SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + 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
98%
VS
GPU
90%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus

84,003 Benchmark Score
Top 2% 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
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

This desktop pairing combines Intel’s top-tier Arrow Lake Refresh CPU with NVIDIA’s entry-level Ada Lovelace GPU, creating a system with a massive processing core and a modest graphics engine. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core processor that ranks in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 4060 sits in the 61st percentile among GPUs. The combined percentile for the build is 79, reflecting the significant gap between the two components. The data shows a machine that excels at CPU-heavy workloads but delivers mixed results in graphically demanding tasks, particularly at higher resolutions.

Usage Scenarios

High-Refresh Gaming: At 1080p, the system delivers strong esports performance, with Counter-Strike 2 hitting 184 FPS and Valorant reaching 422 FPS. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege achieves 219 FPS at 1080p, making it suitable for competitive play. However, AAA titles are more demanding—Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 54 FPS at 1080p, which is playable but below the 144Hz threshold. At 1440p, esports titles remain smooth, but the frame rates drop considerably, with Valorant at 360 FPS and CS2 at 122 FPS, while Cyberpunk falls to 41 FPS.

Streaming: The CPU’s 24 threads and strong multi-core scores provide ample headroom for encoding, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731. The PassMark multi-thread score of 60860 indicates the processor can handle game capture and encoding simultaneously without choking. The GPU’s 96 tensor cores could accelerate AI-based encoding features, though the 8 GB VRAM and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth may limit simultaneous game rendering and encoding at high settings.

Video Editing: The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus excels in this role, with a PassMark floating point math score of 214760 and data compression score of 698346. These numbers suggest fast timeline scrubbing, effect rendering, and export times. The GPU’s 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance accelerates effects and previews, but the 8 GB VRAM could be a constraint for 4K timelines with heavy color grading.

3D Rendering: This is the system’s strongest productivity area. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 places it near the top of CPU charts, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 indicates the GPU can handle ray-traced scenes. The CPU’s PassMark integer math score of 166194 supports complex physics simulations, while the GPU’s 24 RT cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, though rendering large scenes may exceed the 8 GB VRAM.

Software Development: The 24 cores and 24 threads handle parallel compilation efficiently, with the Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 21727 suggesting strong multi-threaded performance. The PassMark data encryption score of 52563 and extended instructions score of 52338 indicate solid cryptographic and SIMD performance for code signing and vectorized workloads. The ECC memory support adds reliability for long-running builds.

Student and Office Work: This system is overkill for typical office tasks, but the single-thread performance is exceptional—the Cinebench R20 single-core score of 3067 and PassMark single-thread score of 4823 ensure snappy application responsiveness. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU provides a fallback for basic display tasks. The 125W TDP suggests higher idle power draw than smaller systems, but the performance headroom means it will never feel slow.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84003 places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scores 83807, a delta of just 0.2% in favor of the 290K Plus. The AMD EPYC 4584PX and EPYC 9135 trail by 1.1% and 1.2% respectively, while the EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% ahead. This positions the 290K Plus as a top-tier desktop processor, slightly ahead of its direct predecessor and competitive with server-class chips.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 17639 places it in the 61st percentile. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon HD 7790, which scores 17666, a delta of -0.2% (meaning the RTX 4060 is slightly behind). The AMD Radeon 780M integrated GPU is 0.3% behind, and the Radeon Pro 560 and Pro 460 are 0.5% and 0.7% behind respectively. This is striking—the RTX 4060’s discrete performance is nearly matched by modern integrated graphics, highlighting its entry-level positioning.

The combined picture shows a 96th-percentile CPU paired with a 61st-percentile GPU, resulting in a 79th-percentile overall build. The average FPS across all measured games is 119.6, ranking 1993rd out of 3732 pairs. This suggests the system performs well in aggregate but is held back by GPU limits in demanding titles, while excelling in CPU-bound scenarios.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is built on a 3nm TSMC process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. It features 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 115.2 GB/s bandwidth, plus ECC support for error correction.

