Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 581st out of 2,939 tested combinations for Minimum, placing it in the top 20% of all systems evaluated. This is a strong position, though not a dominant one, given that the RTX 5090 is the flagship mobile GPU in the data. The combo’s rank reflects a balance where the processor’s performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at most settings, but the sheer volume of higher-end desktop configurations ahead of it in the database prevents a higher placement. The data shows this is a capable pairing for this title, with the GPU doing the heavy lifting at higher resolutions while the CPU keeps frame rates elevated at lower settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 581 out of 2,939 tested combinations indicates that roughly 80% of all tested systems perform worse, while about 20% perform better. This is a solid result for a mobile platform, especially considering the RTX 5090’s position in the GPU hierarchy. The GPU itself sits in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, which is elite-tier hardware, and the CPU is in the 91st percentile against all CPUs. When two components both sit above the 90th percentile, the bottleneck is rarely a lack of raw capability; instead, it is the specific demands of Minimum, a 2014 title that may not scale perfectly with modern multi-core processors or the latest GPU architectures.

Benchmark results for the CPU show it competing closely with desktop processors from the previous generation. Its average benchmark score of 52,073 is within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (51,947) and just 0.4% behind the Intel Core i7-14700 (52,301). It also edges out the Intel Core i9-13900F (51,730) by 0.7%. This tells us the Ultra 5 235HX is not a weak link; in CPU-bound scenarios, it should perform comparably to those established desktop parts. The GPU, meanwhile, has an average benchmark score of 79,842, which is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605) and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). The only rival listed that beats it is the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959) by 1.4%, a negligible margin.

What this means for Minimum is that the combo is unlikely to be held back by either component in a way that causes stutter or severe frame drops. The rank is respectable, but the game is old enough that many modern high-end systems will hit similar frame ceilings, particularly at 1080p where the CPU and game engine’s limitations become more apparent than the GPU’s raw power.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 is a massive piece of silicon: 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost of 2407 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications are far beyond what Minimum requires, even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and its 21,760 shading units mean it can rasterize scenes far faster than the game’s engine can feed it geometry. The 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs provide ample pixel and texture throughput, which is why the measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 293 FPS average — a number that is likely capped by the CPU or the game’s internal logic rather than the GPU’s ability to draw frames.

The GPU’s role in this pairing is to ensure that resolution scaling does not cause a catastrophic drop in performance. At 4K, the RTX 5090 still delivers playable frame rates even at Ultra (50 FPS average), which confirms its memory bandwidth and compute resources. The 32 GB VRAM is overkill for this title, but it ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets never cause a bottleneck. The data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor until you push to 4K Ultra, and even then, the 50 FPS average is a playable result for a single-player shooter. In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 39,650 in Passmark G3D and 18,355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 92nd percentile overall. These scores corroborate the measured FPS: the RTX 5090 is a top-tier part that will only show its limits when the game’s rendering demands exceed what even this hardware can provide, which happens only at the most demanding settings at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of how the system scales from 1080p to 4K across the four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 293 at 1080p to 189 at 1440p, and then to 102 at 4K. This is a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming more stressed as the pixel count increases. At Medium settings, the drop is from 224 FPS at 1080p to 144 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 78 FPS at 4K — a 65% reduction as well, but from a lower starting point.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 188 FPS at 1080p falls to 121 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 65 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). At Ultra settings, the pattern is similar: 143 FPS at 1080p, 92 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. The consistent ~65% reduction from 1080p to 4K across all settings suggests that the GPU is the primary scaling factor, as the CPU’s workload does not increase with resolution. The fact that 1080p Low hits 293 FPS implies the CPU is the bottleneck at that point, because the GPU could likely render far more frames if the processor could issue draw calls faster. However, as resolution increases, the GPU’s pixel and shading workload grows, and the frame rate becomes GPU-bound. This is classic behavior for a high-end GPU paired with a strong but not top-tier mobile CPU.

The 1440p to 4K transition shows a 44% drop at Low (189 to 102 FPS), a 46% drop at Medium (144 to 78 FPS), a 46% drop at High (121 to 65 FPS), and a 46% drop at Ultra (92 to 50 FPS). This consistency across settings indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute scaling are linear, which is expected for a well-balanced design. The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU, as the CPU’s performance is less relevant at such high pixel counts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 293, which is exceptionally high and indicates a CPU-bound scenario. Medium settings drop to 224 FPS average, with a minimum of 190 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS, showing that even with dips, the experience remains smooth on high-refresh monitors. High settings average 188 FPS, and Ultra averages 143 FPS. These numbers suggest that at 1080p, the player can use any preset and still achieve frame rates above 140 FPS on average, making the CPU the primary limiter at the lowest settings.

