SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

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

94 / 100
ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 6% 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
90%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

83,807 Benchmark Score
Top 3% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

17,639 Benchmark Score
Top 10% 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

# Intel Core Ultra 9 285K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060: A Desktop Benchmark Analysis

This pairing combines Intel's flagship Arrow Lake desktop processor with NVIDIA's entry-level Ada Lovelace GPU, creating a configuration where the CPU's 96th-percentile performance vastly outpaces the GPU's 61st-percentile standing. The data shows a desktop build (buildClass) with a combined percentile of 79, indicating that while the CPU is near the top of all tested processors, the GPU anchors the system's overall capability. The Core Ultra 9 285K, released on 2024-10-23 with a launch MSRP of $589, brings 24 cores and 24 threads, while the RTX 4060, launched 2023-05-17 at 299 USD, offers 8 GB of GDDR6 memory — a mismatch that defines the system's character. No measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination, so all frame-rate discussion below is estimated from the benchmark scores.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is a 24-core, 24-thread desktop processor built on Intel's Arrow Lake architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 3 nm process. It uses the Arrow Lake-S codename, part of the Core Ultra Series 2, and fits the Intel Socket 1851. The chip integrates 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz. The 125 W TDP (thermal design power) is modest for a 24-core flagship, which suggests efficient power delivery despite the high core count.

The cache hierarchy is substantial: 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This arrangement supports heavy multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42,522, which places the CPU in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The single-core Cinebench R23 result of 2,377 shows strong per-thread performance, driven by the 5.70 GHz boost clock. Geekbench scores reinforce this: 26,702 multicore and 2,870 single-core, both indicating top-tier performance for both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded applications.

The PassMark suite provides granular insight into workload-specific strengths. The multithread score of 67,260 is exceptional, while the single-thread score of 5,087 confirms the CPU's ability to handle latency-sensitive tasks. Integer math (172,379), floating-point math (224,324), and extended instructions (62,277) all show robust computational throughput. Data compression (790,052) and encryption (57,745) scores are also strong, indicating that the CPU handles both data-heavy and security-related tasks efficiently. The physics score of 3,938 and prime number finding at 541 round out the picture: the chip excels at parallelizable workloads but shows more moderate results in certain single-threaded integer operations.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 9 285K sits within a tight cluster. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus by 0.2%, leads the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 0.9%, and beats the AMD EPYC 9135 by 1%. Against the AMD EPYC 7F72, it is 1.5% behind. These deltas are minimal, meaning the 285K is effectively performance-equivalent to these server-class parts in average benchmark score, despite being a desktop processor. The average benchmark score of 83,807 reflects this parity, though the 285K's advantage is its combination of high single-thread and multi-thread performance in a desktop form factor.

Balance and Bottleneck

The fundamental imbalance in this build is stark: the CPU sits at the 96th percentile while the GPU sits at the 61st percentile. In CPU-bound workloads — such as data compression, encryption, or multi-threaded rendering — the Core Ultra 9 285K will perform at near-flagship levels, with no meaningful bottleneck from the processor. However, in GPU-bound tasks like gaming at high resolutions or GPU-accelerated rendering, the RTX 4060 becomes the limiting factor, capping frame rates and compute throughput well below what the CPU could theoretically feed.

The PassMark GPU compute score of 9,213 versus the CPU's PassMark multithread score of 67,260 illustrates this gap. For workloads that rely on GPU compute (e.g., machine learning inference, video encoding), the GPU's performance will dominate the overall experience. The CPU's 96th-percentile standing means it will rarely be the constraint; instead, the GPU's 61st percentile will define the ceiling for graphics-related tasks. For productivity workloads that are CPU-bound, the system will feel exceptionally responsive, with Cinebench R23 multicore scores of 42,522 indicating near-instantaneous rendering for 3D scenes or video exports.

The FPS scaling, though unmeasured, can be inferred: at 1080p, the RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth will likely produce acceptable frame rates in most titles, but the CPU's headroom means that lowering resolution or settings will not yield proportional FPS gains beyond the GPU's limits. At 1440p or 4K, the GPU becomes even more dominant, and the CPU's advantages in single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread of 5,087) will have diminishing returns. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus further constrain high-resolution or texture-heavy scenarios.

Usage Scenarios

For high-refresh gaming at 1080p, the RTX 4060's 61st-percentile GPU standing and 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 throughput should deliver competitive frame rates in esports titles, though the lack of measured FPS data means these are estimates. The CPU's single-thread score of 5,087 ensures that even CPU-intensive game logic will not bottleneck the GPU, but the GPU's 8 GB VRAM may limit texture quality in modern titles.

Streaming while gaming benefits from the CPU's 24 cores: the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42,522 indicates ample headroom for encoding alongside gameplay, though the GPU's NVENC capabilities (part of the Ada Lovelace architecture) could offload this work. The CPU's data encryption score of 57,745 also supports secure streaming protocols without performance degradation.

