SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation

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
99%
PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus

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

NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation

135,218 Benchmark Score
Top 1% 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

# Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation

This desktop pairing combines Intel’s 24-core Arrow Lake Refresh flagship with NVIDIA’s workstation-class Ada Lovelace GPU, landing in the 96th percentile of all benchmarked CPU+GPU combinations. The CPU holds a 96th percentile rank among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 95th percentile, making this a top-tier compute platform. However, there are no measured FPS rows for this exact combination — the FACT PACK contains no measuredFps data — so all gaming frame rates discussed here are estimates derived from the benchmark scores, not direct measurements.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread desktop processor built on TSMC’s 3 nm process node, with a die size of 243 mm² and 17,800 million transistors. It belongs to the Core Ultra Series 2 family, codenamed Arrow Lake Refresh, and uses the Intel Socket 1851 platform. The base clock runs at 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, and the TDP is rated at 125 W. The multiplier is unlocked, enabling overclocking for users who want to push beyond stock frequencies.

Cache architecture is generous: 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support covers DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth, plus ECC memory support for error-sensitive workloads. The CPU provides PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU itself, and integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units for basic display output or light GPU tasks when the dedicated card is idle.

Benchmark results paint a picture of a processor that excels in multi-threaded throughput. Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 51,731 points, while single-core reaches 7,303 points. The R20 run shows 21,727 multi-core and 3,067 single-core, and the older R15 test yields 5,214 multi-core and 736 single-core. PassMark results reinforce this: multithread scores 60,860, single-thread 4,823, and integer math hits 166,194. Floating-point math is even stronger at 214,760, while data compression reaches 698,346 and data encryption 52,563. Extended instructions score 52,338, and find-prime-numbers sits at 503.

The average benchmark score for this CPU is 84,003, placing it at the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Against its nearest rivals, the 290K Plus leads the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K by a 0.2% margin in average score, and the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 1.1%. The AMD EPYC 9135 trails by 1.2%, while the AMD EPYC 7F72 actually edges ahead by 1.3%. These are narrow margins, indicating the 290K Plus sits at the very top of consumer desktop performance, trading blows with enterprise EPYC parts in average compute output.

For real workloads, the 24 threads without hyper-threading mean the CPU relies on physical cores for parallel tasks. Cinebench R23 multi-core at 51,731 suggests heavy rendering tasks will be exceptionally fast — content creators rendering 3D scenes or compiling large codebases will see near-flagship results. The single-core score of 7,303 in R23 indicates strong per-thread performance, which translates to responsive everyday use and solid performance in lightly-threaded applications like web browsing or office suites.

Gaming Performance

As noted, no measured FPS data exists for this exact CPU+GPU combination, so all gaming frame rates below are estimates based on the benchmark scores of each component. The GPU’s Geekbench OpenCL score of 146,593 and Vulkan score of 123,842, combined with the CPU’s strong single-thread PassMark score of 4,823, suggest a system capable of high-refresh gaming at 1440p and 4K resolutions.

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is a workstation GPU with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 360.0 GB/s of bandwidth. It has 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, 64 ROPs, 48 RT cores, and 192 tensor cores. The boost clock reaches 2175 MHz, and FP32 compute is rated at 26.73 TFLOPS. For gaming, the 20 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for ultra-quality textures at 4K, and the 48 RT cores provide hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

At 1080p, the CPU’s single-core strength will likely keep frame rates high, but the workstation-class GPU may be underutilized at this resolution — expect the CPU to be the primary driver of frame pacing. At 1440p, the balance shifts toward the GPU, and the 26.73 TFLOPS of FP32 compute suggests strong rasterization performance. At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, and the 20 GB memory capacity ensures texture-heavy titles won’t hit VRAM limits.

However, this is not a gaming-first GPU. The RTX 4000 Ada Generation is designed for professional workloads — its 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs and single-slot form factor (245 mm length, 112 mm height) point to workstation use. Gamers should expect solid but not elite frame rates; the GPU’s percentile rank of 95 means it outperforms most consumer cards, but the nearest rivals include the NVIDIA A10M and AMD Radeon PRO W6800, both of which are also workstation-oriented. Frame rates in modern titles will be playable at high settings, but the estimates suggest a system optimized for compute, not necessarily for the highest possible FPS in competitive esports.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data shows a well-balanced pairing for compute-heavy workloads, with both components near the 95-96th percentile. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84,003 and the GPU’s average of 135,218 are both top-tier, so neither component is a glaring weak link. However, the nature of the workload determines which part limits performance.

