well-suited for high-resolution rendering and large datasets, such as 8K video editing or complex 3D scenes that exceed the VRAM capacity of most other cards.

The GPU's compute configuration includes 10,496 shading units, 328 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output processors. It operates at a base clock of 1395 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz, with memory clocked at 1219 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective). The RTX 3090 also features 82 RT cores and 328 tensor cores, providing dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI-accelerated tasks like DLSS. The FP32 performance is rated at 35.58 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance also at 35.58 TFLOPS (1:1), indicating strong raw compute throughput for both standard and half-precision workloads.

In benchmark scores, the RTX 3090 achieves a Passmark G3D score of 26645 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 15356. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 5118. These scores place the GPU in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, which indicates it is a solidly high-performing card, though not at the very top of the current hierarchy. The nearest rivals in the data show a very tight cluster: it is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, and 1.0% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7800M. This means the RTX 3090's performance level in synthetic benchmarks is essentially equivalent to these cards, despite being an older generation. The data suggests that for rendering, the RTX 3090 provides exceptional VRAM capacity and bandwidth, but its raw compute scores are competitive with, not clearly superior to, more modern mid-range options.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The platform for this build is anchored by the Intel Core Ultra 5 235A, which uses the Intel Socket 1851. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR5 memory, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The platform also includes PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU, which provides ample bandwidth for the latest NVMe SSDs and future expansion cards, though the RTX 3090 itself uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, which is relatively modest, and the integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 24 EU, providing a basic display output and media capabilities without the discrete GPU.

The power supply requirement is a key consideration for the upgrade path. The RTX 3090 has a TDP of 350 W, and the suggested PSU for the system is 750 W. This gives a reasonable headroom for the CPU and other components, but it is a firm requirement; a lower-wattage PSU would be insufficient. The GPU itself is a triple-slot card, 336 mm long, 140 mm high, and 61 mm wide, requiring a large case with good airflow. It uses a single 12-pin power connector. For a sensible next upgrade, the data indicates that the CPU platform has modern features like PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5, which are future-proof. However, the GPU is marked as end-of-life, so the most logical upgrade path would be to replace the RTX 3090 with a newer GPU generation when performance demands increase, while keeping the CPU and platform intact. The CPU's 65 W TDP also leaves thermal and power headroom for a potential CPU upgrade within the same socket, should a more powerful Arrow Lake chip be released.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235A is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake architecture (Arrow Lake-S). It is manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The CPU has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 24 MB of L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory and has a TDP of 65 W.

The benchmark results for the CPU are strong. In Cinebench R23, it scores 32633 multi-core and 4607 single-core. In Cinebench R20, the scores are 13705 multi-core and 1934 single-core. These figures indicate a very capable processor for both heavily threaded tasks and single-threaded workloads. Passmark results show a multi-thread score of 38392 and a single-thread score of 4557. Specific workload tests reveal its character: data compression scores 393800, data encryption scores 30136, extended instructions score 31625, and floating-point math scores 118778. Integer math scores 88626, and find prime numbers scores 392.

These results place the CPU in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48201. The nearest rivals in the data are the AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 380, which has an average score of 48171, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX, with a score of 48287. The deltaPct values show the Core Ultra 5 235A is 0.1% ahead of the Ryzen AI Max PRO 380 and 0.2% behind the Core Ultra 5 245HX. It is also 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 (score 47918) and 0.6% behind the AMD EPYC 4345P (score 48470). This clustering shows the 235A is a high-performing mid-to-high-range chip that trades blows with these rivals. For real workloads, the data indicates strong performance in encryption and compression tasks, making it suitable for file archiving and security applications. The high floating-point and integer math scores also suggest solid performance in scientific computing and software development, though the lack of multi-threading (14 cores, 14 threads) means it relies on physical cores only, which can be a limitation in some heavily threaded scenarios.

Balance and Bottleneck

The combined percentile for this build is 82, which is lower than the CPU's individual 90th percentile but higher than the GPU's 73rd percentile. This suggests the GPU is the primary limiter in overall system performance, dragging the combined score down from the CPU's level. The data shows a clear imbalance: the CPU is a top-10% performer, while the GPU is a solid but not elite performer in the 73rd percentile. In gaming, this means the CPU is capable of feeding frames to the GPU at high rates, but the GPU will likely be the bottleneck at higher resolutions or with demanding settings where its compute and memory throughput are stressed. The RTX 3090's high memory bandwidth (936.2 GB/s) and 24 GB VRAM mitigate this, but its raw compute score (35.58 TFLOPS) is its limiting factor compared to the CPU's relative strength.

For non-gaming workloads, the balance shifts. In tasks like video editing or 3D rendering that use both CPU and GPU, the CPU's strong multi-core performance (32633 in Cinebench R23) will not be fully utilized if the GPU is the limiting factor. Conversely, in tasks that are purely CPU-bound, like data compression (393800) or encryption (30136), the GPU's performance is irrelevant, and the system will perform exceptionally well. The data does not include FPS scaling metrics, but the percentile difference implies that for frame rate targets, the GPU will be the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios. The CPU has enough headroom to handle the GPU's output, meaning the system is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU will be the definitive bottleneck.

