Minimum

# Minimum with Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 produces a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released in 2014. The combo ranks 776th out of 2,939 tested combinations, placing it in the upper quartile of all systems tested for this title. Measured frame rates range from 267 FPS at 1080p Low to 45 FPS at 4K Ultra, demonstrating that the system scales predictably with resolution and settings demands.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Minimum?*

A: The highest measured average is 267 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the average drops to 204 FPS, while High settings yield 171 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 93 FPS on Low, 71 FPS on Medium, 60 FPS on High, and 45 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested systems for this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + RTX 3080 combination ranks 776th out of 2,939 tested combos for Minimum, which places it in the 74th percentile of all systems benchmarked.

Q: What are the key specifications of the CPU and GPU in this combo?

A: The CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus with a boost clock of 1710 MHz and 8704 shading units.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23,172, which is 0.3% below the NVIDIA P106-100 (23,249) and 0.4% below both the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23,250) and AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23,273). It is 0.4% above the AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23,276).

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates across all settings at 1440p?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 172 FPS on Low, 132 FPS on Medium, 110 FPS on High, and 84 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 151 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA102 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It carries 28,300 million transistors across a 628 mm² die, with a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz. The memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit interface, providing 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's memory clock runs at 1188 MHz, translating to 19 Gbps effective.

The RTX 3080's compute resources include 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It also features 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores, which are not heavily utilized by Minimum given its 2014 release. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 29.77 TFLOPS. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In this game, the GPU's role is dominant at higher resolutions. The data shows a clear progression: at 1080p, even Ultra settings produce 131 FPS average, indicating that the GPU has headroom. However, at 4K Ultra, the average falls to 45 FPS, suggesting the GPU is nearing its limits for this title at maximum quality. The 10 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Minimum, as the game's 2014-era textures and geometry do not stress modern memory allocations. The measured frame rates at 4K High (60 FPS) and 4K Medium (71 FPS) indicate that the GPU's bandwidth and shading throughput are the primary constraints at this resolution, rather than memory capacity.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 267 FPS at 1080p to 172 FPS at 1440p (a 35.6% reduction), then to 93 FPS at 4K (a 45.9% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the GPU is increasingly the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU's 14 cores can feed frames at any resolution tested.

At Medium settings, the averages are 204 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p (35.3% drop), and 71 FPS at 4K (46.2% drop from 1440p). The High settings show 171 FPS at 1080p, 110 FPS at 1440p (35.7% drop), and 60 FPS at 4K (45.5% drop). Ultra settings display 131 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p (35.9% drop), and 45 FPS at 4K (46.4% drop).

The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p remains remarkably consistent between 35.3% and 35.9% across all settings, while the drop from 1440p to 4K ranges from 45.5% to 46.4%. This uniformity suggests that the scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound, meaning the GPU's rendering pipeline is the bottleneck at higher pixel counts. The RTX 3080's 760.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance are being utilized progressively harder as resolution increases. The 35% reduction at 1440p and 45% reduction at 4K indicate that the GPU is not saturating at 1080p, where the CPU likely becomes the secondary constraint. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, with the CPU's 5.10 GHz boost clock providing ample frame generation capacity.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + RTX 3080 combination ranks 776th out of 2,939 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the top 26.4% of all systems. This rank reflects the balance between the CPU's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's high-end capabilities. The CPU's average benchmark score is 48,995, which places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49,196, 0.4% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49,228, 0.5% higher), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48,698, 0.6% lower), and Intel Core i5-14600K (48,618, 0.8% lower).

The GPU's average benchmark score is 23,172, placing it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals—NVIDIA P106-100, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and AMD Radeon R9 M290X—all score within 0.4% of the RTX 3080, indicating that this GPU sits at a competitive performance tier. The combo's rank of 776 suggests that while individual components perform well, the pairing is not optimized for Minimum's specific workload, which may favor CPUs with higher single-thread scores or GPUs with different architectural strengths.

