SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

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

98 / 100
ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 2% 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
98%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus

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

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

77,712 Benchmark Score
Top 2% 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 build pairs Intel’s top desktop processor with NVIDIA’s flagship consumer GPU, creating a desktop platform that ranks at the 94th percentile overall. The data shows a system designed to push high frame rates and handle heavy compute workloads, but the measured results across a wide game library reveal nuances about where its strengths truly lie.

Gaming Performance — measured FPS by game and resolution

The dataset includes measured FPS at ultra settings for over 40 titles, and the results confirm this is an exceptionally fast gaming machine, though not uniformly so. The pairRankByFps places this combination 3rd out of 3,732 pairs, with an average FPS across games of 239. That average, however, is heavily skewed by esports titles; the real-world experience varies dramatically by game and resolution.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers triple-digit frame rates in nearly every title. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hits 866 FPS, Counter-Strike 2 reaches 392 FPS, and Valorant runs at 605 FPS. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege posts 466 FPS, and Roblox reaches 507 FPS. These numbers indicate the CPU and GPU combination is not the limiting factor for competitive gaming at 1080p. Even more demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 manage 116 FPS, and Red Dead Redemption 2 hits 105 FPS at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected scaling curve. Valorant still delivers 573 FPS, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive drops to 596 FPS, and Counter-Strike 2 maintains 260 FPS. More graphically intensive games see larger drops: Cyberpunk 2077 falls to 86 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 to 79 FPS, and Ark: Survival Ascended to just 36 FPS. The 1440p results show that most titles remain highly playable, but the heaviest workloads start to stress the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes substantially. Valorant still manages 532 FPS, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive posts 352 FPS, but demanding games drop significantly. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 57 FPS, Red Dead Redemption 2 at 52 FPS, and Ark: Survival Ascended at 19 FPS. The Medium runs at 54 FPS, and Microsoft Flight Simulator at 84 FPS. This resolution reveals the GPU is the primary constraint for ultra settings, as even this flagship card cannot maintain high frame rates in the most demanding titles at 4K.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: At 1080p and 1440p, this system excels for competitive and high-refresh play. Counter-Strike 2 delivers 392 FPS at 1080p and 260 FPS at 1440p, while Valorant hits 605 and 573 FPS respectively. The data shows the CPU has enough single-thread headroom to feed the GPU in esports titles, making this an ideal pairing for 240Hz or even 360Hz monitors at 1080p.

Streaming: The combination of a 24-core CPU and a GPU with 680 tensor cores provides substantial headroom for encoding and streaming overhead. While no specific streaming benchmark is in the data, the CPU's PassMark multithread score of 60860 and the GPU's compute scores suggest that concurrent game capture and encoding would not compete heavily with the main render workload. The 32 GB of VRAM also allows for large recording buffers without system memory pressure.

Video editing: For timeline editing and rendering, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 places it in the top tier for desktop processors. The GPU's Geekbench OpenCL score of 310674 and Vulkan score of 376915 indicate strong acceleration for effects and exports. This pairing should handle 4K multi-track timelines with ease, though specific NLE benchmarks are not provided.

3D rendering: The CPU's Cinebench R20 multicore score of 21727 and R15 score of 5214 show strong sustained multicore performance for CPU-based rendering. The GPU's FP32 compute of 104.8 TFLOPS and the PassMark GPU compute score of 28396 suggest that GPU-accelerated renderers would be extremely fast. The 32 GB VRAM is particularly relevant for rendering large scenes that exceed the memory capacity of smaller cards.

Software development: The CPU's PassMark data compression score of 698346 and encryption score of 52563 indicate fast compilation and cryptographic workloads. The 24 cores and 24 threads, combined with the 3 nm process node and DDR5 memory support, suggest strong parallel build performance. The single-thread score of 4823 in PassMark also supports responsive interactive development.

Student and office work: This is massive overkill for typical productivity tasks. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4823 and the system's overall responsiveness would make document editing, spreadsheet work, and web browsing instantaneous. However, the 575 W GPU TDP and 125 W CPU TDP mean this is not an energy-efficient choice for light workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest FPS recorded in the measured games?

A: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at 1920x1080 produces the highest measured FPS at 866, followed by Valorant at 605 FPS and Roblox at 507 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K ultra settings?

A: Yes, but at 57 FPS. It is playable but not at high refresh rates. At 1440p it reaches 86 FPS, and at 1080p it hits 116 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K's 83807.

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

A: The RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth.

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

A: The combined percentile is 94, meaning it outperforms 94% of all recorded desktop builds in the database.

Q: What resolution shows the largest FPS drop between 1440p and 4K?

A: Ark: Survival Ascended drops from 36 FPS at 1440p to 19 FPS at 4K, a 47% reduction. Many other games show similar proportional drops.

Q: Does this CPU support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus supports ECC memory and uses DDR5 in a dual-channel configuration.

Balance and Bottleneck

The benchmark data reveals a system where the CPU is generally ahead of the GPU in relative performance, but the bottleneck shifts with resolution. The CPU sits at the 96th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. This indicates the processor has slightly more headroom relative to its peers than the graphics card does.

At 1080p, the CPU is often the limiting factor in esports titles. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at 866 FPS and Valorant at 605 FPS show the GPU can render frames faster than the CPU can issue draw calls, but the system still achieves extremely high frame rates. The CPU's single-thread PassMark score of 4823 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 provide the per-core performance needed to maintain these frame rates.

At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The FPS scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a consistent drop across all games, with demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 falling from 86 to 57 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates the GPU is fully utilized at higher resolutions. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking, while high, is lower than the CPU's 96th percentile, confirming that the graphics card is the more likely constraint.

