Minimum

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for the Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 in Minimum shows a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates at every tested setting. The Low preset averages 137 FPS, Medium drops to 107.5 FPS, High sits at 88 FPS, and Ultra remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold with 71.2 FPS. This resolution is the only one where all four presets stay playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale downward as expected. Low averages 90.5 FPS, Medium hits 67.4 FPS, High falls to 59.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 42.7 FPS. The data shows a steep cliff between Medium and High at this resolution, with a 7.5 FPS gap that pushes High just under the playable threshold. The step from Low to Medium costs 23.1 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs only 7.5 FPS, indicating that the High preset imposes a disproportionately heavy load at this pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the situation deteriorates sharply. Low averages 47.7 FPS, Medium 38.1 FPS, High 29.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 24.5 FPS. None of these settings reach 60 FPS, and even the least demanding preset falls 12.3 FPS short of playable. The scaling from 1080p to 4K is severe: Low loses 89.3 FPS, Medium loses 69.4 FPS, High loses 58.1 FPS, and Ultra loses 46.7 FPS. This pattern suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the frame rate degradation tracks closely with pixel count increases.

The minimum and maximum FPS values are not recorded in the database for any resolution or setting, so the analysis relies on average frame rates alone. The absence of frame time variance data means the verdicts are based purely on sustained averages, which is sufficient for determining playability but does not capture stutter or hitch behavior.

How This Combo Ranks

The database places this CPU-GPU combination at rank 3093 out of 3712 tested combos for Minimum. That puts it in the lower 16.7 percent of all configurations in the database, meaning it outperforms roughly 619 combos but lags behind the vast majority of systems tested. For a game released in 2014, this rank reflects that the hardware is capable at lower resolutions but struggles to compete with modern or high-end parts at demanding settings.

The CPU alone sits at the 68th percentile among all processors, which is a solid mid-pack position. Its average benchmark score of 13494 places it near several comparable chips: the Intel Core 3 N355 scores 13492 with a delta of 0 percent, the Intel Core i5-9500 scores 13452 with a delta of 0.3 percent, the Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594 with a delta of -0.7 percent, and the Intel Core i7-1250U scores 13351 with a delta of 1.1 percent. These deltas are tiny, indicating that the i3-12100F delivers nearly identical CPU-bound performance to these alternatives in synthetic workloads.

The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 47th percentile among all graphics cards, slightly below the midpoint. Its average benchmark score of 9780 is closely matched by the AMD FirePro W5000 at 9803 (delta -0.2 percent), the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M at 9832 (delta -0.5 percent), the NVIDIA Tesla M10 at 9724 (delta 0.6 percent), and the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 at 9716 (delta 0.7 percent). The GTX 1070 is the strongest component in this pairing from a raw performance standpoint, but its rank in the overall combo list is dragged down by the combination's inability to handle 4K at any preset.

The rank of 3093 also means that a large portion of the tested systems achieve higher frame rates in Minimum, even though the game is relatively old. This is consistent with the measured FPS data: the combo is playable at 1080p and 1440p on select presets, but the 4K results are uniformly below the playable threshold, which likely contributes to the low overall rank.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings that stay at or above 60 FPS are the Ultra preset, which averages 71.2 FPS. This is the highest visual quality option available in the game, and the data shows it remains fully playable at this resolution. The 60 FPS threshold is cleared by 11.2 FPS, leaving a modest but real margin for transient drops. High, Medium, and Low also exceed 60 FPS (88, 107.5, and 137 FPS respectively), but Ultra provides the best visual fidelity without sacrificing playability.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Medium, averaging 67.4 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS threshold by 7.4 FPS, which is a narrower margin than at 1080p. Low also qualifies at 90.5 FPS, but Medium is the most demanding preset that remains playable. High falls short at 59.9 FPS, just 0.1 FPS below the threshold, and Ultra is far off at 42.7 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p users should stick to Medium or below for a stable experience.

