Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional performance in Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. The benchmark data shows this combination is capable of hitting extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions and presets, though the performance scaling reveals distinct behaviors depending on the workload. This analysis breaks down the measured results to provide actionable settings guidance, component role assessment, and a clear picture of how this combo stacks up.

Settings Recommendations

For a game like Minimum, the primary goal is achieving the highest possible frame rate to ensure smooth, responsive gameplay. Based on the measured FPS data, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers the absolute highest average of 394 FPS, but this comes at the cost of visual fidelity. The Medium preset at the same resolution provides a more balanced experience, with an average of 301 FPS and a minimum of 256 FPS, ensuring very consistent performance.

However, the data suggests that the High preset at 1920x1080 is the optimal choice for most users. It produces an average of 253 FPS, which is still far beyond the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, and it offers significantly better visual quality than Medium or Low. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p results in a substantial drop to 193 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset demands considerably more from the hardware for relatively marginal visual improvements. Given that High already provides a massive performance buffer, it is the recommended preset for the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the High preset remains the sweet spot, producing an average of 163 FPS. This is a strong result for a high-resolution display, and the drop to Ultra (124 FPS) is more significant. While 124 FPS is still playable, the High preset's 163 FPS average offers a smoother experience. For 4K (3840x2160), the High preset yields 88 FPS on average, which is the highest quality setting that remains comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K is the safest choice for a locked 60+ FPS experience, with an average of 105 FPS and a minimum of 89 FPS, providing a good safety margin against frame drops. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 67 FPS, which may be acceptable for some but is riskier due to its proximity to the 60 FPS line.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications demonstrate why it drives such high frame rates. The GPU features a massive 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This enormous memory bandwidth is critical for handling the high-resolution textures and data streams required at 4K, preventing memory bottlenecks that could otherwise limit performance.

The GPU's clock speeds are also notably high, with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 16,384 shading units, allow the RTX 4090 to process geometry and pixel data at an extraordinary rate. The data shows that the GPU is consistently the primary driver of performance, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution. For instance, at High settings, the average FPS drops from 253 at 1080p to 163 at 1440p, and then to 88 at 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is fully utilized and that the frame rate is being limited by its rendering capabilities rather than by the CPU.

The RTX 4090's benchmarks further solidify its position. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and Passmark G3D score of 38194 place it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, according to the data. While its nearest rivals in the database show a negligible average score delta (0% to 2.9%), the RTX 4090's raw performance in this game is clearly sufficient to push frame rates to the extreme. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power ensures that even the most complex shaders in Minimum are handled with ease.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate measured is 394 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 a bottleneck at 1080p, or does the CPU limit performance?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p. The frame rates are extremely high (193-394 FPS depending on settings), and the scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent drop, which is typical of GPU-bound scenarios. The CPU does not appear to be limiting performance at these settings.

Q: Can this combo maintain a stable 60 FPS at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. At 4K with the Ultra preset, the average FPS is 67. While this is above 60 FPS, the minimum FPS was not measured. For a more stable experience with a larger safety margin, the Medium preset at 4K (105 FPS average, 89 FPS minimum) is recommended.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance cost?

A: The performance cost is significant. At 1080p, moving from High (253 FPS) to Ultra (193 FPS) results in a 60 FPS drop, a roughly 24% performance reduction. This pattern is consistent across all resolutions, with a 39 FPS drop at 1440p and a 21 FPS drop at 4K.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested configurations?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + RTX 4090 combination ranks 126th out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the top 3.4% of all configurations in the database for this game.

Q: Is the GPU's 24 GB of VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: Yes, completely. The 24 GB memory pool is more than sufficient for Minimum, a game from 2014. The high memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is a more relevant factor for ensuring smooth performance at high resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark data places this specific combination at rank 126 out of 3712 combos in Minimum. This ranking places it in the top percentile of all tested configurations, reflecting the sheer power of the RTX 4090. The GPU's percentile ranking of 88 versus all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 60347 corroborate its high-end status. While the CPU is a newer model with a 90th percentile ranking, its role in this game is secondary; the frame rates achieved are primarily a signal of the GPU's capabilities.

