Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination delivers a thoroughly playable experience in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released on 2014-06-25. The measured FPS data shows the pairing is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p, with a clear GPU-bound scaling curve as resolution climbs. The combo ranks 1210 out of 2939 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU roles, resolution scaling behavior, and exact frame rates across all tested settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings for this combo?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with the RTX 3070 produces an average of 147 FPS at 1080p High settings. This is the second-lowest 1080p preset tested, with Low hitting 229 FPS, Medium at 175 FPS, and Ultra at 112 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 39. This is the lowest result across all resolution and settings combinations, showing a 73% reduction from the 1080p Low score of 229 FPS.

Q: What is the best-performing settings/resolution combination in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 229 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next-best is 175 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 148 FPS at 1440p Low, showing a steep drop as resolution increases.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairings?

A: The combo ranks 1210 out of 2939 total combinations in Minimum, placing it in the 59th percentile of all tested systems. This indicates a solid mid-to-upper tier position, though not near the top.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT's 17083. It also leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037) by 1% and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019) by 1.1%, but trails the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17468) by 1.5%.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking versus all processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 sits in the 90th percentile of all CPUs based on benchmark scores. Its average benchmark score is 48995, with the nearest rival AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (0.4% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (0.5% higher).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It packs 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. The GPU's base clock runs at 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, while the 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications place the card at 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 performance, with a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s.

In Minimum, the GPU's role becomes evident when examining the measured FPS across resolutions. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 229 FPS, which is the ceiling for the tested data. As settings increase at 1080p, the GPU load rises: 147 FPS at High, 175 FPS at Medium (counterintuitively higher than High), and 112 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset's 175 FPS versus High's 147 FPS suggests that High settings introduce specific effects that are more demanding than Medium, possibly related to shadow quality or post-processing. The Ultra preset, at 112 FPS, represents a 51% drop from Low, showing the GPU's sensitivity to the highest quality options.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the GPU must manage larger textures and framebuffers, and the data shows a dramatic performance decline: 79 FPS at Low, 61 FPS at Medium, 51 FPS at High, and 39 FPS at Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS is barely playable, while 4K Low at 79 FPS remains smooth. The VRAM bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the 8 GB capacity likely forces texture streaming or compression, contributing to the steep drop from 1440p Ultra (72 FPS) to 4K Ultra (39 FPS).

The RTX 3070's percentile rank of 61 among all GPUs underscores its mid-range positioning. Its average benchmark score of 17208 is within 1.5% of four nearest rivals: the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037), AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019), and NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17468). This tight clustering in synthetic benchmarks suggests that the RTX 3070 is well-matched against contemporary competitors, though its end-of-life production status and 2020-08-31 release date mean it is an older design. Despite that, the measured FPS in Minimum shows the card remains capable for a game from 2014, particularly at 1080p and 1440p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 229 at 1080p to 148 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and further to 79 at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p, 65% from 1080p). This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads become less relevant when pixel throughput dominates.

For Medium settings, the progression is 175 FPS at 1080p, 113 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), and 61 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). The 4K Medium result also includes minimum and maximum FPS of 52 and 70, respectively, showing a 18 FPS variance that suggests occasional stutters. High settings follow a similar trend: 147 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), and 51 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop). Ultra settings show the steepest absolute decline: 112 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop), and 39 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p).

The consistency of these percentage drops (roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p, then 46-47% from 1440p to 4K) strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, with its boost clock of 5.10 GHz and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, is unlikely to be the limiting factor at 4K, as the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count. The difference between 1080p and 1440p represents a 1.78x pixel increase, while 1440p to 4K represents a 2.25x increase, and the FPS drops align with these ratios. This suggests that the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at 4K, not the processor.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings shrinks as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 117 FPS (229 vs 112). At 1440p, it narrows to 76 FPS (148 vs 72). At 4K, it further narrows to 40 FPS (79 vs 39). This compression indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even reducing settings to Low cannot fully alleviate the bottleneck, whereas at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to benefit from lower settings. The data implies that for 4K play, users should expect sub-60 FPS at High and Ultra settings, while 1440p offers a balanced experience with 95 FPS at High and 72 FPS at Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 achieves a rank of 1210 out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum. This places it in the 41st percentile from the top, meaning 59% of tested combos perform better, while 41% perform worse. Given that the RTX 3070 is end-of-life and the CPU was released on 2025-01-06, this rank reflects a pairing of a modern processor with an older GPU, which explains why the combo sits in the mid-upper range rather than near the top.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all processors (average benchmark score 48995) contrasts sharply with the GPU's 61st percentile (average benchmark score 17208). This discrepancy suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this combo. If the CPU were paired with a stronger GPU, the rank would likely improve significantly. The nearest CPU rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (avg score 49196, 0.4% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, 0.5% higher), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, 0.6% lower), and Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, 0.8% lower). All of these are within 1% of the Core Ultra 5 245, indicating that the CPU is competitive with other mid-to-high-end processors.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.7% higher score), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (1% higher), AMD Radeon HD 7970M (1.1% higher), and NVIDIA Tesla K40c (1.5% lower). The RTX 3070's 61st percentile rank among GPUs is notably lower than the CPU's 90th percentile, reinforcing the idea that the combo's rank of 1210 is dragged down by the GPU. In Minimum, a game from 2014, the RTX 3070 still delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the combo's overall position is more reflective of GPU performance than CPU capability.

