Minimum

Minimum, the 2014 third-person shooter, presents a clear performance picture for the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. The measured data shows this combination is capable of very high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but it begins to strain at 4K, particularly at higher quality presets. The overall combo rank of 1562 out of 2939 tested combinations places this setup in the upper half of all tested systems, indicating a solid, if not top-tier, pairing for this specific title. The data suggests that the GPU is the primary scaling factor across resolutions, while the CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads provide ample headroom for the game's engine.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At the "Low" settings preset, the average FPS scales from 202 at 1920x1080, down to 130 at 2560x1440, and finally to 70 at 3840x2160. This represents a 35.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46.2% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is a substantial 65.3%, indicating that the rendering load at 4K is significantly more demanding on the graphics processor.

The scaling pattern is consistent across other presets, though the absolute numbers differ. For the "High" preset, the average FPS goes from 130 at 1080p, to 84 at 1440p, and then down to 45 at 4K. This shows a 35.4% drop between 1080p and 1440p, and a steeper 46.4% drop between 1440p and 4K. The consistent percentage drops across different settings strongly suggest that the resolution increase is the dominant factor in performance degradation, which is characteristic of a system where the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the limiting resources at higher resolutions.

The "Ultra" preset further emphasizes this GPU limitation. At 1080p, the system achieves 99 FPS, which is still very playable. However, this drops to 64 FPS at 1440p and a more demanding 34 FPS at 4K. The performance penalty for moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is a 65.7% reduction. This steep decline indicates that the combination of high resolution and extreme graphical fidelity pushes the RTX 4070 to its limits, resulting in a frame rate that may not be smooth for all players on a 4K display.

The data indicates that the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K resolution tests show a clear bottleneck. The most significant observation is the difference between the "Low" and "Ultra" presets at 4K, where the average FPS drops from 70 to 34. This is a 51.4% performance hit solely from increasing the graphical preset, which is a larger relative drop than what is seen at lower resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU's compute units and memory subsystem are saturated, making it the definitive limiting component in this configuration.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for the optimal experience. At 1920x1080, all presets are highly playable, with even the most demanding "Ultra" preset delivering an average of 99 FPS. The "High" preset at 130 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, while the "Medium" preset at 154 FPS and "Low" preset at 202 FPS provide increasingly higher frame rates for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays. For most users at 1080p, the "High" preset is the recommended starting point, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over "Medium" while still maintaining a high frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the "High" preset remains the sweet spot, delivering an average of 84 FPS. This is a comfortable frame rate for most single-player experiences. The "Ultra" preset drops to 64 FPS, which is still playable but begins to show the system's limits. The "Medium" preset at 100 FPS is an excellent choice for those who prioritize frame rate over maximum visual fidelity. The "Low" preset at 130 FPS is available for users with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors who want to maximize smoothness.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents a more challenging environment. Here, the "Low" preset is the only one that consistently delivers a smooth experience, with an average of 70 FPS. The "Medium" preset at 54 FPS is borderline, and the "High" preset at 45 FPS and "Ultra" preset at 34 FPS will likely result in noticeable stuttering for many players. For a 4K display, the data suggests that using the "Low" preset is the most viable option for maintaining a high frame rate, while the "Medium" preset could be acceptable for players who are less sensitive to frame rate fluctuations, as it has a minimum FPS of 46.

The benchmark results indicate that the best experience is found by matching the preset to the resolution. At 1080p, "High" or "Ultra" is recommended. At 1440p, "High" is the best balance, with "Medium" as a strong alternative for higher refresh rates. At 4K, "Low" is the only preset that ensures a high average frame rate, while "Medium" may be acceptable if a lower minimum frame rate can be tolerated. The "Ultra" preset is generally not recommended above 1080p, as the performance cost at 1440p and 4K is steep relative to the visual gains.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. In this game, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU, as the consistent frame rate scaling with resolution indicates a GPU bottleneck. However, the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4070, as evidenced by the high frame rates achieved even at 1080p.

The CPU's benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11875.5 and a single-core score of 1700. These results place the processor in the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29093. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, has a nearly identical average score of 29123, a delta of only -0.1%. This suggests that the Core Ultra 5 135H provides comparable processing power to a previous-generation desktop flagship, which is more than enough for a game released in 2014.

The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core provide ample memory for the game's logic and physics calculations. The PassMark multi-thread score of 22422 and the data compression score of 251651 further indicate a processor that can handle complex workloads without becoming a bottleneck. In essence, the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration; the frame rates are dictated almost entirely by the GPU's performance at each resolution and preset.

Even at 1080p with the "Low" preset, where the system achieves 202 FPS, the CPU is able to maintain a high enough frame output. The absence of any data suggesting CPU limitations, such as inconsistent frame rates at lower resolutions, reinforces that the Core Ultra 5 135H is a strong partner for the RTX 4070 in this game. The processor's 18 threads are likely more than the game's engine can utilize, ensuring that there is no processing headroom issue that would prevent the GPU from reaching its full potential.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested hardware combinations for "Minimum," this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 holds the 1562nd position out of 2939 total combos. This rank places it in the 47th percentile of all tested systems, which is slightly below the median. While this might seem modest, it is important to consider the context: the list includes all possible CPU and GPU combinations, many of which feature top-tier desktop components. A rank of 1562 is a solid mid-pack result for a mobile CPU paired with a mid-range-to-high-end desktop GPU.

