Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti occupies a specific niche in the benchmark hierarchy for Minimum. This combination ranks 3198th out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of systems evaluated for this title. The pairing of a high-end 2024 processor with an end-of-life 2019 graphics card creates a substantial imbalance that the measured frame rates clearly illustrate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 3198 out of 3712 places this system in the bottom 15% of tested configurations for Minimum. This low standing is primarily attributable to the GPU component, which sits at the 41st percentile among all tested graphics cards. The central processor, by contrast, performs at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. This disparity between the two components is the defining characteristic of this system's performance profile.

Benchmark results indicate that the graphics card is the limiting factor in nearly all scenarios. The GTX 1660 Ti's average benchmark score of 7723 places it in close competition with the AMD Radeon 540, which scores 7673 with a delta of 0.7%. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 trails by 1.9% with a score of 7580, while the AMD Radeon R7 250 and Intel Arc A310 are 2.2% and 2.3% behind, respectively. These margins are narrow, suggesting that the GPU's performance class is well established.

On the CPU side, the Core Ultra 7 265K achieves an average benchmark score of 70879. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6511P, scores 71051, representing a negligible -0.2% difference. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 is 0.7% ahead at 71370, while the Intel Core i7-14700KF trails by 1% at 70163. The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is 1.3% behind at 69996. These tight margins indicate that the processor is firmly within the top tier of desktop CPUs.

The fundamental issue with this combination is that the CPU's substantial processing headroom goes largely unused in Minimum. The game's frame rates at 1080p, even at Ultra settings, remain well within the range where the GTX 1660 Ti can maintain reasonable performance. At higher resolutions, the GPU bottleneck becomes even more pronounced, further diminishing the CPU's contribution to overall system performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture using the TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die, with a transistor density of 23.2 million per square millimeter. The card operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while the 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective data rate.

Memory bandwidth is a critical consideration for this card. The 192-bit memory bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is modest by modern standards but adequate for the game's requirements at lower settings. The 6 GB VRAM capacity becomes a constraint at higher resolutions and quality settings, as the measured data suggests the card struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s provide a baseline for understanding the card's fill rate limitations. The FP32 performance of 5.437 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 10.87 TFLOPS (2:1), defines the card's mathematical throughput, which proves insufficient for high-resolution gaming in this title.

The card's overall benchmark performance places it at the 41st percentile among all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 12871. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1061 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 51029 further characterize its capabilities. DirectX 11 performance, as measured by Passmark, shows a score of 103, while DirectX 12 scores drop to 51, indicating potential API overhead concerns.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K represents the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. This processor features 20 cores and 20 threads, a configuration that prioritizes multi-threaded performance. The base clock of 3.90 GHz can boost up to 5.50 GHz, providing substantial single-thread performance when needed.

The cache hierarchy consists of 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 30 MB L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. ECC memory support is included, which is notable for a desktop processor. PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU provides ample connectivity for modern components.

In synthetic benchmarks, the processor demonstrates its capabilities. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and single-core score of 2020 highlight the balance between multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Geekbench results show 23085 for multi-core and 2713 for single-core. Passmark scores include 58594 for multi-thread performance and 4928 for single-thread performance, with a physics score of 3731.

The processor's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it a flexible platform for various workloads. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units provides basic display output capabilities, though the dedicated GPU handles all rendering in this configuration. The 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die represent a dense, efficient design.

For Minimum, the CPU's role is largely to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data suggests that the processor rarely becomes a bottleneck, even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead typically increases. The measured FPS at 1080p Low of 131 average frames per second indicates that the CPU can push well beyond what the GPU can render at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: Why does this combo rank so low despite having a top-tier CPU?

A: The combo ranks 3198th out of 3712 because the GTX 1660 Ti sits at the 41st percentile among GPUs, while the Core Ultra 7 265K performs at the 94th percentile among CPUs. The GPU's performance ceiling limits the entire system in this game.

Q: What is the best performance this system can achieve?

