SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235T + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D

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
92%
VS
GPU
99%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 5 235T

38,561 Benchmark Score
Top 8% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D

178,050 Benchmark Score
Top 1% 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 235T and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D form a desktop pairing that combines a power-efficient mainstream processor with an absolute flagship graphics card. This combination yields a system with a combined performance percentile of 92, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of desktop configurations. The data shows a clear imbalance in raw capability between the two components, yet for specific workloads, this pairing can deliver exceptional results. This analysis will dissect the platform, performance metrics, and practical implications of this build based exclusively on the provided benchmark data.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235T is built for the Intel Socket 1851 platform, which is the foundation for the Core Ultra Series 2 processors. This socket supports DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus, providing a theoretical memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The platform does not support ECC memory, which positions it for consumer and mainstream professional use rather than mission-critical server environments. For storage and expansion, the CPU provides PCIe Gen 5 connectivity with 20 lanes from the processor itself, ensuring high-bandwidth access for the fastest NVMe SSDs and add-in cards available.

The platform's power envelope is notably modest for a desktop processor. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235T carries a 65 W TDP, which keeps thermal and power requirements low. However, the inclusion of the RTX 4090 D dramatically changes the system's power profile. The GPU alone has a 425 W TDP, and the manufacturer recommends an 800 W power supply for the system. This creates a significant PSU headroom consideration: while the CPU is efficient, the overall system demands a robust power supply to handle transient loads from the flagship graphics card.

From an upgrade perspective, the data suggests a clear path. The CPU sits at an 86th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500, has an average score that is only 0.1% different. This indicates that the 235T is already performing at a level comparable to established mid-range desktop processors. A sensible next upgrade within this platform would be to move to a higher-tier Core Ultra Series 2 processor with more cores, as the 235T has 14 cores and 14 threads, which limits its multi-threaded scaling compared to hyper-threaded rivals. The motherboard and DDR5 memory would remain compatible, making such a CPU swap straightforward. The GPU, however, represents an end-of-life product with no direct upgrade path within its generation, meaning any future GPU upgrade would likely also require a PSU reassessment given the already high 800 W recommendation.

Usage Scenarios

High-Refresh Gaming: The RTX 4090 D is the primary driver for gaming performance. With a 98th percentile ranking among all GPUs, it is positioned to deliver extremely high frame rates. While no measured FPS data exists for this exact combination, the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8587 and its top-tier percentile indicate it is more than capable of driving high-refresh-rate displays at 1440p and 4K resolutions. The CPU, with a single-thread Passmark score of 4339, provides adequate single-core performance to prevent major bottlenecks in most gaming scenarios, though it may limit the GPU in extremely CPU-intensive titles at lower resolutions.

Streaming: The encoding capabilities of the RTX 4090 D, combined with its substantial 24 GB of VRAM, make this an exceptionally capable streaming rig. The GPU's 114 RT cores and 456 Tensor cores handle hardware encoding and AI-enhanced streaming features with ease. Meanwhile, the CPU's 14 cores can manage game logic and streaming software overhead. The multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26232, ensures that background tasks like encoding won't cripple game performance when using NVENC offloading.

Video Editing: This build is ideally suited for video editing workflows. The RTX 4090 D's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth allow for smooth scrubbing and rendering of high-resolution, multi-layer timelines. The GPU's FP32 performance of 73.54 TFLOPS accelerates effects and color grading. The CPU's strong single-core performance, with a Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1555, handles timeline responsiveness, while the multi-core score of 11017 in the same test assists with final export rendering.

3D Rendering: The combination of a high-end GPU and a mid-range CPU yields interesting results for 3D rendering. GPU-accelerated renderers will see phenomenal performance from the 4090 D's 14592 shading units and 456 Tensor cores, which excel at ray-traced workloads. The CPU's 26232 Cinebench R23 multi-core score is respectable for CPU-based rendering, but it is not its primary strength. Users relying heavily on CPU-based render engines would find the 14-thread limit a bottleneck, but those using GPU renderers will find this system exceptionally fast.

Software Development: For software development, the 235T offers a balanced set of features. The Passmark data encryption score of 23457 indicates competent handling of cryptographic operations. Compilation tasks, which are often multi-threaded, will benefit from the 14 cores, though the lack of hyper-threading means the CPU cannot process as many concurrent threads as some rivals with similar core counts. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps with frequently accessed data. This is a solid platform for general development, though not specialized for massive parallel builds.

