Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 shows a clear and expected pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 155 FPS average, which drops to 100 FPS at 1440p and further to 54 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the Low preset.

Moving to High settings, the scaling story is similar but with lower absolute numbers. The combo produces 100 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 65% from 1080p to 4K, nearly identical to the Low preset scaling. This consistency suggests that the RTX 2060 is the primary bottleneck across all resolutions, as the frame rate reduction tracks closely with the pixel count increase rather than being mitigated by lower settings.

The Medium preset data shows a slightly different pattern. At 1080p, the average is 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 137 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 77 FPS with a range of 65 to 88 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and maximum of 47 FPS. The 1440p to 4K drop here is 47%, which is less severe than the Low and High presets' 46% drop from 1440p to 4K — meaning the Medium preset's additional GPU workload at 4K is proportionally similar to other presets.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board. The combo manages 76 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and only 26 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 66% reduction, slightly worse than the other presets. This indicates that the Ultra preset's added visual effects tax the RTX 2060's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus more heavily at higher resolutions, causing a steeper performance cliff.

The data reveals that this combo is firmly GPU-limited in Minimum. The RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factor as resolution scales. The CPU's 10 cores and 10 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, are not the constraint here — the frame rate drops are too consistent with resolution scaling to attribute any significant portion to CPU limitations.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the Low preset offers the highest frame rates at every resolution, with 155 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. These numbers provide a smooth experience for competitive play, especially at 1080p where the 155 FPS average exceeds typical 144 Hz monitor refresh rates. At 1440p, the 100 FPS average remains fluid, though not quite hitting high-refresh territory.

The Medium preset is the sweet spot for visual quality versus performance. At 1080p, it delivers 119 FPS average with a minimum of 101 FPS, meaning even the lowest recorded frame rate stays above the 100 FPS threshold. The 1440p Medium result of 77 FPS average with a 65 FPS minimum is playable, though the 4K Medium figure of 41 FPS falls below what most players would consider smooth.

High settings cost a noticeable amount of performance compared to Medium. The 1080p High average of 100 FPS is 19 FPS lower than Medium, and the 1440p High figure of 64 FPS is 13 FPS lower. The 35 FPS average at 4K High is borderline unplayable for most gamers. The visual improvement from Medium to High does not justify this performance loss on this hardware.

Ultra settings are the least recommended preset for this combo. The 1080p Ultra average of 76 FPS is workable, but the 1440p Ultra figure of 49 FPS and 4K Ultra of 26 FPS are too low for an action-oriented third-person shooter. The additional graphical fidelity at Ultra does not compensate for the substantial frame rate penalty. For 4K play, Low is the only preset that breaks the 50 FPS barrier, making it the sole viable option at that resolution.

For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, Medium at 1080p is the top choice, offering 119 FPS with a minimum above 100 FPS. At 1440p, Medium at 77 FPS is the recommended setting, as it keeps the experience above 60 FPS most of the time. Players prioritizing maximum smoothness should drop to Low at 1440p for the 100 FPS average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 features 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture chip is built on a 3 nm process from TSMC and has a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache configuration includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as the frame rate scaling with resolution demonstrates. The processor's single-thread performance, indicated by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655, is sufficient to feed the RTX 2060 at all tested resolutions. The multi-core score of 25891 in Cinebench R23 shows the CPU can handle heavy workloads, but this game does not appear to stress all 10 cores based on the consistent GPU-limited behavior.

The boost clock of 4.90 GHz is the key factor for gaming performance. Minimum's engine likely relies on a few heavily-threaded tasks, and the high boost clock ensures those threads execute quickly. The 10-core, 10-thread configuration means the CPU has no hyper-threading, but the physical cores provide adequate parallel processing for a third-person shooter from 2014.

Benchmark results place this CPU in the 85th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at an average score of 36945, showing a delta of 0%. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018 with a -0.2% delta, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 at -0.4% and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 at -0.5%. These negligible differences indicate the Ultra 5 225 is on par with these rivals for general processing tasks, which translates to similar gaming performance in CPU-light scenarios.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core help maintain game asset streaming and level geometry processing. The DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provides ample data throughput for the game's needs. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes ensures the RTX 2060's PCIe 3.0 x16 connection has more than enough bandwidth headroom.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2292 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum. This places the combo in the lower-middle tier of all tested configurations, at roughly the 22nd percentile (calculated from 2292/2939). This ranking reflects the RTX 2060's age and position in the GPU hierarchy, as the CPU is more modern and capable.

