Minimum

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a combination that spans two very different performance tiers. The CPU is a 4-core, 8-thread Alder Lake part that sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is an Ada Lovelace flagship that reaches the 84th percentile among all GPUs. In Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter, this pairing produces frame rates that range from merely playable at 4K Ultra to overwhelmingly fast at 1080p Low, making it a system that can handle the game with substantial headroom at most settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates show a clear hierarchy across presets. Low settings produce an average of 111.4 FPS, Medium drops to 87.4 FPS, and High settles at 75.5 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one that falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold, averaging 54 FPS. This 57.4 FPS spread between Low and Ultra indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at this resolution, with each step up in quality costing a noticeable chunk of frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture improves dramatically across the board. Low settings average 208.9 FPS, Medium manages 161.7 FPS, High reaches 134.8 FPS, and even Ultra stays comfortably above 60 FPS at 101.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 107.2 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 4K spread but with absolute numbers that make any preset viable for smooth gameplay.

At 1920x1080, the results become almost absurdly high. Low settings average 326.5 FPS, Medium produces 251.4 FPS, High hits 212.7 FPS, and Ultra still manages 157.6 FPS. The 168.9 FPS difference between the lowest and highest presets is the largest absolute spread of any resolution, but even the most demanding preset provides more than double the 60 FPS threshold. This resolution is clearly where the RTX 4070 Ti is least constrained, and the i3-12100F's single-thread performance is sufficient to feed the GPU adequately.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals to the i3-12100F in overall benchmark score are a set of processors that cluster tightly around its average score of 13494. The Intel Core 3 N355 matches almost exactly with an average score of 13492 and a deltaPct of 0%. The Intel Core i5-9500 is 0.3% slower with a score of 13452, while the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% faster at 13594. The Intel Core i7-1250U trails by 1.1% with a score of 13351. For Minimum, any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical performance in CPU-bound scenarios, though the i3-12100F's higher boost clock of 4.30 GHz gives it a slight edge in lightly threaded workloads.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 Ti's average benchmark score of 44795 places it near a handful of other graphics cards. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile scores 45152, which is 0.8% higher, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT reaches 45384, a 1.3% advantage. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 is 1.6% slower at 44075, while the Intel Arc A730M is 1.7% behind at 45592 relative to the RTX 4070 Ti. In practice, swapping the RTX 4070 Ti for any of these alternatives would yield very similar frame rates in Minimum, with differences well within the margin of run-to-run variance.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, which averages 75.5 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the playable threshold while still offering a substantial visual upgrade over Medium's 87.4 FPS. Ultra is not viable at this resolution, as its 54 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS floor.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are Ultra, with an average of 101.7 FPS. This is nearly 42 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, meaning there is ample room for frame rate dips without dropping below playable levels. All four presets at this resolution clear the threshold, but Ultra offers the highest visual quality while still maintaining a robust frame rate.

At 1920x1080, Ultra is also the best setting, averaging 157.6 FPS. This is more than 97 FPS above the playable threshold, providing an exceptionally smooth experience even in the most demanding scenes. The lowest preset at this resolution, Low, averages 326.5 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can even refresh, so users with high refresh rate monitors will have plenty of headroom.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum with ease at 1080p and 1440p, and it handles 4K with only the Ultra preset falling short. At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable, with Ultra averaging 157.6 FPS and Low reaching 326.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, every preset clears 60 FPS as well, with Ultra at 101.7 FPS and Low at 208.9 FPS. The situation at 3840x2160 is slightly more nuanced: High, Medium, and Low are all playable at 75.5, 87.4, and 111.4 FPS respectively, but Ultra drops to 54 FPS, which is below the playable threshold.

For a 2014 title, this combination is overkill at lower resolutions. The RTX 4070 Ti provides massive rasterization performance, and the i3-12100F, despite being a budget quad-core, delivers enough single-thread speed to avoid bottlenecking at 1080p. The only scenario where the system struggles is 4K Ultra, where the GPU simply cannot maintain 60 FPS. Users targeting 4K should stick to High settings, which still look excellent and run at 75.5 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is 168.9 FPS, a 2.07x drop in frame rate. At 2560x1440, that spread is 107.2 FPS, a 2.05x drop. At 3840x2160, the spread narrows to 57.4 FPS, a 2.06x drop. This consistent proportional scaling indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions, as the i3-12100F's performance is sufficient to keep up with the RTX 4070 Ti even at 1080p.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing the same preset across resolutions. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces the average from 326.5 FPS to 208.9 FPS, a 36% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K drops it further to 111.4 FPS, a 47% decrease. These large drops at Low settings suggest that the GPU is still the bottleneck, as a CPU-bound scenario would show smaller differences when resolution changes. The i3-12100F's 4-core, 8-thread configuration with a 12 MB shared L3 cache is adequate for Minimum's engine, which was released in 2014 and does not heavily utilize many threads.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations in the benchmark database, this pairing ranks 536th out of 3712 combos, placing it in the top 14.4% of all tested systems. This is a strong result for a CPU that costs $97 at launch MSRP and a GPU that launched at 799 USD. The ranking reflects the GPU's dominance in this pairing; the RTX 4070 Ti's 84th percentile standing among all GPUs carries the combination, while the i3-12100F's 68th percentile CPU score is adequate but not exceptional.

The rank of 536 out of 3712 is particularly notable because it shows that this combo outperforms many systems with more expensive or more balanced components. In a game like Minimum, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards, the GPU headroom is the primary driver of high average frame rates. The i3-12100F, while not a top-tier CPU, does not hold the RTX 4070 Ti back at 1080p or 1440p, as evidenced by the high frame rates at those resolutions. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, and the CPU's performance becomes even less relevant.

The practical takeaway is that this combination is well-suited for Minimum at any resolution except 4K Ultra. Users with 1080p or 1440p displays can max out all settings and enjoy frame rates well above 100 FPS, while 4K users should stick to High for a smooth experience. The system's ranking in the top 15% of all tested combos confirms that it offers substantial performance for this game, even if the CPU is a modest budget part.