Minimum

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for this combination shows a clear progression: playability at 1080p, marginal at 1440p, and non-playable at 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 85, which is the highest recorded value across any resolution or preset. Medium settings at 1080p produce an average of 65 FPS, with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS. High settings drop to 55 FPS average at 1080p, while Ultra falls to 42 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers decline substantially. Low settings yield 55 FPS average, which sits just below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium settings at 1440p average 42 FPS, with a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS. High settings produce 35 FPS, and Ultra drops to 27 FPS. None of these 1440p presets reach the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the performance is consistently below playable. Low settings average 30 FPS, Medium averages 23 FPS (minimum 19, maximum 26), High averages 19 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 15 FPS, which indicates that the graphics card is the primary limiting factor at this resolution.

The scaling pattern across resolutions is steep. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, there is a 30 FPS drop (85 to 55). From 1440p Low to 4K Low, another 25 FPS drop occurs (55 to 30). This represents a 65% reduction from the best case scenario at 1080p Low to the worst case at 4K Ultra.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU in this combination, the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, ranks in the 84th percentile among all tested CPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, which scores 0.1% higher, and the AMD EPYC 4244P, also 0.1% higher. The Intel Core i5-13450HX sits 0.2% lower, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is 0.5% lower. These deltas are negligible, meaning any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Minimum when paired with the same graphics solution.

The GPU, Intel Arc B370, ranks in the 5th percentile among all tested GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (0.2% lower), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (0.5% lower), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (0.7% lower), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1.4% higher). These are all older, low-end graphics solutions, which explains the limited performance ceiling observed in the measured data.

For a user considering alternatives, the data suggests that swapping the CPU to any of its four nearest rivals would change performance by less than 1%. Similarly, swapping the GPU to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 or ATI Radeon HD 5770 would produce nearly identical frame rates. The AMD FirePro M2000 would be slightly faster by 1.4%, but that difference would not cross the 60 FPS threshold at any resolution where this combo currently fails to do so.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data shows that the GPU dominates the performance picture at every resolution. The Intel Arc B370 has a very low percentile ranking (5th), and its nearest rivals are all legacy parts from over a decade ago. The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 84th percentile, a strong mid-range position. When a CPU far outperforms a GPU in relative terms, the bottleneck is clearly the graphics side.

This becomes evident in the resolution scaling. At 1080p, the combo achieves 85 FPS on Low settings, which is a solid result for a game of this era. But as resolution increases, the frame rate drops faster than would be expected if the CPU were the constraint. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the drop is 30 FPS, and from 1440p Low to 4K Low, the drop is 25 FPS. This pattern indicates that the GPU is being saturated by the increased pixel count, while the CPU has ample headroom.

The settings scaling also points to the GPU as the limiting factor. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces the average by 20 FPS (85 to 65). Moving from Medium to High reduces it by 10 FPS (65 to 55). At 1440p, the same progression shows a 13 FPS drop from Low to Medium (55 to 42) and a 7 FPS drop from Medium to High (42 to 35). At 4K, the drops are 7 FPS from Low to Medium (30 to 23) and 4 FPS from Medium to High (23 to 19). The diminishing returns as settings increase suggest the GPU is running out of shading and texture throughput, not that the CPU is stalling.

If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions, since a game like Minimum (released in 2014) is not typically CPU-bound at high resolutions. The data shows the opposite: steep resolution scaling. Therefore, the Intel Arc B370 is the component that matters most for this game. The Ryzen 7 3700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is more than sufficient for the workload.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Minimum at 60 FPS on 1080p?

A: Yes, at Low and Medium settings. Low averages 85 FPS, and Medium averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS. High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS (55 and 42 respectively).

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p?

A: There is no playable setting at 2560x1440. The highest average FPS at this resolution is 55 on Low, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all average below 45 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 30 FPS average. Medium averages 23 FPS, High 19 FPS, and Ultra 15 FPS. None of these come close to the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: How does the CPU compare to nearby alternatives?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X is within 0.5% of four nearest rivals: the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (0.1% higher), AMD EPYC 4244P (0.1% higher), Intel Core i5-13450HX (0.2% lower), and Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (0.5% lower). All would perform essentially identically.

Q: How does the GPU compare to nearby alternatives?

A: The Intel Arc B370 is within 1.4% of four nearest rivals. The AMD FirePro M2000 is 1.4% faster, while the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, ATI Radeon HD 5770, and AMD Radeon HD 7650M are 0.2% to 0.7% slower. None of these differences would change playability.

Q: What causes the frame rate to drop so much at higher resolutions?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. The Intel Arc B370 ranks in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 84th percentile. The steep FPS drops as resolution increases (85 to 55 to 30 across Low settings) indicate the graphics card is saturated, not the CPU.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Medium, which delivers an average of 65 FPS. This is the highest preset that stays at or above the 60 FPS threshold. Low also qualifies with 85 FPS, but Medium provides better visual quality while remaining above 60 FPS. High (55 FPS) and Ultra (42 FPS) do not meet the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, no setting reaches 60 FPS. The closest is Low at 55 FPS, but since this falls below the playable threshold, there is no recommended setting. Medium (42 FPS), High (35 FPS), and Ultra (27 FPS) are all further away from playable.

At 3840x2160, no setting is playable. Low averages 30 FPS, Medium 23 FPS, High 19 FPS, and Ultra 15 FPS. The gap between the best 4K result and the playable threshold is 30 FPS, which is too large to bridge with settings adjustments alone.

For users targeting 60 FPS, the only viable resolution with this combo is 1080p, and the maximum quality preset that achieves it is Medium. Choosing Low instead of Medium trades visual fidelity for a 20 FPS average increase (85 vs 65), but both are above the threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and Intel Arc B370 ranks 3425 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. That places it in the bottom 8% of all configurations in the database. The ranking reflects the GPU's very low performance percentile (5th) rather than the CPU's solid position (84th).

The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data. A combo that cannot reach 60 FPS at 1440p on any setting, and only barely does so at 1080p on Medium, will naturally sit near the bottom of the rankings. The 287 combos ranked below this one would presumably perform even worse, likely failing to hit 60 FPS even at 1080p Low.

The CPU's high percentile (84th) suggests that this combo is heavily GPU-limited. If the same CPU were paired with a more capable graphics card, the rank would improve dramatically. Conversely, pairing this GPU with a weaker CPU would likely produce similar frame rates, since the GPU would remain the primary constraint.

In practical terms, this combo is suitable for 1080p gaming at Medium settings for Minimum, but it cannot handle higher resolutions. The data shows a clear ceiling: 65 FPS at 1080p Medium is the best playable configuration, and everything above that resolution falls short. Users with this hardware should target 1080p and accept that Medium is the maximum quality preset available within the playable threshold.