Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that, on paper, should not challenge modern hardware, yet the measured frame rates for this AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination reveal a more nuanced picture than the game’s age suggests. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly powerful for the title, but the exact behavior across resolutions and presets indicates where the GPU begins to hit its limits and where the CPU’s substantial cache advantage keeps things moving. The benchmark results are measured, not estimated, and they place this combo at rank 885 out of 3712 tested configurations, which is a strong position but not the very top, leaving room for analysis of what holds it back.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Starting at 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all settings. With Low settings, the average FPS reaches 278, which is a massive number that suggests the game is barely taxing the hardware at this level. Moving to Medium settings, the average drops to 213 FPS, with minimum and maximum readings of 181 and 245 FPS respectively, showing a spread that indicates some scenes are more demanding than others but still far above any playability concern. High settings at 1080p yield an average of 179 FPS, while Ultra settings still manage an average of 136 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution is a drop of roughly 142 FPS, from 278 down to 136, which is a significant reduction but one that leaves every preset comfortably above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong but starts to show more differentiation between presets. Low settings produce an average of 179 FPS, exactly matching the High setting average at 1080p, which is an interesting coincidence that highlights how much headroom exists. Medium settings at 1440p average 137 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 117 and 158 FPS, maintaining a consistent experience. High settings drop to an average of 115 FPS, and Ultra settings still achieve an average of 88 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 30 to 40 percent of the frame rate depending on the preset, but even the most demanding Ultra preset at 1440p remains well above the 60 FPS threshold, with 88 FPS average.

The 3840x2160 resolution is where the data becomes more interesting and where the limits of this combination start to appear. At 4K with Low settings, the average FPS is 97, which is still very playable. Medium settings at 4K average 74 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 63 and 85 FPS, and here the minimum frame rate is only 3 FPS above the 60 FPS playability threshold, suggesting that occasional dips could be noticeable in heavier scenes. High settings at 4K average 62 FPS, which is just barely above the threshold, and the minimum FPS data is not reported for this preset, making it unclear how close to the edge it gets. Ultra settings at 4K are the only configuration that fails to maintain 60 FPS, with an average of 47 FPS, which is clearly below the playable threshold and would result in a noticeably less smooth experience.

The pattern across resolutions is clear: at 1080p and 1440p, every preset is playable with significant headroom, while at 4K, the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS and High is borderline. The measured FPS data shows that this system is not GPU-bound at lower resolutions, but the 4K results indicate that the RTX 4070’s capabilities are being pushed closer to their limits, particularly with the Ultra preset.

CPU and GPU Roles

The division of labor between the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 becomes apparent when examining how frame rates scale across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the average FPS at Low settings is 278, which is an extraordinarily high number that suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the renderer can produce. The CPU’s 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature here, as this large cache can hold game data that would otherwise require slower memory access, and this appears to benefit Minimum’s workload significantly. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D has 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 4.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz, and its passmark single-thread score of 3494 indicates strong per-core performance that is crucial for a game that likely has a primary rendering thread.

As the resolution increases to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop, but the CPU remains capable of maintaining high averages. The fact that Low settings at 1440p achieve 179 FPS, which is identical to High settings at 1080p, suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at either resolution, and the GPU is the limiting factor as pixel count increases. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a drop from 278 to 97 FPS, which is a 65 percent reduction, and this is a clear indication that the GPU’s rendering workload is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070 has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, and its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is well-suited for handling the texture and geometry demands of Minimum, but the data shows that 4K Ultra is beyond its comfortable range.

At 3840x2160, the CPU’s role diminishes further. The difference between Low and Ultra presets at 4K is 50 FPS (from 97 to 47), while at 1080p the same preset difference is 142 FPS (from 278 to 136). This compression of the frame rate range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint, and the CPU’s headroom is no longer the limiting factor. The RTX 4070’s pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s are substantial, but the 4K Ultra preset requires more pixel shading work than the card can deliver at 60 FPS. The data suggests that for Minimum, the CPU is relevant only at low resolutions with high frame rate targets, while the GPU takes over as the deciding component from 1440p upward.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D has an average benchmark score of 44573, and it sits very close to several other processors. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H scores 44466, a delta of 0.2 percent, meaning it is effectively identical in overall benchmark performance. The Intel Core i9-13950HX scores 44342, just 0.5 percent lower, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 scores 44309, 0.6 percent lower. On the other side, the Intel Core i5-14600 scores 44889, which is 0.7 percent higher than the Ryzen 5 7500X3D. These deltas are all under one percent, which means that in terms of raw compute, any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Minimum, provided the GPU is the same. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D’s specific advantage of 96 MB L3 cache is not captured in these aggregate scores, but the benchmark deltas suggest that for this game, the CPU choice among these rivals would not be a deciding factor.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, and its nearest rivals show similarly tight clustering. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37628, a delta of 0.1 percent, which is essentially the same performance. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507, 0.4 percent lower, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37157, 1.3 percent lower. On the higher end, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, which is 1.3 percent higher. These deltas are all within a couple of percentage points, meaning that swapping the RTX 4070 for any of these alternatives would produce very similar measured FPS results in Minimum. The RTX 4080 Mobile would be slightly faster, potentially pushing the 4K Ultra average from 47 FPS closer to 60, but the difference would be marginal. The RX Vega 56 or Tesla P4 would perform nearly identically, which is surprising given the architectural differences, but the benchmark data supports this close relationship.

