SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235A + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

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

96 / 100
ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 4% 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%
VS
GPU
98%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 5 235A

48,201 Benchmark Score
Top 6% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

79,842 Benchmark Score
Top 2% 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

# Balance and Bottleneck

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235A paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 presents a desktop configuration where the GPU overwhelmingly dominates the performance envelope. The RTX 5090 sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 235A achieves the 90th percentile among all CPUs — a close percentile pairing that nonetheless masks a massive absolute performance gap. The GPU's average benchmark score of 79,842 is roughly 66% higher than the CPU's average benchmark score of 48,201, indicating that in most graphics-bound workloads, the CPU will finish its work and wait on the GPU.

The CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading) with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz deliver strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,607 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4,557. These figures place the CPU in the 90th percentile, meaning it will not bottleneck the RTX 5090 in most gaming scenarios. However, the data shows a different story in multi-threaded workloads: the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,633, while respectable, trails the GPU's compute capabilities by a wide margin. The Passmark multithread score of 38,392 and the floating-point math score of 118,778 indicate solid but not class-leading CPU throughput.

The bottleneck shifts depending on workload type. In pure gaming at high resolutions, the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth become the primary performance driver, with the CPU's single-thread strength (Cinebench R15 single-core score of 464) sufficient to feed frames. In contrast, for CPU-intensive tasks like data compression (Passmark score of 393,800) or encryption (Passmark score of 30,136), the CPU becomes the limiting factor, and the GPU sits idle. The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s for the CPU is a potential constraint in heavily multithreaded scenarios, especially when compared to the GPU's 1.79 TB/s — a 17.5x difference that highlights where data movement bottlenecks will occur.

For FPS scaling, the data indicates that the CPU's 90th percentile positioning means it can handle most modern game engines, but the lack of hyperthreading (14 threads on 14 cores) could show diminishing returns in games that scale beyond 8-10 threads. The RTX 5090's 21,760 shading units and 170 RT cores will push frame rates so high that CPU overhead per frame becomes increasingly visible, particularly at 1080p where GPU-bound times shrink and CPU frame preparation times dominate.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on TSMC's 5 nm process, containing 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory across a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth — a figure that positions this GPU for extreme resolutions and large datasets.

The benchmark scores reveal a GPU that excels in compute-heavy rendering tasks. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355 and the Passmark G3D score of 39,650 place the RTX 5090 in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 and Vulkan score of 376,728 demonstrate strong cross-API performance, while the Passmark GPU compute score of 26,756 confirms the GPU's ability to handle non-graphics parallel workloads. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s indicate that the GPU can fill and texture frames at speeds that will exceed most display refresh rates.

The RTX 5090's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads. The FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS, with a 1:1 FP16 ratio, means the GPU can process both single-precision and half-precision data at identical rates — a feature that benefits machine learning inference and certain scientific simulations. The 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs ensure that rasterization throughput remains high, while the 12 Ultimate (12_2) DirectX support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility make the GPU future-proof for upcoming graphics APIs.

The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% ahead), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% ahead), with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X trailing by 1.4%. These deltas are small, indicating that the RTX 5090's average score of 79,842 is tightly clustered with high-end data-center and workstation GPUs. However, the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are significantly more than these rivals, suggesting that memory capacity and bandwidth will be the differentiators in real-world rendering workloads.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: The RTX 5090's 92nd percentile GPU performance, combined with the CPU's 90th percentile single-thread score (4,607 in Cinebench R23 single-core), will drive high frame rates at 1440p and 4K. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate ensure that even the most demanding games will saturate high-refresh displays.

Streaming: The 680 tensor cores on the RTX 5090 provide hardware acceleration for encoding and AI-enhanced streaming features. The CPU's Passmark data encryption score of 30,136 and integer math score of 88,626 offer sufficient headroom for software encoding, but the GPU's dedicated tensor hardware will offload this work efficiently.

Video editing: The GPU's 32 GB GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth accelerate timeline scrubbing and effect rendering. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,633 and Passmark floating-point math score of 118,778 handle codec processing and timeline operations, while the GPU's Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 powers GPU-accelerated effects.

3D rendering: The RTX 5090's 170 RT cores and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance will dominate ray-traced renders. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 38,392 and Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 13,705 provide adequate scene preparation and geometry processing, but the GPU will be the primary render engine.

Software development: The CPU's 14 cores with a 5.00 GHz boost clock and Passmark single-thread score of 4,557 deliver fast compilation times for single-threaded build steps. The data compression score of 393,800 and random string sorting score of 49,489 indicate strong performance for code analysis and testing tools.

Student and office work: The CPU's 65 W TDP and integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU provide an efficient baseline for productivity tasks. The Passmark integer math score of 88,626 and physics score of 2,437 handle spreadsheet calculations and light simulation workloads, while the GPU's presence ensures any graphics-accelerated office applications run smoothly.

Who Should Build It

This configuration targets enthusiasts and professionals who demand top-tier GPU performance without compromising CPU capability. The RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking makes it suitable for 4K gaming, where the GPU's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth eliminate memory capacity concerns. Content creators working with large video files or complex 3D scenes will benefit from the GPU's compute throughput (Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370) and the CPU's multi-threaded rendering support (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,633).

