Minimum

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 makes short work of Minimum, a third-person shooter released in mid-2014. Benchmark results indicate this combination clears the 60 FPS playable threshold at every tested resolution except one corner case — Ultra at 4K — and it does so with generous headroom. At 1080p and 1440p, every preset from Low to Ultra runs comfortably above 60 FPS, with the Ultra numbers sitting at 137.5 and 86.5 average FPS respectively. The single miss is 4K Ultra at 48 FPS, a hair below the threshold. This is a decisive win for the pairing against a game of this vintage.

Measured FPS Breakdown

All figures below are measured average frame rates for this specific CPU + GPU combination; minimum and maximum frame rates were not recorded in this dataset.

1920x1080:

| Preset | Avg FPS |

|---|---|

| Low | 276.9 |

| Medium | 212.6 |

| High | 179 |

| Ultra | 137.5 |

At 1080p the frame rates are effectively uncapped. Even the Ultra preset lands at 137.5 FPS, more than double the 60 FPS threshold. Low settings push 276.9 FPS — esports territory for a game that never asked for it.

2560x1440:

| Preset | Avg FPS |

|---|---|

| Low | 176.7 |

| Medium | 137 |

| High | 114.8 |

| Ultra | 86.5 |

Stepping to 1440p costs roughly a third of the frame rate at each preset, but the margin over 60 FPS remains wide. Ultra at 86.5 FPS clears the threshold by over 26 frames.

3840x2160:

| Preset | Avg FPS |

|---|---|

| Low | 94.6 |

| Medium | 76.9 |

| High | 63.9 |

| Ultra | 48 |

4K is where the RTX 4070 finally breaks a sweat. Low, Medium, and High all stay above 60 FPS — 94.6, 76.9, and 63.9 respectively — but Ultra dips to 48 FPS and falls short of the playable threshold. Dropping one preset from Ultra to High recovers roughly 16 FPS at this resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions tells the story clearly. At 1080p Ultra the combo delivers 137.5 FPS; at 1440p Ultra that falls to 86.5; at 4K Ultra it drops again to 48. That steep, roughly continuous decline as pixel count rises — nearly a two-thirds reduction from 1080p to 4K at the same preset — is the signature of a GPU-bound workload. The RTX 4070 is the component setting the ceiling, not the Core i5-14600K.

The preset scaling reinforces this. Within each resolution, moving from Low to Ultra shaves huge chunks off the frame rate: 276.9 down to 137.5 at 1080p, 176.7 down to 86.5 at 1440p, 94.6 down to 48 at 4K. When visual fidelity changes move frame rates this dramatically at every resolution, the GPU's shading and memory subsystem — here 5888 shading units, 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth — is the limiting factor.

The CPU, by contrast, never appears to be the bottleneck. The Core i5-14600K brings 14 cores, 20 threads, a 5.30 GHz boost clock, and an average benchmark score of 48618 that places it in the 90th percentile of all tested CPUs. Its single-thread Passmark result of 4270 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064 indicate more than enough per-core throughput to feed a 2014 third-person shooter at any resolution. The data shows no plateau where raising resolution stops costing frames — the telltale sign of a CPU cap — so the GPU remains the component that matters at 1440p and 4K. At 1080p, with even Ultra clearing 137.5 FPS, both components are loafing.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the Minimum benchmark database, this pairing ranks 931st out of 3712 tested combinations — the top quartile, though not near the summit for this particular title. That placement makes sense given the game's age: Minimum doesn't scale aggressively with high-end hardware, so exotic pairings don't pull far ahead, while this combo's balanced strength puts it well above the median tested configuration.

Individually, the components hold strong positions. The Core i5-14600K sits in the 90th percentile versus all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 48618. The RTX 4070 sits in the 81st percentile versus all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 37648, backed by a Passmark G3D score of 26927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854. The ranking of 931 out of 3712 reflects that GPU percentile more than the CPU's — consistent with Minimum being GPU-bound on this hardware.

The Verdict

Yes — this PC runs Minimum, and runs it well.

• 1920x1080: Playable on every preset — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. Best settings: Ultra at 137.5 average FPS.
• 2560x1440: Playable on every preset. Best settings: Ultra at 86.5 average FPS.
• 3840x2160: Playable on Low, Medium, and High. Best settings: High at 63.9 average FPS. Ultra at 48 FPS misses the 60 FPS threshold.

The practical takeaway: at 1080p and 1440p, max the game out and forget about it. At 4K, drop from Ultra to High to stay above 60 FPS — the data shows that single-step change restores playability with a 63.9 FPS average.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For CPUs, the database lists four rivals within striking distance of the Core i5-14600K's average score of 48618: the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 48698 (0.2% slower delta relative to the i5's lead), the AMD EPYC 4345P at 48470, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX at 48287, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 at 48995. All four sit within a fraction of a percent of the i5-14600K's aggregate benchmark performance, so any of them would deliver effectively indistinguishable CPU-side behavior in Minimum — especially given that this game leans on the GPU anyway.

For GPUs, the nearest rivals to the RTX 4070's average score of 37648 are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 at 37628, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37507, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 38135, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 at 37157. Since Minimum is GPU-bound on this pairing, swapping the RTX 4070 for any of these similarly-scoring cards would produce comparable frame-rate behavior — the RTX 4080 Mobile edges it slightly, the Radeon PRO W6400 trails slightly, and the other two are near-identical in aggregate score.

FAQ

Q: Can the i5-14600K + RTX 4070 run Minimum at 4K? A: Yes, on Low, Medium, and High presets — averaging 94.6, 76.9, and 63.9 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset averages 48 FPS and falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best-looking playable setup for this combo? A: At 1080p and 1440p, Ultra is fully playable at 137.5 and 86.5 FPS. At 4K, the best playable setting is High at 63.9 FPS.

Q: Is this game CPU-limited or GPU-limited with this hardware? A: GPU-limited. Frame rates fall steeply as resolution and preset quality rise — from 276.9 FPS at 1080p Low to 48 FPS at 4K Ultra — with no plateau that would indicate a CPU cap. The Core i5-14600K, in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, has ample headroom.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested pairings in Minimum? A: It ranks 931st out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top quartile for this title.

Q: Would a similarly-scoring CPU give the same experience? A: Yes. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995 average score), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698), AMD EPYC 4345P (48470), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48287) all sit within a fraction of a percent of the i5-14600K's 48618 average score, and since Minimum is GPU-bound here, the difference would be negligible.

Q: What GPU-side alternatives behave similarly? A: The NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135), and AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37157) all score within roughly one percent of the RTX 4070's 37648 average, indicating comparable overall performance.