SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 285 + AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT

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
97%
VS
GPU
87%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 285

75,488 Benchmark Score
Top 3% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT

11,842 Benchmark Score
Top 13% 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

# FAQ

Q: What is the Intel Core Ultra 9 285's position relative to other CPUs?

A: The Core Ultra 9 285 sits at the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 75,488. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 8224P, scores 75,582, placing the Intel chip 0.1% behind, while the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D is 0.3% ahead with a score of 75,716.

Q: How does the RX 6500 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6500 XT holds the 51st percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 11,842. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 by 1% (that card scores 11,960) and sits 1.4% ahead of the GTX 1660, which scores 11,680. The RX 7800 XT is 1.9% ahead at 11,627.

Q: What are the key specifications of the Core Ultra 9 285?

A: This desktop processor features 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It uses the Intel Socket 1851, is built on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors, and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What memory and expansion capabilities does the RX 6500 XT offer?

A: The GPU comes with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 143.9 GB/s bandwidth. It connects via PCIe 4.0 x4 and outputs through 1x HDMI 2.1 and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The card has a 107 W TDP and requires a 300 W suggested PSU.

Q: How does the CPU perform in single-threaded versus multi-threaded workloads?

A: The Cinebench R23 results show a single-core score of 6,909 and a multi-core score of 48,945. This indicates strong per-thread performance (95th percentile overall) while the multi-core figure leverages all 24 cores effectively, producing a PassMark multithread score of 56,602.

Q: What is the combined percentile for this CPU-GPU pairing?

A: The combination of the Core Ultra 9 285 and RX 6500 XT achieves a combined percentile of 73, placing it above the majority of desktop configurations. The CPU is far stronger than the GPU, which is reflected in the individual percentiles of 95 and 51 respectively.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the Core Ultra 9 285 supports ECC memory, which is notable for workstation and server-style reliability. It also includes integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units, providing a fallback display output independent of the discrete GPU.

# Benchmark Performance

The benchmark data presents a stark contrast between the two components. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 delivers an average benchmark score of 75,488, placing it at the 95th percentile among all CPUs. This is a top-tier result, with the nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 8224P (75,582), AMD EPYC 4545P (75,373), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (75,716), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (75,738) — all within a 0.3% margin. The CPU's multi-core prowess is evident in Cinebench R23, where it scores 48,945, and in PassMark multithread at 56,602. Single-thread performance is equally strong, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 6,909 and PassMark single-thread at 4,881.

In contrast, the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT scores an average of 11,842, placing it at the 51st percentile among all GPUs. This is a mid-pack result, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (11,960, 1% ahead) and the GTX 1660 (11,680, 1.4% behind). The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is just 235, and PassMark G3D is 9,608, indicating modest directX performance. The compute capability is similarly limited, with PassMark GPU compute at 4,456 and Geekbench OpenCL at 48,289.

The combined picture is one of extreme imbalance. The CPU is near the top of the desktop hierarchy, while the GPU sits barely above the median. This pairing yields a combined percentile of 73, which reflects the CPU's dominance pulling the overall score upward. In multi-threaded CPU tasks, this system would outperform nearly all rivals, but in GPU-bound scenarios, it would lag behind many mid-range configurations. The data shows a 44-percentage-point gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles, making this one of the most lopsided pairings in the benchmark database.

# Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: At 1080p with high refresh rates, the RX 6500 XT is the limiting factor. With a PassMark G3D score of 9,608 and a 51st percentile ranking, the GPU cannot sustain high frame rates in demanding titles. The CPU's single-thread score of 6,909 in Cinebench R23 ensures no bottleneck from the processor, but the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 143.9 GB/s bandwidth will cap performance well below what the CPU could otherwise support.

Streaming: The CPU's 24 cores and strong multi-threaded scores (48,945 in Cinebench R23) provide ample headroom for software encoding while gaming. However, the GPU lacks dedicated hardware encoders for modern codecs, and its 51st percentile ranking means the gaming side of the stream will suffer. The CPU could handle the encoding load, but the game itself would run at reduced quality settings.

Video editing: The Core Ultra 9 285 excels here, with PassMark data compression at 602,121 and floating-point math at 194,988. These scores indicate rapid timeline scrubbing, effects processing, and export times. The GPU's 4 GB VRAM limits GPU-accelerated effects and 4K preview rendering, but the CPU can compensate for many tasks. The 36 MB L3 cache further aids large dataset manipulation.

