Minimum

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in Minimum at 1080p on High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 171 at 1920x1080 with High settings. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a smooth experience for this third-person shooter.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs when moving from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 204 at 1920x1080 to 71 at 3840x2160. This represents a significant reduction of 133 FPS, or roughly a 65% decrease in frame rate.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo, and at which settings and resolution?

A: The highest average FPS is 267, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 204 FPS at 1080p Medium, showing a clear scaling path from Low to Ultra.

Q: Is the RTX 3080's VRAM capacity a likely limiting factor at 4K Ultra in this game?

A: The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 45, which is below the 60 FPS target. While the VRAM capacity is fixed, the data shows a substantial performance cliff from High (60 FPS) to Ultra (45 FPS), suggesting the settings preset itself is the primary constraint.

Q: How does this combo's overall ranking in Minimum compare to other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 776 out of 2939 tested combinations, placing it in the top 26.4% of all systems tested for this game. This indicates a strong overall performance level.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce an average of 172 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 84 FPS. This is a difference of 88 FPS, demonstrating that the Ultra preset roughly halves the frame rate compared to Low.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process by Samsung. It features 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz. Its memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. This high bandwidth is crucial for feeding the 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is demonstrably critical across all measured resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 267 FPS, but this drops to 131 FPS at Ultra — a 51% reduction. The trend is consistent at higher resolutions: at 1440p, the drop from Low (172 FPS) to Ultra (84 FPS) is also 51%. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields just 45 FPS, while Low yields 93 FPS. This scaling pattern suggests that the GPU is the dominant performance limiter, as the frame rate responds strongly to the graphics load changes imposed by the settings presets.

The RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM buffer is a fixed capacity. The data shows that at 4K, the jump from High (60 FPS) to Ultra (45 FPS) is the steepest single-step decline among all presets at that resolution. This could indicate that the Ultra preset's additional memory footprint or compute demands push the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range. The GPU's percentile rank against all GPUs is 68, and its average benchmark score is 23172. Its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon RX 6600M, score within 0.4% of it, but the RTX 3080's specific architecture with 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores is tailored for modern game workloads.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of FPS decline as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 171 at 1920x1080, to 110 at 2560x1440, and finally to 60 at 3840x2160. This is a drop of 61 FPS from 1080p to 1440p, and a further drop of 50 FPS from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear in percentage terms: 1080p to 1440p results in a 35.7% decrease, while 1440p to 4K results in a 45.5% decrease.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with higher absolute numbers. The average FPS at 1080p is 204, dropping to 132 at 1440p and then to 71 at 4K. The percentage drops are 35.3% and 46.2%, respectively. This consistency suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, as the frame rate scales inversely with the pixel count. The pixel count from 1080p to 4K quadruples, and the FPS at High settings drops to roughly a third of the 1080p value (60 vs 171), which aligns with a GPU-bound scenario.

The 1080p Low setting yields 267 FPS, which is the highest measured value. At 4K Low, the average is 93 FPS. This 174 FPS difference indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the resolution increase imposes a heavy load on the GPU. The data supports the interpretation that the RTX 3080, while powerful, is still the bottleneck when pushing 4K, especially at higher presets. The min FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings, where at 1080p the min is 174, at 1440p the min is 112, and at 4K the min is 60. These minimums show that even the frame pacing at 4K Medium can dip to exactly 60 FPS, which is the edge of smoothness.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For a 1080p display with a 144 Hz or 240 Hz panel, the Low preset at 267 FPS would maximize responsiveness, but the Medium preset at 204 FPS still offers a high frame rate with improved visual fidelity. The High preset at 171 FPS is a balanced choice, providing a solid frame rate for most gaming monitors without sacrificing too much graphical detail. The Ultra preset at 131 FPS is playable but offers diminishing returns for the 73 FPS loss compared to Low.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 132 FPS is the best recommendation for high-refresh-rate gaming. It provides a smooth experience with a min FPS of 112, which keeps frame pacing consistent. The High preset at 110 FPS is also viable, but the Medium preset's higher average and better minimums make it more robust. The Ultra preset at 84 FPS is playable on a 60 Hz or 75 Hz monitor, but the drop to 84 FPS from 132 FPS at Medium is substantial. The Low preset at 172 FPS is the best for competitive play, where frame rate matters more than visual quality.

