Minimum

FAQ

Q: What is the measured performance of this combo in Minimum at 1080p High settings?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile delivers an average of 128 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H has an average benchmark score of 34083. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, scores 33989, a difference of only 0.3%. The AMD EPYC 4244P and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 both score slightly higher at 34220 and 34222 respectively, each showing a -0.4% delta relative to this CPU.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29928.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo achieve its highest average FPS?

A: The highest measured average is 199 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 152 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 2051 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack.

Q: Does the GPU have a higher or lower average benchmark score than the RTX 3070 Ti?

A: The RTX 5070 Mobile scores 29928, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti's score of 29945. It is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2080 Ti's 29783.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile is the primary driver of frame rates in Minimum, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. Its base clock is 907 MHz with a boost clock of 1425 MHz, and memory runs at 1500 MHz with 24 Gbps effective speed.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial. With 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines, it delivers a pixel rate of 68.40 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 13.13 TFLOPS, matching the FP16 rate at a 1:1 ratio. These specifications translate into measurable performance differences across settings.

Looking at the benchmark data, the GPU's role becomes clearer. At 4K with High settings, the combo averages 44 FPS. Dropping to Medium settings raises this to 53 FPS, while Low settings push it to 69 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K bring the average down to 34 FPS. This spread of 35 FPS between Low and Ultra at 4K demonstrates how heavily the GPU is taxed by the highest quality presets.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. High settings produce 82 FPS, Medium yields 98 FPS, and Low reaches 128 FPS. Ultra drops to 63 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 65 FPS, showing that the GPU still dominates performance scaling, but the CPU begins to contribute more meaningfully at lower resolutions.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game's demands across all tested settings. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains playable performance, suggesting that memory capacity is not a limiting factor in Minimum. The GDDR7 memory type and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate headroom for texture streaming and geometry processing at high resolutions.

The GPU's transistor count of 21,900 million on a 181 mm² die, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process, indicates a dense, power-efficient design. The 50 W TDP is modest for a mobile part, yet the performance metrics show it competes with desktop GPUs from previous generations. The RTX 5070 Mobile scores 20355 in Passmark G3D and 8279 in GPU compute tests, with DirectX 12 performance measured at 93 in Passmark's DirectX 12 test.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p with High settings, the combo averages 128 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 82 FPS, a reduction of 46 FPS. At 4K High, the average falls to 44 FPS, representing a 84 FPS drop from the 1080p baseline. This indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly constrained as pixel count rises.

Low settings show a similar trend. At 1080p Low, the average is 199 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 128 FPS, a 71 FPS decrease. At 4K Low, the average is 69 FPS, which is 130 FPS lower than the 1080p result. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is approximately 65%, while at High settings it is about 66%. This consistency suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck across all quality presets.

Medium settings provide the most complete data, including minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 152 FPS with a minimum of 129 and maximum of 175. At 1440p Medium, the average is 98 FPS with a range of 83 to 113. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 53 FPS with a range of 45 to 61. The frame time consistency, as indicated by the spread between minimum and maximum, remains relatively stable across resolutions, suggesting no sudden stuttering or memory-related hitches.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling curve. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 97 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 63 FPS, a 34 FPS reduction. At 4K Ultra, the average is 34 FPS, which is 63 FPS below the 1080p figure. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings is about 46%, slightly less than the drop from 1080p to 1440p at 35%. This suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU is nearing its limits even at 1440p, and the additional resolution at 4K produces diminishing returns in terms of visual quality versus performance cost.

