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 built on the Arrow Lake-S architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and reaches a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP and support for DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus. The CPU has a 20 MB shared L3 cache, along with 192 KB of L1 and 3 MB of L2 per core. Its integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG with 16 execution units, though for gaming benchmarks in Minimum, the discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 handles the rendering workload.

Benchmark results place this CPU in the 85th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 36,938. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36,945 (a 0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37,018 (-0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37,093 (-0.4%), and the Intel Core i9-12900T at 37,112 (-0.5%). This indicates the Core Ultra 5 225 is essentially performance-equivalent to these alternatives within a narrow band of less than 0.5% — a cluster of similarly capable mid-range CPUs.

For Minimum, a third-person shooter released in June 2014, the CPU's threading characteristics matter more than raw core count. The game was designed in an era when quad-core processors were the mainstream standard, and the 10-core, 10-thread configuration of the Core Ultra 5 225 provides substantial headroom for game logic, physics, and AI calculations. The high boost clock of 4.90 GHz is particularly relevant for single-threaded workloads, which older game engines often rely upon. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 3,655 in single-core and 25,891 in multi-core, indicating strong per-thread performance that can help maintain consistent frame pacing in Minimum's scenes.

The PassMark multithread score of 30,459, combined with a single-thread score of 4,412, shows the CPU can handle both lightly threaded and heavily threaded scenarios. For a game released in 2014, the limiting factor is unlikely to be the CPU at lower resolutions — instead, the data suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases. The measured FPS across all settings at 1080p shows the CPU is not a bottleneck, as frame rates range from 181 FPS at Ultra to 369 FPS at Low. At 4K, the frame rates drop significantly, indicating the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in terms of overall benchmark score?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36,938 on average, which is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36,945), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37,018), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37,093), and the Intel Core i9-12900T (37,112). These CPUs are essentially tied in aggregate performance, with deltas ranging from 0% to -0.5%.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread and multi-thread performance in Cinebench R23?

A: In Cinebench R23, the Core Ultra 5 225 achieves a single-core score of 3,655 and a multi-core score of 25,891. The single-core result is particularly strong for a 10-core part, which helps in games like Minimum that may rely on fewer threads.

Q: Does the CPU's architecture or process node give it an advantage in this game?

A: The CPU uses the Arrow Lake architecture on a 3 nm TSMC process, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The modern process node and architecture contribute to efficient power use (65 W TDP), but for Minimum, the game's age means the CPU has far more capability than required.

Q: How does the CPU's memory support affect gaming performance?

A: The CPU supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This memory bandwidth is more than sufficient for Minimum, and the 20 MB shared L3 cache provides ample capacity for game data, reducing the need for frequent memory accesses.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, indicating it performs better than 85% of processors in the benchmark database. This positions it as a solid mid-range to upper-mid-range option for gaming.

Q: Is there any evidence from the measured FPS data that the CPU limits performance at any resolution?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the CPU delivers 369 FPS, and at 4K with Low settings, it delivers 128 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 65% drop in frame rate, which is far more consistent with a GPU bottleneck than a CPU bottleneck, as the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with High settings, the system delivers 237 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 153 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 4K High, the frame rate falls to 82 FPS, which is a 65% reduction from 1080p and a 46% reduction from 1440p. This scaling behavior indicates that the rendering load is the primary constraint, as the CPU's workload (game logic, physics, draw calls) remains largely unchanged across resolutions.

At Low settings, the pattern is similar but more pronounced. The 1080p Low result is 369 FPS, which drops to 238 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 128 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p and 65% from 1080p). The fact that even at Low settings the 4K frame rate is substantially lower than 1080p confirms that the GPU is the limiting component, since lowering settings reduces GPU load but not CPU load.

Medium settings show an intermediate scaling curve: 283 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction), and 98 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p and 65% from 1080p). Ultra settings follow the same trend: 181 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction), and 63 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p and 65% from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings levels — roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K — is a strong indicator that the limiting factor is the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth, not the CPU's processing capability.

The RTX 5080 has a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s, with a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s across a 256-bit bus. These specifications are substantial, but the 4K resolution demands 8.3 million pixels per frame, which is 4 times the pixel count of 1080p. The FPS drops track this pixel count scaling closely, confirming that the GPU's rasterization and memory subsystem are the bottleneck. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state, and the data shows it is not limiting performance at any resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 369 FPS, Medium produces 283 FPS with a minimum of 240 FPS and a maximum of 325 FPS, High produces 237 FPS, and Ultra produces 181 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 188 FPS, indicating that settings have a significant impact on performance at this resolution. The Medium settings row is the only one with min/max data at 1080p, showing a range of 85 FPS between minimum and maximum frame times.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop but remain highly playable. Low settings deliver 238 FPS, Medium delivers 182 FPS with a minimum of 155 FPS and a maximum of 210 FPS, High delivers 153 FPS, and Ultra delivers 117 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 121 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming a more significant factor. The Medium settings min/max range is 55 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, indicating more consistent frame pacing as the GPU workload increases.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are the lowest but still playable for most settings. Low settings deliver 128 FPS, Medium delivers 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 113 FPS, High delivers 82 FPS, and Ultra delivers 63 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 65 FPS, the narrowest of all three resolutions, which further confirms that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K. The Medium settings min/max range at 4K is 30 FPS, the tightest range measured, indicating that at higher resolutions, frame times become more consistent because the GPU is consistently saturated.

