Minimum

# Minimum: Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a playable experience across most settings in Minimum, though the data reveals a clear ceiling at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates show that this pairing is capable of smooth performance at 1080p and 1440p with medium-to-high presets, but struggles to maintain fluidity at 4K. The benchmark results indicate a system where the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution climbs, while the CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads provide ample headroom for this Third-Person Shooter.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to Medium as the optimal preset for this combination, balancing visual fidelity with frame rate consistency. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 130 FPS with a minimum of 111 FPS and maximum of 150 FPS, providing a smooth experience with only minor frame time variance. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 170 FPS average, but the visual trade-off is substantial for a game that benefits from clearer enemy visibility. High at 1080p produces 109 FPS average, which remains competitive, yet the 21 FPS gap between High and Medium suggests diminishing returns on visual quality relative to performance.

At 2560x1440, Medium again emerges as the sensible choice, yielding 84 FPS average with a minimum of 71 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS. This keeps the frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold with enough headroom to absorb scene complexity spikes. High at 1440p drops to 70 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less margin for demanding sequences. The data shows that Low at 1440p produces 110 FPS average, but the Medium preset's additional visual detail at a cost of only 26 FPS makes it the preferred trade-off for most players.

For 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. Medium at 4K averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS, which falls below the smoothness threshold for fast-paced third-person action. Low at 4K reaches 59 FPS average, barely touching playable territory but with no recorded minimum or maximum to assess consistency. Given these numbers, players targeting 4K should either accept Low settings or consider reducing resolution. The overall recommendation across all resolutions is Medium, as it offers the best measured balance of frame rate and visual quality without the steep performance penalties seen at High and Ultra presets.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for Minimum's demands at 1080p and 1440p. The GPU's base clock of 1968 MHz and boost clock of 2589 MHz, with a game clock of 2359 MHz, indicate a card designed for consistent sustained performance rather than bursty behavior. The 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s, which aligns with the measured frame rates.

The GPU's 32 ray tracing cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate, though the game's age suggests traditional rasterization dominates the workload. The data shows the RX 6600 XT hitting 170 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating that the card's raw compute capacity (10.60 TFLOPS FP32) is more than sufficient for this title at lower settings. The 7 nm process node and 11,060 million transistors contribute to the card's efficiency profile, with a TDP of 160 W requiring a suggested 450 W PSU.

The GPU's percentile ranking at 70 among all GPUs places it in the upper-midrange tier, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 with a 0.7% higher average score, the Intel Arc A350M at 0.8% lower, the GTX 780 Ti at 0.8% higher, and the RTX 2080 SUPER at 1.1% higher. These tight margins in synthetic benchmarks translate to the measured in-game performance, where the card maintains a consistent frame rate profile across settings. The 8 GB VRAM capacity appears sufficient for this game even at 4K Ultra, though the 29 FPS average at that setting suggests compute limitations rather than memory constraints are the bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the most dramatic drop occurring between 1440p and 4K. At Medium settings, the frame rate declines from 130 FPS at 1080p to 84 FPS at 1440p (a 35.4% reduction) and then to 45 FPS at 4K (a 46.4% reduction from 1440p). This accelerating decline indicates that the RX 6600 XT's pixel throughput becomes increasingly stressed as the pixel count grows, with the 4K resolution (3840x2160) presenting roughly 2.25 times the pixel load of 1440p.

The High preset shows a similar pattern: 109 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p (35.8% reduction), and 38 FPS at 4K (45.7% reduction). Low settings follow the same trajectory with 170 FPS, 110 FPS, and 59 FPS respectively, representing reductions of 35.3% and 46.4%. This consistent scaling pattern across all settings strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would show less dramatic drops when resolution increases, as the CPU workload remains relatively constant while the GPU workload multiplies.

Ultra settings amplify this effect: 83 FPS at 1080p drops to 54 FPS at 1440p (34.9% reduction) and then to 29 FPS at 4K (46.3% reduction). The near-identical percentage reductions across all four presets indicate that resolution scaling is independent of settings, reinforcing the conclusion that pixel throughput—not shading complexity—is the primary constraint. The data suggests that 1440p represents the practical ceiling for this combination if aiming for 60+ FPS, with only the Low preset achieving 110 FPS at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination ranks 2064 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the lower-midrange tier of the benchmark database. This position at roughly the 70th percentile of tested combinations reflects the GPU's midrange status, as the CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests the processor is capable of supporting more powerful graphics cards.

