Minimum

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake architecture on a 3 nm TSMC process. It runs at a 3.30 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The chip carries 20 MB of shared L3 cache, with 192 KB of L1 and 3 MB of L2 per core. It supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes.

In synthetic multi-threaded workloads, the chip scores 25,891 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,655 in single-core. These numbers place it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938. The nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which averages 36,945 — a delta of 0%. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D sits 0.2% lower, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 trails by 0.4%. The Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% behind. This means the Ultra 5 225 is effectively tied with its closest competitors in overall CPU performance, though it brings a newer architecture and platform.

For a 2014 third-person shooter like Minimum, the CPU's single-thread strength matters more than raw multi-core throughput. The game's engine was designed in an era when quad-core CPUs were the norm, so the 4.90 GHz boost clock and strong single-core Cinebench R23 score of 3,655 ensure that the game's main simulation thread never becomes a bottleneck. The 10 cores are more than enough for background tasks and any modern overhead, but the game itself will likely use only a fraction of them. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,412 reinforces that this CPU handles lightly-threaded workloads with ease.

At 1080p, where the CPU has the most influence on frame rates, the data shows the combo achieving 297 FPS on Low settings. This is a clear indication that the processor is not holding the system back at lower resolutions. Even at Ultra settings, 1080p delivers 146 FPS, which is well above any display's refresh rate needs for competitive play. The CPU's performance in this title is effectively a non-issue — it provides ample headroom for the GPU to work with, regardless of settings or resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 across three resolutions and four quality presets tells a clear story about which settings offer the best experience.

At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 297 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium drops to 228 FPS, High to 191 FPS, and Ultra to 146 FPS. For competitive play on a high-refresh monitor, Low is the obvious choice — it maximizes frame rate and minimizes input latency. However, if visual fidelity matters more, High at 191 FPS still provides an extremely smooth experience, and even Ultra at 146 FPS is playable on most displays.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low produces 192 FPS, Medium 147 FPS, High 123 FPS, and Ultra 94 FPS. Here, Medium offers the best balance — it delivers 147 FPS with better visuals than Low, while staying well above the 100 FPS mark. High at 123 FPS is also viable for those who prioritize image quality. Ultra at 94 FPS is borderline; it's playable but drops below the triple-digit threshold that many gamers prefer.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. Low yields 103 FPS, Medium 79 FPS, High 66 FPS, and Ultra 51 FPS. The Low preset is the only one that breaks 100 FPS at this resolution. Medium at 79 FPS is still smooth for most players, and High at 66 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced gameplay. Ultra at 51 FPS is the weakest result in the entire dataset and should be avoided unless the display is 60 Hz and visual quality is paramount.

The best overall experience across the board is Medium at 1440p — it provides 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS, which is a tight enough frame time distribution to feel consistent. The 1440p Medium data is the only row in the dataset that includes both min and max FPS values (125 to 169), indicating stable performance. For players with 1080p displays, Low at 297 FPS is the competitive choice, but High at 191 FPS offers a strong balance of responsiveness and visual quality.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the progression is 297 FPS at 1080p, 192 FPS at 1440p, and 103 FPS at 4K. That's a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 65% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the numbers are 228 FPS, 147 FPS, and 79 FPS — a 36% drop to 1440p and a 65% drop to 4K. High settings show 191 FPS, 123 FPS, and 66 FPS — a 36% drop to 1440p and a 65% drop to 4K. Ultra settings follow the same pattern: 146 FPS, 94 FPS, and 51 FPS — a 36% drop to 1440p and a 65% drop to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings presets is telling. Whether the game runs at 297 FPS or 51 FPS, the relative scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K remains nearly identical. This indicates that the system is not CPU-bound at any resolution — if the CPU were the limiting factor, we would see smaller FPS drops at higher resolutions because the GPU would be doing more work while the CPU stayed saturated. Instead, the uniform scaling suggests the GPU is the primary constraint throughout.

The RTX 5070's performance at 1080p on Low (297 FPS) shows that the GPU has plenty of headroom at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low is nearly triple the frame rate of 4K Ultra (103 FPS vs 51 FPS) confirms that pixel throughput is the dominant factor. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus with 672.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for this game at 4K, as evidenced by the playable 66 FPS High result, but the sheer pixel count of 3840x2160 is what drives the frame rate down.

