SYSTEM ANALYZER

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235H + Intel Arc A530M

Get a comprehensive performance analysis of your gaming rig with detailed benchmarks, bottleneck detection, and upgrade recommendations

Build Configuration

Select your components

PROCESSOR (CPU)

▼

GRAPHICS CARD (GPU)

▼

94 Score

Top 6% Ranking

94 / 100

ULTIMATE READY

Apex Performer

Top 6% of systems. Capable of 4K Ultra gaming and advanced rendering.

4K 60+ FPSVR ReadyRay Tracing

System Balance Analysis

CPU vs GPU performance ratio

Well Balanced

CPU

91%

GPU

96%

PROCESSOR

Intel Core Ultra 5 235H

37,522 Benchmark Score

Top 9% Market Ranking

View Full Specs →

GRAPHICS CARD

Intel Arc A530M

46,614 Benchmark Score

Top 4% Market Ranking

View Full Specs →

Market Position

How your build compares to others

Budget

0-30

Mid-Range

30-60

High-End

60-85

Enthusiast

85-100

Your Build

Game Performance Benchmarks

Real-world 4K FPS in popular titles

View All Games →

Performance Insights

Tips to maximize your system

Optimal Performance

Your system is in the top tier. You can run any modern game at maximum settings.

4K Gaming Ready

Consider a 4K 144Hz monitor to fully utilize your hardware capabilities.

Compatible Games See what you can play Compare CPUs Find upgrades Compare GPUs Find upgrades

Performance Tiers Explained

90-100

Ultimate

4K Ultra gaming, VR ready, ray tracing enabled, professional workloads

4K 60+ FPS VR Ready

70-89

High-End

1440p Ultra or 4K High settings, excellent for modern AAA titles

1440p Ultra 4K High

50-69

Mid-Range

1080p Ultra or 1440p Medium, great value for most gamers

1080p Ultra 1440p Med

30-49

Entry Level

1080p Medium settings, suitable for eSports and older titles

1080p Med eSports

0-29

Legacy

Basic gaming, older titles, consider upgrading for modern games

720p-1080p Low Older Games

Intel Core Ultra 5 235H and Intel Arc A530M form a laptop-class pairing that lands in the 85th percentile of all CPU and GPU combinations, a position that signals a well-above-average mobile platform for both productivity and gaming. The CPU, part of the Arrow Lake-H family on a 3 nm TSMC process, delivers 14 cores and 14 threads with a 5.00 GHz boost clock, while the GPU, an Alchemist-generation Arc part, offers 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 12 ray tracing cores. The data indicates a system that can handle demanding workloads without reaching the very top tier, but it clearly outperforms the majority of competing laptops.

CPU Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235H is a 14-core, 14-thread processor built on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 3 nm process. This is a mobile-first design, evidenced by its 28 W TDP and Intel BGA 2049 socket, making it suitable for thin-and-light laptops that still need substantial compute power. The base clock sits at 2.40 GHz, but the boost clock reaches 5.00 GHz, providing a wide dynamic range that allows the chip to idle efficiently and surge when needed. Cache configuration includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3, a structure that supports the high-bandwidth demands of modern applications.

Benchmark results show a processor that is strong in both single-threaded and multi-threaded tasks. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 3613 in single-core and 25598 in multi-core. The single-core score is particularly telling for everyday responsiveness and lightly-threaded applications, while the multi-core figure suggests serious capability for parallel workloads. The PassMark suite reinforces this: a single-thread score of 4359 and a multithread score of 30091, with floating-point math hitting 93509 and integer math at 74247. The data also shows strong encryption and compression performance — 23121 in data encryption and 301979 in data compression — which points to effectiveness in file archiving and secure data handling.

Positioned against its nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 235H is effectively tied with some heavy hitters. It scores 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900HK and 0.6% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 225F, while sitting 0.4% below the Intel Core i5-13600K and 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 435. These deltas are minuscule, meaning the 235H trades blows with desktop-class processors from a previous generation and high-end mobile chips from the same era. The 85th percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms that this is not a budget part; it is a genuine high-performance mobile processor that will handle heavy compilation, rendering, and multitasking with ease.