A: The highest average frame rate is 131 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 100 FPS, and at 1080p High it reaches 84 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1080p yields 64 FPS average.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti's average benchmark score of 7723 is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon 540, 1.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100, and 2.3% ahead of the Intel Arc A310. These are small margins, indicating the card is at the boundary of its performance class.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at different resolutions?

A: The GPU becomes increasingly limiting as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 131 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 45 FPS. The CPU's high single-thread score of 2020 in Cinebench R23 suggests it is not the bottleneck in any measured scenario.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum frame rates at Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the system achieves an average of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 and maximum of 115. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average is 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 and maximum of 40.

Q: How does the processor's multi-core performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265K scores 70879 on average benchmarks. The Intel Xeon 6511P is 0.2% higher, the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 is 0.7% higher, the Intel Core i7-14700KF is 1% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is 1.3% lower. These differences are minimal, showing the processor is well within the top tier.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the system delivers 131 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 84 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 45 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K.

The High settings show a similar trend with 84 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K. Medium settings follow the pattern with 100 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce 64 FPS, 41 FPS, and 22 FPS across the three resolutions, respectively.

This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The frame rate reductions are roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count, indicating that the GTX 1660 Ti's rendering throughput is the primary constraint. The CPU's performance headroom, evidenced by its high benchmark scores, does not manifest in improved frame rates at higher resolutions.

The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep, with frame rates dropping by nearly half across all settings. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s and 6 GB VRAM capacity are insufficient for the demands of 4K rendering in this title. The 192-bit memory bus becomes a bottleneck when handling the increased texture and geometry data at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution and performance requirements. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset provides the best balance with an average of 100 FPS and a minimum of 85 FPS. This configuration maintains smooth gameplay while offering improved visual quality over Low settings, which achieve 131 FPS but with reduced detail.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset is the most viable option with an average of 84 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 65 FPS, which remains playable, but the minimum of 55 FPS suggests occasional dips that may be noticeable in fast-paced action. The High preset at 54 FPS and Ultra at 41 FPS sacrifice too much performance for the visual gains.

At 3840x2160, the system cannot deliver consistently playable frame rates at any setting. The Low preset achieves 45 FPS, which is borderline, while Medium drops to 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS. High and Ultra settings produce 29 FPS and 22 FPS respectively, which are below acceptable thresholds for a third-person shooter.

The data indicates that the High preset is rarely the ideal choice. At 1080p, it delivers 84 FPS compared to Medium's 100 FPS, a 16% reduction for marginal visual improvements. At 1440p, High's 54 FPS is only marginally better than Medium's 65 FPS, while at 4K, neither setting provides adequate performance. The Ultra preset consistently delivers the lowest frame rates and is not recommended at any resolution for this combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates provides a comprehensive view of this system's performance in Minimum. At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 131 FPS on Low settings, 100 FPS on Medium with a range of 85 to 115 FPS, 84 FPS on High, and 64 FPS on Ultra. These figures demonstrate that the GTX 1660 Ti can handle 1080p gaming with reasonable performance at lower settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates drop to 84 FPS on Low, 65 FPS on Medium with a range of 55 to 74 FPS, 54 FPS on High, and 41 FPS on Ultra. The minimum frame rate of 55 FPS at Medium settings indicates that the card can maintain playable performance at this resolution with some settings reductions.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 45 FPS on Low, 35 FPS on Medium with a range of 30 to 40 FPS, 29 FPS on High, and 22 FPS on Ultra. The minimum frame rate of 30 FPS at Medium settings represents the lower boundary of acceptable performance. The 4K results clearly show that this GPU is not suited for high-resolution gaming in this title, with even the lowest settings failing to reach 60 FPS.

The data also reveals the performance gap between settings tiers. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 67 FPS, representing a 51% reduction in frame rate. At 1440p, this gap narrows to 43 FPS, and at 4K it reduces to 23 FPS. This compression at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the dominant factor, regardless of quality settings.