The rank reflects that 2,163 other combos perform better in this game, likely due to newer GPUs with higher memory bandwidth or CPUs with superior per-core performance. However, the combo still delivers playable frame rates at all tested settings except 4K Ultra, where 45 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered standard for smooth gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 267 FPS, Medium achieves 204 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS and maximum of 235 FPS, High yields 171 FPS, and Ultra reaches 131 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system has substantial headroom, with even Ultra settings maintaining frame rates well above 120 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 172 FPS on Low, 132 FPS on Medium (minimum 112 FPS, maximum 151 FPS), 110 FPS on High, and 84 FPS on Ultra. All settings remain above 60 FPS, making 1440p a fully playable resolution for this game. The Medium preset's minimum of 112 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes, while Ultra's 84 FPS average provides high visual quality without sacrificing responsiveness.

At 3840x2160, the performance profile changes significantly. Low settings average 93 FPS, Medium averages 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS, High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra drops to 45 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is notable for maintaining a 60 FPS minimum, which is the threshold for consistent smoothness. The High preset's 60 FPS average is exactly at this threshold, but the lack of a reported minimum suggests potential dips below 60 FPS in complex scenes. Ultra at 45 FPS is below the ideal threshold, indicating that this settings level is only suitable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate.

The data shows a clear pattern: the combo excels at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, while 4K requires settings compromises. The Medium preset at 4K offers the best balance, with a 71 FPS average and a 60 FPS minimum. The 204 FPS average at 1080p Medium and 132 FPS at 1440p Medium demonstrate that this settings level provides the most consistent experience relative to the GPU's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 204 FPS average with a minimum of 174 FPS, which is far above any display refresh rate currently available. At 1440p, Medium maintains 132 FPS average with a 112 FPS minimum, providing smooth gameplay on high-refresh monitors. At 4K, Medium achieves 71 FPS average with a 60 FPS minimum, which is the only 4K preset that guarantees a minimum of 60 FPS.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users with 60 Hz displays at 4K, as it averages exactly 60 FPS, though the lack of a reported minimum introduces uncertainty about frame pacing. At 1440p, High delivers 110 FPS average, which is excellent for most gaming scenarios. Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p, where the 131 FPS average provides a good experience, and at 1440p where 84 FPS is playable. At 4K, Ultra's 45 FPS average falls below the standard for smooth gameplay and should be avoided.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p (267 FPS) or 1440p (172 FPS) offers the highest performance, but the visual quality reduction may not be justified given that Medium exceeds 130 FPS at both resolutions. The data indicates that Medium is the optimal preset for this combo, as it provides the best combination of frame rate headroom and visual quality across all three resolutions tested. Players with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors should use Medium at 1440p, while 60 Hz 4K users should select Medium to ensure a stable 60 FPS minimum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake 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's cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU also includes an integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU unit, though the discrete RTX 3080 handles all rendering in this test.

In Minimum, a 2014 title, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The 14 cores provide substantial multi-threaded capability, though the game's age likely limits its ability to utilize all cores effectively. The CPU's single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,648, is sufficient to drive high frame rates at 1080p, where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,394 and multithread score of 38,706 indicate strong per-core performance.

The CPU's benchmark scores show it performs within 0.8% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i5-14600K (48,618 average score, 0.8% lower) and AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49,228 average score, 0.5% higher). This tight clustering suggests that the Ultra 5 245 provides competitive performance for its segment. In the context of Minimum, the CPU's 5.10 GHz boost clock ensures that even at 1080p Low settings (267 FPS average), the processor can maintain frame generation rates that keep the GPU fully utilized. The 24 MB of L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth are more than adequate for this game's 2014-era data requirements. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all tested CPUs indicates that it is a high-performing processor, though the combo's 776th rank in Minimum suggests that the game's workload favors different CPU characteristics, potentially higher single-thread performance over the 14-core configuration.