Student and Office Work: This pairing is massively over-provisioned for standard student and office tasks. The CPU's 65 W TDP makes for an efficient base system, and the integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU provides a basic display output. However, the presence of the RTX 4090 D makes this an impractical and expensive choice for such workloads. The Passmark single-thread score of 4339 ensures snappy application responsiveness, and the data compression score of 295100 indicates fast file archiving, but the GPU's power and cost are entirely unnecessary for spreadsheets, documents, and web browsing.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark data reveals a CPU that performs slightly above its direct predecessors and rivals. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235T achieves an average benchmark score of 38561, placing it in the 86th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500, scores an average of 38531, a negligible 0.1% difference. This indicates that the 235T matches the performance of a previous-generation mid-range king. It also edges out the Intel Xeon w3-2525 by 0.4% and the Intel Core 9 270H by 0.6%, showing it is competitive with higher-tier workstation and mobile processors.

In specific CPU tests, the processor demonstrates a strong single-core capability, scoring 3703 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 373 in Cinebench R15 single-core. Multi-core performance is robust as well, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26232 and a Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 11017. The Passmark suite shows a multi-thread score of 30918 and a single-thread score of 4339. The CPU also handles specific tasks well, with a strong floating-point math score of 106546 and an integer math score of 84244.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D is a powerhouse. It holds a 98th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 178050. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 8587. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, scores 182109, which is 2.2% higher, indicating the 4090 D is just slightly behind a top-tier workstation GPU. It also trails the NVIDIA A100 SXM4 80 GB by 3.1% and the RTX 5000 Ada Generation by 3.6%. The combined picture is a system where the GPU is the dominant performance component, with the CPU providing a solid but secondary foundation.

Who Should Build It

This build is for a specific type of user: one who prioritizes GPU-accelerated workloads and high-resolution gaming above all else, and who is willing to pair a flagship GPU with a mid-range CPU. The data clearly shows the GPU is in the top 2% of all graphics cards, making it ideal for gamers targeting 4K resolution or high-refresh 1440p gaming, where the GPU is the primary bottleneck. Content creators working with GPU-accelerated renderers, video editors using hardware encoding, and AI researchers leveraging Tensor cores will find the 24 GB of VRAM and massive compute throughput indispensable.

Conversely, this is not the build for software developers who compile massive codebases daily, as the CPU's 14 threads will be a limiting factor. It is also not for small business workstations that require ECC memory support, which this platform lacks. The 65 W CPU TDP suggests a focus on efficiency, but the 425 W GPU and 800 W PSU recommendation negate any system-level power savings. The target user is a prosumer or enthusiast gamer who wants the absolute best GPU performance and is building a system around that single component.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The combined performance percentile for this desktop build is 92, indicating it outperforms 92% of all desktop configurations in the benchmark database.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T compare to the Intel Core i5-14500?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235T has an average benchmark score of 38561, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i5-14500's average score of 38531.

Q: What is the recommended power supply wattage for this system?

A: The suggested PSU for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D is 800 W, which accounts for the GPU's 425 W TDP and the rest of the system's power draw.

Q: Does this CPU support ECC memory?

A: No, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T platform does not support ECC memory.

Q: What is the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s.

Q: What is the process node for the CPU and GPU?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235T is manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D is built on a 5 nm process, also by TSMC.

Q: Is the CPU multiplier unlocked for overclocking?

A: No, the multiplier on the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T is locked, meaning it cannot be overclocked via multiplier adjustment.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D is the cornerstone of this build's high-performance capabilities. It is based on the AD102 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains a staggering 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 21 Gbps effective speed across a 384-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This configuration is ideal for high-resolution textures and large datasets used in AI training or 3D rendering.