Interestingly, the scaling is not perfectly linear with pixel count. 4K has exactly four times the pixels of 1080p, yet the FPS at 4K Low (103) is only about one-third of the FPS at 1080p Low (297). This suggests that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound — other factors like fill rate and shader complexity also play a role. The RTX 5070's pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s are high, but the game's engine has overhead beyond simple pixel pushing.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p Medium as the sweet spot, delivering 147 FPS average with a 125 FPS minimum. This provides a smooth experience with good visual quality. At 1080p, Low reaches 297 FPS for maximum competitive performance, while 4K is playable but requires dropping to Low for 103 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across settings (approximately 36% drop to 1440p and 65% drop to 4K), which is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads. If the CPU were limiting, the scaling would flatten at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the Ultra 5 225 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36,938, placing it in the 85th percentile. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36,945 with a 0% delta. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% behind, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 is 0.4% behind, and the Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% behind. In practical terms, these CPUs are statistically equivalent.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K Low, the combo averages 103 FPS, which is smooth. At 4K Medium, it drops to 79 FPS, and at 4K High to 66 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which is only suitable for 60 Hz displays. For consistent 4K performance, Low settings are recommended.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like?

A: The dataset includes minimum and maximum FPS values only for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the range is 193 to 262 FPS (average 228). At 1440p Medium, it's 125 to 169 FPS (average 147). At 4K Medium, it's 67 to 91 FPS (average 79). The tight ranges indicate stable frame pacing with no major stutters.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40,377, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 580 at 40,318 (0.1% higher), followed by the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 at 40,063 (0.8% higher). The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 1.2% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile is 2% lower. These are professional-grade cards, and the RTX 5070 competes favorably with them.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB205 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process with 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die. It features 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2325 MHz and boosts to 2512 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). It has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and an identical 30.87 TFLOPS for FP16 (1:1 ratio). It has 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The card draws up to 250 W and requires a 600 W power supply, connecting via PCIe 5.0 x16 with a single 16-pin connector. Its physical dimensions are 245 mm in length, 115 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, making it a dual-slot card.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is decisive. The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 5070 handles 1080p with ease — even the Ultra preset at 146 FPS demonstrates that the card is far from maxed out at this resolution. The 297 FPS result at 1080p Low confirms the card's raw throughput. At 1440p, the card remains strong, with the Ultra preset still delivering 94 FPS. At 4K, the card's limits become apparent — Ultra drops to 51 FPS, showing that the 12 GB frame buffer and 192-bit memory bus are sufficient for capacity but the pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are professional workstation cards, which highlights how the RTX 5070 straddles the line between gaming and productivity. Its 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it firmly in the upper tier, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077 confirms strong modern API performance. The PassMark G3D score of 29,137 and GPU compute score of 15,787 further validate its capabilities, though these synthetic benchmarks don't directly translate to Minimum's specific workload.

The 12 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor in this game, as Minimum is a 2014 title with modest texture requirements. Even at 4K Ultra, the game runs at 51 FPS, which suggests the bottleneck is computational rather than memory-related. The GDDR7 memory's 672.0 GB/s bandwidth is more than sufficient for this title's needs, and the 80 ROPs provide adequate pixel fill for the resolutions tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 297 FPS average
• Medium: 228 FPS average (min 193, max 262)
• High: 191 FPS average
• Ultra: 146 FPS average

At 1080p, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The gap from Low to Ultra is 151 FPS, representing a 51% reduction in frame rate when enabling the highest quality preset. The Medium preset's min FPS of 193 indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above typical high-refresh display rates. The 297 FPS Low result is the single highest number in the entire dataset, showing that this combination is capable of fully saturating even the fastest gaming monitors at this resolution.

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 192 FPS average
• Medium: 147 FPS average (min 125, max 169)
• High: 123 FPS average
• Ultra: 94 FPS average

At 1440p, the performance drops are more pronounced but still leave plenty of headroom. Low settings maintain 192 FPS, which is competitive-grade. Medium falls to 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS — this is the most stable configuration in the dataset, with a narrow 44 FPS spread between min and max. High settings at 123 FPS remain smooth, while Ultra dips to 94 FPS, which is the first setting in the dataset to fall below 100 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1440p shows a 98 FPS reduction (51%), mirroring the relative drop seen at 1080p.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 103 FPS average
• Medium: 79 FPS average (min 67, max 91)
• High: 66 FPS average
• Ultra: 51 FPS average

At 4K, the system transitions from high-refresh territory to standard 60 Hz gaming. Low settings manage to stay above 100 FPS at 103 FPS, which is impressive for a 4K resolution. Medium drops to 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS, keeping frame times relatively consistent. High settings at 66 FPS are playable but leave little margin for demanding scenes. Ultra at 51 FPS is the weakest result in the dataset — it's suitable only for 60 Hz displays with no headroom for frame drops. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 52 FPS (50%), following the same proportional pattern seen at lower resolutions.

The overall pattern across all resolutions and settings shows a consistent ~50% reduction in frame rate from Low to Ultra, regardless of resolution. This indicates that the quality presets scale predictably, and the GPU's performance relative to the game's engine demands is uniform across pixel counts. The combo ranks 558th out of 2,939 total combinations in the game, placing it in the top 19% of all tested systems.