SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

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

95 / 100
ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 5% 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
93%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus

84,003 Benchmark Score
Top 2% Market Ranking
View Full Specs →
GRAPHICS CARD

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

26,331 Benchmark Score
Top 7% 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 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 pairing represents a high-end desktop configuration with a distinct performance split. The processor delivers top-tier compute performance, sitting at the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the graphics card is a solid mid-range performer at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. This combination creates a system where the CPU is the dominant component, capable of handling heavy productivity workloads with ease, while the GPU provides a reliable baseline for mainstream gaming at high resolutions. The following analysis breaks down the measured data to provide a clear picture of what this build offers across various scenarios.

Usage Scenarios

For high-refresh gaming at 1080p, this build is exceptionally strong. Measured frame rates in esports and competitive titles are outstanding, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hitting 434 FPS and Valorant reaching 450 FPS at 1920x1080. Even more demanding multiplayer titles like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege achieve 234 FPS, comfortably exceeding the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. The CPU's strong single-core performance, evidenced by a 736 score in Cinebench R15 single-core, ensures that these high frame rates are sustained without bottlenecking the GPU.

Streaming while gaming benefits from the 24-core, 24-thread processor. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 provides ample headroom for encoding video while maintaining game performance. The processor's PassMark multi-thread score of 60860 indicates that background tasks like streaming software and chat applications will have minimal impact on gaming frame rates. This makes the build suitable for a single-PC streaming setup.

Video editing and rendering workloads are where this CPU truly shines. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 places it well ahead of most desktop processors, with a 0.2% advantage over the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. The PassMark floating point math score of 214760 suggests excellent performance in physics simulations and rendering tasks. For 3D rendering, the combination of high multi-threaded throughput and the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance means render times will be short, though the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM may limit the complexity of scenes that can be rendered locally.

Software development workloads benefit from the strong multi-core and single-core balance. The PassMark data compression score of 698346 and data encryption score of 52563 indicate fast code compilation and cryptography operations. The extended instructions score of 52338 shows good SIMD performance, beneficial for scientific computing and data analysis tasks.

Student and office work is vastly over-served by this hardware. The processor's 4823 PassMark single-thread score ensures snappy application responsiveness, while the 36 MB of shared L3 cache aids in multitasking across numerous browser tabs and office applications. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU provides a fallback display output, though the dedicated RTX 5060 will handle any graphics-accelerated tasks in productivity suites.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The platform is built on Intel Socket 1851, which supports the Core Ultra Series 2 processors. The memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel configuration, offering a theoretical memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s. This provides a solid foundation for the current CPU and leaves room for future memory capacity upgrades, though the platform itself is tied to the Arrow Lake Refresh generation.

PCIe connectivity is provided by Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU. This allows for a high-bandwidth connection to a Gen 5 NVMe SSD and a graphics card. The RTX 5060 uses a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface, which means it will operate at reduced bandwidth if paired with a CPU that only supports Gen 4, but with this CPU, it runs at full Gen 5 x8 speeds. This configuration supports the fastest storage devices available.

The power delivery requirements are modest for the performance level. The CPU has a 125 W TDP, and the GPU has a 145 W TDP, with a suggested power supply rating of 300 W. This leaves significant headroom for a future GPU upgrade, as a more powerful graphics card could be installed without necessarily requiring a new PSU, depending on the total system power draw. The single 8-pin power connector on the GPU is also a standard, widely compatible interface.

A sensible next upgrade path would focus on the GPU, as the CPU has substantial headroom. The 24-core processor is unlikely to be the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios, so moving to a higher-tier graphics card would yield the most significant performance gains in GPU-bound workloads. The platform itself is not upgradeable to a different CPU generation without a motherboard change, so the primary future upgrade is the graphics card.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with the multiplier unlocked for overclocking. The processor contains 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, indicating a dense, modern design.