Developers building AI or machine learning applications will find the 680 tensor cores and 104.8 TFLOPS FP16 performance (1:1 with FP32) useful for model training and inference. The CPU's Passmark extended instructions score of 31,625 indicates support for modern instruction sets, while the data encryption score of 30,136 suggests capable security-focused workloads. Students and small business users will find the 90th percentile CPU performance adequate for daily tasks, though the GPU's 575 W TDP and suggested 950 W PSU make this a power-hungry build that may exceed typical student budgets.

The build's desktop class and 91st combined percentile place it in the upper echelon of systems. The CPU's 65 W TDP keeps idle and light-load power consumption reasonable, while the GPU's 575 W TDP delivers peak performance when needed. This pairing suits users who want maximum GPU performance today, with a CPU that holds its own at the 90th percentile — though those needing extreme multi-threaded CPU throughput may want to consider alternatives with higher core counts.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235A is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on Arrow Lake architecture using TSMC's 3 nm process. The chip contains 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU.

The cache hierarchy consists of 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 24 MB shared L3 cache. The absence of hyperthreading means 14 threads on 14 cores — a design choice that favors power efficiency over multi-threaded throughput. The benchmark scores reflect this: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,633 versus a single-core score of 4,607, showing strong scaling but a multi-core performance that trails higher-thread-count rivals.

The Passmark scores break down the CPU's capabilities: integer math at 88,626, floating-point math at 118,778, and extended instructions at 31,625. The data compression score of 393,800 and data encryption score of 30,136 indicate solid performance for these specific workloads. The find prime numbers score of 392 and physics score of 2,437 are lower, suggesting the CPU is less optimized for certain algorithmic tasks. The random string sorting score of 49,489 shows good memory access patterns for sorting operations.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking places it near the AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 380 (0.1% ahead) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (0.2% behind), with the AMD EPYC 4345P trailing by 0.6% and the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 ahead by 0.6%. These tight deltas indicate that the Core Ultra 5 235A performs competitively with a range of desktop and mobile processors. The 3 nm process node and 65 W TDP make it power-efficient, though the 5.00 GHz boost clock suggests thermal headroom for burst workloads.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235A has 14 cores and 14 threads, with no hyperthreading enabled.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 have?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth.

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

A: The Core Ultra 5 235A boosts up to 5.00 GHz from a base clock of 3.40 GHz.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 5090 ranks in the 92nd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 79,842.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: No, the Core Ultra 5 235A does not support ECC memory, according to the specifications.

Q: What is the CPU's TDP?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235A has a 65 W TDP, while the RTX 5090 has a 575 W TDP with a suggested 950 W PSU.

Q: What is the combined percentile of this build?

A: The combined percentile for this CPU and GPU pairing is 91, placing it in the top tier of desktop configurations.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 48,201, with a 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 380, scores 48,171 (0.1% ahead), while the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48,287 (0.2% behind). The AMD EPYC 4345P at 48,470 trails by 0.6%, and the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 at 47,918 is 0.6% ahead. These margins are tight, confirming the Core Ultra 5 235A's competitive positioning.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 79,842, ranking in the 92nd percentile. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 (0.3% ahead), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (0.6% ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.1% ahead). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X trails by 1.4% with a score of 80,959. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,728 highlight its rendering and compute capabilities.

Combined, this pairing achieves a 91st percentile score, reflecting a balanced high-performance desktop system. The CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,607) and multi-thread performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,633) complement the GPU's massive compute throughput (104.8 TFLOPS FP32). The Passmark G3D score of 39,650 for the GPU and Passmark single-thread score of 4,557 for the CPU indicate that both components are near the top of their respective benchmarks.

Build Overview

This desktop build pairs the Intel Core Ultra 5 235A with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, combining a 90th percentile CPU with a 92nd percentile GPU for a 91st percentile overall system. The CPU, released on 2025-07-28, uses the Arrow Lake architecture on a 3 nm process, while the GPU, released on 2025-01-29, uses Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process. The launch MSRP for the CPU is $269, and the GPU carries a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD.

The build class is desktop, with the CPU using an Intel Socket 1851 and the GPU using a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. The system targets high-end gaming and professional workloads, with the GPU's 32 GB VRAM and the CPU's 14 cores providing a strong foundation for demanding applications. The 91st combined percentile places this configuration in the upper tier of desktop systems, rivaling workstation-class hardware.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination — the FACT PACK contains no measuredFps data. All frame rate discussion below is estimated from the benchmark scores and should be treated as approximations.

Based on the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile GPU ranking and the Core Ultra 5 235A's 90th percentile CPU ranking, this system will deliver extremely high frame rates in most games. The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate suggest that at 1080p and 1440p, frame rates will be limited by CPU single-thread performance (Cinebench R15 single-core score of 464) rather than GPU throughput. At 4K, the GPU's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth will allow maximum texture quality and ray tracing settings without memory constraints.

For esports titles running at 1080p, the CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock and 90th percentile single-thread score will drive frame rates into the hundreds, though the lack of hyperthreading may cause minor frame pacing issues in heavily threaded engines. At 1440p, the GPU's 176 ROPs and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate will maintain high frame rates, while at 4K, the GPU's 170 RT cores will handle ray-traced effects with minimal performance impact. The system's 91st combined percentile indicates that this pairing will outperform the vast majority of desktop configurations in gaming workloads, making it suitable for high-refresh 1440p and smooth 4K gaming.