At 3840x2160, the verdict is clear: no preset reaches 60 FPS. The best option is Low at 47.7 FPS, which is 12.3 FPS short of playable, followed by Medium at 38.1 FPS, High at 29.9 FPS, and Ultra at 24.5 FPS. The database records no playable settings for this resolution, meaning the hardware is not suited for 4K gaming in Minimum under any configuration. Users targeting 4K would need to reduce resolution or accept sub-60 FPS gameplay.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Core i3-12100F is effectively interchangeable with the Intel Core 3 N355, which has a 0 percent delta in average score (13492 vs 13494). The Intel Core i5-9500 is only 0.3 percent slower, the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7 percent faster, and the Intel Core i7-1250U is 1.1 percent slower. In a game like Minimum, which is not extremely CPU-demanding at lower resolutions, swapping to any of these processors would yield nearly identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The 4-core, 8-thread design of the i3-12100F appears sufficient for this title, as its performance is tightly clustered with these rivals.

On the GPU side, the GTX 1070's nearest rivals are the AMD FirePro W5000 (delta -0.2 percent), the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (delta -0.5 percent), the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (delta 0.6 percent), and the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 (delta 0.7 percent). These deltas are all within 1 percent of the GTX 1070's average score, meaning that a system using any of these GPUs would produce very similar FPS results in Minimum. The FirePro W5000 and Quadro M2000M are workstation-class parts, but their gaming performance in this title would be nearly indistinguishable from the GTX 1070 based on the database's measurements. The Tesla cards are compute-oriented, yet their raw scores align closely enough that the frame rates would be comparable.

For users seeking to replicate this combo's behavior, pairing the i3-12100F with any of these GPUs, or pairing the GTX 1070 with any of the listed CPUs, would yield essentially the same playable settings per resolution. The 1080p Ultra result of 71.2 FPS and the 1440p Medium result of 67.4 FPS would likely hold within a few frames across these alternatives.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a classic resolution-dependent split in bottleneck behavior. At 1920x1080, the CPU has more headroom, and the GPU is the primary limiter. This is evidenced by the fact that dropping from Ultra to Low only increases FPS from 71.2 to 137, a 65.8 FPS gain, which indicates that the GPU is still doing most of the heavy lifting. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads at a 4.30 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at this resolution, as the frame rates remain high across all presets.

At 2560x1440, the balance shifts. The gap between Low and Medium is 23.1 FPS, but the gap between Medium and High is only 7.5 FPS. This nonlinear scaling suggests that the GPU is becoming more constrained as pixel count rises, but the CPU is not yet the limiting factor. The fact that High averages 59.9 FPS, just below the threshold, indicates that the GPU is running out of pixel throughput rather than waiting on the CPU. The CPU's role remains secondary, but its single-thread performance (as seen in benchmarks like the 3dmark single-thread score of 893 and Geekbench single-core score of 1932) is adequate for the game's logic at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unambiguously the bottleneck. The frame rates drop to 24.5 to 47.7 FPS across presets, and the scaling between settings is nearly linear, suggesting that the GTX 1070's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed by the pixel workload. The CPU's performance becomes nearly irrelevant at this resolution, as even the Low preset cannot reach 60 FPS. The 4K results are 23.1 to 33.2 percent lower than the 1440p results at corresponding settings, which aligns with the 2.25x increase in pixel count and confirms that GPU compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors.

The pattern is consistent: the CPU is never the primary constraint in Minimum for this combo, even at 1080p where its load is highest. The GPU dictates playability, and the results show that users should prioritize GPU upgrades for higher resolutions, while the CPU has enough headroom to support any of the tested presets at 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 1920x1080 on Ultra settings?*

A: Yes. The recorded average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 71.2, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: Medium is the best preset that stays playable, averaging 67.4 FPS. High drops to 59.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

*Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this hardware in Minimum?*

A: No. Even at Low settings, the average FPS at 3840x2160 is 47.7, which fails to reach the 60 FPS threshold. No preset at 4K is playable.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this game?

A: The GTX 1070's average score of 9780 is within 0.7 percent of the AMD FirePro W5000, NVIDIA Quadro M2000M, Tesla M10, and Tesla C2070. Frame rates in Minimum would be nearly identical across these GPUs.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more at 1080p?

A: The GPU is the primary limiter at 1080p. The CPU's performance is sufficient, as shown by the high frame rates even at Low (137 FPS), and the FPS scaling across presets follows GPU load rather than CPU load.

*Q: What overall rank does this combination hold in the database for Minimum?*

A: The combo ranks 3093 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of systems tested. This reflects its inability to handle 4K and its borderline 1440p High performance.