To The Core

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 posts an average benchmark score of 48,995. It sits 0.4% below the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, while leading the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.8%. The spread among all four rivals is extremely tight, all within roughly one percentage point.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking, and which competing cards are closest to it?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 15,290, which is essentially identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15,283, 0% delta), and within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon 680M (15,270). The RTX 3050 OEM trails by 0.6%, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 trails by 0.8%.

Q: What is the best measured performance for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded at 1920x1080 is 241 FPS on Low settings. Medium settings deliver 204 FPS, High produces 176 FPS, and Ultra drops to 142 FPS. The Medium preset also recorded a minimum of 173 FPS and a maximum of 234 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 4,648 in single-core and 32,924 in multi-core, a ratio of roughly 7:1 in favor of multi-threaded workloads. In PassMark, the single-thread score is 4,394 while the multithread score is 38,706. This indicates strong scaling across the 14 cores and 14 threads.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the CPU support, and what type of memory does it use?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 supports DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The platform also supports ECC memory. This bandwidth figure is relevant for data-intensive workloads but the game's measured FPS data shows the GPU is the primary limiter at higher settings.

Q: What is the GPU's VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 2060 has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit interface, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, with 14 Gbps effective data rate. The 6 GB capacity is a relevant consideration for 4K gaming, though the measured data shows playable frame rates at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all three resolutions points to Medium as the optimal preset for this combination. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 204 FPS average, which is 63 FPS higher than High and 62 FPS below Low. The frame time consistency is also strong, with a minimum of 173 FPS and a maximum of 234 FPS. This suggests Medium provides a substantial visual upgrade over Low while still maintaining a very high refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, Medium produces 137 FPS average with a minimum of 116 FPS and maximum of 157 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the 116 FPS minimum ensures no noticeable stutter in demanding scenes. High at this resolution yields 119 FPS, while Ultra drops to 95 FPS. The performance gap between Medium and High is 18 FPS, which is significant enough to justify staying on Medium for most users.

At 3840x2160, Medium is the only preset that reports a minimum FPS value, coming in at 67 FPS with an average of 78 FPS. The average is 10 FPS higher than High (68 FPS) and 23 FPS higher than Ultra (55 FPS). The 67 FPS minimum indicates that even in the heaviest moments, the game remains playable. Ultra at 4K drops to 55 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth motion.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Medium offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate stability across all resolutions. Low settings are only necessary for extreme refresh rate chasing at 1080p, where 241 FPS is achievable. Ultra settings should be reserved for users who prioritize image quality over frame rate, accepting the 55 FPS at 4K or 142 FPS at 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture using the TU106 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The GPU contains 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, with 1,920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It also includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, enabling ray tracing and AI-accelerated features.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base frequency of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The memory operates at 1750 MHz with a 14 Gbps effective data rate, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth across a 192-bit bus. The 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM capacity is the defining memory characteristic for this card in modern gaming.

In the context of this game, the GPU's performance at different settings reveals its role. The measured FPS data shows that lowering settings from High to Low produces significant gains: at 1080p, the jump is from 176 to 241 FPS (65 FPS improvement), and at 4K, it is from 68 to 93 FPS (25 FPS improvement). This sensitivity to settings indicates that the GPU is the primary rendering bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its PassMark G3D score is 14,111, with a DirectX 12 score of 53. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1,242. These numbers contextualize its performance relative to the broader GPU landscape, though the in-game measurements provide the most direct evidence of its capabilities here.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest performance. Low settings achieve 241 FPS average, Medium reaches 204 FPS with a minimum of 173 and maximum of 234, High produces 176 FPS, and Ultra drops to 142 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline of roughly 40-45 FPS per step, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium (37 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction from 1080p. Low settings produce 162 FPS, Medium averages 137 FPS with a range of 116 to 157, High achieves 119 FPS, and Ultra falls to 95 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is consistent: 79 FPS for Low, 67 FPS for Medium, 57 FPS for High, and 47 FPS for Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a more substantial hit. Low settings average 93 FPS, Medium reaches 78 FPS with a minimum of 67 and maximum of 90, High delivers 68 FPS, and Ultra drops to 55 FPS. The 4K results show that this combo is still playable at Medium and below, but Ultra approaches the edge of acceptable frame rates.

The scaling between resolutions reveals a consistent pattern. Moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces performance by roughly 30-37% depending on settings, while moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it by another 40-50%. The Medium preset shows the most balanced behavior, with a minimum FPS that never drops below 67 even at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 achieves a combo rank of 2,339 out of 2,991 tested combinations in this game. This places the duo in the lower half of all tested systems, specifically at the 78th percentile from the bottom. The rank reflects the GPU's mid-tier status in the current landscape.

The CPU is the stronger component in this pairing. It sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,995. The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 58th percentile with an average score of 15,290. This disparity suggests the system is GPU-limited in most gaming scenarios, which the measured FPS data confirms.

The combo rank of 2,339 out of 2,991 is influenced by the GPU's position among its peers. The RTX 2060 is nearly identical in average benchmark score to the GTX 580 (0% delta), the Radeon 680M (0.1% delta), and only slightly ahead of the RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% delta) and RX 7600 (0.8% delta). This clustering means that many systems with similar GPU performance will land in the same region of the ranking.

The CPU's position is more favorable. At 90th percentile, it outperforms 90% of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.8% of its average score. This indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game's performance, and the combo's rank is primarily determined by the GPU's capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It operates at a base clock of 3.50 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and carries a TDP of 65 W. The CPU uses the Intel Socket 1851 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes.

The cache hierarchy consists of 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor integrates Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units, providing a fallback display solution. Memory support includes DDR5 over dual-channel configuration, with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth and ECC capability.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. Cinebench R23 scores are 32,924 multi-core and 4,648 single-core. PassMark results show 38,706 in multithread and 4,394 in single-thread. The 14-thread configuration (with no hyperthreading) shows a multi-core to single-core ratio of approximately 7:1 in Cinebench R23, indicating good scaling across physical cores.

For this game, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that performance scales primarily with resolution and settings, which are GPU-driven factors. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 241 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU adequately even at high frame rates. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking supports this interpretation, as it is unlikely to bottleneck a GPU at the 58th percentile.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the limiting component shifts across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 241 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low reduces this to 162 FPS, a 33% decrease. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 93 FPS, another 43% decrease from 1440p. This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the rendering load grows.

For Medium settings, the scaling is similar but slightly less steep. From 204 FPS at 1080p to 137 FPS at 1440p (33% drop), then to 78 FPS at 4K (43% drop). The minimum FPS values follow the same trajectory: 173 at 1080p, 116 at 1440p, and 67 at 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the bottleneck is consistently the GPU at higher resolutions.

High settings show the steepest relative decline. At 1080p, the average is 176 FPS, dropping to 119 FPS at 1440p (32% decrease) and 68 FPS at 4K (43% decrease). Ultra settings follow a similar pattern: 142 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K.

The 4K results are noteworthy for their playability. Even at Ultra, the system maintains 55 FPS average, which is above the 30 FPS minimum for playability. At Medium, the 67 FPS minimum at 4K indicates that this combo can handle 4K gaming with some settings compromises. The scaling data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution, as the frame rate declines are consistent with GPU-bound behavior.