Video editing in applications like Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve will see strong CPU performance for timeline scrubbing and export, with the Geekbench multicore score of 26,702 and Cinebench R23 multicore of 42,522 providing a smooth experience. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth will accelerate effects and color grading, but the GPU's 61st percentile suggests it is adequate rather than exceptional for 4K timelines.

3D rendering in Blender or similar tools will rely heavily on the CPU's 24 cores: the Cinebench R20 multicore score of 24,003 and PassMark floating-point math of 224,324 show strong ray-tracing and physics simulation capabilities. The GPU's 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration, but the RTX 4060's modest FP32 throughput (15.11 TFLOPS) means GPU rendering will be slower than CPU rendering for complex scenes.

Software development benefits from the CPU's compilation speed: the PassMark integer math score of 172,379 and multithread score of 67,260 indicate fast builds and test execution. The ECC memory support adds reliability for long-running test suites. The 36 MB L3 cache also helps with frequent recompilation of large codebases.

Student and office work is massively over-served by this CPU: the single-thread score of 5,087 and Geekbench single-core of 2,870 ensure snappy application launches and spreadsheet calculations. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU provides a fallback display output, though the discrete GPU will handle any graphical tasks. The 125 W TDP is manageable for a desktop, though the CPU's 96th-percentile performance is far beyond what typical office workloads require.

Who Should Build It

Target users for this pairing are those who prioritize CPU-intensive workloads over GPU performance. Gamers at 1080p who play CPU-bound titles (e.g., strategy games, MMOs) will benefit from the 285K's single-thread prowess, while accepting that the RTX 4060 will limit maximum graphical settings. Content creators who work primarily in CPU-rendered 3D applications or video encoding will see near-flagship performance, with the GPU handling occasional acceleration tasks.

Developers compiling large codebases or running virtual machines will appreciate the 24 cores and 36 MB L3 cache, which provide excellent parallel throughput. Students in engineering or data science fields will find the CPU's PassMark multithread score of 67,260 sufficient for simulation workloads, though the GPU's 8 GB VRAM may limit deep learning experiments. Small business workstations that run database queries or financial modeling will benefit from the ECC memory support and data encryption score of 57,745, ensuring data integrity and security.

However, users whose primary workload is GPU-accelerated — such as 3D artists using GPU renderers, video editors relying on GPU effects, or gamers targeting 1440p/4K — should consider a more balanced GPU pairing. The RTX 4060's 61st percentile means it will be the bottleneck in these scenarios, and the CPU's 96th percentile will go largely unused. This build makes sense only when the CPU is the primary compute engine.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 uses the AD107 chip on TSMC's 5 nm process, with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. It features 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, along with 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores. The base clock is 1830 MHz, boosting to 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The 8 GB GDDR6 memory sits on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth — a modest figure that limits high-resolution texture streaming.

The GPU's compute capabilities are defined by 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 (1:1), with pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s. These figures place the RTX 4060 in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,639. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2,302, while Geekbench OpenCL returns 95,057 and Vulkan 48,643. PassMark G3D scores 19,545, with DirectX 11 at 175, DirectX 12 at 76, and DirectX 9 at 236 — showing a clear strength in older APIs and a relative weakness in modern DX12 workloads.

The nearest rivals are all within a tight band: the AMD Radeon HD 7790 is 0.2% ahead, while the AMD Radeon 780M is 0.3% behind, the Radeon Pro 560 is 0.5% behind, and the Radeon Pro 460 is 0.7% behind. This indicates the RTX 4060 is performance-equivalent to an integrated GPU (Radeon 780M) and several older discrete parts, which is surprising for a 2023 release. The GPU's 115 W TDP and suggested PSU of 300 W make it power-efficient, but the 1x 12-pin power connector and dual-slot design are modest.

The tensor cores (96) and RT cores (24) provide hardware support for DLSS and ray tracing, but the GPU's overall compute throughput suggests that these features will be usable at 1080p with quality settings dialed back. The 8 GB VRAM is a limiting factor for modern games at high textures, and the 128-bit bus constrains bandwidth-sensitive workloads. The GPU is marked as end-of-life, with the GeForce 50 as its successor, indicating it is a mature product at the end of its lifespan.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K has 24 cores and 24 threads, with no hyper-threading, as indicated by the equal core and thread counts.

Q: Does the GPU support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX 4060 includes 24 RT cores, providing hardware-accelerated ray tracing, though the GPU's overall 61st-percentile performance suggests limited headroom for RT at high settings.

Q: What memory type does the CPU support?

A: The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s and ECC memory support.

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

A: The RTX 4060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Core Ultra 9 285K trails the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus by 0.2% and the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.5%, but leads the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 0.9% and the AMD EPYC 9135 by 1%.

Q: What is the GPU's process node?

A: The RTX 4060 is fabricated by TSMC on a 5 nm process, with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die.

Q: Is the CPU's integrated graphics usable?

