Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum across three resolutions reveals a system that scales predictably with pixel count, but with some telling deviations that point to where the performance ceiling lives. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile delivers 293 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that to 189 FPS, a reduction of roughly 35%. At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 102 FPS, which is another 46% decline from the 1440p result.

This scaling pattern is steep, but it is not uniform across all settings presets. Looking at High settings, the frame rate goes from 188 FPS at 1080p to 121 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 65 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 143 FPS at 1080p, 92 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. The percentage losses from 1080p to 1440p and from 1440p to 4K are nearly identical across High and Ultra, which suggests the rendering workload scales almost linearly with resolution for these settings.

The Medium preset, which is the only one with complete min and max FPS data, shows a slightly different pattern. At 1080p, the average is 224 FPS with a minimum of 190 FPS and maximum of 258 FPS. At 1440p, the average drops to 144 FPS with a range of 123 to 166 FPS. At 4K, the average falls to 78 FPS with a range of 66 to 89 FPS. The gap between average and minimum FPS narrows as resolution increases, which indicates that frame time consistency improves when the GPU is more heavily loaded — a counterintuitive result that suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The 4K results are particularly informative for identifying the bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the spread from Low (102 FPS) to Ultra (50 FPS) is a factor of roughly two. This wide spread demonstrates that the GPU is the primary constraint at this resolution, as changing graphics settings has a dramatic impact on throughput. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the settings spread would be much narrower because the GPU would be waiting on the processor regardless of how complex the pixel work becomes.

At 1080p, the settings spread is even wider in absolute terms — from 293 FPS on Low to 143 FPS on Ultra — but the relative scaling is similar. The fact that Low settings at 1080p can push past 293 FPS indicates the CPU can feed the GPU at very high frame rates, but the diminishing returns from 1440p to 4K on every preset confirm that the RTX 5090 Mobile's rendering capacity is the dominant factor in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware in Minimum?

A: The highest measured average is 293 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 290 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra experience compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 50, while at 1920x1080 Ultra it is 143. This represents a 65% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same quality preset.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 Mobile's 24 GB VRAM sufficient for Minimum at maximum settings?

A: The measured data shows playable performance at 4K Ultra with 50 FPS average, and the 24 GB GDDR7 memory provides ample capacity for this 2014 title. The memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s supports the texture and geometry workloads without indication of capacity-related stutters in the frame time data.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 189 FPS average, while Ultra produces 92 FPS average. The difference of 97 FPS represents a 51% reduction in throughput when enabling maximum quality settings.

Q: Does the Medium preset show consistent frame pacing?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data. At 1080p, the range is 190 to 258 FPS around a 224 FPS average. At 1440p, it is 123 to 166 FPS around 144 FPS. At 4K, it is 66 to 89 FPS around 78 FPS. The spread narrows as resolution increases, suggesting more consistent frame delivery at higher GPU loads.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H compare to its nearest CPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ultra 5 135H has an average benchmark score of 29093, which places it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (score 29123) and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (score 28940). It trails the Intel Xeon Phi 7210 by 0.5% and the Intel Core i5-13500HX by 0.6%.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile is the dominant component in this pairing for Minimum, and the measured frame rates make this clear. The GPU operates with a base clock of 990 MHz and a boost clock of 1515 MHz, which are modest clock speeds for a flagship mobile part but are paired with a massive 10496 shading units. The FP32 compute throughput is 31.80 TFLOPS, which provides the raw arithmetic capacity needed to sustain the high frame rates observed in this game.

The memory subsystem is a key differentiator. The RTX 5090 Mobile carries 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For Minimum, a game released in 2014, this bandwidth is far beyond what the title's assets require. The practical effect is that memory bandwidth is unlikely to be a constraint at any resolution or settings combination in the measured data. The texture rate of 496.9 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 169.7 GPixel/s further support this conclusion — the GPU has substantial headroom for the rendering workloads this game presents.

The GPU's benchmark profile reinforces its position. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5871 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 201834 place the RTX 5090 Mobile in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 45152 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45384, delta of -0.5%) and the Intel Arc A730M (45592, delta of -1%). It sits 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (44795) and 1.8% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation (45972).

In Minimum specifically, the GPU's role shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized at Low settings — the 293 FPS result suggests the CPU is nearing its limit. But at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, with the 50 FPS result reflecting the pixel and shading workload. The RTX 5090 Mobile's 82 RT cores and 328 tensor cores are present in the hardware, though Minimum's rendering pipeline from 2014 would not leverage these features in any meaningful way.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combination spans three resolutions and four settings presets, yielding twelve data points. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces the highest average at 293 FPS. Medium follows at 224 FPS with a minimum of 190 FPS and maximum of 258 FPS. High drops to 188 FPS, and Ultra rounds out the 1080p results at 143 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a consistent step-down: 293 to 224 to 188 to 143.

