Best GPU for Core Ultra 5 245K in 2026
Every graphics card that pairs with the Core Ultra 5 245K without either part wasting the other, computed at 1080p, 1440p and 4K with the frame rate you can expect from each.
Radeon RX 7900 XT
At 1440p the Radeon RX 7900 XT returns about 94 fps on High beside a Core Ultra 5 245K, the Core Ultra 5 245K holding roughly 1.54 times the headroom the Radeon RX 7900 XT asks for, and that 1.54 is the point: it leaves the Radeon RX 7900 XT as the limiting part, which is what a correct build looks like, while keeping enough of the Core Ultra 5 245K in reserve that the 1% lows hold up when a scene fills. The furthest the Core Ultra 5 245K will stretch at 1440p is a GeForce RTX 5080 at about 113 fps, and past that the Core Ultra 5 245K becomes the part holding things back.
Check current priceon AmazonWhat the numbers say about the Core Ultra 5 245K
Of the 89 graphics cards we track, 31 pair cleanly with the Core Ultra 5 245K at 1080p, 23 at 1440p and 2 at 4K, because every step up in resolution moves work off the Core Ultra 5 245K and onto the card.
The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is where the money stops reaching the screen: at 1080p it is already quick enough that the Core Ultra 5 245K becomes the limit, so it and everything above it return much the same frame rate alongside this processor.
The usable range for the Core Ultra 5 245K at 1440p runs from the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB at about 75 fps to the Radeon RX 7900 XT at about 94 fps, a spread of roughly 25% in which both ends are balanced pairings, so anything inside it is a budget decision rather than a technical one.
With the Radeon RX 7900 XT fitted, the Core Ultra 5 245K delivers roughly 126 fps at 1080p and about 55 fps at 4K on High, and that 56% fall is the card working harder rather than the processor giving up.
Every graphics card that works with the Core Ultra 5 245K at 1440p
23 of the 89 graphics cards we track stay balanced with the Core Ultra 5 245K at 1440p, and the 18 fastest of them are below, strongest first, each with the frame rate it returns next to a Core Ultra 5 245K.
| Graphics card | Estimated fps | Result |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 | 113 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER | 110 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 | 107 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | 107 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti | 102 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT | 98 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER | 97 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | 94 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti | 89 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 9070 | 89 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 | 86 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER | 86 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | 84 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE | 84 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT | 79 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | 77 fps | Balanced |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | 77 fps | Balanced |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT | 77 fps | Balanced |
What to avoid with the Core Ultra 5 245K
Fitting any of these alongside the Core Ultra 5 245K makes the processor the limit, and the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is the clearest example: about 11.1% of what that card could deliver never reaches the screen.
- GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB 11.1% GPU limited at 1440p, about 65 fps
- Radeon RX 7700 XT 11.1% GPU limited at 1440p, about 65 fps
- GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB 14.8% GPU limited at 1440p, about 63 fps
The three cards worth considering for the Core Ultra 5 245K
GeForce RTX 3080 12GB
The GeForce RTX 3080 12GB is the least you can spend next to a Core Ultra 5 245K without the Core Ultra 5 245K being held back: it returns about 100 fps at 1080p and 75 fps at 1440p on High, and anything cheaper than the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB turns the Core Ultra 5 245K into the part waiting around.
It is also the cheapest of the three to build around, since a GeForce RTX 3080 12GB beside a Core Ultra 5 245K pulls about 593 W and wants only a 850 W supply, which on a budget is often the difference between reusing a case and rebuilding one.
Check current priceon AmazonRadeon RX 7900 XT
The Radeon RX 7900 XT is the one we would actually buy for a Core Ultra 5 245K: about 126 fps at 1080p and 94 fps at 1440p on High, with the Core Ultra 5 245K holding 1.54 times the headroom the Radeon RX 7900 XT asks for, which is the margin our engine treats as correct rather than the edge of it.
That margin is the whole reason to prefer the Radeon RX 7900 XT over something faster: the average frame rate would survive a closer match, and the 1% lows are what gives way when a Core Ultra 5 245K runs out of room in a crowded scene.
Check current priceon AmazonGeForce RTX 5080
The GeForce RTX 5080 is the furthest a Core Ultra 5 245K will stretch, at about 113 fps at 1440p and 66 fps at 4K on High, and past the GeForce RTX 5080 the Core Ultra 5 245K itself becomes the limit, so money spent above it buys frames that never reach the screen.
It is worth the extra only on one condition: that the GeForce RTX 5080 is going into a machine where the Core Ultra 5 245K will be replaced before the GeForce RTX 5080 is, because at 4K the GeForce RTX 5080 is still the part doing the work and the Core Ultra 5 245K has room to spare there.
Check current priceon Amazon| GeForce RTX 3080 12GB | Radeon RX 7900 XT | GeForce RTX 5080 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p High | 100 fps | 126 fps | 143 fps |
| 1440p High | 75 fps | 94 fps | 113 fps |
| 4K High | 43 fps | 55 fps | 66 fps |
| Supply to buy | 850 W | 750 W | 850 W |
| Board power | 350 W | 315 W | 360 W |
| Memory | 12 GB | 20 GB | 16 GB |
| Released | 2022 | 2022 | 2025 |
Where the money stops helping a Core Ultra 5 245K
Going one step past the GeForce RTX 5080 to a GeForce RTX 4090 is the upgrade most people consider and it is the one to skip: next to a Core Ultra 5 245K the GeForce RTX 4090 returns about 132 fps at 1440p against 113 for the GeForce RTX 5080, a difference of 17%, because the Core Ultra 5 245K cannot feed it and about 6.8% of what the GeForce RTX 4090 could do never arrives.
