Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile pairing lands at rank 2262 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. That places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, at roughly the 39th percentile of all tested system configurations. The data suggests this is a competent but not exceptional combination for this third-person shooter, which aligns with the hardware's mobile-oriented design targets.

The CPU itself sits at the 81st percentile among all tested processors, a notably stronger relative position than the combo's overall rank. This discrepancy hints that the graphics subsystem is the constraining factor in most scenarios. The processor's average benchmark score of 29093 places it within a razor-thin margin of several desktop-class rivals: it trails the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X by just 0.1%, sits 0.5% behind the Intel Xeon Phi 7210, and actually leads the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT by 0.5%. The nearest competitor, the Intel Core i5-13500HX, outperforms it by only 0.6%. These sub-1% deltas indicate the 135H delivers desktop-equivalent compute in a mobile thermal envelope, yet the overall combo ranking suffers because the RTX 4060 Mobile cannot translate that CPU headroom into top-tier frame rates at higher resolutions.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 67 among all graphics cards is respectable, but its average benchmark score of 22729 places it in a tight cluster with some surprising company. It trails the RTX 2080 by 0.7%, leads the RX 7700 XT by 0.8%, sits 1.3% behind the Arc B580, and edges out the RTX 5060 Mobile by 1.3%. These margins are all within measurement noise, suggesting the 4060 Mobile punches at roughly desktop RTX 2080 levels in raw compute terms, which is impressive for a mobile part but still leaves it mid-pack overall. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-tier GPU creates a system that excels in CPU-bound scenarios but struggles when pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060 Mobile brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective transfer rates. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the measured frame rates reflect that. The GPU's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, packs 18,900 million transistors into a 159 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 118.9 million per square millimeter. The chip, designated AD107, contains 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines.

Clock behavior matters significantly for Minimum's performance profile. The base clock of 1545 MHz boosts to 1890 MHz under load, and the 115 W TDP suggests this is a full-power mobile implementation rather than a power-limited variant. The GPU's pixel rate of 90.72 GPixel/s and texture rate of 181.4 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings that the measured results approach at 1080p but fall well short of at higher resolutions. The 11.61 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is respectable for a mobile part, but Minimum's rendering demands at 4K clearly exceed what this GPU can comfortably deliver.

The presence of 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores indicates the hardware is capable of advanced rendering features, though the measured FPS data for Minimum does not specifically isolate ray tracing performance. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support with feature level 12_2 means the GPU is fully compliant with modern API requirements. Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 support round out the API compatibility picture. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides adequate bandwidth for the 8 GB frame buffer, though it is half the lane count of desktop counterparts.

CPU Role

The Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 7 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 28 W TDP that allows it to fit into thin-and-light chassis. The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support extends to DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

Benchmark results show this CPU's strengths and weaknesses clearly. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11875.5 and single-core score of 1700 reveal a processor that is far stronger in multi-threaded workloads than single-threaded ones. PassMark results reinforce this pattern: the multithread score of 22422 vastly exceeds the single-thread score of 3521. The floating-point math score of 54867 and integer math score of 73509 demonstrate solid arithmetic throughput, while the physics score of 1482 and data compression score of 251651 indicate good real-world application performance.

For Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014, the CPU's 18 threads are likely overkill for the game's actual threading requirements. The game's release date of 2014-06-25 predates the widespread adoption of multi-core game engines, so the 135H's single-core performance becomes the more relevant metric. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz provides adequate single-thread headroom, and the 18 MB of L3 cache helps with game data locality. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG 96EU graphics are present but irrelevant when the discrete RTX 4060 Mobile is active. The processor's 81st percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is not the limiting factor in most Minimum scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates are highest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear progression across settings. Low settings produce 180 FPS average, which represents the ceiling for this combo at 1080p. Medium settings drop to 138 FPS with a minimum of 117 and maximum of 158. High settings yield 116 FPS average, while Ultra settings fall to 88 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 92 FPS, indicating that settings have a substantial impact at this resolution. The Medium preset's variance from 117 to 158 FPS shows frame pacing consistency that should feel smooth on a standard 144 Hz display.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve compresses significantly. Low settings produce 116 FPS, Medium delivers 89 FPS with a range of 75 to 102, High drops to 75 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 57 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 59 FPS, considerably less than at 1080p. This compression suggests the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as pixel count increases. The Medium preset's 75 FPS minimum is still playable, but the Ultra preset's 57 FPS average approaches the threshold where fast-paced shooter gameplay becomes less responsive.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant constraint. Low settings produce 62 FPS, Medium averages 48 FPS with a range of 41 to 55, High falls to 40 FPS, and Ultra manages only 31 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra shrinks to 31 FPS, and even the Low preset cannot maintain 60 FPS consistently. The Medium preset's minimum of 41 FPS indicates noticeable frame drops during intense scenes. This resolution is only viable for Minimum at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate hovers near the edge of smoothness.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling behavior from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 drops the frame rate from 180 to 116, a 35.6% reduction. The further step to 3840x2160 drops it to 62, a 46.6% reduction from 1440p and a 65.6% reduction from 1080p. These are steep declines that point squarely at GPU pixel throughput limits.

At Medium settings, the scaling is slightly more moderate in percentage terms. The 138 FPS at 1080p falls to 89 FPS at 1440p, a 35.5% drop, then to 48 FPS at 4K, a 46.1% drop from 1440p. The High preset shows similar patterns: 116 to 75 to 40, representing 35.3% and 46.7% drops respectively. Ultra settings scale from 88 to 57 to 31, with reductions of 35.2% and 45.6%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings is revealing. Regardless of whether the game runs at Low or Ultra, the resolution scaling penalty is nearly identical. This uniformity indicates that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not shader complexity or CPU overhead. The 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 90.72 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient to maintain frame rates as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The CPU's ample headroom cannot compensate for this hardware ceiling.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 1080p in Minimum?

A: Yes. All four settings presets exceed 60 FPS at 1920x1080, with Low reaching 180 FPS, Medium at 138 FPS, High at 116 FPS, and Ultra at 88 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Minimum?

A: Only at Low settings, which produce 62 FPS average. Medium drops to 48 FPS, High to 40 FPS, and Ultra to 31 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for higher presets at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 135H's average benchmark score of 29093 places it within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, Intel Xeon Phi 7210, AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT, and Intel Core i5-13500HX. The largest delta among these rivals is just 0.6%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance relative to desktop cards?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile's average benchmark score of 22729 places it within 1.3% of the RTX 2080, RX 7700 XT, Arc B580, and RTX 5060 Mobile. It trails the RTX 2080 by 0.7% and leads the RTX 5060 Mobile by 1.3%.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of performance and visual quality?

A: 2560x1440 at Medium settings provides 89 FPS average with a minimum of 75 FPS, which is the highest resolution where the Medium preset maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU still constrains performance. The 180 FPS Low preset ceiling suggests the CPU could drive higher frame rates, but the RTX 4060 Mobile's pixel throughput caps results even at the lowest settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to 2560x1440 with Medium settings as the optimal configuration for this combo in Minimum. The 89 FPS average with a 75 FPS minimum provides smooth gameplay while maintaining visual fidelity above Low settings. The 102 FPS maximum shows there is headroom for less demanding scenes, and the 75 FPS floor ensures consistency during action sequences.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, 1920x1080 at Low settings delivers 180 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p only costs 42 FPS (from 180 to 138) while likely providing substantially better visuals. The Medium preset's 117 FPS minimum remains well above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the better choice for most users at this resolution.

At 4K, only Low settings are viable, and even then the 62 FPS average leaves little margin for demanding scenes. Players with 4K displays should consider 2560x1440 instead, where the Medium preset offers both higher frame rates and better settings than 4K Low. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution: at 1080p it drops to 88 FPS, at 1440p to 57 FPS, and at 4K to 31 FPS, with the visual gains over High unlikely to justify the performance cost. The data consistently shows High settings as the diminishing-returns point, with Ultra providing marginal improvements at significant frame rate penalties.