Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination lands at rank 1764 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 60th percentile of all pairings evaluated for this title. That rank reflects a mid-pack standing, not a top-tier result, and the data indicates the pairing is balanced enough to handle the game at most settings, though it will not dominate high-resolution or ultra-quality workloads. The combo’s position is noteworthy because the CPU itself sits at the 93rd percentile among all processors in the database, while the GPU sits at the 66th percentile among all graphics cards. This gap suggests the RTX 5050 is the performance ceiling in most scenarios, a pattern that becomes clearer when examining how frame rates respond to resolution and settings changes. For a third-person shooter released in 2014, the measured results show a system that can deliver playable performance at 1080p and 1440p across multiple presets, but 4K remains a challenge without dropping to lower quality levels. The following sections break down exactly what the benchmark data says about this specific pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1764 out of 2939 tested combinations places it slightly above the median but far from the top quartile. In percentage terms, roughly 60% of all CPU-GPU pairings tested for Minimum outperform this setup, while about 40% fall behind. That is a respectable but unremarkable position for a desktop pairing built around a 2025 CPU and a 2025 GPU. The CPU’s individual standing is far stronger: the Core Ultra 7 265 sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs in the benchmark database, meaning it outperforms 93% of processors tested across all workloads. Its average benchmark score is 64,640, which is 0.3% below the AMD EPYC 4464P (64,823) and 0.7% below the AMD EPYC 9124 (65,104). Against the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, it is 0.3% ahead (64,438), and it leads the AMD EPYC 7343 by 0.7% (64,202). These deltas are tiny, indicating the Core Ultra 7 265 is statistically tied with its closest rivals in synthetic CPU benchmarks, despite having 20 cores and 20 threads.

The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,035. That is 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21,153) and 1% below the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21,237), while leading the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT by 1.6% (20,713) and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile by 1.6% (21,379). The RTX 5050’s nearest rivals are a mix of older mobile and desktop parts, which underscores that its raw compute performance is modest for a modern card. In Minimum, this CPU-GPU imbalance shows up directly: the CPU has ample headroom, but the GPU becomes the binding constraint as resolution climbs. The rank of 1764 reflects that the pairing is not optimized for maximum frame rates in this title; instead, it delivers consistent mid-range performance that will satisfy most players at 1080p or 1440p with adjusted settings. For context, the combo’s rank is just above the 60th percentile, so it outperforms a clear majority of tested systems, but it is nowhere near the top 10% of configurations that would push 4K ultra frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for this combo depends entirely on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 137 FPS with a minimum of 117 FPS and a maximum of 158 FPS. That is a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience with no discernible frame dips below 117 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold most players consider playable. The High preset at 1080p drops to an average of 115 FPS, still excellent, but the Medium preset offers more headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 88 FPS, which is fine for most monitors, but the minimum frame data is not provided, so Medium is the safer recommendation for consistent performance. The Low preset at 1080p hits 179 FPS on average, but that comes with visual quality trade-offs that are unnecessary given the Medium preset’s strong numbers.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out, averaging 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 102 FPS. This is the sweet spot for this resolution, as it maintains a steady frame rate above 75 FPS even in the worst-case measured scenario. The High preset at 1440p averages 74 FPS, which is also playable, but the minimum frame data is missing, and the 14 FPS gap between High and Medium averages suggests Medium provides more stability. The Low preset at 1440p averages 116 FPS, which is great for competitive play, but again, Medium offers a better balance of visuals and performance. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and likely to feel stuttery in fast-paced shooter action, so it is not recommended unless the player prioritizes image quality over smoothness.

At 4K, no preset delivers a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset averages 62 FPS, which is barely playable, but the Medium preset drops to 48 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS, and High falls to 40 FPS. The Ultra preset averages just 30 FPS, which is too low for a third-person shooter. Given these numbers, the recommended settings are Medium at 1080p and 1440p, and Low at 4K if the player must use that resolution. The data shows that the RTX 5050’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at Medium, but the GPU’s 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is not enough to sustain high frame rates at 4K beyond the Low preset.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 137 at 1080p to 88 at 1440p, a 35.8% reduction, and then to 48 at 4K, a further 45.5% reduction from the 1440p figure. Across the full range, the Medium preset loses 65% of its 1080p performance when moving to 4K. The High preset shows a similar pattern: 115 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p (a 35.7% drop), and 40 FPS at 4K (a 45.9% drop from 1440p). The Low preset starts at 179 FPS at 1080p, falls to 116 FPS at 1440p (a 35.2% drop), and then to 62 FPS at 4K (a 46.6% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets—roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and another 46% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the scaling is driven by pixel count, not by CPU bottlenecks.

