Undisputed

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the Intel Arc B580 is a combination that lands in the lower half of the database’s tested configurations for Undisputed, yet its performance profile is defined by remarkable consistency and a clear ceiling imposed by the graphics card. The combo ranks 2794 out of 3718 tested combinations, placing it in the 25th percentile of all systems—a position that reflects a mid-pack reality where the CPU’s substantial headroom is left largely untapped. This is not a pairing that will top leaderboards, but the benchmark data reveals a setup that is perfectly serviceable for high-refresh-rate play at mainstream resolutions, with a predictable drop-off as pixel counts rise. The story here is one of balance, but with a distinct lean: the processor is capable of far more than this game demands, while the graphics card defines the boundaries of playable performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The 2794th position out of 3718 combos is a clear signal that this system sits in the lower third of all tested hardware pairings for Undisputed. To contextualize this rank, it is helpful to break down the placement by percentile: this combo outperforms only roughly 25% of all configurations in the database, meaning that three-quarters of tested systems deliver higher average frame rates in this title. This is not a condemnation of the hardware—it is a reflection of the game’s modest demands and the fact that the Arc B580 is positioned as an entry-level to mid-range graphics solution.

Within the context of the database, the CPU’s own percentile ranking is notably higher than the combo’s overall position. The Core Ultra 5 235 sits at the 89th percentile of all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (average score 46030, delta 0.1%), the Intel Core i9-13900HX (average score 46098, delta -0.1%), and the AMD EPYC 4364P (average score 45970, delta 0.2%). These deltas, all within a fraction of a percent, indicate that the Ultra 5 235 is statistically tied with these high-end chips in synthetic workloads. Yet, in Undisputed, this CPU advantage does not translate into a high combo rank because the GPU becomes the limiting factor long before the processor’s potential is reached.

The GPU’s own standing reinforces this interpretation. The Arc B580 ranks at the 68th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021. Its nearest competitors are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (average score 23061, delta -0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (average score 22895, delta 0.6%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (average score 23172, delta -0.7%). The delta values here are again minuscule, placing the B580 in a performance tier that straddles older high-end cards and newer mid-range offerings. The gap between the CPU’s 89th percentile and the GPU’s 68th percentile is the core takeaway: this combo is GPU-bound, and its rank in Undisputed is essentially a function of the B580’s capabilities, not the Ultra 5 235’s.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is built on the Arrow Lake architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process by TSMC, and it brings a 14-core, 14-thread configuration to the table. With a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, this processor is designed for high single-thread throughput, which is often more relevant for sports titles like Undisputed than raw multi-core muscle. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 24 MB of L3 cache, providing ample fast storage for game data.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ultra 5 235 demonstrates its strength: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 14769, while single-core reaches 2085. PassMark’s multithread test yields 37816, and the single-thread score is 4516. These numbers place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all processors, which is a strong showing for a desktop part. However, Undisputed is not a title that stresses many cores; the game’s engine typically relies on a handful of threads, meaning the 14-core configuration is largely underutilized. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is the more relevant specification here, as it allows the CPU to maintain high instruction throughput on the primary game threads.

The data suggests that the CPU is never the bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 221 FPS average, which is a frame rate that would be impossible if the processor were struggling to feed the GPU. The Ultra 5 235’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface is sufficient for the game’s asset streaming, and the 24 MB L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores. The CPU’s 65 W TDP is modest, but it does not constrain performance here—the processor is effectively idling in terms of load percentage, waiting for the GPU to keep up. In essence, the CPU role in this combo is to provide a stable, high-frequency foundation that never introduces frame pacing issues, and the benchmark results confirm that it succeeds.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the decisive component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the combo’s ranking. Built on the Xe2-HPG architecture (Battlemage generation) using a 5 nm process, the GPU features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. It also includes 20 ray tracing cores, though Undisputed does not heavily utilize RT features. The GPU operates at a fixed 2670 MHz base and boost clock, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s. The 12 GB of GDDR6 VRAM is generous for this title, ensuring no capacity-related stutters even at 4K Ultra.

The B580’s synthetic performance shows a mixed picture. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3068, while Geekbench Vulkan reaches 109672 and OpenCL hits 92821. PassMark G3D gives a score of 15748, with a GPU compute score of 7729. These numbers place the card at the 68th percentile of all GPUs, which aligns with its positioning as a mainstream part. The nearest rival comparisons are telling: it is essentially tied with the RTX 2080 (delta 0.6%) and the RTX 3080 (delta -0.7%), which are older high-end cards that have aged into the mid-range tier.