The GPU's compute capabilities are immense. It features 14592 shading units, 456 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. Critically, it includes 114 RT cores and 456 Tensor cores, which are dedicated to ray tracing and AI acceleration, respectively. The FP32 performance is rated at 73.54 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance also at 73.54 TFLOPS (1:1). The pixel rate is 443.5 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1,149.1 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to benchmark scores that place it in the 98th percentile of all GPUs.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 4090 D achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8587. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 278621, and its Vulkan score is 246941. These scores show it is a top-tier performer, though the data indicates it lags slightly behind the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell in average benchmark score by 2.2%. The GPU's power requirements are significant, with a 425 W TDP and a triple-slot cooler design. It requires a 1x 16-pin power connector and an 800 W power supply. For rendering, the high FP32 throughput and dedicated RT cores make it exceptionally fast for real-time ray tracing and final frame GPU rendering.

Balance and Bottleneck

The performance balance in this system is heavily skewed toward the GPU. The RTX 4090 D sits in the 98th percentile of all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 235T is in the 86th percentile of CPUs. This disparity creates a clear bottleneck scenario where the CPU is the limiting factor in many workloads. In gaming at lower resolutions like 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance, a Passmark single-thread score of 4339, may struggle to feed the GPU enough frames, capping FPS below what the GPU could theoretically achieve. However, at higher resolutions like 4K, the GPU's rendering load increases, and the bottleneck shifts to the GPU, allowing the CPU to keep up more effectively.

In CPU-intensive tasks like physics simulation, the Passmark physics score of 2157 is a weak point, potentially lagging behind other components. Conversely, in GPU-accelerated tasks like 3D rendering, video encoding, and AI inference, the GPU's power is fully utilized, and the CPU's role is diminished. The CPU's multi-threaded performance, while not top-tier, is sufficient to handle background tasks without severely hampering GPU performance. The data suggests that for a balanced system, a higher-end CPU would be needed to fully unlock the RTX 4090 D's potential in CPU-bound scenarios, but for GPU-bound workloads, this pairing is highly effective.

Build Overview

This is a desktop-class build combining the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T processor with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D graphics card. The CPU is a 14-core, 14-thread part from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. The GPU is a flagship Ada Lovelace part with 24 GB of VRAM. The combined performance percentile of 92 places this system in the top 8% of all desktop builds in the database. This is a high-tier configuration that excels at GPU-intensive tasks. The CPU provides a solid mid-range foundation, while the GPU provides top-tier graphics performance. This pairing is not balanced in terms of raw compute potential, but it is a valid strategy for users who prioritize graphics performance above all else.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235T is a desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on the Arrow Lake architecture. It is manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 243 mm² and a transistor count of 17,800 million. The CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, operating at a base clock of 2.20 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, with a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. It provides 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes from the CPU.

The benchmark results for the 235T show it is a competent mid-range performer. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26232 is strong for a 65 W part, and its single-core score of 3703 is excellent. The Passmark tests reveal a processor that is particularly good at floating-point math, scoring 106546, and integer math, scoring 84244. Its data compression score of 295100 is also noteworthy. However, its Passmark physics score of 2157 is relatively low, suggesting it may not be ideal for physics simulations. The CPU's average benchmark score of 38561 places it in the 86th percentile, and it performs nearly identically to the Intel Core i5-14500, with a 0.1% difference. For real-world workloads, this means responsive single-threaded applications and solid multi-threaded performance for productivity tasks, but it is not a multi-threaded powerhouse.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS data exists for this exact CPU and GPU combination. The following figures are estimates based on the benchmark scores of the individual components. The RTX 4090 D's 98th percentile ranking and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8587 suggest it is capable of extremely high frame rates in modern games. At 1080p resolution, the CPU's single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread score of 4339) will likely be the primary limiter, potentially preventing the system from achieving maximum frame rates in esports titles or CPU-heavy games. Frame rates in this scenario are estimated to be very high, likely exceeding 144 FPS in most titles, but with a performance cap dictated by the CPU.

At 1440p resolution, the balance shifts more toward the GPU. The data suggests the RTX 4090 D can comfortably handle high refresh rates, with estimated frame rates well above 144 FPS in most AAA titles on ultra settings. At 4K resolution, the GPU's 24 GB of VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth become critical assets, allowing for ultra-texture packs and high levels of detail. Estimated frame rates at 4K ultra are expected to be high, often exceeding 60 FPS in demanding titles and potentially reaching 100+ FPS in well-optimized games. The CPU's 14 cores provide sufficient support for background tasks, but the gaming experience is almost entirely defined by the flagship GPU's performance.