3D rendering: Cinebench R20 multi-core at 20,556 and R15 multi-core at 4,933 demonstrate strong CPU-based rendering performance. For CPU renderers like Blender Cycles (CPU mode) or V-Ray, this system is excellent. GPU rendering, however, is constrained by the RX 6500 XT's 5.765 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, which is below average for modern GPUs, making GPU-accelerated renders slow.

Software development: The CPU's PassMark integer math score of 164,869 and extended instructions score of 45,357 indicate fast compilation times and efficient code execution. The 24 threads handle parallel builds effectively, and the 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth reduces cache misses. The GPU is irrelevant for most development tasks, making this a strong workstation for coding.

Student and office work: For productivity suites, web browsing, and document processing, the CPU is massively overprovisioned, with PassMark single-thread at 4,881 ensuring snappy responsiveness. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 EU can handle 2D workloads and video playback without the discrete GPU, potentially reducing power draw. The 65 W CPU TDP keeps thermals manageable in typical office environments.

# Balance and Bottleneck

The data reveals a severe bottleneck in GPU-bound workloads. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 51st means that in any graphics-intensive task, the RX 6500 XT will saturate well before the Core Ultra 9 285 approaches its limits. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 235 and PassMark G3D of 9,608 are the primary evidence — these are mid-pack numbers that would be the ceiling for gaming and GPU compute.

Conversely, in CPU-bound workloads such as data compression (602,121 in PassMark), encryption (46,949), or physics (3,598), the GPU plays no role, and the system performs at the 95th percentile level. The bottleneck shifts entirely to the CPU, which is rarely the limiting factor given its performance tier.

The FPS scaling in gaming would show a plateau: frame rates increase with CPU performance up to a point, then flatline due to GPU limits. With the RX 6500 XT's 32 ROPs and 64 TMUs, pixel throughput is capped at 90.08 GPixel/s and texture rate at 180.2 GTexel/s. These figures are roughly one-third of what the CPU could drive in a balanced system. The 4 GB VRAM is another constraint, causing texture streaming bottlenecks in modern games that exceed this capacity.

# GPU Analysis

The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is built on the Navi 24 chip using TSMC's 6 nm process, with 5,400 million transistors on a 107 mm² die. It features 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with 16 ray tracing cores. The base clock is 2,310 MHz, boost clock 2,815 MHz, and game clock 2,610 MHz. Memory is 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, providing 143.9 GB/s bandwidth at 18 Gbps effective speed.

The GPU's FP32 throughput is 5.765 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 11.53 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The 16 ray tracing cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate, but the low shader count limits RT performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 235 and PassMark DirectX 12 score of 38 indicate that modern API workloads are not this card's strength. PassMark DirectX 11 at 90 and DirectX 9 at 108 show better legacy performance, but these are still modest numbers.

The 64-bit memory bus and 4 GB capacity are significant constraints. Bandwidth of 143.9 GB/s is insufficient for high-resolution textures or 1440p gaming with detail settings maxed. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x4, which halves the bandwidth available to the card compared to x8 or x16 slots, further limiting data transfer from system memory. For rendering, the 5.765 TFLOPS FP32 places it below many mid-range cards, and the 4,456 PassMark GPU compute score confirms limited compute capability. The card is end-of-life, with a 107 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU.

# Upgrade Path and Platform

The Core Ultra 9 285 uses Intel Socket 1851, which is specific to the Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake) generation. This platform supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with ECC capability, and the CPU provides 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The 65 W TDP means the CPU is power-efficient, and the 300 W suggested PSU for the GPU leaves significant headroom for upgrades.

A sensible next upgrade would be replacing the RX 6500 XT with a higher-tier GPU. The CPU's 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes can fully utilize any current graphics card, and the 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures no data starvation. The platform's DDR5 support and ECC option make it suitable for workstation use, where a professional-grade GPU (such as those with higher FP32 or RT performance) would better leverage the CPU's capabilities.

The 243 mm² die size and 17,800 million transistors on a 3 nm process suggest that the CPU is a modern, efficient design. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 EU provides a fallback if the discrete GPU is removed or fails. The PSU headroom from the 300 W suggested rating (which is for the GPU alone) means the total system draw is likely well under 500 W, leaving room for a more powerful GPU with a higher TDP. The platform supports PCIe Gen 5, which is future-proof for storage and expansion cards.

# CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 is a 24-core, 24-thread desktop processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with ECC, providing 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Benchmark scores show exceptional multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core at 48,945, R20 at 20,556, and R15 at 4,933. PassMark multithread at 56,602 and integer math at 164,869 reinforce this. Single-thread performance is equally strong, with R23 single-core at 6,909 and PassMark single-thread at 4,881. The 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs puts it in the top tier for both desktop and many server workloads.

The architecture's 24 threads (no hyperthreading, given 24 cores and 24 threads) are all physical, which is beneficial for workloads that scale with core count. The 3 nm process and 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die indicate high transistor density. The 36 MB L3 cache is substantial for gaming and database workloads. The CPU supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes, which is sufficient for a high-end GPU plus NVMe storage. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 EU provides basic display capabilities, though it is not designed for gaming.

# Build Overview

This is a desktop build pairing the top-tier Intel Core Ultra 9 285 CPU with the entry-level AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT GPU. The CPU is at the 95th percentile, the GPU at the 51st, and the combined percentile is 73. This is a fundamentally unbalanced configuration: the CPU is capable of driving high-end workloads, while the GPU is suited for basic 1080p gaming and light graphics tasks.

The build class is desktop, indicating a fixed, non-portable system. The CPU's 65 W TDP and the GPU's 107 W TDP suggest a modest total power draw, making this a relatively efficient system despite the high-end CPU. The 24-core CPU is overkill for the GPU's capabilities, but it provides immense headroom for CPU-intensive tasks like rendering, compilation, and data processing.

The overall tier is mid-to-high due to the CPU's dominance, but the GPU pulls the system down in graphics benchmarks. In CPU-only workloads, this system would rank near the top; in GPU-only workloads, it would rank near the median. The combined percentile of 73 reflects this averaging, but it masks the extreme variance between component performance levels.

# Who Should Build It

This system is ideal for users who prioritize CPU performance above all else. Gamers at 1080p with low-to-medium settings will find the RX 6500 XT sufficient for esports titles, where the CPU's single-thread score of 6,909 in Cinebench R23 ensures high frame rates in CPU-bound games like Counter-Strike or Valorant. However, gamers targeting 1440p or 4K, or those who want maxed settings in AAA titles, will be disappointed by the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 143.9 GB/s bandwidth.

Content creators focused on video editing or 3D rendering using CPU-based renderers will benefit significantly. The 48,945 Cinebench R23 multi-core score and 56,602 PassMark multithread score reduce export times and render times dramatically. Developers compiling large codebases will see fast build times, and data analysts working with large datasets will appreciate the 602,121 PassMark data compression score.

Students and office workers will find the system vastly more powerful than needed, but the 65 W CPU TDP and integrated graphics mean it can operate efficiently for general productivity. Small business workstations requiring ECC memory support and 24 threads for virtualization or database work will find the CPU's capabilities unmatched at this performance tier, though the GPU adds little value for such workloads. The system is not recommended for GPU-accelerated tasks like machine learning training or GPU rendering, as the 4,456 PassMark GPU compute score is too low for serious compute work.

# Gaming Performance

No measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination — the FACT PACK contains no measuredFps data. All frame rate figures below are estimates derived from the benchmark scores and component specifications, not from direct testing.

At 1080p with ultra settings, the RX 6500 XT's PassMark G3D score of 9,608 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 235 suggest frame rates in the range of 30-50 FPS for modern AAA titles. The 4 GB VRAM will cause stuttering in games that exceed this capacity, and the 64-bit memory bus (143.9 GB/s) limits texture streaming bandwidth. Esports titles like League of Legends or CS:GO are likely to run at 60-100+ FPS, as these are CPU-bound and the Core Ultra 9 285's single-thread performance (6,909 in Cinebench R23) excels.

At 1440p, the GPU's pixel rate of 90.08 GPixel/s and texture rate of 180.2 GTexel/s become limiting, with estimates dropping to 20-35 FPS on ultra settings. The 32 ROPs are insufficient for high-resolution rendering, and the card's 51st percentile ranking places it below most modern mid-range GPUs. At 4K, the system would be playable only in very light titles or with significant resolution scaling.

The CPU's 95th percentile ranking means there is no CPU bottleneck at any resolution — the GPU is always the constraint. In CPU-bound scenarios with lower graphical settings, the system can deliver very high frame rates (150+ FPS in esports), but the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and bandwidth cap the overall experience. These estimates should be treated as approximations; actual performance will vary by game, driver version, and system configuration.