Across all resolutions, Medium settings are the only ones with complete min/max data, making them useful for understanding frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the range from 240 to 325 FPS shows a 26% variation; at 1440p Medium, the range from 155 to 210 FPS shows a 26% variation; at 4K Medium, the range from 83 to 113 FPS shows a 27% variation. This consistency in relative frame time variation suggests that the game's frame pacing is stable regardless of resolution, with the absolute FPS scaling down as pixel count increases.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 173rd out of 2,939 tested combos for Minimum, putting it in the top 5.9% of all configurations in the benchmark database. This ranking is notable given the game's release date of June 2014, as it suggests the hardware is far more capable than required for this title. The RTX 5080's percentile rank among all GPUs is 87, and the CPU's percentile is 85, so the combo ranks slightly higher than either component's individual percentile would suggest, likely because the game's performance is heavily GPU-bound.

The RTX 5080's nearest GPU rivals provide context for this ranking. The AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55,757 (a 0.6% delta from the RTX 5080's 56,083), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55,698 (0.7%), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54,828 (2.3%), and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57,367 (-2.2%). The RTX 5080 sits in the middle of this group, with the RX 9070 GRE being the only rival that outperforms it by a measurable margin. This suggests that the combo's ranking is driven more by the GPU's raw performance than the CPU, as the CPU is essentially tied with its nearest rivals.

The combo rank of 173 out of 2,939 indicates that there are 172 configurations that achieve higher average FPS in Minimum. Given the game's age and the high performance of the RTX 5080, these higher-ranked combos likely feature even more powerful GPUs (such as the RTX 5090 or other top-tier cards) or CPUs with higher single-thread performance. However, the data shows that the Core Ultra 5 225 + RTX 5080 combo delivers frame rates well above playable thresholds at all resolutions and settings, so the ranking is more about maximum FPS headroom than playability.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 283 FPS with a minimum of 240 FPS and a maximum of 325 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most high-end monitors. At 1440p, Medium delivers 182 FPS with a minimum of 155 FPS, which still exceeds 144 Hz and is within range of 165 Hz or 180 Hz monitors. At 4K, Medium delivers 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS, which is suitable for 60 Hz displays and approaches 100 Hz with room to spare.

The High preset is also viable, delivering 237 FPS at 1080p, 153 FPS at 1440p, and 82 FPS at 4K. The drop from Medium to High is 54 FPS at 1080p (a 19% reduction), 29 FPS at 1440p (a 16% reduction), and 16 FPS at 4K (a 16% reduction). While High provides better visual quality, the percentage cost is similar across resolutions, meaning the GPU is not disproportionately stressed by High settings at any resolution.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, with 181 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 63 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below 60 FPS, which could be problematic for gamers with high-refresh-rate 4K displays. However, for a game released in 2014, Ultra settings may not offer significant visual improvements over High or Medium, so the performance cost may not be justified.

Low settings provide the highest frame rates (369 FPS at 1080p, 238 FPS at 1440p, 128 FPS at 4K) but sacrifice visual fidelity. Given that Medium delivers 283 FPS at 1080p and 98 FPS at 4K, the extra 86 FPS at 1080p and 30 FPS at 4K from Low settings is unlikely to be noticeable on most displays. The data suggests that Medium is the optimal choice for this combo, offering a 3-5x margin over 60 FPS at all resolutions while maintaining reasonable visual quality.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on a 5 nm TSMC process, with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. It operates at a base clock of 2,295 MHz and a boost clock of 2,617 MHz, with memory clocked at 1,875 MHz (30 Gbps effective). The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 56.28 TFLOPS, which is also the FP16 performance (1:1 ratio).

For Minimum, a game released in 2014, the RTX 5080's specifications are far beyond what the game engine can fully utilize. The 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM is more than enough for the game's textures and geometry, even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s ensures that texture streaming and frame buffer operations are not bottlenecks, which is reflected in the measured FPS data showing consistent scaling with resolution.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 56,083. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 8060S, which scores 55,757 (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (0.7% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54,828 (2.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE at 57,367 (2.2% lower). The RTX 5080 sits in the middle of this group, with only the RX 9070 GRE outperforming it by a small margin. This indicates the RTX 5080 is a high-end GPU, but not the absolute top-tier, which aligns with its combo rank of 173 out of 2,939.

The GPU's role in Minimum is clearly the dominant factor in determining frame rates. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions, as evidenced by the consistent percentage drops when moving from 1080p to 1440p (35%) and from 1440p to 4K (46%). The RTX 5080's high pixel rate and texture rate allow it to handle the game's rendering load efficiently, but the 4K resolution still demands significant GPU resources, resulting in 63 FPS at Ultra settings. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 APIs ensure compatibility with modern rendering techniques, though Minimum's 2014 engine likely uses simpler DirectX 11 paths, which the GPU handles with ease given its PassMark DirectX 11 score of 324.