Minimum

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 in Minimum shows a wide performance spread across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the combination delivers strong frame rates: Low settings average 155.7 FPS, Medium averages 121.2 FPS, High averages 97.5 FPS, and even Ultra maintains 74.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 81.2 FPS, indicating that the preset scaling has a substantial impact on the GPU workload.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop but remain respectable for most settings. Low produces 101.7 FPS, Medium drops to 76.5 FPS, High settles at 63 FPS, and Ultra falls to 46.9 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at this resolution is particularly steep, a 16.1 FPS reduction, which suggests that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that the RTX 2060 struggles to sustain at this pixel count. The delta between 1080p and 1440p at High settings is 34.5 FPS, showing that resolution scaling heavily influences performance.

At 3840x2160, the combination is clearly under pressure. Low settings average 52.7 FPS, Medium drops to 42.6 FPS, High falls further to 33.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 24.9 FPS. None of these averages reach the 60 FPS playability threshold. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 27.8 FPS, and the gap between 1440p High (63 FPS) and 4K High (33.5 FPS) is 29.5 FPS, illustrating that 4K demands roughly double the GPU throughput at this preset level.

Best Settings per Resolution

The database verdict defines playable as an average of at least 60 FPS. At 1920x1080, every preset qualifies, and the most demanding playable option is Ultra with an average of 74.5 FPS. This is the recommended setting for the combination at this resolution, as it provides the highest visual fidelity while staying comfortably above the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the playable presets are Low, Medium, and High. The most demanding of these is High, which averages 63 FPS. That margin above the 60 FPS floor is only 3 FPS, so while it meets the playability criterion, it leaves little headroom for scene complexity spikes. Medium at 76.5 FPS offers a safer buffer, but the best settings selection per the recorded data is High.

For 3840x2160, the verdict list shows no playable settings. Low averages 52.7 FPS, which is 7.3 FPS below the threshold, and every higher preset falls further behind. Therefore, the database does not assign a best setting for 4K with this combo. Users targeting this resolution would need to reduce the resolution or accept sub-60 FPS performance, as no preset in the measured data reaches the playable mark.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the primary constraint for Minimum at higher resolutions, while the CPU has sufficient headroom to support the frame rates the RTX 2060 can deliver. Evidence comes from the scaling pattern: at 1080p, the difference between Low (155.7 FPS) and Ultra (74.5 FPS) is 81.2 FPS, which is a GPU-driven change because the CPU workload at 1080p is similar across presets. The i7-12700K, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, is not the limiting factor in these scenarios.

Resolution scaling reinforces this conclusion. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings reduces the average from 97.5 FPS to 63 FPS, a 35.4% drop. Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings reduces the average from 63 FPS to 33.5 FPS, a 46.8% drop. These declines are far larger than any CPU-bound scaling would produce, since the pixel count increase directly raises the GPU fill rate and shading demands. The RTX 2060, with its 1920 shading units and 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, is the component that determines the ceiling here.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and presets where the GPU has less work. At 1080p Low, the 155.7 FPS average suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but the frame rate is still bounded by the GPU's ability to process frames. The i7-12700K's single-thread score of 1043 in 3dmark and its 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate strong per-core performance, which is relevant for Minimum's game logic and draw call submission. However, no measured data shows the CPU causing a bottleneck, as all recorded averages appear GPU-limited based on the preset scaling.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the i7-12700K in the database are all within a narrow performance band. The Intel Core i5-13600T has an average score of 35305, a 0.1% deficit relative to the i7-12700K's 35287. The Intel Core i7-12700KF scores 35365, which is 0.2% higher. The Intel Core i7-13700T reaches 35403, 0.3% ahead, and the Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35428, 0.4% ahead. These deltas are negligible, meaning any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Minimum when paired with the same GPU. The 12700KF is essentially the same chip without integrated graphics, so its behavior in this game would match the 12700K almost exactly.

For the GPU, the RTX 2060's nearest rivals show a similarly tight grouping. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 has an average score of 15283, matching the RTX 2060's 15290 with a 0% delta. The AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270, just 0.1% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM scores 15199, 0.6% lower, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15171, 0.8% lower. In practice, swapping the RTX 2060 for any of these cards would shift the measured FPS by less than a single frame per second across all resolutions and presets. The GTX 580, despite being an older architecture, produces essentially identical average scores in the database, so it would behave like the RTX 2060 in Minimum. The RX 7600 and RTX 3050 OEM would be marginally slower, but the difference would not be perceptible in gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i7-12700K and RTX 2060 ranks 2966th out of 3712 tested combos in the database for Minimum. That places it in the lower 20% of all recorded configurations, which reflects the GPU's modest standing rather than the CPU's. The RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, while the i7-12700K sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs. This mismatch means the combo's ranking is dragged down by the graphics card, and users seeking a higher rank would need a stronger GPU rather than a faster CPU.

The rank of 2966 also indicates that the majority of tested combos outperform this pair in Minimum. However, the measured FPS data shows that this rank does not translate to unplayability at common resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves playable frame rates on every preset, and at 1440p it maintains playability up to High settings. The low rank is a consequence of the database containing many high-end configurations that push far beyond these numbers, not a sign that this combo underperforms its hardware class.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average at 1080p Ultra is 74.5 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS playability threshold. This is the most demanding playable preset at this resolution.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: High settings at 1440p average 63 FPS, making it the most demanding preset that stays at or above the 60 FPS threshold. Low and Medium also qualify, averaging 101.7 FPS and 76.5 FPS respectively.

Q: Is 3840x2160 playable with this hardware?

A: No. The best average at 4K is 52.7 FPS on Low settings, which is 7.3 FPS below the 60 FPS playability threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall further behind, averaging 42.6 FPS, 33.5 FPS, and 24.9 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to the RX 7600 in this game?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 15171, which is 0.8% lower than the RTX 2060's 15290. The measured FPS difference in Minimum would be under one frame per second at every resolution and preset.

Q: Is the i7-12700K holding back the RTX 2060?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The i7-12700K ranks at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the i7-12700KF, scores 0.2% higher. The FPS scaling between presets and resolutions aligns with GPU-bound behavior, not CPU limitation.

Q: What is the combo's overall standing among tested configurations?

A: It ranks 2966th out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. This lower-tier ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's 58th percentile standing, as the CPU sits much higher at the 84th percentile.