The architecture supports DDR5 and LPDDR5X memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This is a critical spec for integrated graphics performance and for feeding the CPU's cores in memory-intensive tasks. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 8 lanes for the CPU provides a fast path to storage and discrete GPUs, though the GPU in this pairing uses PCIe 4.0. The integrated Arc Graphics 140T is present, offering a fallback for basic display output and light workloads, but the system relies on the discrete Arc A530M for serious graphical tasks.

Usage Scenarios

High-refresh gaming: The combination of a strong CPU and a mid-range GPU suggests this laptop can push high frame rates at 1080p in many titles. The CPU's single-core performance, with a Cinebench R23 score of 3613, ensures that game logic and physics are handled without stutter, while the GPU's 224.0 GB/s bandwidth and 62.40 GPixel/s pixel rate provide the raw throughput for smooth visuals. Users should expect solid performance in esports and less demanding titles, though the GPU's compute power of 3.994 TFLOPS FP32 means it is not a top-tier 4K solution.

Streaming: With 14 cores and 14 threads, the CPU has ample headroom to encode video while gaming. The PassMark multithread score of 30091 indicates that background tasks like streaming software and chat applications will not interfere with game performance. The GPU also supports modern APIs, including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which are relevant for hardware encoding and decoding tasks.

Video editing: The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25598 is a strong indicator for video rendering timelines and export tasks. The CPU's high integer and floating-point math scores — 74247 and 93509 respectively — suggest efficient handling of codecs and effects. The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p editing, and its 12 RT cores can accelerate certain effects, though the 3.994 TFLOPS FP32 performance will limit the speed of complex GPU-accelerated renders.

3D rendering: This workload is heavily multi-threaded, and the CPU delivers. The 25598 Cinebench R23 multi-core score places it in the top 15% of all CPUs, meaning render times for CPU-based engines will be competitive with much more expensive desktop parts. For GPU rendering, the Arc A530M's 1536 shading units and 96 texture mapping units provide a decent baseline, but the relatively low 3.994 TFLOPS FP32 throughput means it will lag behind higher-end discrete GPUs in this specific task.

Software development: The PassMark data encryption score of 23121 and data compression score of 301979 are directly relevant to compilation and package management, which often involve large amounts of I/O and data manipulation. The 14-core count allows for parallel builds, and the 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures fast single-threaded compile steps. The 18 MB of L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed code and data close to the cores.

Student and office work: The single-thread performance, highlighted by a Cinebench R23 score of 3613 and PassMark single-thread of 4359, ensures that web browsing, document editing, and spreadsheet calculations are snappy. The 28 W TDP means the laptop can maintain performance without excessive heat or fan noise, and the integrated graphics offer a power-efficient mode for basic tasks. The CPU sits in the 85th percentile, so it is overkill for basic office work, but it will handle any academic software without breaking a sweat.

Benchmark Performance

The CPU's average benchmark score is 37522, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-13900HK, scores 37425, a delta of 0.3% in favor of the 235H. The Intel Core i5-13600K scores 37685, which is 0.4% higher, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 435 scores 37762, 0.6% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225F scores 37313, 0.6% lower. These results show the 235H is functionally in a dead heat with a high-end 13th-gen mobile i9 and a desktop i5, which is an impressive result for a 28 W mobile part.

The GPU, Intel Arc A530M, achieves an average benchmark score of 46614, also placing it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 49735, and in Vulkan, it scores 43492. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, which scores 46601, a delta of 0.0%, meaning the two are essentially identical in performance. The AMD Radeon RX 6550M scores 46702, 0.2% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 scores 46043, 1.2% lower. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation scores 45972, 1.4% lower, which is surprising given that part's professional positioning, but the data shows the Arc A530M outperforms it in these synthetic benchmarks.

The combined percentile for this CPU-GPU pairing is 85, indicating that both components are similarly well-matched in their respective performance tiers. The data shows no clear bottleneck at the synthetic benchmark level, as both components sit at the same percentile. This suggests a balanced platform where the CPU and GPU can each do their part without one severely holding back the other.

FAQ

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to a high-end mobile i9?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235H scores 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900HK in average benchmark scores, making it a direct competitor despite its lower position in the product stack.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what type is it?

