Minimum

# Minimum: Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B570 — Benchmark Analysis

This pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable but not exceptional experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The data shows the combo ranks 2336th out of 2939 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 21st percentile of all tested systems. At 1080p, the system achieves solid frame rates across most settings, but 4K performance falls below the 60 FPS threshold at every quality level, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor built on the Arrow Lake-S architecture with a 3 nm process node from TSMC. It operates at a 3.40 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core, along with 192 KB of L1 cache per core. This processor sits in the 89th percentile against all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 46062.

In synthetic testing, the Core Ultra 5 235 delivers strong multi-threaded results, scoring 14769 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6202 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Single-thread performance is equally competitive, with scores of 2085 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 875 in Cinebench R20 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 further underscore its capabilities. The nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, with delta percentages of 0.1% and -0.1% respectively, indicating the Core Ultra 5 235 performs essentially on par with these chips.

For a game like Minimum, which launched in 2014, the CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock provide ample processing headroom. The measured frame rates at 1080p with Low settings reach 145 FPS, suggesting that the processor is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The architecture's high single-thread performance is particularly relevant for older game engines that may not fully utilize multiple cores, and the 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures responsive gameplay in CPU-bound scenarios. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain data locality, which can benefit game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provides adequate data throughput for the game's demands. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 CPU lanes ensures sufficient bandwidth for the GPU and other peripherals. While the Core Ultra 5 235 is not the highest-performing CPU in the database — it trails the top processors by a significant margin — its 89th percentile ranking places it well above the median for gaming workloads. The data shows that at 1440p High settings, the system achieves 60 FPS, and at 1080p High settings, it reaches 93 FPS, indicating that the CPU can comfortably drive frame rates in this title.

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

The Intel Arc B570 is a Battlemage-generation GPU built on the Xe2-HPG architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units, along with 18 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a fixed 2500 MHz clock for both base and boost, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). It comes equipped with 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The card is rated for 150 W TDP and requires a 450 W power supply, using a single 8-pin power connector.

In the GPU benchmark database, the Arc B570 ranks in the 65th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and Intel Arc A750, with delta percentages of 0.1% and -0.1% respectively. The GPU achieves a PassMark G3D score of 14195 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649, with Geekbench scores of 83514 in OpenCL and 96844 in Vulkan.

In Minimum, the GPU's role becomes increasingly critical as resolution increases. At 1080p, the Arc B570 delivers 145 FPS on Low settings, 111 FPS on Medium, 93 FPS on High, and 71 FPS on Ultra. These results indicate that at 1080p, the GPU provides sufficient performance for smooth gameplay across all quality presets. However, the 10 GB VRAM and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth may become limiting factors at higher resolutions. At 1440p, frame rates drop to 94 FPS on Low, 72 FPS on Medium, 60 FPS on High, and 46 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 93 FPS at 1080p High to 60 FPS at 1440p High represents a 35% reduction, which is consistent with the increased pixel count requiring more GPU processing.

At 4K, the GPU's limitations become more pronounced. The Arc B570 manages 50 FPS on Low, 39 FPS on Medium, 32 FPS on High, and 25 FPS on Ultra at 3840x2160. The 10 GB VRAM may not be sufficient for Ultra settings at 4K, as the game's texture and geometry demands likely exceed the available memory, causing performance to drop below playable levels. The GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate are modest by modern standards, which explains the steep performance curve as resolution scales upward.

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 indicates the GPU is the primary limiting component in this system. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 145 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 94 FPS, a 35% reduction, and further to 50 FPS at 4K Low, representing a 66% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This scaling behavior is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the increased pixel count directly translates to reduced frame rates.

The Medium settings show a similar trend: 111 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K. High settings follow the pattern with 93 FPS at 1080p, 60 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4K — drops of 35% and 47% respectively. Ultra settings exhibit the most severe scaling: 71 FPS at 1080p falls to 46 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 25 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p).

The consistent ~35% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings strongly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect frame rates to remain relatively flat across resolutions until the GPU became saturated. Instead, the proportional decreases track closely with the pixel count increase from 1920x1080 (approximately 2.07 million pixels) to 2560x1440 (approximately 3.69 million pixels), which is a 78% increase in pixel count. The fact that FPS drops by roughly a third rather than by 78% suggests some level of CPU involvement or memory bandwidth constraints, but the overall trend points to GPU dominance.

