SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 285 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

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

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
97%
VS
GPU
89%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 285

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

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

16,129 Benchmark Score
Top 11% 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

# Intel Core Ultra 9 285 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti — Desktop Build Analysis

This build pairs Intel's 24-core Arrow Lake flagship desktop processor with NVIDIA's Ampere-generation RTX 3060 Ti, creating a desktop configuration where the CPU sits in the 95th percentile among all processors while the GPU lands in the 59th percentile among all graphics cards. The combined percentile for this pairing is 77, indicating a system that is strongly CPU-led in its performance profile. It must be stated clearly that the FACT PACK contains no measured FPS data for this exact combination — the `measuredFpsUltraByGame` field is empty and `dataIsMeasured` is false — so all game performance discussion below is estimated from the benchmark scores of the individual components.

Gaming Performance — estimated FPS by game and resolution

Since no measured frame rates exist for this CPU-GPU pairing, gaming performance must be inferred from the GPU's benchmark results and the CPU's demonstrated headroom. The RTX 3060 Ti delivers a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2626 and a Passmark G3D score of 20349, placing it at the 59th percentile of all GPUs. In practical terms, this GPU is positioned to handle 1080p and 1440p gaming with high detail settings, though 4K gaming would require significant compromises in graphical fidelity or reliance on upscaling technologies.

The GPU's Passmark DirectX 12 score of 78 and DirectX 11 score of 163 suggest that modern DX12 titles will be more demanding on this card than older DX11 titles, which is expected given the architectural focus of the Ampere generation. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth provides adequate capacity for current titles at 1080p and 1440p, but texture-heavy games at higher resolutions may approach the memory ceiling.

The CPU's exceptional single-thread performance — Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6909 and Passmark single-thread score of 4881 — ensures that frame pacing in CPU-bound scenarios will be excellent, with minimal bottleneck from the processor in most gaming workloads. The 95th percentile CPU ranking means that this processor will not constrain the RTX 3060 Ti in any realistic gaming scenario; the GPU will be the limiting factor in virtually all titles.

The GPU's Geekbench Vulkan score of 47784 and OpenCL score of 78927 indicate solid compute capabilities that can support features like ray tracing and DLSS, though the 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores are from the earlier Ampere generation and will not match newer architectures in ray-traced workloads. For competitive esports titles at high refresh rates, the CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock and strong single-core performance suggest that frame rates well above 144 FPS are achievable at 1080p with competitive settings. For AAA titles, the GPU's 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 performance will deliver playable frame rates at 1080p ultra and 1440p high, with estimates varying by title optimization.

Balance and Bottleneck

The performance data reveals a pronounced imbalance between the CPU and GPU components in this pairing. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 sits at the 95th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 75488, while the RTX 3060 Ti ranks at the 59th percentile with an average score of 16129. This 36-percentile gap indicates that the CPU vastly outperforms the GPU in raw compute capability, making the GPU the definitive bottleneck in gaming workloads.

The CPU's nearest rivals — AMD EPYC 8224P (75582, -0.1%), AMD EPYC 4545P (75373, 0.2%), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (75716, -0.3%), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (75738, -0.3%) — all score within 0.3% of the Core Ultra 9 285, confirming that this processor is operating at the very top tier of CPU performance. Meanwhile, the GPU's nearest rivals — AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, 0.7%), AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, -1.4%), AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (16361, -1.4%), and AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, 1.7%) — show that the RTX 3060 Ti is competing with mid-range cards from various generations.

The FPS scaling implications are clear: in CPU-bound scenarios (low resolution, high frame rate targets, esports titles), the system will perform exceptionally well because the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them. In GPU-bound scenarios (high resolution, ultra settings, ray tracing), the system's frame rates will be dictated entirely by the RTX 3060 Ti's capabilities, and the CPU's power will go largely unused. The Passmark physics score of 3598 and multithread score of 56602 reinforce that the CPU has substantial headroom for non-gaming tasks, but this headroom does not translate to higher gaming FPS when the GPU is the limiting factor.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 2626 suggests the GPU is capable of modern DX12 workloads, but the Passmark DirectX 12 score of 78 (versus 163 for DX11) indicates that the card is relatively weaker in newer API-heavy scenarios. This is consistent with the GPU's 59th percentile ranking — it is a competent mid-range card, but it is not designed to push maximum settings at high resolutions.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: The combination of the CPU's 6909 Cinebench R23 single-core score and the GPU's 20349 Passmark G3D score makes this system well-suited for 1080p high-refresh gaming, particularly in esports and competitive titles where the CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock can drive frame rates far beyond what the GPU can render. At 1440p, refresh rates will be more modest due to GPU limitations.