A: The Intel Arc A530M has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s.

Q: Does the CPU support overclocking?

A: No, the multiplier is locked, so the CPU cannot be overclocked. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is the maximum speed.

Q: What is the GPU's ray tracing capability?

A: The Intel Arc A530M is equipped with 12 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, indicating it can handle ray-traced effects in supported games.

Q: What is the combined performance percentile of this CPU and GPU?

A: The pairing sits in the 85th percentile of all CPU and GPU combinations, meaning it outperforms roughly 85% of the systems in the database.

Q: What memory types does the CPU support?

A: The CPU supports DDR5 and LPDDR5X in a dual-channel configuration, with a total memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s.

Q: How does the GPU compare to an AMD Radeon RX 5600M?

A: The Arc A530M and RX 5600M have nearly identical average benchmark scores, with a delta of 0.0%, indicating they offer essentially the same level of performance.

Balance and Bottleneck

The data shows a system where the CPU and GPU are well-balanced in terms of their percentile rankings, both at 85. This means that for most workloads, neither component will be the sole limiting factor. However, the nature of the bottleneck depends heavily on the specific task. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU's average score of 37522 and the GPU's average score of 46614 are both solid, but the GPU's raw compute throughput of 3.994 TFLOPS FP32 is modest compared to the CPU's multi-threaded might.

For CPU-bound workloads like data compression, encryption, and software compilation, the 235H will be the star, with its 14 cores and high boost clock pushing through tasks quickly. The PassMark scores for these tasks — 301979 for compression and 23121 for encryption — are strong, and the CPU will not be waiting on the GPU for these operations. In this scenario, the GPU sits idle, so the CPU is the primary performer.

For GPU-bound workloads like gaming at high resolutions, the situation flips. The GPU's 224.0 GB/s bandwidth and 62.40 GPixel/s pixel rate are adequate for 1080p gaming, but they will likely be the limiting factor at 1440p or higher. The CPU's single-core performance is more than sufficient to feed the GPU, so frame rates will be dictated by the Arc A530M's fill rate and shader throughput.

The FPS scaling between these two components is not directly measurable from the data, as no measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination. However, the percentile data suggests that the CPU is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in most gaming scenarios. The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3613 indicates it can handle game logic, while the GPU's performance is in line with what is expected from a mid-range mobile part. The most likely bottleneck in gaming will be the GPU at higher resolutions, while the CPU will be the limiting factor in heavily-threaded productivity tasks that do not use the GPU.

Who Should Build It

This pairing is for users who need a laptop that can do almost everything well. Gamers at 1080p will find this a capable platform, as the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for most titles at that resolution with high settings. The CPU's strong single-core performance ensures that frame pacing remains consistent, avoiding the stutters that can occur with weaker processors.

Content creators who work with video and images will benefit from the CPU's multi-core strength. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25598 means that 4K video exports and complex effects renders will complete in reasonable time. The GPU can assist with effects and encoding, and its 8 GB VRAM is enough for 1080p and 1440p timelines.

Software developers will appreciate the 14 cores for parallel builds and the high single-thread speed for code analysis. The data encryption and compression scores suggest this system can handle secure communications and large repositories efficiently. The 18 MB of L3 cache helps keep frequently used code and libraries in fast memory.

Students and small business workstations will find this more than adequate for any task they throw at it. The 85th percentile CPU means it is overkill for typical office work, but it provides headroom for future applications and more demanding software. The 28 W TDP also means it can be placed in a portable chassis without requiring a massive cooling solution.

GPU Analysis

The Intel Arc A530M is a mobile graphics processor based on the Xe-HPG architecture, specifically the DG2-256 chip, manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC. It houses 11,500 million transistors on a 269 mm² die, with a transistor density of 42.8M per mm². The GPU has 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster operation units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. This configuration is designed for 1080p gaming and content creation, with a boost clock of 1300 MHz and a base clock of 900 MHz.

Memory is a critical aspect of this GPU. It comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, running at a memory clock of 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective and a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. This is a solid amount of bandwidth for the GPU's compute capabilities, ensuring that the shading units are not starved for data. The pixel rate is 62.40 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 124.8 GTexel/s, providing the fill rates needed for high-resolution texture rendering.