The architecture is Arrow Lake Refresh, representing the Ultra 9 generation. It uses the Intel Socket 1851 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU provides basic display output. The multiplier is unlocked, allowing overclocking, and the TDP is 125W.

Benchmark results indicate exceptional multi-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 is roughly 2.4 times higher than the single-core score of 7303, showing strong scaling across 24 threads. The PassMark multithread score of 60860 confirms this, while the physics score of 3315 suggests the CPU can handle complex simulations. The data compression score of 698346 is particularly high, indicating strong performance in file archiving and data-heavy workflows.

The single-thread performance is equally impressive, with a Cinebench R20 single-core score of 3067 and PassMark single-thread score of 4823. This ensures responsive single-threaded applications like office software and legacy games. The PassMark random string sorting score of 79744 suggests efficient memory access patterns, while the find prime numbers score of 503 is relatively low, indicating the architecture prioritizes other workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the combined performance percentile of this build?

A: The combined percentile is 79, placing it in the upper fifth of all desktop configurations.

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

A: The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus scores 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Core Ultra 9 285K’s 83807, and 1.1% to 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX and EPYC 9135.

Q: What is the GPU’s closest competitor?

A: The RTX 4060’s average score of 17639 is 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7790’s 17666, and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon 780M integrated GPU.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have?

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

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

A: The boost clock is 5.80 GHz, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus supports ECC memory, which is unusual for a desktop processor.

Q: What is the average FPS across all measured games?

A: The average FPS across games at ultra settings is 119.6, ranking 1993rd out of 3732 pairs.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data clearly shows the GPU as the primary bottleneck in most gaming scenarios. At 1080p, the CPU’s high single-thread performance (4823 PassMark) allows high frame rates in esports titles, but the GPU’s 61st percentile ranking caps performance in AAA games. For example, Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p yields 54 FPS, while the CPU could likely push higher if paired with a stronger GPU. The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 19545 versus the CPU’s 96th percentile indicates a significant performance mismatch.

At 1440p, the bottleneck shifts more toward the GPU, with frame rates dropping by roughly 20-30% compared to 1080p in most titles. The RTX 4060’s 8 GB VRAM and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth become limiting factors, as seen in Ark: Survival Ascended dropping from 27 FPS at 1080p to 17 FPS at 1440p. At 4K, the GPU is severely constrained, with many titles falling below 30 FPS, such as Red Dead Redemption 2 at 24 FPS and The Medium at 25 FPS.

The CPU rarely bottlenecks the system. In CPU-bound scenarios like data compression (698346 PassMark score) and multithreaded tasks (60860 PassMark), the processor demonstrates immense headroom. The FPS scaling across resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting factor as resolution rises, while the CPU maintains consistent performance. For productivity workloads, the CPU is the star, with the GPU providing adequate acceleration for tasks that benefit from CUDA cores.

Gaming Performance

The measured FPS data, based on actual testing, shows a wide range of performance across 50 games at ultra settings. At 1080p, esports titles excel: Valorant hits 422 FPS, CS:GO reaches 407 FPS, and Roblox runs at 238 FPS. Competitive shooters like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (219 FPS) and Counter-Strike 2 (184 FPS) are highly playable. Minecraft runs at 181 FPS, and To The Core achieves 185 FPS.

At 1440p, performance remains solid for many titles. Valorant still hits 360 FPS, CS:GO runs at 280 FPS, and Call of Duty: Warzone achieves 167 FPS. However, AAA games begin to struggle: Cyberpunk 2077 drops to 41 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 to 37 FPS, and The Medium to 32 FPS. Ark: Survival Ascended is particularly demanding, falling to 17 FPS.

At 4K, the GPU’s limitations are clear. Valorant remains playable at 288 FPS, and CS:GO at 165 FPS, but most modern titles fall below 60 FPS. Call of Duty: Warzone hits 141 FPS, which is impressive, but Cyberpunk 2077 (27 FPS), Red Dead Redemption 2 (24 FPS), and The Medium (25 FPS) are not playable at smooth frame rates. Several games like Ark: Survival Ascended (9 FPS) and Revolution Idle (20 FPS) are effectively unplayable at 4K ultra settings.

