Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is an exceptionally capable combination for Minimum, a third-person shooter released in 2014. Benchmark data shows this combo delivers playable frame rates at every resolution tested, from 1080p through 4K. At 4K, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, yielding an average of 71.8 FPS. At 1440p and 1080p, the combo handles the Ultra preset comfortably, with averages of 99 FPS and 153 FPS respectively. This hardware pairing ranks 630th out of 3712 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top percentile of systems. The following analysis breaks down the measured performance data, settings guidance, and how this combination compares to other hardware.

Best Settings per Resolution

The verdict data for this combo identifies the most demanding playable preset at each resolution, based on a 60 FPS playability threshold. At 3840x2160 (4K), the best settings are High, which produces an average frame rate of 71.8 FPS. This is the only preset above the 60 FPS threshold that still pushes the GPU meaningfully; Ultra at 4K drops to 54.5 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. Medium at 4K runs at 82 FPS and Low at 107 FPS, both playable, but High is the highest quality option that maintains the 60 FPS floor. The data shows a clear gradient: Low (107 FPS) to Medium (82 FPS) to High (71.8 FPS) to Ultra (54.5 FPS), with each step up in quality costing a significant frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are Ultra, with an average frame rate of 99 FPS. Every preset at this resolution is playable, including Ultra, which is the most demanding option. The frame rate spread at 1440p is wide: Low runs at 198.9 FPS, Medium at 151.4 FPS, High at 128.6 FPS, and Ultra at 99 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 29.6 FPS, which is substantial, but the combo still has enough headroom to keep Ultra above 60 FPS with a large margin. For a 1440p display, Ultra is the recommended setting because it delivers near-100 FPS average while providing the maximum visual fidelity the game offers.

At 1920x1080, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average frame rate of 153 FPS. This is the highest frame rate achieved at any resolution with Ultra settings. The 1080p data shows Low at 308.6 FPS, Medium at 237.8 FPS, High at 202 FPS, and Ultra at 153 FPS. Even the most demanding preset at 1080p exceeds 150 FPS on average, making this resolution the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra shows a drop of 54 FPS (153 to 99), and from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra a drop of 44.5 FPS (99 to 54.5). Users targeting a locked 60 FPS experience can comfortably choose Ultra at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K users must settle for High to stay above 60 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals how the CPU and GPU divide responsibilities across resolutions and presets. The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The RTX 4070 SUPER features 7168 shading units, 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. For Minimum, a 2014 title, the CPU is unlikely to be the primary bottleneck at any resolution, given its modern architecture and high single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 1280, passmark single-thread score of 4654). The GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases.

At 1080p, the frame rates are extremely high across all presets, ranging from 153 FPS at Ultra to 308.6 FPS at Low. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 155.6 FPS reduction (308.6 to 153), which is a 50.4% drop. This large scaling indicates that the GPU is heavily loaded even at 1080p, but the absolute numbers suggest the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at these frame rates. The 3dmark max-threads score of 9771 and cinebench r23 multicore score of 20485 indicate strong multi-threaded performance, which helps maintain high minimum frame rates in a third-person shooter with complex scenes.

At 1440p, the scaling from Low to Ultra is 99.9 FPS (198.9 to 99), a 50.2% drop. This is nearly identical percentage scaling to 1080p, suggesting the GPU workload scales proportionally with resolution while the CPU remains capable of keeping up. At 4K, the scaling from Low to Ultra is 52.5 FPS (107 to 54.5), a 49.1% drop. The consistency of the percentage drop across resolutions implies that the GPU is the limiting factor at all three resolutions, with the CPU having sufficient headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing frame rates at the same settings across resolutions. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 153 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 54.5 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 54 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 44.5 FPS. These are not linear reductions, which indicates the GPU is being progressively more stressed. At Low settings, the frame rates are 308.6 FPS at 1080p, 198.9 FPS at 1440p, and 107 FPS at 4K. The Low preset at 1080p approaches 309 FPS, which is near the limit of what many displays can show, and the CPU must maintain this high throughput. The Ryzen 7 9700X, with its 5.50 GHz boost clock and 16 threads, is well-suited for this task. Benchmark data shows the CPU scores 9824 in 3dmark 16-thread test and 9771 in max-threads, indicating strong multi-core performance that benefits games with many draw calls.