The ranking implies that this combo outperforms the vast majority of alternatives for this title. In practical terms, this means that users can expect an exceptionally smooth experience at any resolution, with the only limitation being the refresh rate of their display. The gap between this combo and lower-ranked ones is likely to be substantial, as the RTX 4090 is at the top of the consumer GPU stack. The data shows that even at the most demanding preset (4K Ultra), the combo still produces an average of 67 FPS, a result that many other systems cannot achieve at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 253 at 1920x1080 to 163 at 2560x1440, and finally to 88 at 3840x2160. This represents a 55.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. This scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload, where the rendering load increases quadratically with pixel count.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced, with FPS dropping from 394 at 1080p to 254 at 1440p (a 35.5% drop) and then to 137 at 4K (a 46.1% drop from 1440p). This steeper decline at lower settings suggests that as the GPU's workload decreases, other factors like draw calls and CPU overhead become more prominent, though the CPU does not appear to be a hard bottleneck given the high absolute numbers.

The Ultra preset shows the most linear scaling, with FPS at 193 (1080p), 124 (1440p), and 67 (4K). The drop from 1080p to 4K is a 65.3% reduction, which is standard for a heavily GPU-intensive workload. The Medium preset, which is the only one with measured minimum and maximum FPS, shows a similar trend: 301 FPS average at 1080p, 194 FPS at 1440p, and 105 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS values (256 at 1080p, 165 at 1440p, 89 at 4K) indicate that frame pacing remains tight, with no severe stutters. This scaling analysis confirms that the RTX 4090 is the limiting component across all resolutions, but it is so powerful that it only becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to a level where other components might start to matter.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the complete set of measured average frame rates for this combo:

At 3840x2160 (4K):

• Low settings: 137 FPS average
• Medium settings: 105 FPS average, with a minimum of 89 FPS and maximum of 120 FPS
• High settings: 88 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 67 FPS average

At 2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low settings: 254 FPS average
• Medium settings: 194 FPS average, with a minimum of 165 FPS and maximum of 223 FPS
• High settings: 163 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 124 FPS average

At 1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low settings: 394 FPS average
• Medium settings: 301 FPS average, with a minimum of 256 FPS and maximum of 347 FPS
• High settings: 253 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 193 FPS average

These figures show that the RTX 4090 is capable of delivering over 100 FPS at 4K on all settings except Ultra. The 1080p results are exceptionally high, exceeding 250 FPS on High and reaching nearly 400 FPS on Low. The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data, and it shows excellent consistency, with the minimum FPS being at least 80% of the average in all cases. This suggests that the hardware is well-suited to handle the game's engine without significant frame-time spikes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 plays a supporting but essential role in this configuration. This CPU features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its architecture, Arrow Lake-S, is built on a 3 nm process. While its core count is modest compared to high-end HEDT processors, its high boost clock is crucial for gaming performance.

The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong single-threaded performance, which is the key metric for games. Its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 4648, and its Passmark single-thread score is 4394. These scores place the CPU in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, according to the data. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, has a negligible average score delta of -0.5%, indicating that the Ultra 5 245 is on par with top-tier gaming chips.

In the context of Minimum, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic data. The measured frame rates, particularly at 1080p, are so high that even a slower CPU could potentially become a bottleneck. However, the data shows no evidence of CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the CPU must process a massive number of frames (394 FPS), and it does so without causing a drop in performance. The fact that the FPS scales down smoothly with resolution increases suggests that the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's demand at all times.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth are also sufficient for this game's data requirements. The high boost clock of 5.10 GHz ensures that the primary gaming threads are processed with minimal latency. While the GPU is the star of this show, the Core Ultra 5 245 provides a solid foundation that does not hinder the RTX 4090's performance. In this game, the CPU is not a limiting factor; it is a capable partner that allows the GPU to reach its full potential.