For multi-threaded CPU tasks like 3D rendering, video encoding, or data compression, the 290K Plus is the critical component. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731 and PassMark multithread of 60,860 indicate that CPU-bound workloads will scale well across all 24 cores. The GPU’s role in these tasks is minimal unless the workload also involves GPU compute, in which case the RTX 4000 Ada’s 26.73 TFLOPS FP32 and 192 tensor cores would accelerate processing.

For gaming, the bottleneck depends on resolution. At 1080p, the CPU’s single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread 4,823, Cinebench R23 single-core 7,303) will likely keep up with the GPU, but the workstation GPU may not be optimized for low-resolution high-FPS scenarios — the 64 ROPs and 160-bit memory bus are modest compared to consumer gaming flagships. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as pixel rate (139.2 GPixel/s) and texture rate (417.6 GTexel/s) determine fill rates. The 360.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate but not exceptional for 4K ultra settings, so frame rates will be GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s percentile rank of 95 versus the CPU’s 96 means the CPU is slightly stronger relative to its peers. This suggests that in CPU-intensive workloads, the system will be less likely to bottleneck, while GPU-bound scenarios may show the GPU as the limiting factor. The suggested PSU of 300 W for the GPU, combined with the CPU’s 125 W TDP, indicates a total system draw that a mid-range power supply can handle, leaving headroom for overclocking the unlocked CPU.

Who Should Build It

This system targets users who need both high-end CPU compute and professional-grade GPU acceleration. The 24-core CPU with 51,731 Cinebench R23 multi-core points is ideal for content creators who render 3D scenes, edit high-resolution video, or work with large datasets. The GPU’s 20 GB VRAM and 26.73 TFLOPS FP32 compute make it suitable for machine learning inference, scientific simulation, and CAD/CAM workloads that require large memory buffers and double-precision compute (though the GPU’s FP32 is the primary path).

Gamers at 1440p or 4K resolution who also do streaming or video editing will find this pairing capable, but it is not a dedicated gaming rig. The CPU’s 96th percentile rank ensures smooth streaming via x264 encoding, and the GPU can handle game rendering simultaneously, but the workstation GPU’s drivers and feature set are not tuned for maximum gaming FPS.

Software developers compiling large codebases will benefit from the 24 threads and high single-core boost of 5.80 GHz — Cinebench R20 single-core of 3,067 indicates fast iterative builds. Students and small business workstations that run virtual machines, data analysis, or office productivity will see exceptional responsiveness, though the hardware is overkill for basic tasks. The ECC memory support and 20 GB ECC-capable GPU memory make this a viable platform for financial modeling or scientific research where data integrity is paramount.

Benchmark Performance

The combined percentile for this CPU+GPU pairing is 96, placing it in the top 5% of all systems in the database. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84,003 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX, and 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 9135, but 1.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7F72. This positions the 290K Plus as a top-tier consumer CPU that rivals enterprise server chips in average compute output.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 135,218 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA A10M (0% delta), 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6800, 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo, and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO V620. The near-zero deltas indicate the RTX 4000 Ada Generation is at the top of the workstation GPU heap, but not by a wide margin — the competitive field is tight.

In Geekbench compute tests, the GPU scores 146,593 in OpenCL and 123,842 in Vulkan. These numbers reflect strong general-purpose compute and graphics API performance, respectively. The combined picture is a system that delivers top-tier CPU compute and top-tier workstation GPU compute, with the CPU slightly ahead of its rivals and the GPU in a statistical dead heat with its nearest competitors. For users needing both high-thread-count CPU work and GPU-accelerated compute, this pairing is among the best available.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K?

A: Yes, but only by a small margin. The 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84,003, which is 0.2% higher than the 285K’s 83,807.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory capacity and type?

A: The NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation has 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, with 360.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

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

Q: What is the GPU’s compute performance in TFLOPS?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation delivers 26.73 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, with FP16 also rated at 26.73 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio).

Q: How many cores and threads does the CPU have?

