Minimum

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Minimum shows a clear performance ceiling for this combination. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS playability threshold. The High preset averages 21 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 29, Low averages 33 FPS, and Ultra drops to 16 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 17 FPS, which reflects how heavily the Ultra preset taxes the system.

At 2560x1440, the situation improves but remains limited. Low is the only preset that clears 60 FPS, averaging 61 FPS. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54, High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The scaling from Low to High at this resolution is a 22 FPS drop, while Ultra sits 31 FPS below Low.

At 1920x1080, three presets are playable. Low averages 95 FPS, Medium averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 83, and High averages 61 FPS. Ultra averages 46 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The difference between Low and High at 1080p is 34 FPS, and the jump from Medium to Low is 23 FPS. The min-to-max range on Medium at 1080p spans 62 to 83 FPS, indicating some frame time variation, but it stays above the playable threshold.

Resolution scaling shows a consistent pattern: moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset reduces average FPS by roughly 36% to 39%. For example, High drops from 61 FPS at 1080p to 39 FPS at 1440p, and Low drops from 95 to 61. Moving from 1440p to 2160p at the same preset reduces average FPS by roughly 46% to 49%. Low drops from 61 at 1440p to 33 at 2160p, while Medium drops from 47 to 25. The Ultra preset is the least usable across all resolutions, with its best result being 46 FPS at 1080p.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU in this combo, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235, scores an average benchmark of 46062 across the recorded tests. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with an average score of 46030, which is 0.1% lower, and the Intel Core i9-13900HX with an average score of 46098, which is 0.1% higher. The AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45970, 0.2% lower, and the AMD EPYC 7303 scores 45960, also 0.2% lower. These four processors sit within a 0.3% performance band, meaning any of them would deliver effectively identical CPU-bound behavior in Minimum. The Core Ultra 5 235 ranks in the 89th percentile against all CPUs in the database.

The GPU, the Intel Arc B390, presents a very different picture. Its average benchmark score is 1482, and it ranks in the 9th percentile against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% lower), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). These are all legacy or low-end parts, and the Arc B390 is only marginally ahead of them. In practical terms, anyone considering a system with one of those older NVIDIA GPUs would see nearly identical frame rates in Minimum at the same settings and resolution.

The contrast between the CPU and GPU benchmark positions is stark. The CPU sits near the top of the database, while the GPU sits near the bottom. When combined, the GPU becomes the limiting factor in almost every scenario. The CPU has 14 cores and 14 threads, a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, none of which matters much when the GPU cannot keep up. The nearest CPU rivals would not change the measured FPS because the bottleneck is overwhelmingly on the graphics side.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data shows that the GPU dominates performance in Minimum across all resolutions and presets. Evidence comes from the resolution scaling: when moving from 1080p to 1440p to 2160p, FPS drops by roughly 36% to 49% at each step. If the CPU were the limiting factor, resolution changes would have a much smaller impact on frame rates, since the CPU workload stays relatively constant regardless of pixel count. The sharp FPS declines with increasing resolution point directly at the GPU as the bottleneck.

The preset scaling reinforces this. At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 49 FPS (95 to 46). At 1440p, the spread is 31 FPS (61 to 30). At 2160p, the spread is 17 FPS (33 to 16). The shrinking spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is already saturated, and raising settings has diminishing returns because the render load outpaces the Arc B390's capabilities. The GPU's 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units are simply insufficient for demanding settings at high pixel counts.

The CPU's role is secondary but not negligible. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 95 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed frames at that level when the GPU is not overloaded. The Core Ultra 5 235's single-thread benchmark score of 4516 on Passmark and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085 indicate adequate per-core performance for a game from 2014. However, the GPU's 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate become the ceiling once settings or resolution increase. At 1440p and 2160p, the GPU is so far beyond its comfort zone that CPU headroom goes unused. The data does not show a scenario where CPU performance changes the outcome; every playable result is determined by whether the GPU can sustain the render load.

The integrated nature of the Arc B390, with system-shared memory and a 300 MHz base clock boosting to 2500 MHz, means it also depends on memory bandwidth that is listed as system dependent. This further ties performance to the platform rather than the CPU's compute capacity. In short, upgrading the CPU would not meaningfully change Minimum's frame rates, but upgrading the GPU would.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination ranks 3299 out of 3712 tested combos in the database for Minimum. That places it in the bottom 11% of all tested systems. The rank reflects the GPU's low percentile position (9th) dragging down an otherwise strong CPU (89th percentile). The combo sits far below the median, and the measured FPS data confirms why: even at 1080p, the Ultra preset fails to hit 60 FPS, and 4K is entirely unplayable.

Relative to other combos in the database, this pairing is closer to systems with very old or entry-level GPUs than to modern gaming rigs. The nearest GPU rivals, such as the GeForce GT 710 and GT 625 OEM, would produce similar rank positions when paired with any CPU. The CPU's high percentile does not compensate for the GPU's low percentile in a game like Minimum, where GPU load scales heavily with resolution and settings. The 3712 total combos include many with mid-range and high-end GPUs, and those systems would rank substantially higher because they can maintain 60 FPS at more demanding presets.

The verdict data aligns with the rank. At 2160x3840, no settings are playable. At 2560x1440, only Low is playable. At 1920x1080, High, Medium, and Low are playable, but Ultra is not. This combination effectively delivers 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings, 1440p only at the lowest settings, and no 4K capability. For a game released in 2014, that is a restrictive result, and the database rank of 3299 out of 3712 reflects that limitation.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Minimum at 60 FPS on a 4K display?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the best recorded average FPS is 33 on Low settings. High averages 21 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. None of the presets reach the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: Low is the only playable setting at 2560x1440, with an average FPS of 61. Medium averages 47 FPS, High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS, all below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Which preset at 1920x1080 gives the best visual quality while staying above 60 FPS?

A: High is the best preset that remains playable, averaging 61 FPS. Medium averages 72 FPS and Low averages 95 FPS, but High offers the highest settings among the playable options. Ultra averages 46 FPS and is not playable.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in the database?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 on its recorded benchmark. The GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% lower), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). The Arc B390 is marginally faster than all of them.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the limiting factor for this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile with an average benchmark score of 46062, while the GPU ranks in the 9th percentile with a score of 1482. FPS drops sharply with resolution increases, which indicates GPU saturation rather than CPU limits.

Q: What overall rank does this combo hold in the database for Minimum?

A: This combo ranks 3299 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all recorded systems for this game.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, there is no playable preset. The highest average FPS recorded is 33 on Low settings, which falls well short of the 60 FPS threshold. The database lists no best settings for this resolution because none qualify.

At 2560x1440, the only playable preset is Low, averaging 61 FPS. This is the best setting for this resolution, since Medium (47 FPS), High (39 FPS), and Ultra (30 FPS) all fail to reach 60 FPS. Users at 1440p must accept the lowest visual quality to maintain playability.

At 1920x1080, the best playable preset is High, averaging 61 FPS. Medium averages 72 FPS and Low averages 95 FPS, but High provides the highest quality among the playable options. Ultra averages 46 FPS and is not playable. The data shows that 1080p High is the most demanding configuration that stays at or above 60 FPS, making it the recommended target for this combination. The min-to-max range on Medium at 1080p is 62 to 83 FPS, which confirms stability, while High lacks recorded min/max values but maintains a 61 FPS average.