At 1440p, the average FPS ranges from 189 FPS at Low to 92 FPS at Ultra. Medium settings provide 144 FPS average, with a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 166 FPS. High settings average 121 FPS. This resolution is the sweet spot for the combo, as it balances the CPU’s ability to feed frames with the GPU’s rendering power. The 1440p Medium result of 144 FPS average is notable because it matches the 1080p Ultra result of 143 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not yet the sole bottleneck at this resolution.

At 4K, the frame rates become more modest. Low settings average 102 FPS, Medium averages 78 FPS (with a minimum of 66 FPS and maximum of 89 FPS), High averages 65 FPS, and Ultra averages 50 FPS. These numbers are all playable for a third-person shooter, but the 50 FPS at Ultra is the only result that approaches the edge of what might be considered less smooth on a high-refresh display. The 4K Medium result of 78 FPS average is a good balance, as it provides a 66 FPS minimum, ensuring that even the worst-case frame times stay above the 60 FPS threshold.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 143 FPS average is the clear choice, as it offers the highest visual quality while still delivering frame rates that exceed most monitors’ refresh rates. The drop from Ultra to High is only 45 FPS (188 to 143), but the visual fidelity gain justifies the reduction. At 1440p, the Medium preset at 144 FPS average is the recommended setting, as it provides a minimum of 123 FPS, which is well above the 100 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 121 FPS is also viable, but the Medium preset’s higher minimum frame rate indicates more stable performance.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 78 FPS average is the best option, as it delivers a 66 FPS minimum, ensuring no drops below the 60 FPS mark. The High preset at 65 FPS average is acceptable, but the 4K Ultra preset at 50 FPS average is the only one that risks noticeable stutter in fast-paced scenes. The data suggests that pushing to 4K Ultra is not advisable for this combo if consistent 60+ FPS is the goal, but the Medium preset provides a comfortable margin. For players with 120 Hz displays, 1440p Medium or 1080p Ultra are the only presets that can consistently hit that target.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running Minimum at 4K with high settings?*

A: Yes, the measured FPS at 3840x2160 High is 65 FPS average. This is playable, but the 4K Medium preset provides a higher 78 FPS average with a 66 FPS minimum, which may be preferable for consistent performance.

*Q: What is the maximum frame rate this system can achieve in Minimum?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 293 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 143 FPS, and at 4K Low, it is 102 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX has an average benchmark score of 52,073, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (51,947) and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900F (51,730). It is 0.4% slower than the Intel Core i7-14700 (52,301).

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605) and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). It is 1.4% slower than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959).

Q: What is the bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 293 FPS average at 1080p Low suggests a CPU bottleneck, as the GPU’s raw performance could likely render more frames if the processor could keep up with draw call submissions.

Q: Is the RTX 5090’s 32 GB VRAM necessary for this game?

A: No, Minimum is a 2014 title that does not require large memory capacities. The 32 GB GDDR7 memory ensures that texture streaming is never an issue, but the game’s demands are far below this capacity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. The L3 cache is 24 MB shared, and the memory bandwidth is 102.4 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface. In Minimum, the CPU’s role is to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the limiting factor. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 293 FPS average, which is a clear sign that the CPU is the bottleneck, as the RTX 5090 could theoretically push far beyond that figure.

The CPU’s single-thread performance is strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,903 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4,683. This matters for Minimum, as older games often rely heavily on a few threads for game logic and physics. The multi-thread performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34,731, but the game is unlikely to use all 14 threads effectively. The 14-core configuration is more than enough for this title, and the lack of hyper-threading (14 threads for 14 cores) is not a disadvantage here, as the game’s engine is not heavily threaded.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the Ultra 5 235HX is within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, Intel Core i7-14700, and Intel Core i9-13900F in average benchmark scores. This means that in CPU-bound scenarios in Minimum, the system should perform nearly identically to those desktop parts. The 5.10 GHz boost clock is particularly useful for maintaining high frame rates in the 1080p Low and Medium settings, where the CPU’s single-core speed directly impacts the average FPS. The data indicates that the CPU is not a weak link in this combo, but it does cap the maximum frame rate at lower resolutions. At 4K, the CPU’s performance becomes less relevant, as the GPU’s rendering workload dominates the frame time. Overall, the Ultra 5 235HX provides a stable foundation for the RTX 5090, ensuring that the GPU is not starved for data at higher resolutions while allowing for extremely high frame rates at 1080p.