Minimum

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Minimum at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only with settings adjustments. At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 76.9 FPS on Low and 64 FPS on Medium, but drops to 50.6 FPS on High and 41.7 FPS on Ultra. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, so Low and Medium are the only playable presets at 4K.

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

A: At 2560x1440, all four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold. The best setting is Ultra, which averages 72.1 FPS. High sits at 95.5 FPS, Medium at 110.4 FPS, and Low at 148.6 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to similar processors in the database?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F ranks in the 71st percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD EPYC 7H12, which scores 0.3% higher. The Intel Core i5-12450H is 0.4% slower, the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G is 0.6% slower, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U is 0.6% faster.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks in the 61st percentile among all GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is 0.7% faster, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 is 1% faster, and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M is 1.1% faster. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c is 1.5% slower.

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

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 228 FPS, while Ultra produces 110.4 FPS. That is a drop of 117.6 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers roughly half the frame rate of Low at this resolution.

Q: Does the GPU or CPU matter more for this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rate scales dramatically with graphics settings, dropping from 76.9 FPS on Low to 41.7 FPS on Ultra. At 1080p, the same settings change yields a smaller relative drop, suggesting the CPU can keep up while the GPU workload becomes the bottleneck.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance profile of this combo in Minimum reveals a clear division of labor between the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. The game is a Third-Person Shooter from 2014, and the measured data shows that the GPU becomes the dominant factor as resolution increases, while the CPU's six cores and twelve threads provide sufficient headroom at lower resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all presets. Low settings produce 228 FPS, Medium 178.8 FPS, High 145.3 FPS, and Ultra 110.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a reduction of 117.6 FPS, or roughly 51.6% of the Low value. This pattern suggests that at 1080p, both the CPU and GPU are working well within their limits, with the GPU handling the increased graphical load as settings rise.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but the gap between presets narrows in percentage terms. Low produces 148.6 FPS, Medium 110.4 FPS, High 95.5 FPS, and Ultra 72.1 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 76.5 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p results. This indicates that the RTX 3070 still has enough bandwidth and compute headroom at 1440p to handle the settings scaling, while the CPU continues to feed frames adequately.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Low produces 76.9 FPS, Medium 64 FPS, High 50.6 FPS, and Ultra 41.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a reduction of 35.2 FPS, but the absolute values are much lower. The High preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra drops to 41.7 FPS. This is where the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus, with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, start to show their limits. The RTX 3070's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being taxed heavily at 4K, particularly at High and Ultra settings.

The CPU's role is less pronounced at 4K. The i5-11400F has a boost clock of 4.40 GHz and a single-thread benchmark score of 868 in 3dmark_single_thread, which is more than adequate for a 2014 title. The game's age means it likely does not utilize many threads, so the CPU's 12 threads and 12 MB of shared L3 cache are not a limiting factor. The recorded data supports this: at 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 228 FPS, which is likely near the engine's own limits rather than a CPU bottleneck.

The resolution scaling itself tells the story. Going from 1080p Low to 1440p Low reduces the frame rate from 228 to 148.6 FPS, a drop of 79.4 FPS. Going from 1440p Low to 4K Low reduces it further to 76.9 FPS, a drop of 71.7 FPS. This consistent degradation with resolution confirms that the GPU is the primary scaling factor. The CPU's performance, as measured by its 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, is sufficient to keep the pipeline fed at all tested resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo covers three resolutions and four presets each. All values are average frame rates, with no minimum or maximum values recorded.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce 228 FPS, Medium settings produce 178.8 FPS, High settings produce 145.3 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 110.4 FPS. Every preset at this resolution clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by a wide margin. Even the most demanding preset, Ultra, delivers 110.4 FPS, which is 50.4 FPS above the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low settings produce 148.6 FPS, Medium settings produce 110.4 FPS, High settings produce 95.5 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 72.1 FPS. All presets remain above 60 FPS, with Ultra being the closest to the threshold at 72.1 FPS. The margin above the threshold is 12.1 FPS at Ultra, which is still comfortable but notably tighter than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low settings produce 76.9 FPS, Medium settings produce 64 FPS, High settings produce 50.6 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 41.7 FPS. Only Low and Medium clear the 60 FPS threshold. High falls short by 9.4 FPS, and Ultra falls short by 18.3 FPS. This is the only resolution where the combo cannot run all presets at playable frame rates.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each preset step down in quality yields a meaningful frame rate increase. At 1080p, the difference between adjacent presets ranges from 33.5 FPS (Medium to High) to 49.2 FPS (Low to Medium). At 1440p, the differences are 38.2 FPS (Low to Medium), 14.9 FPS (Medium to High), and 23.4 FPS (High to Ultra). At 4K, the differences are 12.9 FPS (Low to Medium), 13.4 FPS (Medium to High), and 8.9 FPS (High to Ultra). The diminishing absolute returns at higher resolutions reflect the GPU's increasing workload.

