Minimum

# Minimum: Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

This combo ranks 273rd out of 2,939 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the top 9.3% of all systems evaluated. That is a strong result for a third-person shooter from 2014, and the data shows this pairing delivers consistently high frame rates across all resolutions and settings tested. The RTX 5070 Ti handles the graphical lifting, while the Core Ultra 5 225 provides enough CPU throughput to avoid bottlenecking even at 1080p Low, where the system reaches 335 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The 273rd rank out of 2,939 combos puts this pairing firmly in the upper echelon of tested systems. This is a percentile position of roughly 90.7, meaning only about one in ten combinations delivers better measured performance in Minimum. The ranking reflects the synergy between a high-end GPU and a capable mid-range CPU; neither component drags the other down meaningfully in this title.

The Core Ultra 5 225 itself sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938. Its nearest rivals in synthetic testing include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36,945 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37,018 (-0.2% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37,093 (-0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i9-12900T at 37,112 (-0.5% delta). The differences are negligible, meaning the CPU's synthetic performance is essentially tied with those four alternatives. Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 Ti sits at the 86th percentile among GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,957, and its nearest rivals show slightly more variance: the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 at 50,001 (-0.1% delta), the Intel Arc A550M at 49,737 (+0.4% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT at 50,951 (-2% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT at 48,477 (+3.1% delta).

The combination's rank of 273 suggests that in Minimum, the GPU's contribution dominates the final frame rates. A 3.1% gap to the RX 6800 XT in synthetic GPU tests does not translate into a meaningful ranking swing here because the game is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The measured results confirm this interpretation.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti brings 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, which translates to 28 Gbps effective. The GPU's base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2452 MHz. These specifications are more than sufficient for Minimum, a 2014 title that does not stress modern graphics hardware.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5070 Ti achieves a Passmark G3D score of 32,974 and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 20,203. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 212,363, and the Vulkan score is 225,122. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 6,604. These numbers indicate a GPU that ranks at the 86th percentile overall, which aligns with the high frame rates observed in Minimum.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for Minimum at 4K resolution. The game's Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 57 FPS, which is the lowest measured result in the entire data set. This is not a VRAM limitation; rather, it reflects the game's engine overhead at maximum settings. The GPU's 96 ROPs and 280 TMUs handle texture and pixel throughput efficiently, as evidenced by the 686.6 GTexel/s texture rate and 235.4 GPixel/s pixel rate. The 43.94 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides ample compute headroom.

The RTX 5070 Ti's predecessor is the GeForce 40 series, and its successor is the GeForce 60 series, but neither appears in the measured data for Minimum. What matters is that this GPU delivers 335 FPS at 1080p Low, which is well beyond any display refresh rate in common use.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck shifts in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the system averages 335 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 216 FPS, a reduction of 35.5%. At 4K Low, the average is 116 FPS, which is 65.4% lower than the 1080p Low result. This steep decline indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly load-bearing as resolution rises, but even at 4K Low, the system remains well above 60 FPS.

The Medium preset shows similar scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 257 FPS with a minimum of 218 and a maximum of 295. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 166 FPS with a minimum of 141 and a maximum of 190. At 4K Medium, the average is 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 and a maximum of 103. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 35.4% reduction, and from 1440p to 4K is a 46.4% reduction. The minimum frame rates at Medium settings stay comfortably above 60 FPS even at 4K.

The High preset follows the same pattern. At 1080p High, the average is 215 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 139 FPS, a 35.3% reduction. At 4K High, the average is 75 FPS, which is 65.1% lower than 1080p High. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 164 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p (35.4% lower), and 57 FPS at 4K (65.2% lower than 1080p).

The consistent percentage drops across all four presets indicate that the limiting component scales linearly with resolution. The CPU is not introducing a bottleneck at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. Instead, the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity determine the final output, which is expected for a game of this era.

Settings Recommendations

The data supports Ultra settings at 1080p and 1440p as the best experience for most users. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 164 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 106 FPS, which is suitable for 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 4K, however, averages only 57 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay.

For 4K users, the High preset is the recommended choice. It averages 75 FPS, which is a 31.6% improvement over Ultra's 57 FPS. The visual difference between High and Ultra in a 2014 title is unlikely to be substantial, making the frame rate gain worthwhile. The Medium preset at 4K provides an even larger margin, averaging 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 FPS, which ensures consistent smoothness even in demanding scenes.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset is the clear winner. The 106 FPS average exceeds what most 1440p monitors can display, and the lower presets offer diminishing returns. The High preset at 1440p averages 139 FPS, but the jump to Ultra only costs 33 FPS while providing maximum visual fidelity. At 1080p, Ultra is the only sensible choice given the 164 FPS average, which leaves headroom for any future driver optimizations or game updates.

The Low preset at any resolution is unnecessary for this hardware. Even at 4K Low, the system averages 116 FPS, which is far above playable thresholds. The Medium preset provides a better balance for users who prioritize frame rates above all else, particularly at 4K where the 89 FPS average with a 76 FPS minimum offers a more stable experience than High's 75 FPS average.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 335 FPS. The Medium preset averages 257 FPS, with a minimum of 218 FPS and a maximum of 295 FPS. The High preset averages 215 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 164 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 171 FPS, indicating that the game's settings have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. The Low preset averages 216 FPS. The Medium preset averages 166 FPS, with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS. The High preset averages 139 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 106 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 110 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming a larger factor.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers playable frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 116 FPS. The Medium preset averages 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS. The High preset averages 75 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 59 FPS, which is the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values across all resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 218 FPS and the maximum is 295 FPS, a variance of 77 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 141 FPS and the maximum is 190 FPS, a variance of 49 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 76 FPS and the maximum is 103 FPS, a variance of 27 FPS. The decreasing variance at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing, likely due to the GPU being fully utilized.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on the Arrow Lake architecture. It uses TSMC's 3 nm process node and has a base clock of 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. The CPU has 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The TDP is 65 W, and the socket is Intel Socket 1851.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 5 225 scores 25,891 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 3,655 in single core. The Passmark multithread score is 30,459, and the single-thread score is 4,412. These numbers place the CPU at the 85th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 36,938. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36,945, which is essentially identical.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The game is from 2014, and its engine does not scale heavily with core count. The 10 cores at up to 4.90 GHz provide ample single-thread performance, as evidenced by the 335 FPS average at 1080p Low. The fact that frame rates scale almost exactly with resolution across all presets indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any settings combination tested.

The CPU's 65 W TDP is modest, and the 3 nm process node contributes to efficiency. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 16EU is present but irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU installed. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 5070 Ti, which uses PCIe 5.0 x16.

The benchmark results show that the Core Ultra 5 225 is well-matched to the RTX 5070 Ti for Minimum. The CPU's single-thread performance is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking even at the highest frame rates, and its multicore capabilities are more than sufficient for a game that likely uses only a few threads. The 20 MB of L3 cache helps with game data locality, though the impact is minimal given the game's age and modest system requirements. Overall, the data indicates that this CPU-GPU pairing is balanced for this title, with the GPU determining the final frame rates across all resolutions and settings.