Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz + GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

Processor

Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz

18,385
CPU Mark
Faster than 85% of 1,255
Limiting part
10.89 % BOTTLENECK
Mild imbalance
Graphics card

GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

20,600
G3D Mark
Faster than 87% of 268

The Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz paired with the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti produces a 10.89% bottleneck. The CPU is the limit, so it finishes its share of each frame last and the other component waits. A gap this size is usually recoverable through resolution and settings rather than new hardware.

Every build has a bottleneck; the question is only whether it sits where you want it. Read the figure alongside the limiting part, because the same percentage means different things at 1080p and at 4K.

Estimated FPS at 1080p, high preset

Ranges, not exact figures: identical builds vary by roughly a quarter in real use depending on drivers, thermals and background load. Bars are scaled against the fastest title here, and each row states which component sets its ceiling.

Every title here is CPU-limited on this pairing.

Fortnite 205-342FPS
CS:GO 289-481FPS
GTA V 98-164FPS
Apex Legends 117-195FPS
PUBG 118-196FPS

Method: estimated from measured GPU baseline framerates and PassMark CPU scores, capped by whichever component limits first. Workload factors derived from the OpenML "fps-in-video-games" dataset (CC-BY, Sven Peeters).

Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti: FPS by game and resolution

High preset. Each cell is a range; the label marks which component sets the ceiling. Blank cells mean this pairing has no measured data for that combination, and nothing is estimated in.

Game 720p 1080p 1440p
Fortnite 160-267 CPU 205-342 CPU 156-260 GPU
CS:GO 251-418 CPU 289-481 CPU 252-420 GPU
PUBG 98-164 CPU 118-196 CPU 113-188 CPU
GTA V 86-143 CPU 98-164 CPU 92-154 CPU
Apex Legends - 117-195 CPU -
Overwatch - 188-314 CPU 156-260 GPU
League of Legends - 219-365 CPU -
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 - 125-208 CPU -
Battlefield 1 - 121-202 CPU -
Battlefield 4 - 181-301 GPU -
Rust - 78-131 CPU -
Minecraft - 326-543 GPU -
World of Tanks - 101-169 CPU -
ARK: Survival Evolved - 95-158 CPU -

How quality settings affect this build: Fortnite at 1080p

Dropping settings only helps while the GPU is the limit. Once the label reads CPU, lowering quality stops buying frames on this pairing.

Low 271-452FPS
CPU-limited
Medium 221-368FPS
CPU-limited
High 205-342FPS
CPU-limited
Max 156-260FPS
GPU-limited

Bottleneck by resolution

Raising resolution shifts load from the CPU to the GPU, so the balance of this pairing changes with the display it drives. Note this measures imbalance, not speed: the lowest figure is usually the lowest resolution, which is not the one to play at. Read it alongside the limiting part.

Smallest imbalance 1280x720 10.2% bottleneck · CPU-limited
Largest imbalance 7680x4620 20.2% bottleneck · GPU-limited

On this chart a longer bar is worse: it measures imbalance, not speed.

1280x720 10.2%
CPU-limited
1366x768 10.3%
CPU-limited
1600x900 10.4%
CPU-limited
1920x1080 10.7%
balanced
2560x1440 your setting 10.9%
CPU-limited
3840x2160 13.1%
GPU-limited
5120x2880 15.1%
GPU-limited
7680x4620 20.2%
GPU-limited

How these parts rank

Position within the 1,255 processors and 268 graphics cards in our database, by the same benchmark scores this calculator runs on.

Processor Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz Faster than 85% of CPUs listed · #190 of 1,255
Graphics card GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Faster than 87% of GPUs listed · #36 of 268

Upgrade options

ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 4070 Ti

$1050 Check price

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

Intel Core i7-13700K

Related pairings

Other processors with the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

Other graphics cards with the Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz

Try a different pairing

Swap either component and see how the balance moves. Changing the resolution alone often matters more than changing a part.

Run another build

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