The highest recorded frame rate in the entire dataset is 228 FPS at 1080p Low. The lowest recorded frame rate is 41.7 FPS at 4K Ultra. The spread between these extremes is 186.3 FPS, which illustrates how strongly resolution and settings affect this combo's performance.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum, and it does so with substantial headroom at most settings and resolutions. The verdict by resolution is clear from the recorded data.

At 3840x2160, the playable settings are Low and Medium. Low averages 76.9 FPS, and Medium averages 64 FPS. The best playable setting is Medium, with an average of 64 FPS, which is 4 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. High and Ultra are not playable at this resolution, with averages of 50.6 and 41.7 FPS respectively.

At 2560x1440, all four presets are playable. The playable settings are High, Low, Medium, and Ultra. The best setting is Ultra, with an average of 72.1 FPS. This is 12.1 FPS above the threshold, providing a comfortable margin even at the highest quality preset.

At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable as well. The playable settings are High, Low, Medium, and Ultra. The best setting is Ultra, with an average of 110.4 FPS. This is 50.4 FPS above the threshold, making 1080p Ultra the most demanding configuration that still delivers a strongly playable experience.

The overall verdict is that this combo is more than capable of running Minimum at 1080p and 1440p with maximum settings, and at 4K with Medium settings. The 4K Ultra preset is the only configuration that falls significantly below the playable threshold, and even then, the 41.7 FPS average is playable for some users, though it does not meet the 60 FPS standard used by the database.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-11400F provide context for what other CPUs would behave similarly in this system. The AMD EPYC 7H12 has an average benchmark score of 17120, which is 0.3% higher than the i5-11400F's average of 17177. The Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239, which is 0.4% lower. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17278, which is 0.6% lower. The Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17074, which is 0.6% higher. All four rivals are within 0.6% of the i5-11400F's average score, so any of them would produce nearly identical frame rates in Minimum, assuming the GPU remains the same.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, the nearest rivals are similarly close. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 17083, which is 0.7% higher than the RTX 3070's average of 17208. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 scores 17037, which is 1% higher. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019, which is 1.1% higher. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17468, which is 1.5% lower. These deltas are small enough that swapping the RTX 3070 for any of these rivals would result in nearly identical performance in Minimum, with the Tesla K40c being the only one that would be slightly slower.

Combining any of these CPU alternatives with the RTX 3070 would yield essentially the same experience as the i5-11400F, since the CPU performance differences are all within 0.6%. Likewise, pairing the i5-11400F with any of the GPU rivals would produce frame rates within about 1.5% of the recorded values. The practical takeaway is that this performance profile is not unique to the exact components tested; it represents a broad cluster of hardware with similar benchmark scores.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos for Minimum, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1588 out of 3712 combos. This places it in the upper half of all tested configurations, specifically at approximately the 57th percentile of tested combos.

The rank reflects the combo's ability to run Minimum at high frame rates across most settings. The 1080p results, which exceed 110 FPS at all presets, and the 1440p results, which exceed 72 FPS at all presets, are strong contributors to this ranking. The 4K results, where only Low and Medium are playable, likely prevent the combo from ranking higher.

Given that the CPU ranks in the 71st percentile among all CPUs and the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile among all GPUs, the combo rank of 1588 out of 3712 is consistent with what the individual component rankings would suggest. The combination of a slightly above-average CPU and a slightly above-average GPU produces a system that is better than the median tested combo for this game.

The rank also indicates that there are 2124 combos in the database that perform worse than this setup in Minimum, and 1587 that perform better. This places the combo in a solid mid-to-upper tier for this game, with no major weaknesses except for the 4K High and Ultra presets.

Best Settings per Resolution

The best settings per resolution are determined by finding the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, using the playableThresholdFps of 60.

At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Medium, with an average FPS of 64. This is the most demanding preset that clears the 60 FPS threshold at 4K. Low also clears the threshold with 76.9 FPS, but Medium is the higher quality option and is therefore the recommended choice. High and Ultra fall below the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best playable setting is Ultra, with an average FPS of 72.1. This is the most demanding preset available, and it clears the threshold by 12.1 FPS. All lower presets also clear the threshold, but Ultra provides the highest visual quality while remaining playable.

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Ultra, with an average FPS of 110.4. This is the most demanding preset available, and it clears the threshold by 50.4 FPS. The margin is large enough that users could enable Ultra without any concern about dropping below 60 FPS.

For users who prioritize a higher frame rate over visual quality, the data shows that dropping to Low at 1080p yields 228 FPS, at 1440p yields 148.6 FPS, and at 4K yields 76.9 FPS. These settings would be appropriate for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays. However, the best balance of quality and playability is Medium at 4K, Ultra at 1440p, and Ultra at 1080p.