For this game, the GPU is the primary determinant of performance at all resolutions, but the CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread scores ensure it does not hold the system back. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as even the RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth, cannot maintain 60 FPS at Ultra. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is sufficient for this 2014 title at all resolutions, as the data shows playable frame rates at 4K High. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) provide ample bandwidth for game data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all resolutions and settings. The dataset includes average frame rates only; minimum and maximum values are null for all entries. This means the analysis focuses on average performance, which is appropriate for determining playability at the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the results are as follows: Low preset averages 107 FPS, Medium averages 82 FPS, High averages 71.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 54.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 25 FPS reduction, from Medium to High is 10.2 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 17.3 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one that falls below 60 FPS, making it unplayable by the threshold definition. The High preset, at 71.8 FPS, provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, allowing for minor frame time spikes without dropping below the threshold. Medium, at 82 FPS, offers even more headroom, and Low at 107 FPS is well above any concern.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low averages 198.9 FPS, Medium averages 151.4 FPS, High averages 128.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 99 FPS. All presets are playable, with the lowest being Ultra at 99 FPS, which is 39 FPS above the threshold. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 47.5 FPS drop, from Medium to High is 22.8 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 29.6 FPS. The relative drops are consistent with increasing GPU load, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Low and Medium. At 1440p, even the most demanding settings leave substantial performance headroom, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming with all settings maxed.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low averages 308.6 FPS, Medium averages 237.8 FPS, High averages 202 FPS, and Ultra averages 153 FPS. The frame rates at 1080p are exceptionally high, with even the lowest preset exceeding 300 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 70.8 FPS drop, from Medium to High is 35.8 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 49 FPS. The Ultra preset at 153 FPS is more than double the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combo can drive high-refresh-rate 1080p displays (e.g., 144 Hz or 165 Hz) with all settings maxed. The Low preset at 308.6 FPS approaches the refresh rate limits of many gaming monitors, though the CPU and GPU both contribute to achieving these numbers.

Comparing across resolutions at the same preset, the data shows consistent scaling. At High settings, the frame rates are 202 FPS at 1080p, 128.6 FPS at 1440p, and 71.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 73.4 FPS (36.3% reduction), and from 1440p to 4K is 56.8 FPS (44.2% reduction). At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 153 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 54.5 FPS at 4K, with drops of 54 FPS (35.3%) and 44.5 FPS (44.9%) respectively. The near-identical percentage reductions for High and Ultra suggest consistent GPU scaling behavior across resolutions. At Low settings, the frame rates are 308.6 FPS at 1080p, 198.9 FPS at 1440p, and 107 FPS at 4K, with drops of 109.7 FPS (35.5%) and 91.9 FPS (46.2%). The slightly larger percentage drop at 4K Low may indicate that the GPU is becoming more stressed relative to the CPU at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's ranking in Minimum is 630th out of 3712 tested combinations. This places it in the top 17% of all combos tested for this game. Given that the game is from 2014, the Ryzen 7 9700X (released in August 2024) and RTX 4070 SUPER (released in January 2024) are both modern components that far exceed the requirements of a game from that era. The ranking of 630 indicates that there are 629 combos that perform better, but among the 3712 tested, this combo is clearly in the upper echelon.

The CPU alone ranks in the 86th percentile vs all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37943. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14901E (avg score 37911, delta 0.1%), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (avg score 37904, delta 0.1%), Intel Core 5 211E (avg score 37829, delta 0.3%), and AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 (avg score 37804, delta 0.4%). These deltas are all within 0.4% of the Ryzen 7 9700X, indicating that these CPUs perform nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks. For Minimum, any of these CPUs would likely produce similar frame rates when paired with the same GPU.

The GPU ranks in the 83rd percentile vs all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43223. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (avg score 43262, delta -0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (avg score 43268, delta -0.1%), NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (avg score 43301, delta -0.2%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (avg score 43667, delta -1%). The RTX 4070 SUPER's score is within 1% of these rivals, meaning that swapping to any of these GPUs would result in nearly identical performance in this game. The negative deltaPct values indicate that the rivals have slightly higher average scores, but the differences are negligible (0.1% to 1%).