The scaling behavior indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 22 threads, has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. However, at 4K, the GPU's compute resources and memory bandwidth become the constraining factor, as shown by the significant FPS drops across all settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. With Low settings, the average FPS is 199, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. Medium settings produce an average of 152 FPS, with a minimum of 129 and maximum of 175. High settings yield 128 FPS on average. Ultra settings bring the average down to 97 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 102 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom at this resolution and can accommodate significant visual quality increases.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably but remains playable. Low settings average 128 FPS, which matches the 1080p High result. Medium settings average 98 FPS, with a range of 83 to 113. High settings produce 82 FPS on average. Ultra settings drop to 63 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 65 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, showing that the GPU is becoming more constrained.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 69 FPS, which is the lowest Low-setting result across all resolutions. Medium settings average 53 FPS, with a range of 45 to 61. High settings produce 44 FPS on average. Ultra settings drop to 34 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 35 FPS, the smallest spread among the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

The Medium settings data provides the most detailed picture of performance stability. At 1080p, the minimum FPS of 129 and maximum of 175 indicate a 46 FPS range, which is relatively tight. At 1440p, the range narrows to 30 FPS (83 to 113). At 4K, the range is 16 FPS (45 to 61). This tightening of frame time variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is consistently saturated, reducing the likelihood of sudden frame spikes or drops.

The data shows that for smooth 60 FPS gameplay, users would need to select Medium settings at 1440p or High settings at 1080p. At 4K, even Low settings cannot consistently maintain 60 FPS, averaging 69 FPS but with no minimum FPS data available to confirm stability. Ultra settings at 4K are only suitable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, as the 34 FPS average is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a third-person shooter.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile ranks 2051 out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum. This places the combo in the 55th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 45% of combinations perform better. The ranking reflects a balanced but not exceptional setup, capable of handling the game at high settings on 1080p and medium settings on 1440p, but struggling at 4K.

The CPU's individual performance contributes to this ranking. With an average benchmark score of 34083, the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, which scores 33989 (0.3% higher), and the AMD EPYC 4244P and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, both scoring around 34220 (0.4% higher). The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X scores 34260, which is 0.5% higher. These small deltas indicate that the CPU is competitive with a range of modern processors.

The GPU's ranking is more modest. The RTX 5070 Mobile sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29928. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3070 Ti, scores 29945, just 0.1% higher. The RTX 2080 Ti scores 29783, which is 0.5% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 30095, 0.6% higher, and the RX 6700 scores 30433, 1.7% higher. These comparisons show that the GPU performs at a level comparable to previous-generation high-end desktop cards.

The combination of a top-quartile CPU with a top-quartile GPU results in a mid-pack ranking for Minimum specifically. This suggests that the game's engine is not heavily optimized for this particular hardware combination, or that other factors such as memory bandwidth or driver overhead are limiting performance. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate data flow, but the game may not fully utilize the CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 28 W. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. Its cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache.

In Minimum, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 199 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most displays. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU can process game logic and physics quickly enough to feed the GPU at low resolutions. The CPU's single-thread performance, measured at 1759 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 3509 in Passmark single-thread, is sufficient for the game's AI and gameplay systems.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is strong, with Cinebench R23 multi-core scoring 14551 and Cinebench R20 multi-core scoring 9233. Passmark multithread results show 25933, with integer math at 89415 and floating-point math at 66273. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle background tasks and streaming without impacting game performance. The data compression score of 291161 and encryption score of 17169 further demonstrate the CPU's capability in memory-intensive operations.

However, the CPU's impact on Minimum's performance is secondary to the GPU. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent across all settings, suggesting that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, where the CPU's influence would be most apparent, the combo still achieves high frame rates, indicating that the CPU has sufficient headroom. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs reinforces this assessment, showing that it performs better than the majority of processors in synthetic benchmarks.

The CPU's 28 W TDP is low for a 16-core processor, which may affect sustained performance in thermally constrained laptops. However, the benchmark data shows consistent results across multiple tests, suggesting that the CPU can maintain its boost clock of 5.00 GHz under load. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG 128EU graphics provide a fallback for basic display tasks, but the discrete RTX 5070 Mobile handles all game rendering. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 support with 8 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, ensuring that data transfer between the two components does not become a bottleneck in Minimum.