The measured FPS data supports this ranking. At 1080p High, the combo hits 147 FPS, which is competitive with many modern systems. However, at 4K Ultra, the 39 FPS result is below the 60 FPS threshold many players consider essential. The combo's rank of 1210 out of 2939 means that in a database of thousands of CPU-GPU pairings, this configuration is solidly average-to-good, suitable for 1080p high refresh rate gaming and 1440p at high settings, but not for 4K ultra without compromises.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-S architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process. 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 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, along with ECC memory support. The processor uses the Intel Socket 1851 and has a 90th percentile rank among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is less critical than the GPU's, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 229 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz and 14 threads provide ample single-thread performance for a game from 2014, which typically relies on fewer cores. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 and multi-core score of 32924 indicate strong performance, though these synthetic benchmarks do not directly translate to game FPS.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.5% higher) and Intel Core i5-14600K (0.8% lower), both of which are popular gaming processors. The Core Ultra 5 245's 90th percentile ranking means it outperforms 90% of all CPUs in the database, making it a high-end processor. However, its 14 threads (no hyperthreading) could be a limitation in heavily threaded games, but Minimum from 2014 is unlikely to stress more than 8 threads.

The measured FPS at 1080p Low (229 FPS) versus 1080p High (147 FPS) shows a 82 FPS difference that is entirely due to GPU workload, not CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain similar across settings. The fact that FPS scales significantly with settings confirms the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is sufficient for feeding the GPU, and the 24 MB L3 cache helps with game data locality. The processor's release date of 2025-01-06 and launch MSRP of $270 position it as a mainstream desktop offering, but its performance in Minimum is overshadowed by the RTX 3070's age.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS: Low at 229, Medium at 175, High at 147, and Ultra at 112. The Medium preset includes a minimum of 149 and maximum of 201, showing a 52 FPS variance during gameplay. This 1080p range is excellent for high refresh rate monitors, with even Ultra settings exceeding 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to: Low at 148, Medium at 113, High at 95, and Ultra at 72. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum of 96 and maximum of 130, indicating a 34 FPS variance, which is tighter than at 1080p. The 1440p results show that High settings at 95 FPS and Ultra at 72 FPS are both playable, with the latter approaching the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 1440p Low score of 148 FPS is still high enough for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS falls to: Low at 79, Medium at 61, High at 51, and Ultra at 39. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 52 and maximum of 70, showing an 18 FPS variance. These 4K results are marginal for playable frame rates, with only Low settings exceeding 60 FPS. High at 51 FPS and Ultra at 39 FPS are below the ideal threshold, suggesting that 4K requires significant settings reductions or is best avoided with this combo.

The data also reveals that Medium settings outperform High at all resolutions (175 vs 147 at 1080p, 113 vs 95 at 1440p, 61 vs 51 at 4K). This counterintuitive result indicates that the High preset includes specific effects (perhaps ambient occlusion or shadow quality) that are disproportionately expensive on the RTX 3070. The Ultra preset, while the most demanding, shows a smaller gap to High (112 vs 147 at 1080p, 72 vs 95 at 1440p, 39 vs 51 at 4K), suggesting that Ultra adds some features that are less costly than those in High.

In summary, the best experience with this combo is at 1080p with Ultra settings (112 FPS) or 1440p with High settings (95 FPS). For 4K, users should stick to Low settings (79 FPS) or Medium (61 FPS) for acceptable performance. The measured FPS data confirms that the RTX 3070 is the bottleneck, with the CPU providing more than enough headroom for this 2014 title.