A: Yes, the Core Ultra 9 285K includes Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units, providing a fallback display output, though the discrete RTX 4060 will be the primary GPU.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Core Ultra 9 285K uses the Intel Socket 1851, which is specific to the Arrow Lake generation. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s and ECC support. PCIe Gen 5 is available with 20 lanes from the CPU, which provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 4060's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, though the GPU's bus width is a potential bottleneck.

The CPU's TDP is 125 W, while the GPU's TDP is 115 W, with a suggested PSU of 300 W for the GPU alone. A combined system PSU of around 500-600 W would be sensible, but the FACT PACK does not specify a combined recommendation. The GPU uses a 1x 12-pin power connector, which may require an adapter for older PSUs. The CPU's multiplier is unlocked, allowing overclocking, but the 3 nm process and 125 W TDP suggest limited thermal headroom.

A sensible next upgrade would be a higher-tier GPU, as the CPU has significant headroom: the 96th-percentile CPU performance means it can drive any current GPU without bottlenecking. Upgrading from the RTX 4060 to a GPU with higher VRAM and bandwidth would unlock the CPU's full potential in gaming and GPU-compute workloads. Conversely, upgrading the CPU would yield minimal gains, as it is already near the top of the performance curve. The platform's DDR5 support and PCIe Gen 5 also future-proof the motherboard for storage and peripheral upgrades.

Build Overview

This build pairs the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, a 24-core Arrow Lake desktop flagship, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, an 8 GB Ada Lovelace GPU. The build class is desktop, and the combined percentile is 79, indicating that the system as a whole outperforms 79% of tested configurations. The CPU's 96th-percentile standing and the GPU's 61st-percentile standing create an asymmetric profile: the system excels at CPU-bound tasks but is average-to-midrange for GPU-bound workloads.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 83,807 places it among server-class processors like the AMD EPYC series, while the GPU's average score of 17,639 places it near integrated graphics solutions like the Radeon 780M. This is not a balanced build; it is a CPU-first configuration where the processor is the star. The 24 cores, 36 MB L3 cache, and 5.70 GHz boost clock make it a productivity powerhouse, while the RTX 4060 provides adequate but not exceptional graphics capability.

Users should understand that the GPU will limit the system in gaming and GPU-accelerated tasks. The CPU's performance is wasted in many gaming scenarios, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU dominates. However, for content creators, developers, and power users who run CPU-intensive workloads, this pairing delivers near-flagship performance at a reasonable power envelope (125 W CPU, 115 W GPU).

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's benchmark scores are consistently in the top percentile. Cinebench R23 multicore scores 42,522, while single-core scores 2,377. Cinebench R20 shows 24,003 multicore and 3,388 single-core, and Cinebench R15 shows 6,494 multicore and 359 single-core. Geekbench multicore is 26,702 and single-core 2,870. PassMark multithread is 67,260, with single-thread at 5,087. The average benchmark score is 83,807, placing the CPU in the 96th percentile of all CPUs.

The GPU's scores are more modest. 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 scores 2,302, Geekbench OpenCL scores 95,057, and Vulkan scores 48,643. PassMark G3D scores 19,545, with GPU compute at 9,213. DirectX scores range from 76 (DX12) to 236 (DX9). The average benchmark score is 17,639, placing the GPU in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

The combined picture is a system where the CPU's performance is roughly 4.75 times the GPU's in average benchmark score (83,807 vs 17,639). The CPU's percentile (96) is 35 points higher than the GPU's (61), and the combined percentile of 79 reflects the GPU's drag on the overall standing. In CPU-bound benchmarks, the system will rank near the top; in GPU-bound benchmarks, it will rank near the 61st percentile. This split defines the system's character: a workstation-class CPU with an entry-level GPU.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS data exists for this exact combination, as the FACT PACK contains no measuredFps fields. All frame-rate figures are therefore estimates based on the benchmark scores. The RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth suggest it can handle 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings in most titles, with the 8 GB VRAM limiting ultra textures in newer games. The CPU's 5,087 single-thread PassMark score ensures no CPU bottleneck at 1080p, but the GPU's 61st percentile will cap frame rates.

At 1440p, the GPU's 128-bit bus and 8 GB VRAM will likely require reduced settings for playable frame rates, especially in memory-intensive titles. At 4K, the GPU will struggle, and the CPU's advantages will be largely irrelevant. The 24 RT cores provide ray tracing capability, but the GPU's modest compute throughput means RT will significantly reduce frame rates. DLSS support via the 96 tensor cores could mitigate this, but the GPU's 61st-percentile standing suggests it is better suited to 1080p gaming.

For esports titles like CS:GO or Valorant, the CPU's high single-thread performance and the GPU's adequate rasterization should deliver high frame rates at 1080p, though exact numbers cannot be confirmed. For AAA titles, the GPU will be the limiting factor, and users should expect to adjust settings to maintain smooth gameplay. The lack of measured FPS data means these are estimates; actual performance will vary by title and settings.