Undisputed

Undisputed is a demanding sports title, and the data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 shows a system that is clearly capable of delivering playable frame rates, but with significant trade-offs depending on your resolution and quality targets. The benchmark results indicate a configuration that is well-balanced for 1440p and 1080p gaming, while 4K pushes the GPU to its absolute limits. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to help you determine the optimal settings for your hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 200 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 144 FPS, a 28% reduction. Pushing to 4K Low yields 91 FPS, a further 37% decrease from 1440p. This steep decline as resolution climbs clearly indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The scaling behavior is consistent across all settings presets. At Medium settings, the system averages 144 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K remains significant, showing that the GPU's shading units, texture units, and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The RTX 5050's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s, is likely a major contributor to this performance cliff, as 4K textures and geometry demand more memory throughput than the card can efficiently provide.

At High settings, the trend continues. The system posts 119 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The most dramatic drop is seen when moving from High to Ultra at any resolution. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 35, which is a 35% decrease from the already demanding High preset. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects or texture details that severely tax the GPU, making it unsuitable for smooth play at 4K.

The data shows that 1080p is the resolution where this combo can truly stretch its legs, with all presets except Ultra clearing the 100 FPS mark. For 1440p, the system remains highly capable, but you will need to manage settings to stay above 60 FPS. 4K is only viable for lower settings, and even then, the frame rates are marginal, indicating that the RTX 5050 is not a 4K-class GPU for this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and performance for this system is the Medium preset. At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 104 FPS, which provides a smooth and responsive experience for a sports game. The minimum FPS of 88 ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. This is a strong recommendation for users with 1440p monitors who want a clear visual upgrade over Low without sacrificing fluidity.

For 1080p gamers, the High preset is the sweet spot. The system averages 119 FPS, which is excellent for fast-paced gameplay. While the Medium preset maxes out at 144 FPS, the High preset's 119 FPS average still provides a highly fluid experience, and the visual fidelity improvement is substantial. The Ultra preset drops to 76 FPS at 1080p, which is still playable, but the performance cost of the extra detail is steep compared to the High preset.

At 4K, the recommendations are more conservative. The Low preset is the only viable option for a consistently playable experience, averaging 91 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 66 FPS, which is acceptable but not ideal. The High preset's 54 FPS average is borderline, and the Ultra preset's 35 FPS is not suitable for a smooth experience. If you must play at 4K, the data suggests sticking to Low or Medium to maintain playable frame rates.

The data clearly shows diminishing returns when moving from High to Ultra. The performance penalty for Ultra is roughly 36% at 1080p, 36% at 1440p, and 35% at 4K compared to High. Given that the visual differences between High and Ultra in many modern titles are often subtle, the Medium or High presets represent the best balance of image quality and performance for this specific hardware configuration.

FAQ

Q: Can this laptop configuration handle 4K gaming in Undisputed?

A: The data indicates that 4K gaming is possible but limited. With Low settings, the system averages 91 FPS. At Medium, it drops to 66 FPS. The High preset averages 54 FPS, and Ultra is not playable at 35 FPS. For a consistent 60+ FPS experience, you would need to stick to Low settings.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice for 1440p. The measured average FPS is 104, with a minimum of 88 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay. While the High preset is faster at 86 FPS average, Medium offers a better balance of visual quality and performance headroom.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck in this game?

A: The benchmark results suggest the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The FPS drops significantly as resolution increases, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU, with 16 cores and 22 threads, appears to keep up with the GPU's demands, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution.

Q: How does the system perform on the Ultra preset?

A: The Ultra preset is very demanding. The system averages 76 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and only 35 FPS at 4K. This preset is recommended only for 1080p gaming where a 76 FPS average is acceptable.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and High settings?

A: The difference is substantial. At 1080p, the system goes from an average of 200 FPS on Low to 119 FPS on High. At 1440p, it's 144 FPS versus 86 FPS. At 4K, it's 91 FPS versus 54 FPS. High settings roughly halve the frame rate compared to Low at every resolution.

Q: Are the frame rates stable, or do they fluctuate?

A: For the Medium preset, where minimum and maximum FPS were measured, the data shows stability. At 1080p, the range is 122 to 165 FPS, with an average of 144. At 1440p, the range is 88 to 119 FPS, with an average of 104. At 4K, the range is 56 to 75 FPS, with an average of 66.

Measured FPS Breakdown

This section details the exact average FPS figures from the benchmark data for every resolution and settings combination tested.

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: 200 FPS average
• Medium: 144 FPS average (min 122, max 165)
• High: 119 FPS average
• Ultra: 76 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: 144 FPS average
• Medium: 104 FPS average (min 88, max 119)
• High: 86 FPS average
• Ultra: 55 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: 91 FPS average
• Medium: 66 FPS average (min 56, max 75)
• High: 54 FPS average
• Ultra: 35 FPS average

The data shows a clear and consistent hierarchy. The 1080p Low result of 200 FPS is the maximum measured performance. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is the minimum. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p incurs a performance penalty of roughly 30-40% across all presets, while the jump from 1440p to 4K incurs a similar penalty, showing the GPU is consistently the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the driving force behind this system's gaming performance. Its architecture, Blackwell 2.0, and 5 nm process node from TSMC give it a solid foundation. The GPU is equipped with 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. These core specifications are directly responsible for the raw pixel and texture throughput that determines FPS at a given resolution and settings level.

The GPU's clock speeds are also a factor. With a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, the RTX 5050 can push significant compute power. Its FP32 performance is rated at 13.17 TFLOPS. In the context of Undisputed, this compute power translates to the ability to handle complex physics and AI calculations. The GPU's 80 tensor cores and 20 RT cores are present, though their impact on this particular sports title is likely less pronounced than in games with heavy ray tracing or DLSS features.

The memory subsystem is a critical detail for this game. The RTX 5050 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. This is a modest amount of memory for modern games at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data suggests that at 4K, the GPU is likely hitting memory capacity or bandwidth limits, leading to the substantial performance drop. The GPU's overall performance places it at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score is 21035. Compared to its nearest rivals, the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is 1.6% faster, while the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL is 0.6% slower, indicating this is a mid-range performer.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H provides the processing backbone for this system. This Meteor Lake chip features 16 cores and 22 threads, which is a robust configuration for a mobile processor. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz and it can boost up to 5.00 GHz. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores. The CPU's performance, as measured by its average benchmark score of 34083, places it at the 84th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Undisputed, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics calculations. The high thread count ensures that background tasks do not interfere with the main game loop. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this configuration. The FPS scales consistently with resolution, which is expected when the GPU is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see similar FPS numbers across all resolutions, which is not the case.

The CPU's performance is comparable to its nearest rivals. It is 0.3% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H and 0.4% faster than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350. It is 0.4% slower than the AMD EPYC 4244P and 0.5% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. These deltaPct values show that the Core Ultra 7 165H is a competitive mid-range performer. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14551 and single-core score of 1759 indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded capabilities, ensuring it can feed the RTX 5050 with enough data to maintain high frame rates in this game.