The benchmark scores paint a picture of a processor that is extremely strong in multi-threaded tasks. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 is the standout number, putting it in the top percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 84003 places it in the 96th percentile, making it a top-tier desktop processor. The single-core performance is equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303, ensuring excellent responsiveness in lightly-threaded applications.

In real workloads, the 24 cores handle heavily parallel tasks like video encoding and 3D rendering with ease. The PassMark integer math score of 166194 and floating point math score of 214760 show strong computational throughput. The processor's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, is virtually identical in performance, with only a 0.2% difference in average score. This suggests that the 290K Plus is a refined version of an already capable architecture, offering no major generational leap but solidifying its position at the top of the desktop stack.

The cache hierarchy is substantial, with 192 KB of L1 and 3 MB of L2 per core, plus a 36 MB shared L3 cache. This large cache pool helps reduce memory latency and improves performance in cache-sensitive workloads like gaming and database operations. The processor supports ECC memory, which is a feature typically found in workstation platforms.

Who Should Build It

Gamers targeting high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p monitors will find this build ideal. The measured FPS data shows that esports titles run at extremely high frame rates, with Valorant at 450 FPS and Counter-Strike 2 at 196 FPS at 1080p. Even at 1440p, competitive games remain well above 100 FPS, with Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege at 153 FPS. For single-player titles, the performance is solid, though not at the extreme high end, with Cyberpunk 2077 achieving 58 FPS at 1080p.

Content creators who prioritize CPU-bound tasks like video editing, 3D rendering, and software compilation will benefit greatly from the 24-core processor. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 is a clear indicator of its strength in these workloads. The GPU, while not the fastest, is sufficient for hardware acceleration in video editing software, and its 8 GB of VRAM is adequate for 1080p and 1440p video projects.

Software developers working on large codebases will appreciate the CPU's multi-threaded performance. The PassMark data compression score of 698346 and extended instructions score of 52338 indicate fast compilation and execution of complex code. The 24 threads allow for parallel builds and testing, which can significantly reduce development iteration times.

Students and small business workstations that require a high level of multitasking and occasional demanding workloads will find this build overkill but future-proof. The processor's high single-thread score of 4823 ensures that even mundane tasks feel instant, and the 24 cores will handle any academic or professional workload thrown at it for years to come. The build's dual-slot GPU and 300 W PSU requirement also make it manageable for a standard desktop tower.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This is a significant amount of bandwidth for a card in this class, which helps with texture-heavy workloads. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz.

The GPU has 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster operation units. It also includes 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS features. The FP32 performance is rated at 19.18 TFLOPS, which is respectable for a mainstream card. The pixel rate is 119.9 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 299.6 GTexel/s.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 5060 achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3628 and a PassMark G3D score of 20891. Its average benchmark score is 26331, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. This puts it in the upper mid-range tier. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, scores slightly lower with a delta of 1.2%, indicating the RTX 5060 holds a small lead.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a potential limitation for modern games at high textures and resolutions. The 128-bit memory bus, while paired with fast GDDR7, may also constrain performance in memory-intensive scenarios. However, for the vast majority of games at 1080p and 1440p, the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, ensuring compatibility with all modern game engines.

Gaming Performance

The measured FPS data shows that this build is a capable gaming machine, with an average FPS of 127.3 across all tested games. The pair ranks 1705th out of 3732 pairs, placing it in the top half of all CPU-GPU combinations tested. The data is measured, so these are real-world performance figures.