A: The CPU has 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz.

Q: What is the GPU’s power requirement?

A: The GPU has a TDP of 130 W, and the suggested PSU rating is 300 W. It uses a single 16-pin power connector.

Q: How does the GPU compare to the AMD Radeon PRO W6800?

A: The RTX 4000 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 135,218, which is 0.1% higher than the Radeon PRO W6800’s 135,396.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: At 1440p, the estimated FPS should be playable at high settings, driven by the GPU’s 26.73 TFLOPS and 20 GB VRAM, but the workstation-grade GPU is not optimized for maximum refresh rates. At 1080p, the CPU’s single-thread score of 4,823 in PassMark will keep frame rates fluid, but the GPU may not scale to 240 Hz+ in esports titles.

Streaming: The 24-core CPU with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731 can handle x264 encoding on dedicated cores while gaming on others, providing a smooth streaming experience without dropping game performance. The GPU’s 192 tensor cores could also accelerate NVENC-like workloads.

Video editing: The CPU’s PassMark data compression score of 698,346 and integer math of 166,194 indicate fast timeline scrubbing and export tasks. The GPU’s 20 GB VRAM allows large 4K or 8K footage to reside in memory, reducing reliance on system RAM.

3D rendering: Cinebench R20 multi-core of 21,727 and R23 multi-core of 51,731 show exceptional CPU rendering throughput. The GPU’s 48 RT cores and 26.73 TFLOPS FP32 accelerate ray-traced renders, though the 160-bit memory bus may limit complex scenes.

Software development: The 24 threads and 5.80 GHz boost clock provide rapid compilation times, while the PassMark extended instructions score of 52,338 indicates strong SIMD performance for code that uses AVX-512 or similar. The ECC memory support reduces crash risk in long-running builds.

Student and office work: This system is massively over-specified for word processing, spreadsheets, and web browsing, but the single-thread PassMark score of 4,823 ensures instant application launching and smooth multitasking. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 EU can handle display output when the dedicated GPU is idle, reducing power draw.

Upgrade Path and Platform

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus uses the Intel Socket 1851 platform, which is the current-generation socket for Arrow Lake Refresh processors. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and ECC memory is supported for professional workloads. The platform provides PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU, which is sufficient for one high-end GPU and a Gen 5 NVMe SSD.

The RTX 4000 Ada Generation uses PCIe 4.0 x16, so it will not saturate the CPU’s Gen 5 lanes but is fully compatible. A sensible next upgrade would be a newer NVIDIA workstation GPU — the successor is listed as Blackwell PRO W — which would drop into the same PCIe slot and benefit from the CPU’s Gen 5 lanes if it supports Gen 5. The GPU’s TDP of 130 W and suggested PSU of 300 W leave significant power headroom; the CPU’s 125 W TDP means a 600 W PSU would comfortably handle both components plus peripherals.

Memory expansion is straightforward: the dual-channel DDR5 bus supports up to the current capacity limit of the platform, and the 36 MB L3 cache helps mitigate memory latency. The CPU’s unlocked multiplier allows overclocking, which could improve the already strong Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731, though the narrow lead over the 285K suggests limited headroom. The platform is current-generation, so no immediate CPU upgrade exists beyond the 290K Plus itself; the next step would be a future Arrow Lake Refresh variant or a different socket generation.

Build Overview

This is a desktop-class build combining the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, a 24-core Arrow Lake Refresh processor on the Intel Socket 1851 platform, with the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation, a workstation GPU based on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 84,003, while the GPU ranks in the 95th percentile with an average score of 135,218. The combined system percentile is 96, placing it in the top 5% of all benchmarked CPU+GPU pairs.

The overall tier is high-end workstation — the GPU’s single-slot form factor, 4x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and 20 GB VRAM make it a professional compute card, not a gaming-focused GPU. The CPU’s 24 cores and 125 W TDP position it as a desktop flagship, with the unlocked multiplier and ECC memory support appealing to enthusiasts and professionals. This build is best characterized as a compute-first system: it excels in CPU-heavy multi-threaded tasks and GPU-accelerated professional workloads, with gaming performance as a secondary consideration. The lack of measured FPS data means all gaming estimates are derived from benchmark scores, and the numbers suggest a capable but not gaming-optimized platform.