Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 sits at rank 176 out of 3712 tested combos in the database for Minimum. That places it in the top 4.7% of all recorded configurations, a strong result that reflects the GPU's dominant role in this title. The CPU ranks in the 71st percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 88th percentile among all graphics cards, so the pairing leverages one top-tier component and one solid mid-range processor.

The rank is driven almost entirely by the RTX 4090's raw output. The CPU's average benchmark score of 17177 puts it within 0.6% of the AMD EPYC 7H12, 0.4% of the Intel Core i5-12450H, and 0.6% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U. These are all processors with comparable aggregate compute, and the i5-11400F holds its own in that group. The GPU's average benchmark score of 60347 is essentially identical to that of the Intel Arc Pro A60 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, within 2.5% of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, and 2.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO V710. In Minimum, this translates into frame rates that clear the 60 FPS threshold at every resolution and preset tested.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 66.1 FPS. That is the ceiling for 4K, but it is a comfortable one, with roughly 6 FPS of headroom above the playable threshold. High settings at 4K average 85.8 FPS, Medium averages 103.7 FPS, and Low averages 136.4 FPS, so every preset at this resolution is playable.

At 2560x1440, Ultra again is the best playable preset, averaging 123.3 FPS. The gap between Ultra and the 60 FPS threshold is substantial, nearly double the required frame rate. High settings average 162.5 FPS, Medium averages 196.3 FPS, and Low averages 255.4 FPS, making this resolution exceptionally smooth across all quality levels.

At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 192.4 FPS, more than three times the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 254.7 FPS, Medium averages 290.5 FPS, and Low averages 320.4 FPS. The lowest preset at 1080p is effectively capped by the system's ability to render frames rather than by any performance bottleneck; the data shows a 320.4 FPS average that is well beyond typical display refresh rates.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows a clear pattern: the GPU dominates performance scaling in Minimum, and the CPU is rarely the limiting factor at any resolution. The evidence is in the frame rate progression across resolutions. Moving from 1080p Low at 320.4 FPS to 1440p Low at 255.4 FPS represents a 20.3% drop, and moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low at 136.4 FPS is a 46.6% drop. These are large reductions that track directly with pixel count, indicating the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

The CPU's role becomes more visible at lower resolutions and lower settings, where frame rates are extremely high. At 1080p Low, the system produces 320.4 FPS, which is likely approaching the point where the i5-11400F's six cores and twelve threads could begin to constrain the frame rate. However, the recorded data does not show min or max FPS values, so the average figures alone suggest the CPU keeps up sufficiently at these speeds. The 3dmark single-thread score of 868 and the cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 indicate decent per-core performance, and the passmark single-thread score of 2981 confirms this. For a game from 2014, these figures are more than adequate.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU is unquestionably the bottleneck, as the 66.1 FPS average is far below what the RTX 4090 is capable of at lower settings. The scaling from 1440p Ultra at 123.3 FPS to 4K Ultra at 66.1 FPS is a 46.4% reduction, again matching the pixel count increase. The i5-11400F's multithreaded scores, such as the cinebench R23 multicore result of 14340 and the passmark multithread score of 16908, are not stressed by this title at these frame rates. The conclusion is straightforward: the GPU determines performance at all resolutions, and the CPU provides ample headroom.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals in the database are all within 0.6% of its average benchmark score of 17177. The AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 17120, which is 0.3% lower; the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239, which is 0.4% higher; the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17278, which is 0.6% higher; and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17074, which is 0.6% lower. Any of these processors would deliver essentially identical CPU-bound behavior in Minimum, meaning the frame rates recorded for this combo would not change meaningfully if one of these chips were swapped in.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are similarly close. The Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60326, a 0% difference. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, 2.5% higher. The AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, 2.9% lower. In practice, these GPUs would produce frame rates within a few percent of the RTX 4090's results in Minimum, though none of them would change the fundamental verdict: this game runs well above 60 FPS at all tested settings and resolutions. The RTX 4090's nearest rivals are workstation-oriented cards, which is notable because Minimum is a lightweight title that does not require that level of compute, but the measured performance is what it is.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the recorded average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 136.4 FPS, Medium produces 103.7 FPS, High produces 85.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 66.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 70.3 FPS, which is a 51.5% reduction from the lowest preset to the highest. This is the largest relative drop across all resolutions, confirming that 4K Ultra places the most demand on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 255.4 FPS, Medium averages 196.3 FPS, High averages 162.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 123.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 132.1 FPS, or 51.7%, a similar relative penalty to 4K but with much higher absolute values. Every preset at this resolution remains far above the 60 FPS threshold, with the lowest result being Ultra at more than double the required frame rate.

At 1920x1080, Low averages 320.4 FPS, Medium averages 290.5 FPS, High averages 254.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 192.4 FPS. The reduction from Low to Ultra is 128.0 FPS, or 39.9%, the smallest relative penalty among the three resolutions. This indicates that at 1080p, the GPU is so far ahead of the game's demands that even the highest preset leaves substantial performance on the table. The 320.4 FPS Low result is the single highest recorded frame rate in this dataset.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum with ease. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: every resolution and every preset tested clears the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Ultra with an average of 66.1 FPS, which is the only result that comes close to the threshold, but it still exceeds it by 6.1 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 123.3 FPS, more than double the threshold. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 192.4 FPS, more than triple the threshold.

The practical takeaway is that the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination is overqualified for Minimum in nearly every scenario. The game, released in 2014, does not require the RTX 4090's 24 GB of memory or its 82.58 TFLOPS of compute, but the hardware delivers maximum settings at 4K with headroom to spare. The only consideration is that 4K Ultra at 66.1 FPS leaves just over 6 FPS of margin, so any future patches or additional background load could theoretically push it below 60 FPS, but the recorded data shows a clear pass. At 1440p and 1080p, there is no risk whatsoever. This is a combination that maxes out the game's settings at every resolution tested, and the bottleneck is never the CPU.