The average FPS across all games is 119.6, ranking 1993rd out of 3732 pairs. This indicates the system is above average overall but has significant variance depending on the game’s optimization and GPU demands.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD107 chip on a 5nm TSMC process with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. It has 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. The base clock is 1830 MHz with a boost clock of 2460 MHz. Memory consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU includes 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI features like DLSS. The FP32 performance is 15.11 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.11 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate is 236.2 GTexel/s. The TDP is 115W, with a 1x 12-pin power connector and a suggested 300W PSU.

Benchmark results show modest performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 indicates the GPU can handle DirectX 12 workloads, but the PassMark DirectX scores are low: DirectX 9 at 236, DirectX 10 at 103, DirectX 11 at 175, and DirectX 12 at 76. These low scores suggest the GPU may not be fully optimized for older APIs. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 95057 and Vulkan score of 48643 show better compute performance. The PassMark G3D score of 19545 and GPU compute score of 9213 indicate balanced graphics and compute capabilities.

For rendering, the 8 GB VRAM is a significant limitation for modern 3D scenes with high-resolution textures. The 272.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for 1080p and some 1440p workloads, but the 128-bit bus restricts memory throughput. The RT cores enable ray tracing, but the 61st percentile ranking means the GPU is positioned for entry-level to mid-range gaming, not professional rendering.

Build Overview

This is a desktop build that pairs the 96th-percentile Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the 61st-percentile NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060. The combined percentile of 79 places this system in the upper tier of all desktop configurations, but the internal balance is heavily skewed toward the CPU. The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a flagship processor with 24 cores, 5.80 GHz boost clock, and extensive cache, while the RTX 4060 is an entry-level discrete GPU with 8 GB VRAM.

The build class is desktop, with the CPU using the Intel Socket 1851 and the GPU using PCIe 4.0 x8 interface. The system is designed for users who prioritize CPU-intensive workloads like video editing, 3D rendering, and software compilation, while still providing capable 1080p gaming. The overall tier, based on the 79th percentile, places it above average but below top-tier gaming rigs that would pair similar CPUs with more powerful GPUs.

The data suggests this is a workstation-class CPU paired with a mainstream gaming GPU. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84003 is nearly five times higher than the GPU’s 17639, indicating the processor is the dominant component. This configuration makes sense for professionals who need maximum CPU performance for productivity tasks but only require moderate gaming capability.

Who Should Build It

This system targets users who need extreme CPU performance for content creation and productivity, with gaming as a secondary concern. Video editors working with 4K timelines will benefit from the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and PassMark floating point score of 214760. The 8 GB VRAM on the GPU may limit complex effects, but the CPU ensures fast rendering and export times.

3D artists and architects will appreciate the CPU’s 24 cores and high multi-thread scores, which accelerate ray tracing and physics simulations in software like Blender and AutoCAD. The GPU’s 24 RT cores provide hardware acceleration for real-time viewport rendering, though final renders may be slow due to the 8 GB VRAM limit.

Software developers compiling large codebases will see significant benefits from the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus. The PassMark integer math score of 166194 and data encryption score of 52563 indicate fast compilation and secure coding operations. The ECC memory support adds reliability for long build sessions.

Gamers at 1080p will find this system excellent for esports titles, with Valorant at 422 FPS and CS:GO at 407 FPS. For AAA gaming at 1080p, the system is playable but not ideal—Cyberpunk at 54 FPS and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 49 FPS are below 60 FPS targets. Those wanting 1440p or 4K gaming should consider a more powerful GPU.

Students and office workers will be over-served by this system, but the single-thread performance of 4823 PassMark ensures instant application responsiveness. The 125W TDP means higher power draw than typical office PCs, but the integrated graphics provide a fallback if the discrete GPU fails. Small business workstations requiring heavy data processing, like the PassMark data compression score of 698346 suggests, would benefit from this CPU’s capabilities.