Gaming Performance

The FACT PACK does not contain any measured FPS data for this exact CPU+GPU combination, so the following FPS discussion is estimated from the benchmark scores and should be treated as an approximation. The RTX 3090's Passmark G3D score of 26645 and its position in the 73rd percentile indicate it is a high-end GPU capable of running modern games at high settings. With 24 GB of VRAM, it can handle the highest-resolution textures without issue. The CPU, with its 4557 Passmark single-thread score and 4607 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is more than capable of keeping up with the GPU in most gaming scenarios, ensuring that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates.

Based on the benchmark scores, the estimated gaming performance would be very strong at 1440p, with the system likely achieving high frame rates in most titles. At 4K, the GPU's compute power (35.58 TFLOPS) would be the limiting factor, but the large memory bandwidth and 24 GB VRAM would allow for high detail settings. The CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock prevent it from being a bottleneck in most games, even those that are heavily single-threaded. The combination of a top-10% CPU and a solidly high-tier GPU suggests that the system is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and capable of playable 4K in less demanding titles, but these are estimates from the data, not measured results.

Who Should Build It

This pairing targets users who need a strong all-around desktop for both productivity and gaming. The CPU's 90th percentile performance, particularly its high scores in data compression (393800) and encryption (30136), makes it an excellent choice for developers who compile code, students running simulations, and small business workstations handling database or file-server tasks. The 14 cores and 14 threads provide substantial multi-tasking power for content creators working with video editing or 3D modeling, although the lack of multi-threading might be a consideration for some heavily threaded render workloads.

For gamers, this build is best suited for those playing at 1440p resolution with high refresh rate monitors. The RTX 3090's 24 GB VRAM and high bandwidth make it a good fit for modded games or those with very high-resolution texture packs. It is less ideal for those targeting 4K at maximum settings in the most demanding AAA titles, as the GPU's compute power is not at the top of the current generation, but it will still provide a very playable experience. This is not a budget-oriented build; it is a high-performance workstation and gaming hybrid for users who prioritize compute and memory capacity over the absolute latest GPU technology. It is also suitable for AI researchers or hobbyists who need the 24 GB VRAM for running local models, as the tensor cores provide acceleration for these workloads.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 48201, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 380, scores 48171, making the Core Ultra 5 235A 0.1% faster. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287, making it 0.2% faster than the 235A. The AMD EPYC 4345P is 0.6% faster with a score of 48470, while the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 is 0.6% slower with a score of 47918. This shows the CPU is a top-tier performer, with scores tightly clustered around its own.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 27565, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile, scores 27435, making the RTX 3090 0.5% faster. The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT scores 27425, also making the RTX 3090 0.5% faster. Conversely, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 scores 27839, making it 1.0% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 7800M scores 27883, making it 1.1% faster. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score is 5118, and the Geekbench OpenCL score is 172758. The combined picture is a system with a CPU that vastly outranks its GPU in relative performance. The CPU is near the top of its class, while the GPU is merely competitive with mid-range contemporaries. This means the system's overall performance is gated by the GPU, and users will see the CPU's full potential only in tasks that do not rely on the GPU.

Build Overview

This is a desktop build combining the Intel Core Ultra 5 235A processor with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card. The CPU is a modern Arrow Lake chip on the Intel Socket 1851 platform, while the GPU is an end-of-life Ampere architecture card. The combined percentile for this pairing is 82, indicating a very high overall performance tier. The CPU's individual 90th percentile ranking shows it is a top-tier processor, while the GPU's 73rd percentile shows it is a strong but not elite graphics solution. This pairing is best described as a high-performance productivity workstation with excellent gaming capability, where the CPU's strength is the defining feature, and the GPU provides a solid foundation for heavy graphics workloads. The launch MSRP for the CPU is $269, and the GPU's launch MSRP was 1,499 USD.

The build class is desktop, and the overall tier is high, as indicated by the 82nd combined percentile. This is a system for users who need a powerful CPU for tasks like software compilation, data analysis, and 3D rendering, while also wanting a GPU capable of handling modern games and creative applications with high VRAM requirements. The RTX 3090's 24 GB of memory is its most distinguishing feature, setting it apart from more modern cards with less VRAM, even if its raw compute scores are not the highest.

FAQ

Q: What is the combined performance percentile of this CPU and GPU pairing?

A: The combined percentile for this desktop build is 82, placing it in the top tier of systems.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235A compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 380?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235A has an average benchmark score of 48201, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 380's score of 48171.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth and capacity of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090?

A: The RTX 3090 has a memory bandwidth of 936.2 GB/s and a memory capacity of 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus.

Q: What is the CPU's socket and memory type?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235A uses the Intel Socket 1851 and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory.

Q: What is the suggested power supply wattage for this build?

A: The suggested PSU for the system, based on the RTX 3090's 350 W TDP, is 750 W.

Q: Which component is the likely bottleneck for gaming performance?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor in gaming, as its 73rd percentile is lower than the CPU's 90th percentile.

Q: Is there measured FPS data for this exact combination?

A: No, the FACT PACK contains no measured FPS data for this specific CPU and GPU pairing, so all gaming performance figures are estimates from benchmark scores.

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235A + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Apex Performer

System Balance Analysis

Intel Core Ultra 5 235A

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Market Position

Game Performance Benchmarks

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

Performance Insights

Optimal Performance

4K Gaming Ready

Performance Tiers Explained

Ultimate

High-End

Mid-Range

Entry Level

Legacy

GPU Analysis

Upgrade Path and Platform

CPU Analysis

Balance and Bottleneck

Gaming Performance

Who Should Build It

Benchmark Performance

Build Overview

FAQ

4K Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

1440p Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

1080p Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

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