Minimum

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 lands at rank 72 out of 2,939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 2.5% of all configurations benchmarked for this title. That is a commanding position, but the data shows the ranking is driven almost entirely by the GPU's raw output rather than any exceptional CPU contribution. The RTX 5090 sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, while the Core Ultra 5 245 sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs — both are elite components, yet the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are the kinds of specifications that dominate a third-person shooter's frame rate.

Within the CPU's immediate rival group, the Core Ultra 5 245 posts an average benchmark score of 48,995, which is within 0.8% of the Intel Core i5-14600K (48,618) and within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49,228). Those delta percentages are tiny — sub-1% differences that would be imperceptible in real-world gameplay. The combo's rank of 72 is therefore not a reflection of CPU superiority; it is a reflection of the RTX 5090's ability to push frames at the resolutions where this pairing excels. The nearest GPU rivals — the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605 average, 0.3% slower) and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% slower) — are workstation parts, not gaming cards, which further underscores that the RTX 5090's gaming performance is in a league of its own for this benchmark database. The ranking tells a simple story: this is a top-tier combination, but the CPU is not the reason.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the best experience without leaving performance on the table. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 403 FPS average, Medium hits 309 FPS, High reaches 259 FPS, and Ultra drops to 197 FPS. That is a massive spread — from 403 down to 197 — and it shows that even at Ultra, the system is well above any 144 Hz display's refresh rate. However, the step from High to Ultra costs 62 FPS (from 259 to 197), which is a 24% penalty for what is typically a marginal visual gain in a 2014 title. The Medium preset at 309 FPS with a minimum of 262 FPS and maximum of 355 FPS offers the most balanced experience: it retains a wide performance cushion while providing better image quality than Low.

At 1440p, the pattern repeats. Low produces 260 FPS, Medium 199 FPS, High 167 FPS, and Ultra 127 FPS. The Medium preset again shows the best compromise, with a minimum of 169 FPS ensuring no drops below high-refresh territory. At 4K, the choices tighten: Low yields 140 FPS, Medium 107 FPS, High 90 FPS, and Ultra 69 FPS. Here, the Medium preset (107 FPS average, 91 minimum, 123 maximum) is the recommended choice for a smooth experience on a 120 Hz display, while High remains playable for those prioritizing fidelity. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot across all three resolutions — it consistently delivers frame rates that are dramatically higher than the next step down in quality while avoiding the steep cost of Ultra. For competitive play, Low at 1080p (403 FPS) or 1440p (260 FPS) is the obvious pick, but for general use, Medium is where the combo's performance and visual quality intersect optimally.

# Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but still capable of enormous headroom at lower ones. At the High preset, performance drops from 259 FPS at 1080p to 167 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 90 FPS at 4K (a 65% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline as resolution increases is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario — the RTX 5090 is doing the heavy lifting, and each pixel quadrupling places more strain on its 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs.

At the Low preset, the scaling is even more dramatic: 403 FPS at 1080p falls to 260 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop) and then to 140 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop). The fact that Low at 4K (140 FPS) is still faster than High at 1080p from many other systems demonstrates the sheer throughput of this GPU. However, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 403 FPS figure is approaching the point where even a 14-core Arrow Lake processor can become a limiting factor, though the data shows no CPU bottleneck symptoms — the frame times remain consistent with the GPU's capability. The jump from 1440p High (167 FPS) to 1080p High (259 FPS) is a 55% increase, which is larger than the pure pixel count difference (1.78x fewer pixels) would suggest, indicating that at 1440p the GPU is still the primary constraint. By 4K, the picture is unambiguous: the RTX 5090's 32 GB memory buffer and 512-bit bus are fully engaged, and the CPU's 3.50 GHz base clock and 5.10 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient to feed the pipeline. The limiting component at 4K is the GPU, and the limiting component at 1080p is still the GPU, just with less headroom.

# FAQ

Q: How does the Core Ultra 5 245 compare to its closest CPU rivals in overall benchmark scores?

A: The Core Ultra 5 245 averages 48,995 across all benchmark tests. This is 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49,196), 0.5% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49,228), 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48,698), and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K (48,618). These are negligible differences, effectively making them performance peers.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 4K delivers 107 FPS average with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS. This is the highest preset that maintains an average above 100 FPS. High drops to 90 FPS, and Ultra falls to 69 FPS, so Medium is the recommended choice for 4K.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5090 at 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 403 FPS. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 69 FPS. That is a 5.8x difference in frame rate, illustrating the enormous impact of resolution and settings on this GPU's output.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: Benchmark results do not indicate a CPU bottleneck at any resolution. The Core Ultra 5 245 has 14 cores and 14 threads with a 5.10 GHz boost clock, which is sufficient to keep the GPU fed. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a GPU-bound pattern, with consistent drops proportional to pixel count increases.

Q: What are the RTX 5090's key memory specifications?

A: The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications are far beyond what Minimum requires, making the card overprovisioned for this title.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 72nd out of 2,939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 2.5% of all configurations. This is driven primarily by the RTX 5090's performance, which sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the measured FPS data confirms it. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, a 512-bit bus, and 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, the card has more memory throughput than any game currently requires, and Minimum — a 2014 third-person shooter — is nowhere near taxing its capabilities. The GPU's 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs provide the raw compute to drive 403 FPS at 1080p Low and 197 FPS at 1080p Ultra. The boost clock of 2407 MHz (base 2017 MHz) is relatively modest for a flagship, but the sheer number of execution units compensates. The card's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the headline number, and it shows in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355, which is a synthetic measure that translates directly to high frame rates in real-world titles.

The GPU's benchmark portfolio further illustrates its position. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 334,370 and Vulkan score of 376,728 are exceptional, while the PassMark G3D score of 39,650 places it at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database — the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605 average, 0.3% slower) and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% slower) — are compute-focused cards, meaning the RTX 5090's gaming-specific features like the 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are not even being fully utilized in a game that does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS. The 4K performance data (90 FPS at High, 107 FPS at Medium, 140 FPS at Low) shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, but that is a limitation only in the sense that no GPU can render 4K at 500 FPS. The RTX 5090 is so overprovisioned for Minimum that even at 4K Ultra (69 FPS), it is likely running well below its maximum potential clock due to power or thermal constraints rather than shader workload.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built 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 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all processors and its average benchmark score of 48,995 place it in solid company, but its role in Minimum is purely to feed the RTX 5090 — and it does so without becoming a bottleneck at any resolution. The PassMark multithread score of 38,706 and single-thread score of 4,394 indicate balanced performance that is more than adequate for a game that typically relies on a few heavily-threaded tasks.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database are all within 0.8% of its average score, which means swapping in a Ryzen 9 7900 or an i5-14600K would yield virtually identical frame rates in this title. The Cinebench R23 scores (32,924 multi-core, 4,648 single-core) show that the CPU can sustain high clocks under load, and the data compression score of 400,942 on PassMark suggests strong integer performance. However, the key metric for Minimum is the CPU's ability to maintain frame pacing at high FPS. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 403 FPS, and the fact that the frame rate does not plateau or show inconsistency suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output. The 14 threads (14 cores with no hyperthreading) are sufficient for this title, and the 5.10 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded game logic runs smoothly. The CPU's 65 W TDP is modest, but its performance class is high, and its 24 MB L3 cache is ample for game data. In summary, the Core Ultra 5 245 is a capable partner for the RTX 5090, but its contribution to the combo's rank 72 is more about not holding the GPU back than about adding any independent performance advantage. The GPU is the star; the CPU is the reliable supporting act.