In Undisputed, the GPU’s role is to render the boxing arenas and character models at the target resolution and settings. The 12 GB VRAM is never a limitation, as the game’s textures are not particularly demanding. Instead, the limiting factor is raw rasterization throughput. The B580’s 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, the card struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher presets. The 89th percentile CPU is never the issue; rather, the B580’s fill rate and shading capacity dictate the upper bounds of performance. This is a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card’s 68th percentile standing becomes the combo’s effective ceiling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo behaves across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the performance is strong across the board. Low settings deliver an average of 221 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU and GPU are both operating efficiently at this resolution. Medium settings drop to 159 FPS average, with a minimum of 135 FPS and a maximum of 183 FPS, showing solid frame pacing. High settings yield 132 FPS average, and Ultra settings bring it down to 85 FPS. These numbers suggest that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with even Ultra settings maintaining a playable frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the GPU begins to feel the load. Low settings still produce a high 160 FPS average, but Medium drops to 115 FPS (min 98, max 132), and High reduces to 95 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p yield 61 FPS average, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly a 25-30% reduction in frame rates across corresponding settings, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. The minimum FPS numbers for Medium at 1440p (98 FPS) indicate that the combo can handle demanding scenes without significant drops.

At 3840x2160, the Arc B580’s limitations become apparent. Low settings produce 101 FPS average, which is still playable, but Medium drops to 73 FPS (min 62, max 84), and High falls to 60 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K yield only 39 FPS average, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The transition from 1440p to 4K is harsh, with frame rates nearly halving for the same settings. This data clearly shows that 4K Ultra is not viable for this combo, while 4K Medium is borderline, and 4K High barely touches 60 FPS. The measured rows confirm that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the CPU’s performance headroom does not compensate for the increased pixel count.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo is a textbook example of GPU-limited performance. From 1080p High (132 FPS) to 1440p High (95 FPS), the frame rate drops by 28%. From 1440p High to 4K High (60 FPS), the drop is another 37%. The cumulative scaling from 1080p High to 4K High is a 55% reduction in average FPS. This pattern is consistent across all settings—Low, Medium, and Ultra—with the 4K Ultra being the most punishing, dropping from 85 FPS at 1080p to 39 FPS at 4K, a 54% decrease.

This scaling behavior points directly to the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain relatively stable as resolution increases, since the same amount of CPU work is required regardless of pixel count. Instead, the dramatic drops at 4K indicate that the Arc B580’s shading units and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The 456.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the demand for texture fetches and pixel shading exceeds what the card can deliver.

The 1080p to 1440p scaling is more gradual, suggesting that the GPU still has headroom at 1080p, but the 1440p to 4K jump exposes its limits. The 12 GB VRAM does not cause a capacity issue, as the game’s textures are not large enough to exceed it, but the raw compute throughput of 13.67 TFLOPS is simply not enough to drive 4K at high settings. The data indicates that users should treat 4K as a secondary option, only viable at Low settings (101 FPS) or Medium settings (73 FPS), and should prioritize 1080p or 1440p for the best experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and the user’s preference for frame rate versus visual fidelity. At 1080p, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation, as it delivers 85 FPS average—well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and high enough to take advantage of a 144 Hz monitor. The gap between High (132 FPS) and Ultra (85 FPS) is significant, but the visual improvements in Undisputed at Ultra are noticeable, particularly in character detail and arena lighting. For users with high-refresh displays, the Medium preset at 159 FPS is an excellent choice, offering a 33% frame rate boost over High while maintaining solid visual quality.

At 1440p, the High preset is the best balance, yielding 95 FPS average. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and provides a smooth experience. Ultra at 1440p drops to 61 FPS, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, as evidenced by the minimum FPS data for Medium (98 FPS) versus the lack of min/max data for Ultra. Users seeking maximum smoothness should opt for Medium (115 FPS), which offers a 21% improvement over High while sacrificing some visual polish. Low at 160 FPS is an option for competitive play, but the graphical downgrade is likely unnecessary for a sports title.

At 4K, the recommendation is more conservative. Low settings provide 101 FPS, which is excellent for 4K, but the visual quality is significantly reduced. Medium settings at 73 FPS is the sweet spot for 4K gaming, offering a good balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, with a minimum of 62 FPS ensuring no major stutters. High at 60 FPS is playable, but the lack of headroom means that intensive scenes may cause dips below the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra at 39 FPS is not recommended, as it falls below the playable threshold. For the best experience at 4K, users should select Medium settings, which deliver a smooth and visually appealing result without overburdening the Arc B580.