SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

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

97 / 100
ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 3% 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
97%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus

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

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

56,083 Benchmark Score
Top 3% 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 pairing combines Intel’s top-tier Arrow Lake Refresh desktop processor with NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell-generation GPU, placing it in the 92nd combined percentile of all CPU and GPU pairings tracked in the database. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus delivers 24 cores and 24 threads with a maximum boost clock of 5.80 GHz, while the GeForce RTX 5080 brings 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and Blackwell 2.0 architecture. Benchmark data shows a system that excels across both productivity and gaming workloads, though the measured FPS figures reveal distinct scaling patterns between resolutions. The following analysis details the CPU and GPU performance, gaming capability across 49 titles, usage scenarios, and platform considerations, all grounded strictly in the supplied benchmark results.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and RTX 5080 combination ranks in the 92nd percentile of all tracked CPU and GPU pairings, placing it among the top 8 percent of desktop builds in the database.

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

A: The 290K Plus achieves an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2 percent higher than the Core Ultra 9 285K’s average score of 83807. This places the two processors in a statistical tie, with the 290K Plus holding a marginal edge.

Q: What is the RTX 5080’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 5080 sits in the 87th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 56083. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, scores 57367, which is 2.2 percent higher.

Q: What is the highest measured FPS at 1080p across all tested games?

A: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive achieves the highest 1080p frame rate at 744 FPS, followed by Valorant at 605 FPS and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege at 400 FPS. The average FPS across all 49 games at 1080p is 209.9.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus supports ECC memory alongside dual-channel DDR5, with a memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

Q: What PCIe generation does the RTX 5080 use?

A: The RTX 5080 utilizes a PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface, which is the current generation standard. The CPU provides 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes.

Q: What is the suggested power supply wattage for the RTX 5080?

A: The suggested PSU for the RTX 5080 is 750 W. The GPU itself has a TDP of 360 W, while the CPU has a TDP of 125 W.

Benchmark Performance

The combined benchmark picture for this pairing is one of exceptional high-end capability. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84003 places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU’s average score of 56083 places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The system’s combined percentile of 92 reflects a balanced pairing where both components are above the 85th percentile, though the CPU is notably stronger relative to its own competitive field than the GPU is.

In Cinebench, the CPU produces a multicore score of 51731 in R23, a single-core score of 7303 in R23, and an R20 multicore score of 21727. These figures demonstrate strong scaling from 24 physical cores without hyperthreading, as the thread count equals the core count. The PassMark multithread score of 60860 and single-thread score of 4823 reinforce this dual strength in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads.

The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637 indicates solid modern rasterization performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 235901 and Vulkan score of 255450 show strong compute capability, while the PassMark G3D score of 36565 confirms consistent DirectX performance across multiple API versions. The average FPS across all 49 tested games at 1080p is 209.9, with a pair rank of 161 out of 3732 tracked pairs, placing this build in the top 4.3 percent of all pairings by gaming frame rate.

The deltaPct values among the CPU’s nearest rivals show a tightly clustered competitive field. The 290K Plus leads the Core Ultra 9 285K by 0.2 percent, the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 1.1 percent, and the AMD EPYC 9135 by 1.2 percent, while trailing the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3 percent. For the GPU, the RTX 5080 leads the AMD Radeon 8060S by 0.6 percent and the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 0.7 percent, but trails the Radeon RX 9070 GRE by 2.2 percent.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is built on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture using a 3 nm process from TSMC, containing 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. It features 24 cores and 24 threads, with no hyperthreading, a base clock of 3.70 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache.

The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 indicates exceptional multi-threaded throughput, placing this processor among the strongest desktop CPUs in the database. The single-core score of 7303 in R23 demonstrates that the 5.80 GHz boost clock translates effectively into real single-thread performance. The PassMark data compression score of 698346 and integer math score of 166194 suggest strong performance in data-intensive workloads, while the floating point math score of 214760 indicates robust scientific and engineering compute capability.

The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms 96 percent of all processors tracked in the database. Its nearest rival, the Core Ultra 9 285K, scores 83807 compared to 84003, a 0.2 percent difference that is within measurement noise. The fact that the EPYC server processors appear in the rival list with similar average scores highlights that this desktop CPU competes with enterprise silicon in multi-threaded aggregate benchmarks, though the desktop platform offers higher single-thread performance with its 5.80 GHz boost.

The 24-thread configuration without simultaneous multithreading means that thread scheduling is straightforward, and the 36 MB of shared L3 cache provides adequate capacity for most gaming and productivity workloads. With a TDP of 125 W, the CPU is relatively power-efficient for its performance class, especially when compared to the GPU’s 360 W TDP.