The data also shows that some games are more CPU-bound than others. Ark: Survival Ascended runs at 57 FPS at 1080p but only 19 FPS at 4K, suggesting the GPU struggles with this title at any resolution. In contrast, Valorant maintains 532 FPS even at 4K, indicating that game engine efficiency and CPU performance dominate the frame rate in that title.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The motherboard platform uses Intel Socket 1851, which supports the Core Ultra Series 2 processors. The CPU has 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, providing ample bandwidth for the GPU's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface. Memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel configuration, delivering 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth. ECC memory support is present, which is notable for workstation use.

The GPU requires a 950 W suggested power supply, which is substantial. The CPU has a 125 W TDP, so the total system draw is heavily weighted toward the graphics card. The GPU uses a single 16-pin power connector, and its dimensions are 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 48 mm in width, fitting a dual-slot design. These physical requirements mean the case and PSU must be chosen carefully.

A sensible next upgrade would be adding a second RTX 5090 D for multi-GPU compute workloads, provided the motherboard supports it and the PSU can handle the combined 1150 W GPU draw. Alternatively, the CPU's unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking to extract more performance. The 32 GB of VRAM on the GPU provides headroom for future game textures and AI workloads, so the graphics card is less likely to need upgrading soon than the CPU.

The platform supports PCIe Gen 5, so future storage devices using this interface are also a viable upgrade path. The CPU's 24 threads and 36 MB of shared L3 cache provide strong multicore performance, but users coming from higher-core-count platforms may want to consider whether 24 threads is sufficient for their specific workloads.

Who Should Build It

This system targets gamers who want maximum FPS at 1080p and 1440p, particularly in competitive titles. The measured results show 392 FPS in Counter-Strike 2 at 1080p and 260 FPS at 1440p, making it ideal for high-refresh monitors. For 4K gaming, the system is capable but not always at high refresh rates, with most demanding titles landing between 50 and 90 FPS.

Content creators working with large video projects or 3D render scenes will benefit from the CPU's multicore scores and the GPU's 32 GB of VRAM. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and the GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance make this a strong workstation for rendering. The ECC memory support adds reliability for long compute jobs.

Software developers compiling large codebases will appreciate the PassMark data compression score of 698346 and the 24-core configuration. The high single-thread score of 4823 in PassMark ensures responsive build tools and IDE performance. Students and office workers would be overspending on this hardware, as their workloads would not utilize the CPU or GPU meaningfully.

Small business workstations handling data analysis or financial modeling could use the CPU's encryption score of 52563 and multithread score of 60860. The system's high percentile ranking suggests it would handle any productivity software with ease, but the power draw and cost make it impractical for general office use.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 84003, placing it at the 96th percentile among all CPUs. Its closest rival is the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with an average score of 83807, a delta of 0.2%. The AMD EPYC 7F72 scores 85072, which is 1.3% higher, while the AMD EPYC 4584PX and EPYC 9135 score 83090 and 82980, trailing by 1.1% and 1.2% respectively.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 77712, placing it at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78940 (1.6% higher), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79605 (2.4% higher), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79396 (2.1% higher). The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76904, which is 1.1% lower.

The combined picture shows a system at the 94th percentile, with the CPU slightly stronger relative to its peers than the GPU. The pairRankByFps ranks this as the 3rd best combination out of 3732 pairs, with an average FPS across all tested games of 239. These benchmark results show a top-tier pairing where the CPU leads its class slightly more than the GPU does.

Build Overview

This desktop build combines the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, representing the flagship offerings from both manufacturers. The CPU is part of the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh codename, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. The GPU uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors.

The combined percentile of 94 indicates this system outperforms 94% of all recorded desktop builds. The pairRankByFps of 3rd out of 3732 pairs further confirms its elite status among CPU-GPU combinations. The CPU's 96th percentile and GPU's 92nd percentile show a well-matched pairing, with the processor having slightly more headroom.

This is a desktop-class build, not a laptop or workstation configuration. The 575 W GPU TDP and 125 W CPU TDP require a robust cooling solution and a 950 W power supply. The system is designed for maximum performance in gaming and compute workloads, with no compromises on component quality.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. It is built on a 3 nm process by TSMC, containing 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multicore and single-core performance. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 indicate excellent both threaded and single-threaded workloads. The PassMark multithread score of 60860 and single-thread score of 4823 corroborate this. The data encryption score of 52563 and compression score of 698346 show strong performance for security and data processing tasks.

The Arrow Lake Refresh architecture uses a 3 nm process, which contributes to the 125 W TDP. The unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking. Memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, delivering 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes provide high-speed connectivity for the GPU and NVMe storage.

The CPU's percentile of 96 means it outperforms 96% of all CPUs in the database. Its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, is only 0.2% slower, indicating that the "Plus" variant offers marginal improvement. The AMD EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% faster, showing that server-class CPUs can still outperform this desktop flagship in some metrics.

GPU Analysis

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D uses the GB202 chip with the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It contains 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, with a transistor density of 122.9 million per mm². The GPU has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs.

The memory subsystem is a 32 GB GDDR7 configuration on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The base clock runs at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, while memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed. The GPU includes 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, supporting ray tracing and AI acceleration.

Benchmark scores show strong compute performance. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 310674 and Vulkan score of 376915 indicate high general-purpose compute capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326 demonstrates strong gaming performance. The PassMark G3D score of 44065 and GPU compute score of 28396 further confirm the GPU's capabilities.

The GPU's pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 104.8 TFLOPS, with FP16 also at 104.8 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio. These figures indicate balanced performance for both gaming and compute workloads. The 92nd percentile ranking places it above most GPUs, though its nearest rivals include mobile and data center parts, showing that the RTX 5090 D faces stiff competition from unexpected sources.

The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Display outputs include 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b. The dual-slot design and 304 mm length require a full-size case. The 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU make power delivery a critical consideration.