The GPU's percentile standing among all GPUs is 58th, while the CPU sits at 85th percentile among all CPUs. The imbalance between these two components explains the combo's overall ranking. The RTX 2060 is the weaker link, holding back the Ultra 5 225's potential in this game. The measured FPS data confirms this — the frame rates are consistent with what the GPU can deliver, not what the CPU could theoretically support.

The RTX 2060's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with an average score of 15283 and 0% delta, the AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 with 0.1% delta, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 with 0.6% delta, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15171 with 0.8% delta. These close average scores suggest that in synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 2060 trades blows with these cards. However, in Minimum specifically, the combo's rank of 2292 indicates that other factors, such as driver optimization and memory bandwidth, play a role in real-world gaming performance.

Compared to combos with newer GPUs, this setup lags significantly. The rank of 2292 means roughly 78% of tested combinations produce higher frame rates in Minimum. This is not surprising given the RTX 2060's release in 2019 and its 12 nm Turing architecture. For a game released in 2014, the hardware is capable at lower resolutions, but the 4K performance is weak.

The combo's ranking also reflects the balanced nature of the hardware. Neither component is egregiously mismatched, but the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus limit high-resolution textures and effects. The Ultra 5 225's strengths — high single-thread performance and efficient architecture — cannot compensate for the GPU's throughput limitations at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the primary driver of Minimum's performance with this combo. Its Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC, features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Memory consists of 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 12.90 TFLOPS of FP16 performance. It has 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though Minimum, being a 2014 title, likely does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS. The pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s. These specifications place the RTX 2060 at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU's limitations clearly. At 1080p, the RTX 2060 delivers between 76 FPS at Ultra and 155 FPS at Low. This range suggests the GPU has sufficient raw power for 1080p gaming, but the 6 GB VRAM capacity becomes a concern at higher settings. The 4K results — 26 FPS at Ultra, 35 FPS at High, 41 FPS at Medium, and 54 FPS at Low — indicate that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute throughput are inadequate for 4K resolution in this game.

The RTX 2060's 160 W TDP and dual-slot design require a 450 W recommended power supply, with a single 8-pin power connector. The card's dimensions of 229 mm length, 113 mm height, and 35 mm width make it compatible with most mid-tower cases. The display outputs include 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, offering flexible connectivity options.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 2060 scores 14111 in Passmark G3D, 65014 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 65846 in Geekbench Vulkan. These scores are close to its nearest rivals, with the GTX 580 at 15283 average and the RX 7600 at 15171 average. The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 53 in Passmark and DirectX 11 score of 110 reflect its age, but Minimum's engine uses older APIs that the card handles well, as shown by the DirectX 9 score of 190.

The VRAM capacity of 6 GB is the most significant limitation at 4K resolution. The 4K Ultra preset likely exceeds this capacity, causing texture thrashing and the low 26 FPS average. Even at 4K Medium, the 41 FPS average suggests the memory subsystem is strained. For smooth 4K play, the Low preset's 54 FPS is the only viable option, and even that is marginal.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Minimum?

A: The data shows 1080p is the optimal resolution. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 119 FPS average with a minimum of 101 FPS, while 1440p Medium drops to 77 FPS and 4K Medium falls to 41 FPS.

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

A: At 4K, only the Low preset reaches 54 FPS average. Medium drops to 41 FPS, High to 35 FPS, and Ultra to 26 FPS. The 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are insufficient for smooth 4K play at higher settings.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score is 15290, nearly identical to the GTX 580 at 15283 (0% delta), the Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.1% delta), the RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 (0.6% delta), and the RX 7600 at 15171 (0.8% delta).

Q: Does the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 bottleneck the RTX 2060?

A: No. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K matches pixel count increases, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's 85th percentile standing and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 are more than sufficient for this game.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2292 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the lower-middle tier. The GPU's 58th percentile standing holds back the CPU's 85th percentile performance.

Q: Which settings preset gives the most consistent frame times?

A: The Medium preset shows the only measured minimum and maximum data. At 1080p, it ranges from 101 to 137 FPS with a 119 FPS average; at 1440p, from 65 to 88 FPS with a 77 FPS average; and at 4K, from 35 to 47 FPS with a 41 FPS average.