Gaming Performance

The measured FPS data from 49 games at three resolutions provides a comprehensive picture of gaming capability. At 1920x1080, the average FPS across all games is 209.9, with a pair rank of 161 out of 3732, placing this build in the top 4.3 percent. At 2560x1440, frame rates drop by approximately 30-40 percent on average, and at 3840x2160, they drop by another 30-40 percent from 1440p levels.

At 1080p, esports titles achieve extremely high frame rates: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive reaches 744 FPS, Valorant hits 605 FPS, and Rainbow Six Siege delivers 400 FPS. Counter-Strike 2 achieves 337 FPS, and Minecraft reaches 332 FPS. These figures indicate that the CPU’s single-thread performance and the GPU’s raw throughput are sufficient for the highest refresh rate monitors available.

At 1440p, frame rates remain very playable for most titles: Call of Duty: Warzone runs at 167 FPS, Counter-Strike 2 at 223 FPS, and Valorant at 573 FPS. Heavier titles like Cyberpunk 2077 drop to 74 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 to 67 FPS, and Ark: Survival Ascended to 31 FPS. The 1440p results show a balanced CPU-GPU utilization, where neither component is heavily bottlenecked for most games.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 49 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 at 45 FPS, and Ark: Survival Ascended at 16 FPS. However, less demanding titles still perform well: Valorant reaches 526 FPS, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hits 302 FPS, and Call of Duty: Warzone manages 141 FPS. The 4K results show that while the RTX 5080 can handle many games at ultra settings, the most demanding titles will require settings adjustments or upscaling to achieve smooth frame rates.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: At 1080p, this build delivers over 300 FPS in esports titles like Counter-Strike 2 and Minecraft, and over 600 FPS in Valorant. Even at 1440p, Valorant maintains 573 FPS and Counter-Strike 2 hits 223 FPS, making this an excellent pairing for 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitors.

Streaming: The 24-core CPU with a PassMark multithread score of 60860 provides ample headroom for simultaneous gaming and encoding. The GPU’s 336 tensor cores and dedicated RT cores support hardware-accelerated encoding and AI-enhanced streaming features, though the exact streaming performance is not directly measured in the data.

Video editing: The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and PassMark data compression score of 698346 suggest strong performance in video encoding and processing. The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking ensures fast render times, while the GPU’s OpenCL score of 235901 supports GPU-accelerated effects and color grading.

3D rendering: The CPU’s floating point math score of 214760 and the GPU’s 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 performance indicate substantial rendering capability. The RTX 5080’s 84 RT cores provide hardware ray tracing acceleration, and the 16 GB GDDR7 memory with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth supports large scenes and textures.

Software development: The PassMark integer math score of 166194 and extended instructions score of 52338 indicate strong performance in code compilation and execution. The 36 MB L3 cache and 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth support large codebases and virtualized environments, while ECC memory support adds reliability for critical development work.

Student and office work: While this build is overkill for basic office tasks, the 4823 single-thread PassMark score ensures snappy application responsiveness. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 EUs provides display output capability even without the discrete GPU, offering flexibility for multi-monitor setups.

Who Should Build It

This pairing targets enthusiasts and professionals who require top-tier performance in both gaming and productivity. The 92nd combined percentile makes it suitable for gamers with 1440p high-refresh monitors or 4K displays, as the data shows playable frame rates at 1440p for most titles and at 4K for less demanding games. Content creators working with video editing or 3D rendering will benefit from the CPU’s 51731 Cinebench R23 multicore score and the GPU’s compute throughput.

Software developers compiling large codebases will appreciate the 166194 integer math score and 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth. Small business workstations requiring ECC memory support, which this CPU provides, can leverage the reliability features while maintaining high performance. Students in engineering or data science programs will find the floating point performance useful for simulations and numerical analysis, though the cost of this build exceeds typical student budgets.

The build is less suited for users who primarily play the most demanding titles at 4K ultra settings, as Ark: Survival Ascended at 16 FPS and Cyberpunk 2077 at 49 FPS demonstrate the GPU’s limitations at that resolution. Users targeting 8K gaming or extreme multi-monitor setups would need a more powerful GPU than the RTX 5080.

Balance and Bottleneck

The benchmark data reveals a system that is well-balanced for 1440p gaming but shows distinct bottleneck patterns at other resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU’s 96th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 87th percentile ranking mean the GPU is more likely to be the limiting factor, but the high frame rates in esports titles suggest neither component is severely constrained. The average FPS of 209.9 at 1080p indicates the GPU is still keeping up with the CPU’s output.

