Minimum

Minimum, a third-person shooter released in 2014, proves to be far more demanding on the GPU than on the CPU when paired with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. The performance scaling across resolutions and settings clearly demonstrates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary bottleneck, with the Core Ultra 5 225 providing ample headroom. This combination delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, confirming the GPU-bound nature of this pairing. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 109 at 1920x1080 to 71 at 2560x1440, a 35% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 38 FPS, which is a 65% decrease from the 1080p result. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets, with the gap between 1440p and 4K being particularly punishing.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. The average FPS at 1080p is 170, which drops to 110 at 1440p and then plummets to 59 at 4K. The 4K Low result represents only 35% of the 1080p Low performance, indicating that the GPU is completely saturated at the higher resolution. This steep drop-off is typical of a mid-range GPU like the RTX 2060 SUPER, which has an 8 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, but its 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is insufficient for 4K gaming in a 2014 title that likely has unoptimized draw calls.

The Medium settings data reinforces this trend, with averages of 130 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. The min FPS values also tell a story: at 4K Medium, the min FPS is 38, which matches the average FPS of 4K High, suggesting that the GPU is hitting its performance ceiling regardless of the specific settings. The resolution scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is approximately 2.9x for High settings (109 to 38), which is close to the theoretical 4x pixel count increase, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor and the CPU is not holding back performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the clear performance limiter in this configuration. With 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, this Turing architecture GPU is built for 1080p and 1440p gaming, not 4K. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for most textures at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the memory capacity and bandwidth become strained. The benchmark results show that 4K Ultra settings yield only 29 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold for a fast-paced third-person shooter.

The GPU's clock speeds are 1470 MHz base and 1650 MHz boost, which are modest by modern standards but sufficient for a 2014 game. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but largely unused in a game from 2014 that predates ray tracing and DLSS. The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (avgScore 18159, deltaPct -0.4) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (avgScore 18189, deltaPct -0.5), showing that the RTX 2060 SUPER is positioned in the upper mid-range tier.

The data suggests that the GPU's 12 nm process node and 175 W TDP are not the issue; rather, the raw compute power is insufficient for 4K. The FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS is roughly half of what a modern high-end GPU offers, and this is reflected in the 4K results. At 1080p, the GPU can push 170 FPS at Low settings, but this drops to 83 FPS at Ultra, showing that even at lower resolutions, the GPU's shading units and ROPs are taxed by higher quality settings. The pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s are the specs that matter most here, and they are simply not enough for 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is not the bottleneck in this system. With 10 cores and 10 threads, this Arrow Lake-S architecture processor has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4412. This is critical for a 2014 game, which likely relies heavily on a few threads for game logic and physics.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample fast memory for game data. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 ensures that the CPU can feed the GPU with data without stalling. The Passmark multithread score of 30459 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25891 indicate that even in multithreaded workloads, the CPU is more than capable.

The Core Ultra 5 225's percentile rank is 85th among all CPUs, placing it well above the RTX 2060 SUPER's 62nd percentile. This disparity confirms that the GPU is the performance limiter. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (avgScore 36945, deltaPct 0) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (avgScore 37018, deltaPct -0.2), showing that it is competitive with mid-range options. In Minimum, the CPU's 4.90 GHz boost clock ensures that the game's logic runs at high speed, but even at 1080p Low with 170 FPS, the CPU is not the constraint, as the frame rate is entirely GPU-limited.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across 12 combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the results are strong: Low averages 170 FPS, Medium averages 130 FPS with a min of 111 and max of 150, High averages 109 FPS, and Ultra averages 83 FPS. All of these are above the 60 FPS threshold, and even Ultra is playable on a standard 60 Hz monitor. The 1080p Low result of 170 FPS suggests that the GPU has headroom, but the CPU is not the limit, as the frame rate is still below what a high-end CPU could push in a less GPU-bound scenario.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably but remains playable. Low averages 110 FPS, Medium averages 84 FPS with a min of 71 and max of 97, High averages 71 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 54 FPS is borderline, as it falls below 60 FPS but is still playable on a VRR monitor. The min FPS of 71 at Medium shows that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance is marginal. Low averages 59 FPS, Medium averages 45 FPS with a min of 38 and max of 52, High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. The 4K Low result of 59 FPS is technically playable, but the 4K High and Ultra results are not suitable for smooth gameplay. The 4K Medium min FPS of 38 matches the 4K High average, indicating that the GPU is hitting a hard performance wall. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combination, offering 71 FPS at High settings, while 4K is only viable at Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination ranks 2047 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 30th percentile of all CPU-GPU pairings tested by the database. This ranking is lower than what the individual component percentiles would suggest (CPU at 85th, GPU at 62nd), indicating that the game's specific demands are not well met by this pairing. The low rank is primarily due to the GPU's inability to handle 4K resolutions, which drags down the average performance across all tested scenarios.

The rank of 2047 out of 2939 means that roughly 70% of tested combos perform better in this game. This is expected for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU; the CPU is overkill for this game, but the GPU is the limiting factor. The combo's performance is consistent with the GPU's 62nd percentile ranking, showing that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary determinant of in-game performance. The 8 GB VRAM and 256-bit memory bus are adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 29 FPS is the worst-case scenario.

In comparison to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 2060 SUPER's average benchmark score of 18093 is only slightly lower than the RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189), with deltaPct values of -0.4% and -0.5% respectively. This suggests that swapping to those GPUs would not significantly change the in-game results. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, has a deltaPct of 0%, meaning that the Core Ultra 5 225 and Ryzen 5 5600F are essentially tied in CPU benchmarks, but the CPU choice would not affect Minimum's performance given the GPU bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Minimum with this CPU-GPU combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings provides 71 FPS average, which is the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, all settings are above 83 FPS, with Low reaching 170 FPS, but the visual upgrade to 1440p is worth the frame rate sacrifice.

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

A: Only at Low settings, which averages 59 FPS. At Medium, the average drops to 45 FPS, and at Ultra, it falls to 29 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is not playable for a third-person shooter that requires fast reactions.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 or the RTX 2060 SUPER the bottleneck?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The CPU has a 85th percentile rank versus the GPU's 62nd percentile, and the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows the GPU's compute limits. The CPU's 10-core configuration and 4.90 GHz boost clock are sufficient for Minimum's requirements.

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

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093, which is 0.4% lower than the RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and 0.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189). These differences are negligible, so in-game performance would be nearly identical.

Q: What are the key GPU specifications that affect Minimum's performance?

A: The 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 105.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the limiting factors. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the compute power is insufficient for 4K Ultra settings.

Q: Is this combo ranked well compared to other tested combinations?

A: No, it ranks 2047 out of 2939 combos, which is in the bottom 30% of all tested pairings. This is because the GPU holds back the high-end CPU, resulting in performance that is lower than the sum of its parts.