Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination delivers a broadly capable experience in Minimum, but the ceiling varies sharply by resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, the pairing clears 60 FPS on every preset, including Ultra, while 4K requires dropping to Low settings to stay above the playable threshold. The data shows a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with the CPU providing ample headroom for the RTX 4060 to stretch at lower resolutions.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (avg score 36945, deltaPct 0), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (avg score 37018, deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (avg score 37093, deltaPct -0.4), and the Intel Core i9-12900T (avg score 37112, deltaPct -0.5). The deltaPct values here are essentially negligible, meaning any of these CPUs would deliver near-identical frame pacing in Minimum when paired with the same GPU. The Core Ultra 5 225’s 10 cores and 10 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, provide strong single-threaded performance, which is relevant for a third-person shooter’s game logic and physics. However, since the measured FPS data shows the GPU becoming the limiting factor at 1440p and 4K, swapping the CPU for any of these near-equal alternatives would not meaningfully change the outcomes at those resolutions.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4060 lands at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (avg score 17666, deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Radeon 780M (avg score 17588, deltaPct 0.3), the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (avg score 17551, deltaPct 0.5), and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 (avg score 17509, deltaPct 0.7). These deltaPct values are all under 1%, so any of these GPUs would perform almost identically in Minimum’s measured scenarios. The Radeon 780M is particularly notable because it is an integrated GPU found in many APUs, yet its benchmark score is within 0.3% of the RTX 4060. This suggests that for a 2014 third-person shooter, the RTX 4060’s architectural advantages—such as its 24 RT cores and Ada Lovelace feature set—do not translate into a large performance gap against much older or weaker silicon. In practice, if a builder already owns a system with one of these rival GPUs, upgrading to the RTX 4060 would yield only a marginal FPS improvement in Minimum.

Best Settings per Resolution

The data includes measured FPS for four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 99 FPS. This is the clear choice for 1080p, as it delivers nearly double the playable threshold while maintaining the highest visual fidelity. At 2560x1440, Ultra also remains playable, averaging 64 FPS, which is just 4 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. This makes Ultra the best settings choice at 1440p, but the margin is slim; players sensitive to frame drops should consider High (84 FPS average) for more headroom. At 3840x2160, the situation changes drastically. High averages 45 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS—all below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Only Low clears the bar, with an average of 70 FPS. Therefore, the best settings at 4K are Low, which is the only preset that meets the playability requirement.

The verdict data confirms these choices: at 3840x2160, the playable settings list contains only Low, with an average FPS of 70 at that preset. At 2560x1440, all four presets are playable, and the best settings is Ultra at 64 FPS average. At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable, and the best settings is Ultra at 99 FPS average. The pattern is clear—resolution scaling impacts the RTX 4060 far more than the CPU, so the optimal preset degrades from Ultra at 1080p, to a marginal Ultra at 1440p, to a stark Low at 4K.

CPU and GPU Roles

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU is not the bottleneck in Minimum for this configuration. At 1920x1080, the average FPS scales from 202 at Low to 99 at Ultra, a drop of 103 FPS (about 51%). At 2560x1440, the same settings range yields 130 FPS at Low down to 64 FPS at Ultra, a drop of 66 FPS (about 51%). At 3840x2160, the range is 70 FPS at Low to 34 FPS at Ultra, a drop of 36 FPS (about 51%). The consistent ~50% reduction from Low to Ultra across all resolutions points to a purely GPU-bound workload, as the CPU’s contribution would show up as a flat ceiling regardless of resolution. The Core Ultra 5 225, with its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655, is more than capable of feeding the RTX 4060 at 1080p, where the GPU is already producing 202 FPS at Low.

The GPU’s role becomes dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the RTX 4060 is pushing 202 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that the CPU’s per-thread performance could start to matter, but the data shows no such limitation. At 4K Low, the frame rate drops to 70 FPS, a 65% reduction from 1080p Low, even though the CPU load is identical. This scaling—from 202 to 130 to 70 FPS at Low settings across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K—aligns almost exactly with the pixel count increase (2.25x from 1080p to 1440p, 4x from 1080p to 4K), confirming that the RTX 4060’s pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus (272.0 GB/s bandwidth) are sufficient for the workloads tested, but the 4K Ultra preset (34 FPS average) shows that the card simply lacks the raw fill rate for high-detail 4K.