At 1440p, the balance shifts slightly toward GPU limitation. The FPS drop from 1080p averages around 30-40 percent, which is consistent with the increased pixel count. Titles like Cyberpunk 2077 at 74 FPS and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 67 FPS show the GPU struggling with modern AAA titles, while the CPU still has headroom as evidenced by the high frame rates in less demanding games.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the primary bottleneck. The 30-40 percent drop from 1440p to 4K across most titles confirms that the RTX 5080’s rendering throughput is the limiting factor. The CPU’s performance becomes less relevant at 4K, as the GPU cannot produce enough frames to saturate the CPU’s capabilities. The pair rank of 161 out of 3732 at 1080p drops significantly when considering 4K performance, though the exact 4K rank is not provided.

The CPU’s PassMark multithread score of 60860 versus the GPU’s PassMark GPU compute score of 21789 indicates that the CPU is relatively stronger in compute tasks. This means workloads that are GPU-compute intensive, such as rendering or machine learning, will be limited by the GPU, while CPU-bound tasks like compilation or data processing will excel.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus uses the Intel Socket 1851 platform, which supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s. The CPU provides 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, and the RTX 5080 uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, allowing full bandwidth utilization. ECC memory support is available, which is valuable for workstation use cases.

The suggested PSU for the RTX 5080 is 750 W, while the GPU has a TDP of 360 W and the CPU has a TDP of 125 W. This leaves approximately 265 W of headroom for other components such as storage, cooling, and peripherals. A higher-wattage PSU would provide additional headroom for overclocking, as the CPU has an unlocked multiplier.

A sensible next upgrade would be to add more DDR5 memory, as the dual-channel configuration supports up to the maximum capacity allowed by the platform. The 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM on the GPU is sufficient for current games, but future titles may benefit from more VRAM. The PCIe 5.0 interface ensures that the system is ready for next-generation storage and expansion cards.

The socket 1851 platform is current-generation, meaning CPU upgrades would require a new motherboard if Intel changes sockets in the next generation. The GPU, however, uses the standard PCIe interface, so the RTX 5080 could be carried forward to a future platform. The 750 W suggested PSU provides adequate power for the current configuration, but a future GPU upgrade with higher power draw would necessitate a PSU upgrade.

Build Overview

This is a desktop-class build combining the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, a 24-core Arrow Lake Refresh processor, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU. The system ranks in the 92nd combined percentile, with the CPU in the 96th percentile and the GPU in the 87th percentile. The average FPS across 49 games at 1080p is 209.9, with a pair rank of 161 out of 3732, placing this in the top 4.3 percent of all tracked pairs.

The build is positioned as a high-end enthusiast or professional workstation. The CPU’s 51731 Cinebench R23 multicore score and 7303 single-core score make it one of the fastest desktop processors available, while the GPU’s 8637 3DMark Steel Nomad score and 36565 PassMark G3D score place it in the upper tier of graphics cards. The combination of 24 CPU cores and 10752 GPU shading units provides substantial parallel processing capability.

The measured FPS data confirms that this build is excellent for 1440p gaming, with most titles exceeding 100 FPS, and capable at 4K for less demanding games. The CPU’s strength in multithreaded workloads makes this a versatile system for both gaming and productivity, though the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K resolutions. Overall, this pairing represents a well-rounded high-end desktop configuration with no significant weak points in its intended use cases.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC’s 5 nm process, containing 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die with a transistor density of 120.6 million per mm². The GPU has 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores. The base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2617 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s.

The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1875 MHz with 30 Gbps effective speed. This memory configuration provides ample bandwidth for 4K gaming and compute workloads, though the 256-bit bus width is narrower than some competitors, the high-speed GDDR7 compensates with exceptional bandwidth.

The FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same 56.28 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), indicates strong compute capability for both gaming and professional workloads. The 336 tensor cores support AI acceleration, while the 84 RT cores provide hardware ray tracing. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, covering the full range of modern graphics APIs.

Benchmark results show a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 235901, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 255450. The PassMark G3D score of 36565 and GPU compute score of 21789 indicate solid overall performance. The GPU’s 87th percentile ranking places it below the top tier of GPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, outperforms it by 2.2 percent in average benchmark score.

The 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is critical for 4K gaming, where the FPS data shows a significant drop from 1440p. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for current titles at 4K ultra settings, but the 87th percentile ranking suggests that the GPU is not the absolute fastest available, making it a high-end option rather than a flagship. The dual-slot design and 304 mm length require a case with adequate clearance, and the 1x 16-pin power connector necessitates a compatible PSU.