Minimum

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Minimum at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes. The recorded data shows playable settings at 1920x1080 include High, Low, and Medium presets. The most demanding playable preset is High, which holds an average of 61 FPS, exactly at the playable threshold of 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, only the Low preset clears the 60 FPS threshold, with an average of 61 FPS. Medium drops to 47 FPS, High falls to 39 FPS, and Ultra sits at 30 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14600K compare to its closest rivals?

A: The processor scores 48618 in the database's average benchmark score. It trails the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 0.2% and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 by 0.8%, while leading the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.3% and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX by 0.7%. These are all effectively equivalent performers.

Q: Where does the Intel Arc B390 rank among all GPUs?

A: The Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 1482. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% slower.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 4K?

A: No preset at 3840x2160 reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The best result is Low at 33 FPS, followed by Medium at 25 FPS, High at 21 FPS, and Ultra at 16 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary constraint. Frame rates scale steeply with resolution and preset changes, while the CPU is a top-tier 14-core part with a 90th percentile ranking. The integrated-class Arc B390 GPU, with its low percentile ranking, is the bottleneck.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 61 FPS. This is the recommended configuration for 1080p. The Low preset reaches 95 FPS and Medium reaches 72 FPS, but High provides the best visual quality while still clearing the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the only preset that clears 60 FPS is Low, with an average of 61 FPS. Medium drops to 47 FPS, which is below the playable threshold, so Low is the only viable option at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS. The highest average is 33 FPS on Low, with Medium at 25 FPS, High at 21 FPS, and Ultra at 16 FPS. None of these results are playable according to the 60 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3299 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. That places it in the lower 11% of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects the severe imbalance between the high-end processor and the low-end integrated GPU. The CPU is strong enough to rank in the 90th percentile of all processors, while the GPU sits at only the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The combined result is a system that lands near the bottom of the database's combo rankings, which is consistent with the measured frame rates showing only 1080p High and 1440p Low as playable.

The rank of 3299 out of 3712 means the vast majority of tested combinations deliver better performance in this game. This is not a configuration that competitive players would choose for high refresh rate play, nor one that enthusiasts would select for high-resolution gaming. It is a functional setup for 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings, but little more.

Similar Performance Alternatives

On the CPU side, the Intel Core i5-14600K is closely matched by four processors in the database. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, a marginal 0.2% advantage. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995, 0.8% higher. The AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470, 0.3% lower, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287, 0.7% lower. Any of these processors would produce nearly identical results when paired with the same GPU, since the differences are all within a single percentage point. Gamers seeking a similar CPU experience would find these alternatives indistinguishable in practice.

On the GPU side, the Intel Arc B390 is closely grouped with several very old NVIDIA parts. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% lower. These comparisons highlight the Arc B390's position as a low-end part with performance in line with decade-old entry-level GPUs. None of these alternatives would meaningfully change the gaming experience in Minimum; they would all fall into the same general performance band, with the Arc B390 holding a slight edge over each.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows a stark division of labor in this system. The Intel Core i5-14600K is a desktop-class processor with 14 cores, 20 threads, and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. It ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs in the database. The Intel Arc B390, by contrast, is an integrated graphics solution with a 3 nm process, 1536 shading units, and a 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. It ranks in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is a processor that can handle modern workloads with ease paired with a graphics solution that is comparable to entry-level discrete GPUs from over a decade ago.

The scaling data makes the GPU bottleneck explicit. At 1080p, dropping from Ultra to Low raises the average frame rate from 46 FPS to 95 FPS, a 106% improvement. At 1440p, the same preset change raises the average from 30 FPS to 61 FPS, a 103% improvement. At 4K, the change from Ultra to Low raises the average from 16 FPS to 33 FPS, a 106% improvement. These large swings across presets are characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario. A CPU-limited system would show much smaller frame rate differences between presets, since the processor's workload does not change nearly as much as the GPU's when visual quality settings are adjusted.

Resolution scaling reinforces this conclusion. Moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low drops the average from 95 FPS to 61 FPS, a 36% reduction. Moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low drops the average from 61 FPS to 33 FPS, a 46% reduction. These steep penalties are exactly what would be expected when the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU's headroom is partially hidden because the GPU cannot push higher frame rates. At higher resolutions, the GPU's limitations become even more pronounced.

The CPU's role in this game is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the i5-14600K does that without breaking a sweat. The GPU's role is to render the scene, and the Arc B390 simply does not have the raw throughput to maintain 60 FPS at demanding settings. For this specific game, the Arc B390 is the component that determines the playable envelope, and that envelope is limited to 1080p High and 1440p Low.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum, but only within a narrow set of conditions. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS playable threshold on three presets: High at 61 FPS, Medium at 72 FPS, and Low at 95 FPS. The best visual experience at 1080p is the High preset, which sits exactly at the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset reaches 61 FPS, which is playable but visually modest. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the best result is Low at 33 FPS, which is well below the playable threshold.

The verdict is straightforward. For 1080p gaming, this system is adequate and offers a comfortable margin on Medium and Low, with High being playable but with no headroom. For 1440p, the system is playable only on Low, and even that is marginal at 61 FPS. For 4K, the system is not playable at any setting. Gamers with a 1080p monitor will find this configuration workable, while those with higher resolution displays will need to either lower their expectations significantly or upgrade the GPU. The processor has substantial headroom, so a future GPU upgrade would transform this system's gaming performance. As configured, it is a 1080p machine with limited upward mobility.