At 1440p and 1080p, the CPU still has headroom. The fact that Ultra at 1440p (64 FPS) and Ultra at 1080p (99 FPS) both exceed 60 FPS means the Core Ultra 5 225 is not holding back the GPU at these resolutions. In contrast, if the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would plateau at a similar value regardless of resolution. The measured data shows no such plateau—every resolution change produces a proportional FPS change, which is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario. For players upgrading from an older CPU, the Core Ultra 5 225’s performance is more than adequate; the RTX 4060 is the component that determines playability at 4K.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum at 1080p and 1440p with all presets above 60 FPS, but 4K requires a significant settings compromise. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 99 FPS on Ultra, 155 FPS on Medium, 130 FPS on High, and 202 FPS on Low—every preset clears the 60 FPS threshold with room to spare. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 64 FPS, which is above the threshold but with only a 4 FPS margin; High (84 FPS), Medium (100 FPS), and Low (130 FPS) offer more comfortable headroom. At 3840x2160, only Low is playable, averaging 70 FPS. High (45 FPS), Medium (54 FPS), and Ultra (34 FPS) all fall below the 60 FPS line.

The verdict data explicitly lists the playable settings per resolution: for 3840x2160, only Low is playable; for 2560x1440 and 1920x1080, all four presets are playable. The best settings at each resolution are Low (70 FPS) at 4K, Ultra (64 FPS) at 1440p, and Ultra (99 FPS) at 1080p. For players with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, this system is a strong match for Minimum, delivering high frame rates at maximum detail. For 4K users, the system is functional but not ideal—Low settings at 4K will look noticeably worse than High or Ultra at lower resolutions, and the 70 FPS average at Low 4K is still respectable but far from the 202 FPS possible at 1080p Low. The RTX 4060’s 8 GB memory and 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance are the limiting factors at 4K, not the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS table provides exact averages, with min and max values only recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1920x1080, Low averages 202 FPS, Medium averages 155 FPS (min 131, max 178), High averages 130 FPS, and Ultra averages 99 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low averages 130 FPS, Medium averages 100 FPS (min 85, max 115), High averages 84 FPS, and Ultra averages 64 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low averages 70 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS (min 46, max 62), High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS.

The Medium preset’s min/max data reveals interesting variance behavior. At 1080p Medium, the min is 131 FPS and max is 178 FPS, a spread of 47 FPS. At 1440p Medium, min 85 FPS and max 115 FPS, a spread of 30 FPS. At 4K Medium, min 46 FPS and max 62 FPS, a spread of 16 FPS. The absolute variance shrinks as resolution increases, but the relative variance (spread divided by average) is 30% at 1080p, 30% at 1440p, and 30% at 4K. This consistency suggests the frame time spikes scale with the average frame rate, which is typical for a GPU-bound title. The min FPS at 4K Medium (46 FPS) falls below the 60 FPS threshold even though the average is 54 FPS, highlighting why the verdict excludes Medium from playable settings at 4K—the dips would be noticeable.

For the presets without min/max data (Low, High, Ultra), only averages are available. The average values alone show a linear progression: at 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces FPS by roughly 25% per step (202 to 155 to 130 to 99); at 1440p, the steps are 130 to 100 to 84 to 64; at 4K, the steps are 70 to 54 to 45 to 34. The 4K Ultra average of 34 FPS is less than half the playable threshold, confirming that high-detail 4K is out of reach for this hardware.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Minimum at 1080p on Ultra settings?*

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra is 99 FPS, well above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All presets at 1080p are playable, with Low reaching 202 FPS, Medium at 155 FPS, and High at 130 FPS.

Q: What is the highest playable preset at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings are playable, averaging 70 FPS. Medium averages 54 FPS, High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS, all below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 130 at Low to 64 at Ultra, a 51% reduction that mirrors the 1080p scaling. The Core Ultra 5 225’s benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 25891, single-core 3655) indicate it has ample headroom, and the proportional FPS changes across resolutions confirm a GPU-bound workload.

Q: How much FPS does Medium settings lose compared to Low at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 202 FPS while Medium averages 155 FPS, a difference of 47 FPS (about 23%). Medium also has a min of 131 FPS and max of 178 FPS, so even the lowest dips stay far above the playable threshold.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 perform similarly to any AMD GPUs in this game?

A: Based on nearestRivals data, the AMD Radeon 780M has an average benchmark score of 17588, which is within 0.3% of the RTX 4060’s 17639. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666), Radeon Pro 560 (17551), and Radeon Pro 460 (17509) are also within 0.7% or less, meaning any of these would produce nearly identical FPS in Minimum.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1440p Ultra, and is it safe for competitive play?

A: The average FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra is 64 FPS, which is just 4 FPS above the 60 FPS playable threshold. While technically playable, the slim margin means frame drops could push it below 60 FPS; High settings at 84 FPS average would provide more consistent performance for competitive scenarios.