The ranking suggests that while this combination is capable, it is not among the most powerful setups tested. The GPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, which scores 1.3% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which scores 0.4% lower. This indicates that the RTX 4070's performance is closely matched by other high-end cards, and the combo's rank is likely influenced by the specific performance characteristics of the CPU-GPU pairing in this game.

The combo's rank of 1562, when compared to the CPU's 81st percentile and the GPU's 81st percentile, reveals an interesting discrepancy. The individual components are both well above average, but their combination falls closer to the middle of the pack. This suggests that in this specific game, the pairing may not be perfectly optimized, or that other combinations with more powerful CPUs or GPUs simply achieve higher frame rates, especially at lower resolutions where the CPU can become more relevant. The data shows that this is a capable combination, but not one that dominates the rankings.

Furthermore, the deltaPct values for the GPU's rivals show a tight cluster, with the RTX 4080 Mobile being 1.3% faster and the RX Vega 56 being 0.4% slower. This indicates that the RTX 4070 is positioned in a very competitive performance bracket. The combo's overall rank is a function of both components, and the mid-pack position is a realistic reflection of the system's ability to run this game, which is to say it does so very well at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with high settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the dominant component in this pairing for "Minimum." Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is a critical resource for higher resolutions. The GPU's benchmark scores are strong, with a PassMark G3D score of 26927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854. It holds an 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648, placing it just 0.1% behind the NVIDIA Tesla P4 in the nearest rivals list.

The GPU's role is clearly defined by the resolution scaling data. At 1080p, the RTX 4070 is rarely the limiting factor, as evidenced by the high frame rates across all presets. The jump to 1440p shows a significant performance cost, but the GPU still manages to deliver excellent results. It is only at 4K that the GPU's limitations become apparent, with the "High" and "Ultra" presets dropping to 45 and 34 FPS, respectively. This is a direct consequence of the increased pixel count and the higher memory demands of the 4K resolution.

The core configuration of the RTX 4070, with its 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units, is well-suited for this game's DirectX 12 rendering. The 64 ROPs are responsible for pixel output, and the 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes a key factor at 4K. The 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than sufficient for the game's shaders, but the fill rate limitations are evident in the 4K results. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, as the CPU is clearly capable of feeding it more frames.

The 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, while not heavily utilized by a 2014 title, contribute to the GPU's feature set. The boost clock of 2475 MHz, up from a base of 1920 MHz, allows the GPU to dynamically increase its performance when thermal and power headroom allows. The fact that the system achieves playable frame rates at 1440p with "High" settings indicates that the RTX 4070 is a very capable card for this game, but the 4K data shows that it is not a 4K powerhouse for newer, more demanding titles, or even for "Minimum" at its highest settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates provide a comprehensive view of the system's performance. At 1920x1080, the "Low" preset achieves an average of 202 FPS, which is the highest score recorded. The "Medium" preset delivers an average of 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 and a maximum of 178. The "High" preset drops to 130 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset is the lowest at 1080p, with an average of 99 FPS. This shows a clear performance hierarchy, with a 103 FPS difference between the "Low" and "Ultra" presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. The "Low" preset yields an average of 130 FPS, which is a 35.6% reduction from the 1080p result. The "Medium" preset averages 100 FPS, with a minimum of 85 and a maximum of 115. The "High" preset achieves an average of 84 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset drops to 64 FPS. The pattern is consistent, with each preset tier showing a similar relative performance gap as seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the performance impact is most pronounced. The "Low" preset is the only one to remain above 60 FPS, with an average of 70 FPS. The "Medium" preset drops to an average of 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 and a maximum of 62, indicating some frame time inconsistency. The "High" preset averages 45 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset is the most demanding, with an average of only 34 FPS. The frame rates at 4K clearly show that the system is not optimized for this resolution at higher settings.

The data from the "Medium" preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rate ranges between 131 and 178 FPS. At 1440p, the range tightens to between 85 and 115 FPS. At 4K, the range narrows further to between 46 and 62 FPS. This tightening of the frame rate range as resolution increases suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, reducing the variability in frame rendering times. The average FPS figures across all presets and resolutions show a clear, predictable pattern of performance degradation as graphical demands increase.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with the "High" preset?

A: The measured average frame rate for this combination at 1920x1080 with the "High" preset is 130 FPS.

Q: How does the performance at 4K compare to 1080p on the "Low" preset?

A: At 1080p, the "Low" preset achieves an average of 202 FPS, but at 4K, the same preset only manages 70 FPS. This represents a 65.3% reduction in average frame rate.

Q: Is the "Ultra" preset playable at 2560x1440?

A: Yes, the "Ultra" preset at 2560x1440 yields an average frame rate of 64 FPS, which is generally considered playable, though it is lower than the 84 FPS achieved with the "High" preset.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for the "Medium" preset at 3840x2160?

A: The minimum frame rate for the "Medium" preset at 3840x2160 was measured at 46 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X?

A: The data shows that the Core Ultra 5 135H has an average benchmark score of 29093, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X has an average score of 29123. This puts the Core Ultra 5 135H at a 0.1% performance deficit compared to the Ryzen 7 5800X.

Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU and GPU combination for "Minimum"?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is ranked 1562nd out of 2939 tested combinations for this game.