The combo ranking relative to the individual component rankings—CPU at 89th percentile versus GPU at 70th percentile—indicates that the RX 6600 XT is the performance ceiling for this pairing. In a game like Minimum where the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, the CPU's substantial headroom goes underutilized. The data shows that a stronger GPU paired with this CPU would likely achieve significantly better frame rates, particularly at 1440p and 4K where the GPU bottleneck is most pronounced.

The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (130 FPS) and High (109 FPS) demonstrates that this combo can deliver smooth gameplay at the most common resolution, but the ranking suggests that many other combinations achieve higher frame rates. The 2939 tested combos represent a wide range of hardware pairings, and this combination's 2064th position reflects the GPU's midrange positioning rather than any fundamental incompatibility between the components. The combo's performance profile is consistent with what the individual component benchmarks suggest: strong CPU performance paired with adequate but not exceptional GPU performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to this combination, operating with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture chip, built on TSMC's 3 nm process node with 17,800 million transistors, delivers strong single-threaded performance as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache, alongside 192 KB L1 and 3 MB L2 per core, provides ample fast memory for game workloads.

The CPU's benchmark results show a multi-core Cinebench R23 score of 14769 and a Passmark multi-thread score of 37816, with a single-thread Passmark score of 4516. These figures place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% higher average score), Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% lower), AMD EPYC 4364P (0.2% higher), and AMD EPYC 7303 (0.2% higher). The tight clustering of these rivals—all within 0.2% of each other—indicates that the Ultra 5 235 sits at a performance equilibrium point in the broader CPU landscape.

In Minimum, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU based on the resolution scaling data. The consistent frame rate reductions from 1080p to 4K across all settings point to GPU-bound performance. However, the CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock and strong single-thread performance ensure that even at 1080p Low (170 FPS), the processor does not become the limiting factor. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient memory throughput for this game's requirements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 170 FPS, providing maximum fluidity for competitive play. Medium settings achieve 130 FPS average with a minimum of 111 FPS and maximum of 150 FPS, offering a balanced experience. High settings reach 109 FPS average, maintaining smooth gameplay with enhanced visuals. Ultra settings drop to 83 FPS average, still playable but showing the performance cost of maximum visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates step down noticeably. Low settings average 110 FPS, keeping the experience smooth. Medium settings produce 84 FPS average with a minimum of 71 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS, remaining above the 60 FPS threshold with acceptable consistency. High settings average 70 FPS, which is playable but approaches the boundary where frame drops become noticeable. Ultra settings fall to 54 FPS average, dipping below the smoothness threshold for fast-paced action.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal. Low settings average 59 FPS, barely maintaining playability. Medium settings produce 45 FPS average with a minimum of 38 FPS and maximum of 52 FPS, indicating noticeable stuttering during demanding scenes. High settings drop to 38 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 29 FPS average. These 4K results clearly show that this combination is not suited for maximum resolution gaming in Minimum, with only Low settings approaching acceptable frame rates.

The data also shows a consistent relationship between settings at each resolution: Ultra typically delivers roughly 50-60% of Low's frame rate, while Medium sits between High and Low. The Medium preset's minimum FPS values (111 at 1080p, 71 at 1440p, 38 at 4K) provide the only recorded frame time consistency data, suggesting that Medium offers the most predictable performance profile of all presets.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best settings preset for this combination in Minimum?*

A: The Medium preset offers the best measured balance, delivering 130 FPS average at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. It provides the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating consistent frame pacing.

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

A: At 4K, only Low settings reach 59 FPS average, which is barely playable. Medium drops to 45 FPS average with a 38 FPS minimum, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The data indicates 4K is only viable with Low settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K follow nearly identical percentage reductions (approximately 35% from 1080p to 1440p, then 46% from 1440p to 4K) across all settings, indicating pixel throughput constraints rather than CPU limitations.

Q: How does this combination rank compared to other tested setups?

A: This combo ranks 2064 out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the lower-midrange tier. The CPU ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 70th percentile, showing the GPU limits overall performance.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with this setup?

A: At 1440p, Low settings average 110 FPS, Medium averages 84 FPS with a 71 FPS minimum and 97 FPS maximum, High averages 70 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. Medium provides the best balance of visual quality and smoothness.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6600 XT's average benchmark score of 24442 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (0.7% higher), Intel Arc A350M (0.8% lower), GTX 780 Ti (0.8% higher), and RTX 2080 SUPER (1.1% higher). These minimal differences indicate competitive midrange positioning.