Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a playable but constrained experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The data shows a system that scales predictably with resolution and settings, but one where the graphics card becomes the primary bottleneck at higher visual loads. This analysis walks through the measured frame rates to determine where this pairing performs best and where it falls short.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, revealing a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 145 FPS at 1920x1080 to 94 FPS at 2560x1440, a 35% reduction, and then to 50 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 47% drop. This scaling pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B570 is the limiting component as pixel count rises; the CPU has ample headroom in this older title.

The gap between resolutions widens with higher settings presets. At Medium, the average goes from 111 FPS at 1080p to 72 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop) and then to 39 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). The trend is nearly identical for High settings: 93 FPS at 1080p, 60 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4K. The consistent percentage losses across settings suggest that resolution, not the complexity of the scene, is the dominant factor in performance degradation.

The most telling data point is the Ultra preset at 4K, which averages just 25 FPS. This is a 65% reduction from the 71 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra. The frame rate at 4K Ultra is barely above slideshow territory, confirming that the combination of high pixel count and maximum settings overwhelms the Arc B570's 10 GB memory and 160-bit bus. Interestingly, the 1080p to 1440p drop at Ultra (71 to 46 FPS, a 35% decrease) is proportionally similar to the other presets, but the 1440p to 4K drop (46 to 25 FPS, a 46% decrease) is slightly steeper, hinting that the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth are stretched to their limits.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Minimum?*

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the most comfortable resolution, with average frame rates ranging from 71 FPS on Ultra to 145 FPS on Low. At 2560x1440, performance is playable on Medium (72 FPS) and High (60 FPS), but drops to 46 FPS on Ultra. 3840x2160 is only viable on Low (50 FPS) or Medium (39 FPS).

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 46 FPS, which is 14 FPS lower than the High preset's 60 FPS. The 30% performance penalty for Ultra settings makes High the more sensible choice for maintaining a smoother experience at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the frame rate limits at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the system reaches 145 FPS on Low settings, which is a high frame rate, but the CPU's capability is likely not the ceiling. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has 20 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The more significant factor is that the Arc B570's performance scales down as settings rise, dropping to 71 FPS on Ultra, indicating the GPU is the primary constraint.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in this title?

A: Yes, but only at reduced settings. The measured results show 50 FPS on Low and 39 FPS on Medium at 3840x2160. The High preset averages 32 FPS, and Ultra is unplayable at 25 FPS. Players targeting 4K must accept lower visual quality to maintain a playable frame rate.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The data includes min and max values only for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the average is 111 FPS with a min of 95 and max of 128, showing a tight range. At 1440p, the average is 72 FPS with a min of 61 and max of 82, which is also stable. At 4K, the average is 39 FPS with a min of 33 and max of 44, indicating a consistent experience even at lower frame rates.

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

A: The combination ranks 2336 out of 2939 tested combos for this game, placing it in the 21st percentile. This means it performs better than roughly one-fifth of all tested pairings, which is a modest result given the hardware specifications.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2336 out of 2939 tested combinations places this system in the lower-middle tier of all configurations tested for Minimum. This ranking is notable because the individual components have solid benchmark scores. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 achieves a 93rd percentile score against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. The Intel Arc B570 sits in the 65th percentile for GPUs with an average score of 20556.

The discrepancy between component-level percentiles and the in-game combo rank suggests that the game itself is not heavily demanding on the CPU. The CPU's 20 cores are largely underutilized in a 2014 title, while the GPU's mid-range performance becomes the limiting factor. The Arc B570's nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A750, which has a deltaPct of -0.1, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, with a deltaPct of 0.1, indicating near-identical synthetic performance. In practice, this puts the B570 in a competitive but not dominant position for this game.

The rank also reflects the resolution at which the system is likely used. At 1080p, the combo offers high frame rates, but at 4K, it falls into the bottom tier of playable performance. A user with a 1440p monitor will find a better experience than one with a 4K display. The measured data shows that the system is capable of 60 FPS at 1440p High, which is a reasonable target, but the 2336 rank suggests that many other combos achieve higher frame rates at similar or better settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system performs admirably. The Low preset averages 145 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. The Medium preset averages 111 FPS with a minimum of 95 and a maximum of 128, indicating smooth frame pacing. High averages 93 FPS, and Ultra drops to 71 FPS. All 1080p presets are playable, and the 71 FPS floor on Ultra is still above the 60 FPS threshold for most users.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease but remain manageable. Low averages 94 FPS, Medium averages 72 FPS (min 61, max 82), and High averages 60 FPS. These numbers suggest that 1440p is a viable resolution for this combo, particularly on Medium or High settings. The Ultra preset, however, averages 46 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target and may cause noticeable stutter in fast-paced action sequences.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low averages 50 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS (min 33, max 44), and High averages 32 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 25 FPS, which is not a playable experience. For 4K users, the Low preset is the only option that consistently stays above 50 FPS, and even that is borderline. The data shows a clear pattern: the higher the resolution, the more the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the less viable the higher settings become.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the primary performance limiter in this configuration. Its specifications include 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. The base and boost clocks are both 2500 MHz, and the FP32 performance is 11.52 TFLOPS. These specs place it in the mid-range tier, and the benchmark results confirm this positioning with a 65th percentile score.

In Minimum, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. The 10 GB VRAM is sufficient for this older title, even at 4K, as the game's textures are unlikely to exceed that capacity. However, the 160-bit memory bus and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth may struggle with the pixel fill rate required at 3840x2160. The texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s are moderate, and the data shows that the GPU's performance degrades significantly at 4K, particularly at Ultra settings.

The Arc B570's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, has a deltaPct of -0.1, meaning the B570 is slightly faster. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is 0.1% faster. This level of performance is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Minimum, but the 4K results (25-50 FPS depending on settings) illustrate the GPU's limits. The 150 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a mid-range power draw, but the performance data is what matters most here.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers 71 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 93 FPS is also excellent if the user prefers higher frame rates over maximum visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 111 FPS is a solid middle ground, but the data suggests there is no reason to drop below High at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended setting, averaging 60 FPS exactly. This provides a good balance between visual quality and performance. The Medium preset at 72 FPS is also viable, and it offers a 12 FPS improvement over High, which might be preferable for users with high refresh rate monitors. The Ultra preset at 46 FPS is not recommended, as it falls below the 60 FPS target and may introduce perceptible stutter.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only viable option, averaging 50 FPS. The Medium preset at 39 FPS is playable but not ideal, and the High and Ultra presets at 32 and 25 FPS respectively are too slow for a smooth experience. Users with 4K displays should accept the visual compromises of the Low preset to maintain a playable frame rate, or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a powerful processor with 20 cores and 20 threads, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960. It also achieves a 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs, indicating top-tier performance.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is less critical than the GPU's. The game was released in 2014 and likely uses only a few cores, so the 20-core processor is largely underutilized. The high single-core performance, as evidenced by the 5960 R23 score, is more relevant for gaming. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures that the CPU can handle any single-threaded tasks the game throws at it without becoming a bottleneck.

The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 145 FPS, which is a high frame rate that many CPUs would struggle to maintain. The fact that the frame rate drops to 71 FPS at 1080p Ultra indicates that the GPU, not the CPU, is the limiting factor. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4464P, which is 0.3% faster, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, which is 0.3% slower. These minor differences have no practical impact in this game, as the CPU is never the primary constraint.