This behavior points squarely at the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see smaller frame rate differences at higher resolutions, because the GPU would become less utilized as resolution increases. Instead, the frame rates scale almost linearly with the number of pixels: 1080p has 2.07 million pixels, 1440p has 3.69 million, and 4K has 8.29 million. The measured drops align closely with these pixel count increases, suggesting the RTX 5050’s rendering pipeline is saturated at higher resolutions. The Core Ultra 7 265, with its 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock, is not the bottleneck here; its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42,216 and single-core score of 5,960 indicate it can feed frames far faster than the GPU can render them at 1440p and 4K. The data supports a conclusion that players with this combo should target 1080p or 1440p, where the GPU can maintain higher utilization, rather than 4K, where the pixel load overwhelms the card’s 2560 shading units and 32 ROPs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the measured FPS values show a clear hierarchy across presets. The Low preset averages 179 FPS, the highest of any configuration tested. The Medium preset averages 137 FPS, with a minimum of 117 FPS and a maximum of 158 FPS, providing a stable experience. The High preset averages 115 FPS, which is 16% lower than Medium. The Ultra preset averages 88 FPS, which is 36% below Medium and the weakest 1080p result. No minimum or maximum frame data is provided for Low, High, or Ultra at 1080p, so the Medium preset is the only one with full frame variance data. The gap between Low and Medium is 42 FPS, indicating that visual quality settings have a substantial impact on this GPU at 1080p, but even the Ultra preset stays above 60 FPS.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. The Low preset averages 116 FPS, which is 35% lower than its 1080p counterpart. The Medium preset averages 88 FPS, with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 102 FPS. The High preset averages 74 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 57 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 59 FPS, a larger absolute gap than at 1080p, which reflects the increased pixel load. The Medium preset’s minimum of 75 FPS is notable because it stays above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the best choice for consistent gameplay at this resolution. The High preset’s average of 74 FPS is barely above 60, and without min/max data, it is riskier to recommend.

At 4K, the results are more constrained. The Low preset averages 62 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 55 FPS, indicating that frame times will spike below 40 FPS in demanding scenes. The High preset averages 40 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 30 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 41 FPS is particularly problematic for a shooter, as it means the game will stutter during combat. The Low preset, despite lacking min/max data, is the only viable option at 4K, and even then, its 62 FPS average leaves little headroom for drops. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset is the only one with complete frame variance data, which suggests that the benchmark methodology focused on this setting for stability analysis.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested CPU-GPU pairings for Minimum?*

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1764 out of 2939 tested combos, placing it in the 60th percentile of all systems evaluated for this game.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest average frame rate at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest average at 179 FPS. The Medium preset averages 137 FPS, while High averages 115 FPS and Ultra averages 88 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 4K?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 137 FPS at 1080p to 88 FPS at 1440p and 48 FPS at 4K, a scaling pattern that matches pixel count increases rather than CPU constraints.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate measured for this combo?

A: The lowest average is 30 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra preset. This is the only tested configuration that falls below 40 FPS on average.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest GPU rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21,035, which is 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20,713) and 1.6% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21,379). It trails the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M by 1%.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The maximum recorded frame rate is 158 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Medium preset. The next highest max is 102 FPS at 2560x1440 with the Medium preset.

Q: How many cores and threads does the Core Ultra 7 265 have?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. It features 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Its base clock is 2.40 GHz, and it boosts to 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,960 in Cinebench R23 single-core, alongside a PassMark multi-thread score of 49,682 and a single-thread score of 4,689. These numbers place it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the AMD EPYC 4464P, Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, AMD EPYC 7343, and AMD EPYC 9124—are all within 0.7% of its average score of 64,640.

In Minimum, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game logic updates to avoid bottlenecking. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 179 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it still reaches 88 FPS. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see frame rates plateau or even drop at lower resolutions, where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is the signature of a GPU-bound system. The Core Ultra 7 265’s high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 5,960) ensures that the game’s main thread, which is typically the bottleneck in older titles like Minimum from 2014, is not starved. The 20 cores also handle background tasks and any multi-threaded game systems without issue, but the game’s age means it likely does not utilize all 20 threads effectively.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provides ample data throughput for the GPU, and its PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU ensures the RTX 5050 can communicate at full speed, even though the GPU uses a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache is more than sufficient for a game from 2014, which would have been designed for processors with far less cache. In practical terms, the Core Ultra 7 265 is overkill for Minimum, but that overkill guarantees that the RTX 5050 is the only component that matters for frame rate tuning. Players with this combo should focus on GPU settings—particularly reducing resolution or preset quality—rather than worrying about CPU limitations. The data confirms this: the drop from 1080p Medium (137 FPS) to 4K Medium (48 FPS) is a 65% reduction, which cannot be attributed to the CPU, as its performance is consistent across all tested configurations. The CPU’s job is done well, leaving the GPU as the clear target for any performance improvements.