Minimum

Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the Intel Arc B580 presents a compelling mid-range combination for Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. The benchmark data reveals a system that is highly capable at mainstream resolutions but hits a clear performance ceiling at 4K, governed by the graphics card's raw throughput rather than the processor's capabilities. This analysis breaks down the measured frame rates across resolutions and presets, contextualizes the GPU's role, and offers practical settings guidance based solely on the recorded results.

Resolution Scaling

The performance trajectory from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies in this pairing. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 165 FPS. Dropping the resolution to 2560x1440 on Low yields 106 FPS, and at 3840x2160 on Low, the average falls to 57 FPS. This represents a 65% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern that indicates the Intel Arc B580 is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The scaling becomes more pronounced when examining the High preset. The system delivers 106 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 68 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally lands at 37 FPS at 3840x2160. The transition from 1440p to 4K alone costs 31 FPS, a 46% performance hit. This steep decline suggests that while the Core Ultra 5 245 has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions, the GPU's 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 456.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are simply overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels in a 4K frame.

The data shows that the sweet spot for this combo is 1080p, where even the demanding Ultra preset maintains an average of 81 FPS. At 1440p, the system remains playable but requires settings discipline, as the Ultra preset falls to 52 FPS. The 4K results are uniformly below the 60 FPS threshold, with even the Low preset only managing 57 FPS. This indicates that 4K gaming is not a realistic target for this hardware configuration in Minimum, regardless of visual compromises.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580's specifications directly influence the measured results. With a base and boost clock of 2670 MHz, the GPU maintains consistent frequency across all scenarios, but its 192-bit memory bus and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory deliver 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This bandwidth becomes critical at higher resolutions where texture fetch and fill-rate demands increase exponentially. The 80 ROPs and 160 TMUs provide a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, figures that explain why the card struggles to maintain fluid frame rates beyond 1440p.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 68 versus all GPUs places it in the upper-midrange tier, with its nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, which scores 0.6% higher, and the RTX 3080, which scores 0.7% lower in aggregate benchmarks. This context is useful: the Arc B580 is essentially trading blows with high-end cards from previous generations. However, in Minimum, the architectural differences become apparent. The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 76 and DirectX 11 score of 128 in Passmark suggest that the card's driver overhead or shader execution efficiency might be limiting its performance in this title, which likely utilizes older API paths.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor in this game, as Minimum from 2014 has modest texture requirements. The data shows that the GPU's compute capability, not its memory capacity, dictates performance. The transition from Medium to High settings at 1440p costs 13 FPS (81 to 68), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 16 FPS (68 to 52). These incremental penalties are consistent with the GPU's raw shading and rasterization throughput being the primary constraint, rather than any memory-related stalls.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset is the clear recommendation, delivering 106 FPS average. This is 20 FPS faster than the Medium preset's 126 FPS and 25 FPS faster than Ultra's 81 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra yields a 31% performance drop for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a game from this era. Low settings at 165 FPS are unnecessary unless targeting a 165Hz display, but the data shows High provides a substantial quality increase over Medium while remaining well above the 60 FPS standard.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset offers the best experience with an 81 FPS average and a minimum of 69 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining a balanced visual profile. The High preset's 68 FPS is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, and the Ultra preset's 52 FPS falls below the ideal threshold. Low settings at 106 FPS are an option for competitive play, but the visual degradation is significant. The data suggests that Medium is the "sweet spot" for 1440p, balancing the 68 FPS of High with the 106 FPS of Low.

For 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve 60 FPS. The Low preset's 57 FPS is the closest, followed by Medium at 44 FPS, High at 37 FPS, and Ultra at 28 FPS. If 4K is a hard requirement, Low settings are the only viable option, and even then, frame pacing may suffer. The data does not support any preset at 4K for a consistently smooth experience, so the recommendation is to either reduce resolution to 1440p or accept sub-60 FPS performance on Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a comprehensive view of this combo's capabilities across twelve distinct configurations. At 1920x1080, the progression from Low to Ultra is as follows: Low averages 165 FPS, Medium averages 126 FPS with a minimum of 107 FPS and maximum of 145 FPS, High averages 106 FPS, and Ultra averages 81 FPS. The 39 FPS gap between Low and Medium is the largest single-step difference at this resolution, indicating that the Medium preset introduces significant visual effects that tax the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 106 FPS, Medium at 81 FPS with a 69-93 FPS range, High at 68 FPS, and Ultra at 52 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 13 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 16 FPS. This shows a relatively linear degradation, unlike the 1080p results where the Low-to-Medium jump was disproportionately large. The minimum frame rates recorded only for Medium presets show that at 1440p, the system maintains a 69 FPS floor, which is solid.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 57 FPS, Medium at 44 FPS with a 37-50 FPS range, High at 37 FPS, and Ultra at 28 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 37 FPS is particularly telling, as it indicates that even the "middle ground" setting can experience significant frame drops. The overall pattern across all resolutions shows that the Ultra preset consistently imposes a 25-30% performance penalty over High, making it an unattractive option unless visual fidelity is the absolute priority. The 1080p Medium preset's 126 FPS average is the highest playable setting that maintains a 100+ FPS experience, making it a noteworthy data point for users with high-refresh-rate monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2185 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the 26th percentile, meaning roughly three-quarters of all tested system configurations perform better in this specific game. This ranking is surprisingly low given the individual component benchmarks: the CPU sits in the 90th percentile versus all CPUs, and the GPU in the 68th percentile versus all GPUs. The discrepancy suggests that Minimum may not be optimized for Intel's Arc architecture, or that the game's older engine does not fully utilize the CPU's modern features.

Comparing to the CPU's nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 on average benchmarks, which is 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and 0.5% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900. It outperforms the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.8%. These deltas are minimal, indicating that the CPU is not the differentiator in this combo's ranking. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals show it is competitive with the RTX 2080 (0.6% slower) and RTX 3080 (0.7% faster), yet the overall combo rank suggests the Arc B580's driver stack or architectural quirks may be holding back performance in Minimum specifically.

The rank of 2185 out of 2939 is a stark reminder that aggregate component benchmarks do not always translate to real-world game performance. While the CPU and GPU individually perform admirably in synthetic tests, the combination lands in the bottom half of the distribution for this title. This implies that users with this hardware should expect performance below what the individual component percentiles might suggest, and the settings recommendations above become even more critical to achieving a playable experience.

FAQ

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

A: The data strongly favors 1920x1080, where even the Ultra preset achieves an average of 81 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset provides 81 FPS, but higher settings drop below 70 FPS. The 3840x2160 results are all below 60 FPS, making 4K impractical.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p on High settings?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 averages 106 FPS, while at 2560x1440 it drops to 68 FPS. This is a 38 FPS reduction, or a 35.8% performance loss, indicating the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

*Q: Can this system run Minimum at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: No. The best 4K result is on Low settings with an average of 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard. Medium settings average 44 FPS, High averages 37 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS, all of which are too low for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium averages 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS, while High averages 68 FPS. The 13 FPS difference (16% reduction) may be worth the visual upgrade, but the Medium preset offers a safer margin above 60 FPS.

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

A: This combination ranks 2185 out of 2939 tested combos, placing it in the 26th percentile. This is lower than expected given the CPU's 90th percentile and GPU's 68th percentile individual scores, suggesting the game may not fully utilize this hardware.

Q: Which preset offers the highest average FPS but remains visually balanced?

A: The 1920x1080 Medium preset delivers 126 FPS average, which is 39 FPS higher than High and 21 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1440p, the Medium preset's 81 FPS is the best balance, as it is the only configuration above 60 FPS while still using a non-Low preset.