Streaming: The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads provide substantial headroom for encoding and streaming workloads alongside gaming. The Passmark data compression score of 602121 and data encryption score of 46949 indicate strong throughput for encoding tasks, though the GPU's NVENC capabilities (supported by its 152 tensor cores) would handle streaming more efficiently in most scenarios.

Video editing: The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 48945 places it among the fastest processors for rendering and export tasks, making short work of video encoding and effects processing. The GPU's 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 8 GB VRAM provide acceptable acceleration for GPU-accelerated effects, though the 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth may limit performance with very high-resolution footage.

3D rendering: The CPU's Passmark floating point math score of 194988 and integer math score of 164869 demonstrate exceptional compute throughput for CPU-based rendering. The GPU's Passmark compute score of 10006 indicates moderate GPU rendering capability, meaning CPU rendering will significantly outperform GPU rendering for this pairing.

Software development: The CPU's 24 threads, 36 MB L3 cache, and Passmark multithread score of 56602 provide excellent parallel compilation performance. The single-thread score of 4881 ensures fast interactive responsiveness during code editing and debugging, while the ECC memory support adds reliability for long-running build processes.

Student and office work: This system vastly exceeds the requirements for documentation, spreadsheet, and web-based workloads. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking means it will never feel slow in these tasks, though the GPU's capabilities are largely wasted in this scenario. The 65 W TDP of the CPU is notably efficient for its performance class.

Who Should Build It

This pairing targets users who prioritize CPU-intensive workloads but have a modest GPU budget or already own an RTX 3060 Ti from a previous build. Gamers at 1080p who play esports titles or older AAA games will find excellent performance, with the CPU ensuring no frame rate drops in CPU-bound scenarios. Content creators working in video editing, 3D rendering, or software development will benefit enormously from the CPU's top-tier multicore performance, while the GPU provides adequate acceleration for preview and light rendering tasks.

For small business workstations running virtualization, database processing, or scientific computing, the CPU's ECC memory support, 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, and 95th percentile performance make this an exceptional foundation. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking means it is suitable for general-purpose computing and light GPU acceleration, but not for demanding AI training, high-end 3D rendering, or 4K gaming. Users who plan to upgrade the GPU in the future will find this CPU has ample headroom to support significantly more powerful graphics cards without becoming a bottleneck.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 65 W TDP that is remarkably low for a processor of this performance class. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB shared L3, totaling a substantial cache footprint that benefits latency-sensitive workloads.

Benchmark results show this CPU is a powerhouse: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 48945 and single-core score of 6909 position it at the 95th percentile of all CPUs. The Passmark multithread score of 56602 and single-thread score of 4881 confirm balanced performance across both parallel and single-threaded workloads. The Passmark extended instructions score of 45357 indicates strong SIMD and vector processing capabilities, while the find prime numbers score of 459 and random string sorting score of 73651 provide insight into specific algorithmic strengths and weaknesses.

The CPU's integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU provides basic display output and light graphics acceleration, though the discrete RTX 3060 Ti will handle all demanding graphics workloads. Memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth, plus ECC memory support for reliability-critical applications. The processor uses Intel Socket 1851 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes, providing modern connectivity for storage and expansion.

The nearest rival comparison shows the Core Ultra 9 285 is essentially tied with several AMD EPYC and Ryzen processors: within 0.3% of the EPYC 8224P, EPYC 4545P, Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D, and Ryzen 7 PRO 9755. This places it in elite company, with performance statistically indistinguishable from these top-tier competitors.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 3060 Ti bottleneck the Core Ultra 9 285 in gaming?

A: Yes, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck in gaming workloads. The CPU ranks at the 95th percentile while the GPU ranks at the 59th percentile, meaning the GPU's 20349 Passmark G3D score will cap frame rates well below what the CPU's 6909 Cinebench R23 single-core score could support.

Q: What resolution is this system best suited for in gaming?

A: Based on the GPU's 59th percentile ranking and 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, 1080p and 1440p gaming are the sweet spots. The GPU's 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 performance is adequate for these resolutions, while 4K gaming would require significant settings reductions.

Q: Is the Core Ultra 9 285 good for productivity workloads?

A: Exceptional. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 48945 and Passmark multithread score of 56602 place it at the 95th percentile among all CPUs, making it excellent for video editing, 3D rendering, software compilation, and data processing.

Q: Can this system handle ray tracing?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti includes 38 RT cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, so ray tracing is possible. However, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2626 and the GPU's mid-range positioning suggest ray-traced performance will be modest, particularly at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the power consumption profile of this build?

