Valorant

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the Intel Arc B370 presents a peculiar case in Valorant, a title typically dominated by CPU throughput. The benchmark data reveals that while this combo is positioned near the bottom of the database, it still delivers playable frame rates across all tested settings. The analysis below breaks down the measured performance, focusing on how the system scales across resolutions and what the underlying hardware contributes to the final scores.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows a clear and consistent drop, but the magnitude of that drop is surprisingly modest for a game known for its scalability. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 299 at 1080p to 204 at 4K, a reduction of 95 FPS or roughly 32%. This indicates that even at the highest pixel count, the system is not completely overwhelmed, though the gap between resolutions is significant.

Moving to High settings, the scaling is steeper in relative terms. The 1080p average of 187 FPS drops to 160 FPS at 1440p, and then to 128 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K here is 59 FPS, or about 31.5%, which is nearly identical to the Low setting percentage. This consistency suggests that the performance limiter is scaling linearly with pixel count, pointing to a GPU bottleneck that becomes more pronounced as resolution increases, though it never becomes catastrophic.

The Medium setting data provides a more granular view with min and max FPS figures. At 1080p Medium, the average is 197 FPS with a min of 167 and max of 226. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 168 FPS (min 143, max 193), and at 4K Medium, it falls to 134 FPS (min 114, max 154). The spread between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, from a 59 FPS gap at 1080p to a 40 FPS gap at 4K. This tightening of the frame time variance suggests that at higher resolutions, the system is more consistently bound by the GPU, reducing the CPU-induced spikes that are visible at lower resolutions.

Ultra settings follow the same descending pattern: 178 FPS at 1080p, 152 FPS at 1440p, and 122 FPS at 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 56 FPS, or 31.5%, again aligning with the other settings. The uniformity of these percentage drops across all four quality presets strongly implies that resolution, not graphical complexity, is the primary variable affecting performance. This is a hallmark of a CPU-limited scenario at lower resolutions that gradually transitions to a GPU-bound state as the pixel workload increases, but the transition is gentle rather than abrupt.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its specifications are modest: 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2400 MHz. The memory is "System Shared," meaning it relies on the system's DDR5 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This lack of dedicated memory is a critical factor in understanding the 4K results.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Arc B370 scores a modest 1184, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in that test are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1186, delta -0.2%), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1190, delta -0.5%), and the AMD FirePro M2000 (score 1168, delta 1.4%). This places the Arc B370 in very old territory for discrete graphics, yet in Valorant it manages to produce playable frame rates, which highlights how well-optimized this specific game is for low-end hardware.

The shared memory architecture means that at 4K, the GPU is likely competing with the CPU for the same memory bandwidth. The fact that the 4K Low setting (204 FPS) is 80 FPS slower than the 1080p Low setting (299 FPS) suggests that the memory bandwidth constraint becomes more severe as the resolution increases. However, the Arc B370's low TDP of 25 W and its integration as an IGP mean it is not a discrete card; it is a graphics processor built into the CPU package. This explains why the performance, while sufficient for Valorant, is nowhere near what a dedicated card would achieve.

The boost clock of 2400 MHz is relatively high for an integrated part, but the system-shared memory is the bottleneck. The 4K Ultra result of 122 FPS, while dropping to 128 FPS at High and 122 FPS at Ultra, shows that the GPU can still keep pace with the CPU even at the highest settings, but the absolute frame rates are limited by the fill rate and memory throughput. The 3DMark score of 1184, when compared to the 5th percentile ranking, confirms that this is not a gaming powerhouse, yet Valorant's low requirements allow it to function adequately.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Valorant, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2645 out of 2883 total combos. This places it in the bottom 8.3% of all tested systems, which is a low position but not the absolute worst. The percentileVsAllCpus for the CPU alone is 85, meaning the processor is in the top 15% of all CPUs, but the GPU's percentileVsAllGpus is only 5, dragging the overall combo ranking down significantly.

The disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's low percentile is stark. The Core Ultra 5 225 is a capable processor, but the Arc B370 is a severely limiting factor. The combo rank of 2645 out of 2883 indicates that there are only 238 combos that perform worse in this game. This suggests that most users with a CPU of this caliber would pair it with a much stronger GPU, making this combo an outlier.

The delta between the combo's rank and what the CPU alone suggests highlights the imbalance. If the GPU were not the bottleneck, the combo would likely rank much higher given the CPU's 85th percentile standing. The data show that in Valorant, which is heavily CPU-bound, the Arc B370 still manages to hold the system back, preventing it from reaching the frame rates that the CPU could otherwise deliver. This is a classic case of a system being defined by its weakest link, and the GPU is unequivocally that weak link.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 299 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. High settings drop to 187 FPS, Medium to 197 FPS, and Ultra to 178 FPS. The Medium setting has a recorded min of 167 FPS and a max of 226 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 121 FPS, indicating that graphical settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall predictably. Low settings yield 255 FPS, High settings 160 FPS, Medium 168 FPS (min 143, max 193), and Ultra 152 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra shrinks to 103 FPS, showing that the resolution increase is compressing the performance envelope. The 1080p Low result of 299 FPS is 44 FPS higher than the 1440p Low result, a 17% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more uniform across settings. Low settings produce 204 FPS, Medium 134 FPS (min 114, max 154), High 128 FPS, and Ultra 122 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is now only 82 FPS, the smallest of any resolution. The 4K Low result of 204 FPS is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 178 FPS, indicating that lowering settings at 4K provides a better experience than maxing out settings at 1080p.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the Arc B370 is capable of high frame rates at low settings and low resolutions, but the margins narrow as resolution increases. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra is just 82 FPS, compared to 121 FPS at 1080p. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily taxed that changing settings has less of an impact on the final frame rate, as the system is always near its limits.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache layout includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 20 MB L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a theoretical bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong single-thread performance, scoring 3655 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 368 in Cinebench R15 single-core. Its multi-core scores are equally respectable: 25891 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2609 in Cinebench R15 multi-core. The Passmark single-thread score is 4412, and the multi-thread score is 30459. These numbers place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938.

The nearest rivals to this CPU in the database are the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (avg score 36945, delta 0%), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (avg score 37018, delta -0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (avg score 37093, delta -0.4%). This places the Ultra 5 225 in direct competition with these chips, all within a 0.5% margin of each other. In Valorant, the CPU is clearly not the bottleneck, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low (299 FPS) where a weaker CPU would struggle to keep up.

The high boost clock of 4.90 GHz is critical for Valorant, which is known for being sensitive to single-thread performance. The 10 cores and 10 threads are more than sufficient for this game, which rarely uses more than a few threads. The 20 MB L3 cache also helps reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's engine. The data suggests that the CPU is capable of pushing far more frames than the GPU can render, and its 85th percentile ranking confirms that it is a high-end part for this workload.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Valorant?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 299 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in 3DMark?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rival is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 with a score of 1186 (delta -0.2%), followed by the ATI Radeon HD 5770 at 1190 (delta -0.5%) and the AMD FirePro M2000 at 1168 (delta 1.4%).

Q: What is the combo's rank in the database for Valorant?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and Intel Arc B370 combo ranks 2645 out of 2883 tested combos in Valorant.

Q: Does lowering settings from Ultra to Low have a bigger impact at 1080p or 4K?

A: Lowering settings from Ultra to Low has a bigger impact at 1080p, where the FPS difference is 121 FPS (from 178 to 299). At 4K, the difference is only 82 FPS (from 122 to 204).

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking compared to all CPUs?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it performs better than 85% of processors in the database.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS recorded is 143 FPS, with an average of 168 FPS and a maximum of 193 FPS.