The practical implication is that this specific CPU and GPU combination is not unique in its performance envelope. A user with an Intel Core i5-14600 or an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the RTX 4070 would see virtually the same frame rates. Similarly, an RTX 4070 owner could swap to a Tesla P4 or RX Vega 56 and expect a difference of less than one percent in average scores, which would translate to imperceptible changes in Minimum’s frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Minimum at 4K with High settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings is 62 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The minimum FPS is not reported for this preset, so there is some uncertainty about dips, but the average is playable.

Q: What is the highest preset that maintains 60 FPS at 4K?

A: The highest playable preset at 3840x2160 is High, with an average of 62 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K average only 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, so High is the most demanding preset that clears the playable mark.

Q: How does the frame rate scale between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 213. At 2560x1440, it drops to 137, and at 3840x2160, it drops to 74. This represents a 65 percent reduction from 1080p to 4K, showing the GPU workload scaling strongly with pixel count.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the CPU appears to be the more relevant component, as the frame rates are extremely high at 278 FPS on Low settings. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D’s large 96 MB L3 cache and strong single-thread performance likely help maintain these high averages, while the GPU has ample headroom at this resolution.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS values at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 117 and the maximum is 158, with an average of 137. This indicates a relatively tight frame time distribution, with no severe dips below the playable threshold.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 have any rivals that perform much better?

A: The nearest GPU rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, scores 38135, which is 1.3 percent higher than the RTX 4070’s average score of 37648. This is a small delta, so no nearby alternative would provide a substantial performance increase in Minimum.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 885 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 24 percent of all configurations. This is a strong result, but it is not near the top, which suggests that there are many systems with more powerful GPUs or CPUs that achieve higher frame rates, particularly at 4K Ultra. The ranking reflects the fact that this combo handles 1080p and 1440p with ease, but the 4K Ultra preset’s 47 FPS average is a clear weakness that prevents a higher rank. Considering that the combo is at the 885th position out of 3712, it outperforms roughly 76 percent of tested systems, which is respectable but indicates that the RTX 4070 is not a top-tier card for this game at the highest resolution. The CPU’s percentile rank of 89 among all CPUs is higher than the GPU’s percentile rank of 81 among all GPUs, suggesting that the CPU is relatively stronger in the broader hardware landscape, but the GPU is the limiting factor for Minimum’s most demanding settings.

The data implies that if the goal is to maximize the combo’s rank in Minimum, the GPU would need to be upgraded, as the CPU has more headroom. The RTX 4070’s passmark G3D score of 26927 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 indicate solid performance, but the 4K Ultra result shows it cannot sustain 60 FPS. The combo’s rank of 885 is likely driven by the many systems with RTX 4080 or higher cards that achieve 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, pushing this combo down the list despite its excellent performance at lower resolutions.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 136 FPS. This provides the highest visual quality while maintaining a frame rate that is more than double the playability threshold. The data shows that even the most demanding settings leave significant headroom, so users can enable Ultra without concerns about dips below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 88 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the minimum FPS is not reported for this preset, but the average suggests a comfortable margin. The 137 FPS average at Medium settings shows that even if a user prefers maximum smoothness over visual quality, there is ample performance available.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are High, with an average of 62 FPS. This is the only resolution where the most demanding playable preset is not Ultra, and the margin above 60 FPS is slim. Medium settings at 4K average 74 FPS, which provides more buffer, but High is technically playable. For users who prioritize frame rate stability, Medium at 74 FPS would be a safer choice, given that the minimum FPS at Medium is 63, which is just 3 FPS above the threshold.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum, and it does so with authority at most settings and resolutions. The verdict by resolution is clear: at 1920x1080, all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable, with Ultra averaging 136 FPS. At 2560x1440, all presets are also playable, with Ultra averaging 88 FPS. At 3840x2160, three of the four presets are playable: Low at 97 FPS, Medium at 74 FPS, and High at 62 FPS. The only configuration that fails to clear the 60 FPS threshold is Ultra at 4K, which averages 47 FPS.

The data indicates that the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is a capable combination for Minimum, capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with maximum settings. At 4K, users must drop to High settings to stay at or above 60 FPS, and even then, the margin is thin. The system’s rank of 885 out of 3712 is respectable, and the CPU’s strong single-thread performance and large cache contribute to the excellent low-resolution results. The GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, but for a game released in 2014, this combination offers a thoroughly playable experience across nearly the entire settings matrix. If 4K Ultra is a requirement, a more powerful GPU would be needed, but for 1080p and 1440p gaming, this setup leaves little to be desired.