Compute performance is rated at 3.994 TFLOPS for FP32 and 7.987 TFLOPS for FP16 with a 2:1 ratio. This is a modest level of compute power, placing it in the mid-range tier. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 49735, and in Vulkan, it scores 43492. These scores place it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, matching the CPU's percentile. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, is essentially identical with a delta of 0.0%, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 is 1.2% slower.

The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, ensuring compatibility with modern games and applications. The 12 RT cores provide hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and the 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for most modern games at 1080p with ray tracing enabled. The GPU's TDP is 65 W, which is reasonable for a mobile part of this performance level. It connects via PCIe 4.0 x8, which is sufficient for its bandwidth needs.

Build Overview

This build combines the Intel Core Ultra 5 235H with the Intel Arc A530M in a laptop form factor, as indicated by the build class. Both components are from Intel, which suggests a cohesive platform with optimized drivers and features. The CPU is a high-end mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, while the GPU is an Alchemist-generation Arc 5 Mobile part. Together, they form a pairing that sits in the 85th percentile of all CPU and GPU combinations, indicating a well-above-average gaming and productivity laptop.

The CPU is a 14-core Arrow Lake-H part with a 5.00 GHz boost clock, and the GPU is a 65 W part with 8 GB of GDDR6. This is a combination that prioritizes balanced performance over extreme specialization. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking means it is faster than most desktop processors, while the GPU's 85th percentile ranking means it is faster than most mobile GPUs. The result is a system that can handle any task a typical user will throw at it, from gaming to rendering to development.

The overall tier is upper-mid-range to high-end. It is not a flagship gaming rig with a top-tier GPU, nor is it a budget machine. It is a versatile platform that offers strong performance across the board. The lack of a launch MSRP in the data means pricing is not available, but the performance class is clear from the benchmarks.

Gaming Performance

No measured FPS rows exist for this exact combination of CPU and GPU. The FACT PACK contains no measuredFps data, so all frame rate discussions are estimates derived from the benchmark scores. The dataIsMeasured field is false, meaning the following figures are expectations, not measured results.

Based on the GPU's benchmark scores and bandwidth, this system should provide a smooth 1080p gaming experience. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 43492 and OpenCL score of 49735 indicate a GPU that can handle modern APIs well. In esports titles like Valorant, CS2, or Rocket League, frame rates should easily exceed 100 FPS at 1080p with high settings, given the CPU's strong single-core performance and the GPU's 62.40 GPixel/s pixel rate.

For AAA titles, the performance will vary. The 8 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for most games at 1080p with medium-to-high settings. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Assassin's Creed Mirage should run at 60 FPS or above with some settings turned down. The 12 RT cores mean that ray tracing effects are possible, but the 3.994 TFLOPS FP32 compute will limit the quality settings for ray-traced games.

At 1440p, the GPU will start to struggle with the most demanding titles. The 128-bit memory bus and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth may become a bottleneck, and the pixel rate of 62.40 GPixel/s is not enough for high refresh rates at this resolution. Users should expect to lower settings to maintain playable frame rates. The CPU will not be the limiting factor in this scenario, as its single-core performance is more than enough to keep up with the GPU's output.

Rate My PC: Intel Core Ultra 5 235H + Intel Arc A530M

Apex Performer

System Balance Analysis

Intel Core Ultra 5 235H

Intel Arc A530M

Market Position

Game Performance Benchmarks

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

Performance Insights

Optimal Performance

4K Gaming Ready

Performance Tiers Explained

Ultimate

High-End

Mid-Range

Entry Level

Legacy

CPU Analysis

Usage Scenarios

Benchmark Performance

FAQ

Balance and Bottleneck

Who Should Build It

GPU Analysis

Build Overview

Gaming Performance

4K Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

1440p Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

1080p Gaming Performance

Cyberpunk 2077

Red Dead Redemption 2

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Control

Call of Duty: Warzone

Fortnite

Related Processors

Related Graphics Cards

Compare Your CPU

Compare Your GPU

Related PC Builds

Same CPU with Different GPUs

Same GPU with Different CPUs

Other Popular Builds