At 2560x1440, the same ordering holds. Low averages 189 FPS, Medium averages 144 FPS with a range of 123 to 166 FPS, High averages 121 FPS, and Ultra averages 92 FPS. The relative gaps between presets at 1440p are similar to those at 1080p, though the absolute values are lower by roughly 35-40% across the board.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates compress into a narrower band. Low averages 102 FPS, Medium averages 78 FPS with a range of 66 to 89 FPS, High averages 65 FPS, and Ultra averages 50 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 52 FPS, compared to 150 FPS at 1080p and 97 FPS at 1440p. This compression indicates that the GPU's rendering capacity is the binding constraint at 4K, limiting the headroom that lower settings can unlock.

The Medium preset's min/max data offers the only frame pacing visibility in the dataset. At 1080p, the 190 FPS minimum against a 224 FPS average shows a 15% deviation. At 1440p, the 123 FPS minimum against a 144 FPS average is a 15% deviation as well. At 4K, the 66 FPS minimum against a 78 FPS average is a 15% deviation. This consistency in relative frame time variance across resolutions suggests the game's engine maintains stable pacing regardless of the GPU load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile achieves a rank of 814 out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum. This places the pairing in the top 22% of all tested systems. The percentile position reflects the strength of both components, though the rank is pulled down somewhat by the CPU's mid-range positioning within the broader CPU landscape.

The CPU's percentile of 81 among all CPUs indicates that the Ultra 5 135H outperforms the majority of processors in the benchmark database. Its average benchmark score of 29093 places it in the company of desktop parts like the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (29123, delta of -0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (28940, delta of +0.5%). This is notable for a mobile processor with a 28 W TDP, as it competes with desktop chips that have far higher power envelopes.

The GPU's percentile of 84 among all GPUs is even stronger. The RTX 5090 Mobile's average benchmark score of 45152 puts it in the same performance tier as desktop GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (44795, delta of +0.8%) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45384, delta of -0.5%). The rank of 814 out of 3712 in Minimum specifically reflects the game's engine characteristics, which appear to scale well with both CPU and GPU resources.

The rank position relative to the component percentiles suggests that Minimum is not exceptionally demanding on either component, but rather that the combination performs near the expected level given the individual component strengths. The 3712 total combinations in the database mean the top 814 includes many systems with higher-end desktop CPUs and GPUs, which explains why this mobile pairing does not crack the top 500 despite the GPU's high percentile.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for settings selection based on target frame rates and display resolution. At 1920x1080, all four presets exceed 140 FPS average, with even the demanding Ultra preset delivering 143 FPS. For players with high-refresh displays, the Medium preset at 224 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and headroom above the 144 Hz threshold. The Low preset at 293 FPS is the only option that approaches 300 FPS, but the visual fidelity trade-off is substantial.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 121 FPS is the best choice for 120 Hz displays, as it clears the refresh rate threshold with a small margin. The Medium preset at 144 FPS is ideal for 144 Hz panels, providing exactly the refresh rate with an average that matches the display's capability. Ultra at 92 FPS is viable for 90 Hz displays, but the step down from High to Ultra represents a 24% frame rate loss for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a 2014 title.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset at 65 FPS is the recommended choice for 60 Hz displays, offering a small buffer above the refresh threshold. Medium at 78 FPS provides more headroom and is the best option for 75 Hz panels. Low at 102 FPS is the only preset that exceeds 100 FPS at 4K, but it does so at the cost of most visual features. Ultra at 50 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided for smooth gameplay on standard displays.

The Medium preset deserves special attention because it is the only one with measured min and max values. At 4K, the 66 FPS minimum against a 78 FPS average means the worst-case frame rate still clears 60 FPS, making this the safest choice for consistent performance at 4K. At 1440p, the 123 FPS minimum ensures that even frame drops stay above 120 FPS. At 1080p, the 190 FPS minimum means the experience never falls below the 144 Hz threshold.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and it carries a 28 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3. Memory support is DDR5 on a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most visible at 1080p with Low settings, where the 293 FPS average approaches the practical limit for the CPU to feed the GPU. The fact that the RTX 5090 Mobile could likely render even more frames at these settings if the CPU could keep up is evidenced by the steep scaling curve — the GPU has far more headroom than the CPU can supply at low resolutions and settings.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores paint a picture of a capable mid-range mobile part. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11875.5 and single-core score of 1700 indicate solid multithreaded and single-threaded performance. The PassMark multithread score of 22422 and single-thread score of 3521 place it in the 81st percentile of all CPUs. The data compression score of 251651 and floating point math score of 54867 show strong integer and FPU throughput for a 28 W part.

The nearest rival comparison is instructive. The Ultra 5 135H's average benchmark score of 29093 is within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, a desktop processor with a much higher power envelope. This means the mobile chip delivers desktop-class performance in synthetic workloads, though the 28 W TDP will limit sustained performance in longer gaming sessions compared to the desktop part.

For Minimum specifically, the CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads are far more than the game requires — a 2014 title would not utilize more than a few cores effectively. The single-thread performance, as reflected in the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 244 and R20 single-core score of 1105, is more relevant for this game's frame pacing. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz provides the single-thread speed that Minimum's engine can leverage, and the measured frame rates at 1080p confirm that the CPU does not become a severe bottleneck until frame rates approach 300 FPS.