The combo ranking of 630 out of 3712 is consistent with the individual component percentiles. The CPU at 86th percentile and GPU at 83rd percentile suggest a balanced system that should perform well in most games. For Minimum specifically, the 4K Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS, which is the primary reason the combo does not rank even higher. At 1440p and below, the combo delivers excellent performance, with all presets exceeding 99 FPS. The ranking reflects that many combos with more powerful GPUs (e.g., RTX 4090 class) or newer hardware can achieve higher frame rates at 4K Ultra, but for the vast majority of gaming scenarios, this combo is more than sufficient.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on the nearest rivals data for both the CPU and GPU, there are several hardware alternatives that would behave similarly in Minimum. For the CPU, the Intel Core i9-14901E, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, Intel Core 5 211E, and AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 all have average benchmark scores within 0.4% of the Ryzen 7 9700X. In practical terms, swapping the Ryzen 7 9700X for any of these CPUs would result in virtually identical frame rates in this game, assuming the same GPU and memory configuration. The Ryzen 7 9700X scores 37943 on average, while the closest rival (i9-14901E) scores 37911, a delta of just 0.1%. This means the CPU is not a differentiating factor among these options for Minimum.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile, NVIDIA Quadro M6000, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile all have average benchmark scores within 1% of the RTX 4070 SUPER. The RTX 4070 SUPER scores 43223, while the closest rival (Quadro M6000 24 GB) scores 43262, a delta of -0.1%. The RTX 4090 Mobile, despite its higher-tier name, scores 43667, which is only 1% higher than the RTX 4070 SUPER. This suggests that for Minimum, these GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates. However, it is important to note that the RTX 4090 Mobile is a mobile part, while the RTX 4070 SUPER is a desktop card, and the Quadro M6000 series is workstation-oriented. In a desktop system, the RTX 4070 SUPER would be the most practical choice, but performance-wise, these alternatives are within the same ballpark.

If a user were to combine any of the rival CPUs with any of the rival GPUs, the resulting combo would likely rank similarly to the 630th position. For example, pairing the Intel Core i9-14901E with the RTX 4070 SUPER would yield nearly identical frame rates, as the CPU delta is only 0.1%. The data does not provide combo-specific benchmarks for these alternative pairings, but the individual component scores strongly suggest that performance would be equivalent. The only exception would be the RTX 4090 Mobile, which has a slightly higher score (43667 vs 43223), potentially pushing frame rates up by a small margin, but not enough to change the best settings at any resolution (4K High remains the playable ceiling, and 1440p/1080p Ultra remain playable).

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 4K with Ultra settings?*

A: No. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 54.5 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playability threshold. The highest playable preset at 4K is High, which averages 71.8 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset at 1440p for this combo?

A: Ultra is the best settings preset at 2560x1440, producing an average frame rate of 99 FPS. All four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable at this resolution, with the lowest being Ultra at 99 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X has an average benchmark score of 37943, which is within 0.4% of its nearest rivals. The Intel Core i9-14901E scores 37911 (0.1% delta), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 scores 37904 (0.1% delta), the Intel Core 5 211E scores 37829 (0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 scores 37804 (0.4% delta). All are effectively identical in performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, High averages 202 FPS and Ultra averages 153 FPS, a difference of 49 FPS. Ultra is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, so it remains the recommended setting.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more important for this game at 4K?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor at 3840x2160. The RTX 4070 SUPER delivers 54.5 FPS at Ultra, which is below 60 FPS, while the CPU's strong performance (86th percentile vs all CPUs) is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking. Lowering settings from Ultra to High increases frame rates from 54.5 to 71.8 FPS, demonstrating GPU-bound behavior.

*Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combos for Minimum?*

A: This combo ranks 630th out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17% of all systems tested. The CPU ranks in the 86th percentile vs all CPUs, and the GPU ranks in the 83rd percentile vs all GPUs, indicating a balanced and high-performing pairing.