Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator, a simulation title focused on hardware assembly rather than fast-paced rendering, still imposes a measurable graphics load. The benchmark data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 reveals a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. The results indicate that this combination is heavily influenced by the graphics card at higher resolutions, while the CPU's capabilities become more apparent at lower settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a significant and predictable decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 176 FPS at 1080p to 111 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 65 FPS, and then further to 58 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that the rendering workload is scaling directly with pixel count, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario at this quality preset. The RTX 3080 is the primary limiter here, as its compute and memory resources are saturated by the increasing pixel throughput.

The trend is even more pronounced at Low settings. The average FPS at 1080p is 352, which falls to 222 at 1440p and then to 116 at 4K. The massive drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings—a 236 FPS decrease—suggests that while the CPU can push very high frame rates at lower resolutions, the GPU ultimately caps performance as the pixel workload becomes overwhelming. This is a typical behavior for a high-refresh-rate scenario; the CPU has enough headroom to generate frames, but the GPU cannot render them fast enough at 4K.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data, including minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the average is 249 FPS with a minimum of 212 FPS, while at 1440p the average drops to 157 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS. At 4K, the average is 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 92 FPS drop, and from 1440p to 4K, a further 75 FPS drop. The consistent reduction in both average and minimum FPS confirms that the GPU's rendering capacity is the bottleneck, as the frame time variance also scales with resolution. The data shows that the transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly demanding, halving the frame rate at Medium settings.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results provide a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and performance. For users targeting a smooth 60 FPS experience, the Ultra preset is only viable at 1920x1080, where it achieves an average of 168 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 106 FPS, which is still playable but requires a high-refresh-rate monitor to fully utilize. At 4K, Ultra falls to 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and may result in noticeable stutter on standard displays.

The High preset offers a better balance for higher resolutions. At 1440p, High yields 111 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over Ultra's 106 FPS, while at 4K it produces 58 FPS, still slightly under the 60 FPS target. The Low preset is the only option that delivers consistently high frame rates at 4K, with an average of 116 FPS. However, this comes at a significant cost to visual quality. The Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot for 4K gaming, providing an average of 82 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a reasonable balance between quality and performance. The data suggests that for a 60 FPS target at 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, as it provides a 27 FPS advantage over High and a 27 FPS advantage over Ultra. At 1440p, High is the recommended choice for 100+ FPS gameplay, while at 1080p, Ultra is viable for high-refresh-rate displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 features 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This processor is a modern Arrow Lake-S architecture part built on a 3 nm process. Its benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769 and a single-core score of 2085. The CPU's PassMark multi-thread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 further confirm its capability.

In Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it becomes more critical at lower settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 352 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation limit. The fact that the frame rate at 1080p Low is more than double the 4K Low frame rate (352 vs 116 FPS) suggests that the CPU can handle the game's logic and physics calculations with ease, but the GPU cannot match its output at higher resolutions. The CPU's high boost clock and efficient architecture are likely the reasons why it can sustain such high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck, as the game's simulation elements are not particularly demanding on multi-core processors.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the game's asset streaming and AI calculations. The benchmark results show that the CPU's performance is competitive, with an average benchmark score of 46062, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. This indicates that the processor has ample headroom for this game, especially when paired with a GPU of the RTX 3080's caliber.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 holds a combo rank of 785 out of 3002 tested combinations in Pc Building Simulator. This places it in the top 26% of all combos, indicating a solidly performing pairing. The rank reflects the overall capability of the system to run this game at various settings and resolutions. Given that the GPU is an older Ampere architecture card and the CPU is a newer Arrow Lake part, the rank suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, as the CPU's performance is relatively high.

The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, show very similar average benchmark scores, with deltas of 0.1% and -0.1%, respectively. This indicates that the Core Ultra 5 235 is performing at a level consistent with other high-end processors, and its impact on the combo rank is likely neutral. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA P106-100 and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, have nearly identical average scores, but the RTX 3080's 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it is a mid-to-high-tier card. The combo rank of 785 out of 3002 is a reflection of this mid-to-high-tier GPU performance, especially when paired with a CPU that is in the 89th percentile.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a critical component in this configuration. It features 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz. Its compute capabilities include 8704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, which contribute to its 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The card's 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores also provide hardware acceleration for ray tracing and DLSS, though these features are not directly measured in the provided FPS data.

In Pc Building Simulator, the GPU's role is dominant across all tested settings. The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, where even the Low preset yields only 116 FPS compared to 352 FPS at 1080p Low. This indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute throughput are insufficient to handle the 4K pixel workload at low settings. The GPU's 10 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for the game's textures at 4K, but the raw rendering power is the limiting factor. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 25086 and its 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs place it in the mid-to-high range, which is consistent with its performance in this game.

The GPU's performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, suggesting that the card's architecture is not particularly efficient at high resolutions. The memory clock of 19 Gbps effective and the 320-bit bus width are typical for a high-end card of its generation, but the data shows that it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, especially at Ultra settings where the average FPS drops to 55. The GPU's TDP of 320 W also indicates that it is a power-hungry card, but this is not a factor in the measured FPS data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves an average of 352 FPS at Low settings, 249 FPS at Medium, 176 FPS at High, and 168 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset has a minimum of 212 FPS and a maximum of 287 FPS, indicating a stable frame time. At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 222 at Low, 157 at Medium, 111 at High, and 106 at Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p has a minimum of 134 FPS and a maximum of 181 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 116 at Low, 82 at Medium, 58 at High, and 55 at Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 95 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in resolution reduces the average FPS by a significant margin, while each step up in settings also reduces FPS, but to a lesser extent. For example, at 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces the average FPS from 352 to 168, a 184 FPS drop. At 4K, the same settings change reduces FPS from 116 to 55, a 61 FPS drop. This indicates that the GPU's performance ceiling is more apparent at lower settings, where the CPU can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them. The minimum FPS values at Medium settings show that the system maintains a playable frame rate even under load, with the lowest minimum being 70 FPS at 4K. The maximum FPS values, such as 287 at 1080p Medium, show that the system can burst to high frame rates in less demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS at Ultra settings?

A: The system achieves an average of 168 FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra, 106 FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra, and 55 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra. Therefore, 1440p is the highest resolution that maintains over 100 FPS, while 4K Ultra falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX. It is also 0.2% higher than both the AMD EPYC 4364P and AMD EPYC 7303.

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity affect performance at 4K?

A: The RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory. The measured FPS at 4K ranges from 55 at Ultra to 116 at Low, indicating that the GPU's rendering throughput, not VRAM capacity, is the primary limiting factor, as the game likely does not exceed the VRAM allocation.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 111 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 157 FPS. This represents a 46 FPS advantage for Medium over High.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested combinations?

A: This combo has a rank of 785 out of 3002 tested combinations, placing it in the top 26% of all tested systems for this game.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The system achieves 352 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the highest measured frame rate. This suggests the CPU is capable of generating frames at this rate, but the GPU is likely the limiting factor, as the 4K Low setting only achieves 116 FPS.