For 4K, the data shows a steep trade-off. The Ultra preset at 45 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold and would result in a less smooth experience. The High preset at exactly 60 FPS is the minimum for a playable experience, but it leaves no headroom for dips. The Medium preset at 71 FPS with a min FPS of 60 is the best balance for 4K, offering an average above 60 and a minimum that just touches 60. The Low preset at 93 FPS is the smoothest option at 4K, but it sacrifices most graphical features. For a 4K 60 Hz display, Medium is recommended as it provides the best average FPS above the refresh rate while keeping the minimum at the refresh rate threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database for Minimum, this specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves a rank of 776 out of 2939 tested combos. This places it in the 73.6th percentile of all systems tested, meaning it outperforms nearly three-quarters of the combinations in the database for this game. The rank is a holistic metric that considers performance across all measured settings and resolutions.

The CPU alone has a percentile rank of 85 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36945, a delta of 0%. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37018, which is 0.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093, 0.4% higher. This indicates the Ultra 5 225 is a mid-to-high-tier processor in terms of overall compute benchmarks. The GPU has a percentile rank of 68 against all GPUs, with an average score of 23172. Its nearest rivals are within 0.4%, showing that the RTX 3080 is positioned in the upper-mid range of graphics cards.

The combo's rank of 776 out of 2939 suggests that while each component is individually capable, their combination in Minimum yields a strong result. The high rank is likely driven by the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891) and the GPU's robust rasterization capabilities. The fact that the combo ranks higher than the GPU's individual percentile (68) suggests that the CPU is not holding back the GPU in this game, allowing the RTX 3080 to perform closer to its potential. The data indicates a well-balanced pairing for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 267 FPS. The Medium preset averages 204 FPS, with a minimum of 174 and a maximum of 235. The High preset averages 171 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 131 FPS. This sequence shows a steady decline from Low to Ultra, with each step up in settings costing roughly 30-40 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 172 FPS. The Medium preset averages 132 FPS, with a minimum of 112 and a maximum of 151. The High preset averages 110 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 84 FPS. The pattern is similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are lower. The gap between Low and Medium is 40 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 22 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 26 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 93 FPS. The Medium preset averages 71 FPS, with a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 82. The High preset averages 60 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 45 FPS. This resolution shows the most dramatic scaling, with the Ultra preset dropping to less than half the frame rate of the Low preset. The Medium preset's minimum of 60 FPS is notable, as it shows that even at this setting, the system can dip to the edge of playability.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min and max FPS values across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 174-235 FPS, a 61 FPS spread. At 1440p, the range is 112-151 FPS, a 39 FPS spread. At 4K, the range is 60-82 FPS, a 22 FPS spread. This narrowing range with increasing resolution suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently utilized, reducing frame time variance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. The CPU features a 20 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. Its TDP is 65 W, making it a power-efficient part for a desktop.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 267 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4412, is critical for handling the game's logic and draw calls at such high frame rates. A weaker CPU would likely bottleneck the GPU at these settings, preventing the RTX 3080 from reaching its full potential.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a Passmark multi-thread score of 30459, are also relevant. While third-person shooters often rely more on single-thread performance, the 10 physical cores provide ample headroom for background tasks and any game engine threads that scale across cores. The CPU's percentile rank of 85 against all CPUs shows that it is a high-performing part, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, is essentially tied in average benchmark score (36945 vs 36938, a 0% delta).

The data shows that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this game, as the FPS scales predictably with resolution and settings, which are GPU-dependent variables. At 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 45, which is a clear sign of GPU limitation rather than CPU limitation. The CPU's boost clock of 4.90 GHz ensures it can keep up with the GPU's demands even at lower resolutions where the frame rate is high. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 16EU is present but not relevant for this discrete GPU configuration. Overall, the Ultra 5 225 provides a solid foundation for the RTX 3080, allowing the combo to achieve its rank of 776 out of 2939.