Going the other way, a GeForce RTX 3080 12GB instead of the Radeon RX 7900 XT saves real money and costs about 25% of the frame rate: next to a Core Ultra 5 245K the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB returns roughly 75 fps at 1440p against 94 for the Radeon RX 7900 XT, so the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB is the right answer when the budget is fixed and the wrong one when it is the Core Ultra 5 245K you plan to keep.
What each option means in real games with a Core Ultra 5 245K
Index points do not tell anybody whether to spend the extra, so here is the same choice in named games at 1440p: the Core Ultra 5 245K alongside each of the 3 options below, with the frame rates taken from each publisher's own recommended graphics requirement rather than from one assumption about how heavy a modern game is.
Read the gap between the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB column and the Radeon RX 7900 XT column rather than either number on its own: where the two are close the cheaper part is the answer for a Core Ultra 5 245K, and where they are not, that difference is what the extra money actually buys.
| Game at 1440p | GeForce RTX 3080 12GB | Radeon RX 7900 XT | GeForce RTX 5080 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cities: Skylines II | 51 fps | 65 fps | 78 fps |
| Satisfactory | 79 fps | 99 fps | 119 fps |
| Palworld | 85 fps | 106 fps | 127 fps |
| The Last of Us™ Part I | 88 fps | 110 fps | 132 fps |
| Black Myth: Wukong | 95 fps | 119 fps | 143 fps |
| Phasmophobia | 95 fps | 119 fps | 143 fps |
What else to spend on once the Core Ultra 5 245K pairing is settled
One reason to pick the Core Ultra 5 245K over a chip that scores the same for gaming: 14 cores and 14 threads at 120.0 on our throughput index, which is enough that the Radeon RX 7900 XT above keeps its frame rate with a stream encoder or a background render alongside it rather than giving up frames to make room.
The Core Ultra 5 245K sits on LGA1851 with DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0, and LGA1851 is still a socket you can buy a new board for, which matters more than any figure above if the card is not the last thing you plan to change: a faster chip later drops into the same LGA1851 board the Core Ultra 5 245K is already in.
Before the Core Ultra 5 245K, check the supply: a Radeon RX 7900 XT alongside it pulls about 558 W and wants a 750 W unit, and a 650 W one is the floor, so if the case currently holds less than that then the supply is the first purchase and the Radeon RX 7900 XT is the second.
After that it is memory rather than either part: 16 GB in dual channel is the floor for a machine built around a Core Ultra 5 245K, and going from a single stick to a matched pair is worth more frames on a Core Ultra 5 245K than any of the choices above, for a fraction of the money.
What else the Core Ultra 5 245K changes about the build
The Core Ultra 5 245K is rated 125 W and peaks nearer 163 W, so with a Radeon RX 7900 XT drawing 315 W the pair pulls about 558 W from the wall and wants a 750 W supply, leaving the Core Ultra 5 245K roughly 26% of that unused; a 650 W unit is the floor rather than the choice.
One caution specific to this pairing: the Radeon RX 7900 XT rated 315 W spikes well past that for a few milliseconds at a time, and a 750 W supply chosen for the Core Ultra 5 245K on average watts can trip its protection on those spikes, so take an ATX 3.0 or 3.1 unit at 750 W or an older design one size up.
Core Ultra 5 245K pairing questions
What is the best graphics card for a Core Ultra 5 245K?
The Radeon RX 7900 XT. Next to a Core Ultra 5 245K it returns about 126 fps at 1080p and 94 fps at 1440p on High, and it is the card our engine puts at the centre of the healthy range for a Core Ultra 5 245K rather than at the edge of it, which is what keeps the 1% lows intact as well as the average.
What is the cheapest card worth putting with a Core Ultra 5 245K?
The GeForce RTX 3080 12GB, at about 75 fps at 1440p next to a Core Ultra 5 245K against 94 for the Radeon RX 7900 XT. Below the GeForce RTX 3080 12GB the Core Ultra 5 245K stops being the part that decides the frame rate, which is the definition of wasting what you already own.
Would a faster card be wasted on a Core Ultra 5 245K?
Up to a GeForce RTX 5080, no: that is the most a Core Ultra 5 245K will carry, and the pair returns about 66 fps at 4K. Past a GeForce RTX 5080, yes, and for a Core Ultra 5 245K specifically the section above puts a figure on how little the next step adds rather than leaving it as advice.
What power supply does a Core Ultra 5 245K build need?
With the Radeon RX 7900 XT fitted, a machine built around a Core Ultra 5 245K draws roughly 558 W, which wants a 750 W supply and will run on 650 W with nothing spare. That figure moves with the Radeon RX 7900 XT rather than with the Core Ultra 5 245K, so pricing the supply against whichever option above you pick is worth doing before ordering either.
Should I spend more than a Radeon RX 7900 XT on a card for a Core Ultra 5 245K?
Going one step past the GeForce RTX 5080 to a GeForce RTX 4090 is the upgrade most people consider and it is the one to skip: next to a Core Ultra 5 245K the GeForce RTX 4090 returns about 132 fps at 1440p against 113 for the GeForce RTX 5080, a difference of 17%, because the Core Ultra 5 245K cannot feed it and about 6.8% of what the GeForce RTX 4090 could do never arrives.
How were these Core Ultra 5 245K recommendations worked out?
Every option on this page comes out of the same engine as our bottleneck calculator, run across all 89 graphics cards we track against the Core Ultra 5 245K at 1080p, 1440p and 4K, so a recommendation here and a bottleneck figure for that exact pair can never contradict each other. The figures are modelled from published benchmark data rather than measured on a Core Ultra 5 245K test bench.
Check another combination with the Core Ultra 5 245K
Every figure on this page is modelled for the Core Ultra 5 245K from published benchmark data rather than measured on a test bench, and recommendations alongside it are limited to parts from 2022 onward. How we calculate this