The 4K results tell a more complex story. At 4K Low, the system achieves 50 FPS, which is exactly one-third of the 145 FPS at 1080p Low. This proportional relationship indicates that at 4K, the GPU is fully saturated and frame rates are determined almost entirely by the GPU's raw pixel throughput. The 10 GB VRAM capacity may also play a role at 4K Ultra, where the 25 FPS result suggests the memory subsystem is struggling to keep up with the game's demands. The Medium settings at 4K show a minimum FPS of 33 and maximum of 44, with an average of 39, indicating frame time inconsistency that further points to GPU memory or bandwidth limitations.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and Intel Arc B570 ranks 2336th out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum. This places the combo in the 21st percentile of all tested systems, meaning approximately 79% of tested combinations deliver better performance in this game. This ranking is notably lower than the individual components' percentile rankings (89th for CPU, 65th for GPU), which suggests that the pairing is not optimally balanced for this particular title.

The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the combo's low ranking indicates that the GPU is severely limiting overall performance. Even though the Core Ultra 5 235 is a strong processor, the Arc B570's mid-tier GPU performance in this game prevents the system from achieving higher frame rates. The combo's 2336th rank out of 2939 combos means it falls behind systems with more powerful GPUs that may be paired with weaker CPUs, as the GPU is the dominant factor in Minimum's performance.

The data shows that this combo achieves playable frame rates (above 60 FPS) only at 1080p across all settings and at 1440p with Low and Medium settings. At 1440p High, the system hits exactly 60 FPS, which is borderline playable. At 4K, no settings achieve 60 FPS, and even the lowest settings only reach 50 FPS. This performance profile suggests that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming or 1440p with reduced quality settings.

When compared to other tested combos, the 2336th rank indicates that this pairing is in the lower tier of gaming performance. The GPU's 65th percentile ranking against all GPUs does not translate to proportional gaming performance in Minimum, likely due to the game's specific engine characteristics and the Arc B570's driver overhead or architectural limitations. The CPU's strong single-thread performance cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1080p is the optimal resolution for this pairing. At 1080p, the system achieves 71 FPS on Ultra settings and 145 FPS on Low settings, providing smooth gameplay across all quality presets. At 1440p, performance drops to 46 FPS on Ultra, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play, and at 4K, even Low settings only reach 50 FPS.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, but only with specific settings. The measured results show 94 FPS at 1440p Low, 72 FPS at 1440p Medium, and exactly 60 FPS at 1440p High. However, 1440p Ultra drops to 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. For a consistent 60 FPS experience at 1440p, High settings are the maximum recommended preset.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 is within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile's score of 20534 and the Intel Arc A750's score of 20582. The GPU also sits close to the AMD Radeon R9 M390X, which scores 20662 with a delta of -0.5%, meaning the Arc B570 trails by half a percent.

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

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. This is evidenced by the resolution scaling data, where frame rates drop by approximately 35% from 1080p to 1440p and by another 46% from 1440p to 4K across all settings. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking and high single-thread performance indicate it has ample headroom, but the Arc B570's 65th percentile GPU ranking constrains overall performance.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low settings yield 145 FPS while Ultra settings yield 71 FPS, a difference of 74 FPS or approximately a 51% reduction. The Medium preset achieves 111 FPS and High achieves 93 FPS, providing incremental steps between the extremes. All presets at 1080p maintain playable frame rates above 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 2336th out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the 21st percentile. This means roughly 79% of all tested system combinations deliver higher frame rates in this game. The ranking is significantly lower than the CPU's 89th percentile ranking, confirming the GPU's bottleneck role.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this combo, the data indicates that 1080p with High settings provides the optimal balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p High, the system achieves 93 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS smoothness threshold while still delivering enhanced visual fidelity over Medium settings. The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 71 FPS, which is also playable, but the 22 FPS gain from dropping from Ultra to High represents a 31% performance improvement with minimal visual sacrifice in most titles.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, 1080p Low settings deliver 145 FPS, which is beneficial for competitive play in this third-person shooter. The Medium preset at 111 FPS offers a middle ground for those who want higher visual quality without sacrificing responsiveness. At 1440p, High settings achieve exactly 60 FPS, making this the maximum resolution for a smooth experience. However, the 1440p Medium preset at 72 FPS provides more headroom for frame time consistency, as indicated by the minimum FPS of 61 and maximum of 82.

The 4K resolution is not recommended with this combo, as even Low settings only reach 50 FPS, and Ultra drops to 25 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. Players seeking 4K performance would need to consider a more powerful GPU, as the Arc B570's 10 GB VRAM and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for this game at that resolution. The optimal configuration is 1080p High for the best balance of visual quality and performance, with 1440p Medium as an alternative for users with higher-resolution displays who can tolerate slightly reduced visual settings.