A: The CPU has a 65 W TDP and the GPU has a 200 W TDP, with a suggested PSU of 550 W. This is a relatively efficient pairing, especially considering the CPU's top-tier performance at its low TDP.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the Core Ultra 9 285 supports ECC memory, which is valuable for workstation and server applications where data integrity is critical. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 9 285 is within 0.3% of the AMD EPYC 8224P, EPYC 4545P, Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D, and Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 in average benchmark score, making it statistically tied with these top-tier processors.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Core Ultra 9 285 uses Intel Socket 1851, which is the platform for the Arrow Lake generation. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth, with ECC support for reliability-critical applications. The CPU provides 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, enabling high-bandwidth connectivity for modern SSDs and expansion cards, while the GPU uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

The GPU's suggested PSU is 550 W, which combined with the CPU's 65 W TDP means this system has modest power requirements. The GPU is dual-slot with a 1x 12-pin power connector and measures 242 mm in length, fitting in most mid-tower cases. The GPU is end-of-life with a successor in the GeForce 40 series, so users seeking higher graphics performance would upgrade to a newer generation card.

A sensible next upgrade path would be replacing the RTX 3060 Ti with a more powerful GPU, as the CPU has substantial headroom — its 95th percentile ranking means it can support much higher-end graphics cards without bottlenecking. The platform supports PCIe Gen 5 for CPU-attached devices, though the GPU currently uses PCIe 4.0. Users could also add more DDR5 memory, as the dual-channel configuration supports expansion, and the 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes allow for high-speed NVMe storage. The CPU's 65 W TDP leaves ample thermal and power headroom for future component upgrades without requiring a PSU change.

Build Overview

This desktop build pairs the Intel Core Ultra 9 285, a 24-core Arrow Lake processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, an Ampere-generation GPU from the GeForce 30-series. The combined percentile of 77 reflects a system that is strongly CPU-led, with the processor at the 95th percentile and the GPU at the 59th percentile.

The build class is desktop, and the overall tier is high-end on the CPU side with mid-range graphics. This is a workstation-class CPU paired with a mainstream gaming GPU, creating a system that excels at CPU-intensive tasks like rendering, compilation, and data processing, while providing competent 1080p and 1440p gaming performance. The CPU's launch MSRP was $579, and the GPU's launch MSRP was 399 USD, though no current pricing is available.

This pairing makes sense for users who need maximum CPU performance but have modest graphics requirements, or for those planning a future GPU upgrade. The CPU's 65 W TDP and the GPU's 200 W TDP with a 550 W suggested PSU indicate a power-efficient system relative to its CPU performance class.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 75488, placing it at the 95th percentile of all CPUs. Key scores include Cinebench R23 multicore at 48945 and single-core at 6909, Cinebench R20 multicore at 20556 and single-core at 2901, and Cinebench R15 multicore at 4933 and single-core at 696. Passmark results show multithread at 56602, single-thread at 4881, floating point math at 194988, integer math at 164869, data compression at 602121, and data encryption at 46949.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 16129, placing it at the 59th percentile of all GPUs. Key scores include 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 2626, Geekbench OpenCL at 78927, Geekbench Vulkan at 47784, Passmark G3D at 20349, and Passmark GPU compute at 10006. DirectX scores are 234 for DX9, 132 for DX10, 163 for DX11, and 78 for DX12, with a G2D score of 989.

The combined picture shows a system where the CPU operates at the very top of its class — within 0.3% of four different AMD EPYC and Ryzen processors — while the GPU operates in the mid-range, within 1.7% of cards like the Radeon RX 9060, Radeon Pro 5600M, Radeon RX 5700 XT, and Radeon R9 370X. This creates an unusual pairing where the CPU is overqualified for the GPU in gaming, but the combination is balanced for productivity workloads that leverage CPU compute.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. It features 4864 shading units, 152 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores for ray tracing and AI acceleration. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, and memory clocks at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1410 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost, with pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 253.1 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 16.20 TFLOPS with FP16 at the same 16.20 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, with display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Benchmark results place this GPU at the 59th percentile, with the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2626 indicating modern DX12 capability. The Passmark G3D score of 20349 and GPU compute score of 10006 show solid general and compute performance, while the Geekbench OpenCL score of 78927 and Vulkan score of 47784 demonstrate cross-API versatility. The GPU is end-of-life with the GeForce 40 series as its successor, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (0.7% higher score), Radeon Pro 5600M (1.4% lower), Radeon RX 5700 XT (1.4% lower), and Radeon R9 370X (1.7% higher).

For rendering workloads, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth support moderate-sized scenes and textures, while the 152 tensor cores enable DLSS and other AI-accelerated features. The 38 RT cores provide hardware ray tracing support, though performance will be limited compared to newer generations. The 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 performance is competitive for a mid-range card and supports GPU-accelerated effects in creative applications, but the CPU's superior compute scores mean CPU rendering will generally outperform GPU rendering for this pairing.