Undisputed

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 pairing delivers a robust experience in Undisputed, with frame rates that scale predictably across resolutions and settings. The data indicates this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate play at 1440p, while 4K requires careful settings management to maintain smooth performance. The combination of a 14-core processor and an 8 GB Ampere GPU produces a balanced system where neither component consistently bottlenecks the other, though the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a system where the RTX 3070 is the primary rendering engine. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 308 FPS, which drops to 222 FPS at 1440p and further to 141 FPS at 4K. This represents a 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 54% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is heavily utilized even at lower resolutions.

Moving to High settings, the scaling remains consistent: 183 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p, and 84 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are similar, with a 28% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 36% decrease from 1440p to 4K. This consistency suggests that the game's rendering load scales linearly with pixel count, and the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient to avoid capacity-related stutters at these settings.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory, with frame rates of 221 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p, and 101 FPS at 4K. Interestingly, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 28%, matching the Low and High presets, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 37%, slightly larger than High. The Ultra preset, however, exhibits the steepest scaling curve: 118 FPS at 1080p, 85 FPS at 1440p, and just 54 FPS at 4K. This represents a 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 36% drop from 1440p to 4K, but the absolute values are much lower, making 4K Ultra gameplay feel sluggish.

The scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU, as evidenced by the high frame rates even on Low settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the frame rate dropping to 54 FPS on Ultra, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that the RTX 3070 is the bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock are more than adequate to keep up.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Undisputed?

A: The highest measured average is 308 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This demonstrates the combo's ability to deliver extremely high frame rates when graphical demands are minimized.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Undisputed?

A: At 4K, the combo achieves 141 FPS on Low, 101 FPS on Medium, 84 FPS on High, and 54 FPS on Ultra. For smooth 4K gameplay, Medium or High settings are recommended, as Ultra drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival in raw GPU performance?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083). It also outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037) by 1% and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019) by 1.1%, while trailing the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17468) by 1.5%.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it outperforms the vast majority of processors. Its average benchmark score of 46062 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% faster) and the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, 0.1% slower).

Q: Does the combo's performance rank high among tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1184 out of 2813 tested combinations in Undisputed, placing it in the top 42% of all tested systems. This is a mid-tier ranking, reflecting the balance between the CPU and GPU.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the CPU support, and how does it affect gaming?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This is sufficient for feeding the 14 cores and ensuring the GPU receives data without significant bottlenecks, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p is the standout choice. The data shows an average of 160 FPS with minimums of 136 FPS and maximums of 184 FPS, which provides a smooth and responsive experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The minimum frame rate of 136 FPS ensures that even in demanding scenes, the game stays well above the 60 FPS threshold, avoiding noticeable stutters.

At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 221 FPS average with a minimum of 188 FPS and maximum of 255 FPS, making it an excellent option for competitive play or for users with 240 Hz displays. The High preset at 1080p (183 FPS) is also viable, but Medium offers a substantial 21% performance boost with only a minor visual compromise, according to the measured data.

For 4K gaming, the High preset at 84 FPS is the sweet spot, providing a playable experience that exceeds 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold and is likely to feel less fluid, so it is best avoided unless visual fidelity takes absolute priority over smoothness. The Low preset at 141 FPS is excessively fast for 4K and would require a very high-end display to benefit from the extra frames.

Players with 144 Hz 1440p monitors should default to Medium or High settings, as both presets exceed the refresh rate cap. The Ultra preset at 85 FPS is also acceptable for 144 Hz displays, but the reduced frame rate compared to Medium (160 FPS) makes it a less attractive option for fast-paced gameplay. For 4K 60 Hz displays, High settings are the recommended starting point, with the ability to drop to Medium (101 FPS) for additional headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 308 FPS, which is the fastest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings follow at 221 FPS average, with a minimum of 188 FPS and maximum of 255 FPS. High settings drop to 183 FPS average, while Ultra settings yield 118 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 190 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU have ample headroom at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease proportionally. Low settings achieve 222 FPS average, which is still exceptionally high. Medium settings produce 160 FPS average, with minimums of 136 FPS and maximums of 184 FPS. High settings deliver 132 FPS average, while Ultra settings drop to 85 FPS average. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all settings, typically around 28%, which shows that the resolution scaling is predictable and the GPU is the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a more significant hit, particularly at higher settings. Low settings still manage 141 FPS average, which is playable on 4K displays. Medium settings produce 101 FPS average, with a minimum of 86 FPS and maximum of 116 FPS. High settings drop to 84 FPS average, which is just below the 90 FPS mark but still smooth. Ultra settings yield only 54 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable gaming. The min FPS data at Medium (86 FPS) shows that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains respectable, though the Ultra preset's lack of min/max data suggests it may be less consistent.

The data reveals that the RTX 3070's 8 GB memory capacity is adequate for all tested settings, with no signs of memory-related frame drops. The game appears to scale well with resolution, and the CPU's 14 cores provide enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking at 1080p, where the GPU is fully utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall ranking for Undisputed, this configuration of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 sits at position 1184 out of 2813 tested combos. This places it in the 58th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 58% of the configurations in the database. While not a top-tier performer, this ranking is respectable for a mid-range CPU paired with an older-generation GPU.

The CPU itself holds an 89th percentile ranking among all processors, which is notably higher than the combo's overall ranking. This suggests that the RTX 3070 is the limiting factor in this pairing, pulling the system's overall performance down from what the CPU alone could achieve. The GPU's 61st percentile ranking among all graphics cards confirms this assessment, as the RTX 3070 is a mid-range performer by modern standards.

The combo's ranking of 1184 is likely influenced by the RTX 3070's age and 8 GB memory capacity, which may be insufficient for newer titles at higher settings. However, in Undisputed specifically, the measured frame rates are strong, indicating that this game is well-optimized for the hardware. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's mid-tier ranking highlights the importance of GPU selection when building a balanced system, as the CPU has significant headroom that the RTX 3070 cannot fully exploit.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data storage for gaming workloads, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) ensures fast data transfer to the GPU.

In Undisputed, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The benchmark results show that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 308 FPS, which indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. The 14 cores provide sufficient multi-threaded performance for the game's engine, and the high boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for game logic and AI.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 46062 places it in the 89th percentile, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% faster) and the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, 0.1% slower). This performance level is more than adequate for Undisputed, which does not appear to be CPU-intensive based on the measured frame rates. The PassMark multi-thread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 demonstrate strong overall performance, while the Cinebench R23 scores of 14769 (multi-core) and 2085 (single-core) confirm the CPU's capabilities.

The fact that the combo's ranking (1184 out of 2813) is lower than the CPU's percentile (89th) suggests that the RTX 3070 is the limiting factor in this configuration. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 54 FPS, which is likely due to the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity and 5888 shading units being overwhelmed by the higher resolution and graphical fidelity. The CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock are sufficient to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 308 FPS result at 1080p Low, but the GPU's performance ceiling prevents the system from achieving higher frame rates at more demanding settings.