Minimum

# Minimum: Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + Intel Arc B390 — Benchmark Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a combination that ranks 2602nd out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. This is a low-ranking pairing, and the measured frame rates confirm a system that struggles to deliver smooth gameplay at higher resolutions and settings. The data indicates a significant bottleneck in the graphics subsystem, with the CPU's strong multi-core capabilities largely underutilized by the game's demands.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2602 out of 2939 represents the 11.5th percentile of all tested configurations. This places it firmly in the lower tier of systems, meaning the vast majority of tested hardware combinations deliver better performance in Minimum. The GPU is the primary limiting factor, as its benchmark percentile of 9 versus all GPUs indicates it performs worse than 91% of all graphics cards tested. In contrast, the CPU sits at the 90th percentile versus all CPUs, showing a massive disparity between the two components' relative capabilities.

The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 puts it in direct competition with legacy mobile and OEM parts. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, with the Arc B390 1.3% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% ahead). These are all entry-level or decade-old parts, underscoring how limited the Arc B390's raw graphics throughput is. The 2.7% margin over the GT 710 is notable, but that rival is a card from a different era.

On the CPU side, the Core Ultra 5 245's average benchmark score of 48995 places it just behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, 0.4% ahead) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, 0.5% ahead), while edging out the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, 0.6% behind) and the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, 0.8% behind). These margins are negligible, indicating the CPU is competitive with mid-range to high-end desktop processors. The bottleneck is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU's performance class is several tiers above what the Arc B390 can feed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and playability across the four presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 95 FPS, which provides the smoothest experience. Medium drops to 72 FPS, still playable, while High falls to 61 FPS, right at the edge of acceptable for a third-person shooter. Ultra bottoms out at 46 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a fast-paced title.

The data indicates that the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best balance, with a 72 FPS average and a minimum of 62 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery during action sequences. High at 1080p is borderline, with the 61 FPS average leaving little headroom for demanding scenes. Low at 1080p provides the highest performance margin, but the visual compromise may be unnecessary given Medium's solid 72 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes dramatically. Low preset yields 61 FPS, exactly matching the 1080p High result, while Medium drops to 47 FPS and High to 39 FPS. Ultra at 1440p produces only 30 FPS, which is generally considered unplayable for a shooter. For 1440p gaming, the Low preset is the only viable option, and even then, the 61 FPS average leaves little room for dips. At 3840x2160, all presets fall below 35 FPS, making 4K gaming impractical with this hardware. The best experience is achieved at 1080p with Medium settings, offering 72 FPS average with a 62 FPS minimum.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 95 at 1080p to 61 at 1440p, a 35.8% reduction, and then to 33 at 4K, a 65.3% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline as resolution increases is characteristic of a graphics card that is overwhelmed by pixel throughput demands.

At Medium settings, the progression is 72 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 34.7% from 1080p to 1440p and 65.3% from 1080p to 4K. The consistency of these percentages across settings indicates that the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. High settings show a similar pattern: 61 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K, with a 65.6% drop from 1080p to 4K.

The Arc B390's memory configuration is "System Shared" with "System Dependent" bandwidth, meaning it relies on the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory. This architecture typically suffers more from resolution scaling than discrete GPUs with dedicated VRAM, as the shared memory bus becomes a bottleneck at higher pixel counts. The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component; the CPU's performance remains constant across resolutions, yet FPS scales down nearly linearly with pixel count.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets was measured. Low delivers the highest average at 95 FPS. Medium averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS, providing the most stable frame pacing. High averages 61 FPS, and Ultra averages 46 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 49 FPS, indicating that each preset tier costs roughly 12-16 FPS at this resolution.

The 2560x1440 results show a compressed range. Low averages 61 FPS, Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS, High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 31 FPS, suggesting that at higher resolutions, the GPU's limitations cap the maximum achievable frame rate regardless of settings.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly low. Low averages 33 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 29 FPS, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K produces a 16 FPS average, which is below the threshold for even slideshow-level interactivity. The data shows that Medium at 1440p (47 FPS) roughly matches High at 1080p (61 FPS) in terms of raw performance, but the frame minimum of 40 FPS at 1440p Medium indicates potential stuttering in busy scenes.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS.

The memory subsystem is entirely system-dependent, with "System Shared" memory type, size, and bus width. This means the GPU has no dedicated VRAM and relies on the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory, with bandwidth rated as "System Dependent." This configuration is a significant disadvantage in gaming, as memory latency and bandwidth contention with CPU workloads can cause frame drops. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum FPS of 62 versus an average of 72, a 13.9% dip, which may be attributed to memory subsystem bottlenecks.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile versus all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, meaning the Arc B390 is just 1.3% faster. This is a marginal victory over a GPU from a decade ago. The 2.5% lead over the GeForce GT 625 OEM and 2.7% over the GT 710 further cement the Arc B390's position as an entry-level part. The GPU's 80 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate it is designed for compact or portable systems, not high-performance gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features a 24 MB shared L3 cache, 3 MB L2 cache per core, and 192 KB L1 cache per core. It supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is largely passive due to the GPU bottleneck. The processor's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 demonstrates substantial compute capability, and its single-core score of 4648 is strong for gaming workloads. The PassMark single-thread score of 4394 indicates solid per-core performance, which is typically what matters for game logic and physics. However, the measured FPS at 1080p Low (95 FPS) is the only scenario where the CPU might approach its limit, yet even here, the GPU is likely still the constraint.

The CPU's percentile of 90 versus all CPUs means it outperforms 90% of all tested processors. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (0.4% faster), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.5% faster), the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (0.6% slower), and the Intel Core i5-14600K (0.8% slower). These differences are within noise, confirming the CPU is not a performance differentiator in this context. The 14 threads without hyper-threading is notable, but Minimum, released in 2014, is unlikely to utilize more than a few cores effectively.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for playable performance?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Medium settings provides a 72 FPS average with a minimum of 62 FPS, which is the highest playable configuration. The Low preset at 1080p offers 95 FPS for maximum smoothness, while Ultra at 1080p drops to 46 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% ahead of the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% ahead of the GeForce GT 710 (1443).

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

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The Arc B390 ranks at the 9th percentile versus all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 245 ranks at the 90th percentile versus all CPUs. The FPS drops of approximately 65% from 1080p to 4K across all settings confirm a resolution-bound GPU limitation.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 245's average benchmark score of 48995 is 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196), 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228), 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698), and 0.8% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618).

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

A: No. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 21 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS, Low averages 33 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. All of these are below playable thresholds for a third-person shooter.

Q: What are the GPU's key specifications that affect gaming performance?

A: The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz. Its memory is system-shared with system-dependent bandwidth, and it operates at 7.680 TFLOPS FP32. The 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate and 120.0 GTexel/s texture rate are modest figures that align with its low benchmark percentile.