At 1920x1080, the build excels in competitive shooters. Valorant runs at 450 FPS, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at 434 FPS, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege at 234 FPS. Call of Duty: Warzone achieves 188 FPS. These numbers are far beyond what a 144Hz monitor requires. For AAA titles, the performance is strong but more moderate. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 58 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 at 53 FPS, and Microsoft Flight Simulator at 71 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains playable for most games. Valorant still hits 384 FPS, and Counter-Strike 2 manages 130 FPS. Call of Duty: Warzone runs at 167 FPS. However, more demanding titles begin to show the GPU's limits. Cyberpunk 2077 drops to 43 FPS, and Red Dead Redemption 2 to 39 FPS. Games like Ark: Survival Ascended are barely playable at 18 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5060 struggles to maintain high frame rates in demanding titles. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 29 FPS, and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 26 FPS. Competitive titles like Valorant still manage 307 FPS, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hits 176 FPS. This resolution is best suited for less demanding games or those with upscaling technologies enabled.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data indicates a clear CPU-heavy balance. The processor is at the 96th percentile, while the GPU is at the 72nd percentile. This means the CPU has significantly more headroom than the GPU, and in most gaming scenarios, the GPU will be the limiting factor. The FPS scaling across resolutions confirms this, as frame rates drop significantly when moving from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck.

The CPU's performance is so high that it is unlikely to bottleneck even the fastest GPUs in most scenarios. For example, in Valorant at 1080p, the 450 FPS achieved is likely a limit of the game engine or the GPU, not the CPU. The single-core score of 736 in Cinebench R15 is among the highest recorded, ensuring that the CPU can feed frames to the GPU as fast as it can render them.

The bottleneck is most apparent in GPU-intensive workloads like 4K gaming and heavy ray tracing. At 4K, the GPU is the clear constraint, with many titles falling below 30 FPS. This is expected, as the RTX 5060 is not designed for 4K gaming. The 8 GB VRAM can also become a limiting factor in games with high texture detail at 1440p or 4K, causing stuttering or texture pop-in.

For productivity workloads, the CPU is the star, and the GPU is often secondary. However, in 3D rendering, the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS and 8 GB VRAM can become a bottleneck for complex scenes. Overall, the build is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with a clear path to improve gaming performance by upgrading the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the combined performance percentile of this CPU and GPU pairing?

A: The build ranks at the 84th percentile overall, indicating it outperforms the majority of systems in the benchmark database.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K?

A: The 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the 285K's average score of 83807, making them nearly identical in performance.

Q: What is the maximum memory bandwidth supported by this CPU?

A: The CPU supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

Q: Does the RTX 5060 support hardware ray tracing?

A: Yes, it has 30 dedicated ray tracing cores, which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing effects in supported games.

Q: What is the average FPS across all tested games for this build?

A: The average frame rate across all tested games is 127.3 FPS, based on measured data from the benchmark suite.

Q: What is the TDP of the CPU and GPU, and what is the suggested PSU wattage?

A: The CPU has a TDP of 125 W, and the GPU has a TDP of 145 W. A 300 W power supply is suggested for the system.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what type is it?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is a fast memory type designed for high bandwidth.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 84003, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its strongest result is in Cinebench R23 multi-core, where it scores 51731. The single-core performance is also exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 score of 7303. These scores confirm its status as a high-end desktop processor, with performance that rivals many server-class chips.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 26331, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. It achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3628 and a PassMark G3D score of 20891. These scores indicate it is a solid mid-range performer, competitive with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, which it leads by 1.2%. The GPU's relative weakness compared to the CPU is the defining characteristic of this build.

The combined percentile of the build is 84, which is a strong overall position. The CPU's top-tier performance boosts the build's status, but the GPU holds it back from being a top-tier gaming machine. The measured FPS data supports this, with excellent performance in CPU-light esports titles, but more moderate performance in GPU-heavy AAA games.

Build Overview

This is a desktop build featuring the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus processor and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card. It represents a pairing of a top-tier enthusiast CPU with an upper-mid-range mainstream GPU. The system is designed for users who prioritize CPU-intensive workloads like rendering, compiling, and multitasking, while still wanting a capable gaming experience.

The build's overall tier is high, driven by the CPU's 96th percentile ranking. The GPU, at the 72nd percentile, is the weaker link but still provides a solid foundation for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The combined 84th percentile ranking places it above the majority of systems, making it a powerful and versatile desktop configuration. The measured average FPS of 127.3 across all games confirms its capability as a gaming machine, though the GPU will be the limiting factor in the most demanding titles at higher resolutions.