Minimum

Settings Recommendations

For Minimum, the measured data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate across all tested resolutions. The sweet spot for this combination is the Medium preset, which delivers a balanced experience without sacrificing playability. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS, indicating a stable frame delivery that suits fast-paced third-person shooter gameplay. The High preset at the same resolution drops to 90 FPS average, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Low reaches 140 FPS, but the visual quality reduction is substantial, and the added frames beyond 107 offer diminishing returns for most users.

At 2560x1440, Medium remains the recommended choice with an average of 69 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS, which keeps the experience smooth on high-refresh-rate monitors. High at this resolution averages 58 FPS, slightly below the 60 FPS threshold that many players prefer. Ultra at 1440p falls to 44 FPS, which introduces noticeable stutter in action sequences. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a fully smooth experience: Medium averages 37 FPS with a minimum of 32 FPS, which is borderline for a shooter, while High sits at 31 FPS and Ultra at 24 FPS. The data suggests that 4K is only viable with Low settings, which reaches 49 FPS, but the visual compromise is severe.

The Medium preset’s measured consistency—evidenced by the narrow min-to-max range at both 1080p and 1440p—indicates it is the most predictable setting for this hardware pair. Users prioritizing frame rate above all else should consider Low, but for the best balance of image quality and responsiveness, Medium is the definitive choice across all three resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, based on the Pascal architecture with the GP104 chip, is the primary driver of frame rate in Minimum, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for this 2014 release’s texture loads, but the card’s raw compute power becomes the limiting factor as resolution scales. The GTX 1070’s base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, combined with 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, deliver a measured FP32 performance of 6.463 TFLOPS. These specifications place the GPU in the 47th percentile of all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 9780.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores include the AMD FirePro W5000 (deltaPct -0.2), NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (deltaPct -0.5), NVIDIA Tesla M10 (deltaPct 0.6), and NVIDIA Tesla C2070 (deltaPct 0.7). These deltas are all within 0.7%, indicating that the GTX 1070 sits in a tightly clustered performance band for general compute tasks. However, in Minimum’s specific workload, the GPU’s DirectX 11 score of 100 and DirectX 12 score of 48 from PassMark suggest that the card is better optimized for the older API, which aligns with the game’s 2014 release date. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1082 further indicates limited headroom for modern API overhead, but Minimum does not stress this aspect heavily.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is never fully exhausted at 1080p or 1440p based on the measured frame rates, as even the Ultra preset maintains playable averages at those resolutions. At 4K, the VRAM is not the bottleneck; instead, the GPU’s shading and texture throughput are overwhelmed, as evidenced by the sharp drop from 37 FPS at Medium to 24 FPS at Ultra. This pattern points to the GPU’s compute units, not its memory subsystem, as the limiting factor in demanding settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a pronounced resolution scaling curve that identifies the GPU as the bottleneck at higher pixel counts. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by approximately 35-36% across all settings. For example, Medium falls from 107 FPS to 69 FPS, and High falls from 90 FPS to 58 FPS. This consistent scaling factor indicates that the GPU is being pushed harder as pixel count increases, but the CPU still has sufficient headroom to feed frames.

The transition from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 shows a more severe drop, with Medium falling from 69 FPS to 37 FPS—a 46% reduction. High drops from 58 FPS to 31 FPS (47% reduction), and Ultra from 44 FPS to 24 FPS (45% reduction). This acceleration in performance loss at 4K suggests that the GTX 1070’s memory bandwidth and shading units are saturated, causing the GPU to become the sole limiting component. The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across settings (around 45-47%) reinforces that the bottleneck is resolution-dependent, not settings-dependent.

At 1080p, the CPU has more influence on the frame rate ceiling, as evidenced by the smaller gap between Low (140 FPS) and Medium (107 FPS). The 33 FPS difference between these settings is larger than the 21 FPS difference between Medium and High at the same resolution, indicating that the GPU’s workload at Low settings is light enough for the CPU to keep up. At 4K, the gap between Low (49 FPS) and Medium (37 FPS) is only 12 FPS, showing that the GPU is so heavily loaded that even reducing settings has diminishing returns. This scaling behavior confirms that Minimum is GPU-bound at 1440p and above, while CPU-bound at 1080p with lower settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS values for the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 140 FPS average
• Medium: 107 FPS average (minimum 91 FPS, maximum 123 FPS)
• High: 90 FPS average
• Ultra: 68 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 90 FPS average
• Medium: 69 FPS average (minimum 59 FPS, maximum 79 FPS)
• High: 58 FPS average
• Ultra: 44 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 49 FPS average
• Medium: 37 FPS average (minimum 32 FPS, maximum 43 FPS)
• High: 31 FPS average
• Ultra: 24 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min/max FPS values, providing insight into frame delivery consistency. At 1080p, the 91-123 FPS range spans 32 FPS, which is a moderate variance of about 30% relative to the average. At 1440p, the 59-79 FPS range spans 20 FPS, a similar variance. At 4K, the 32-43 FPS range spans 11 FPS, showing tighter frame pacing despite the low average. This data suggests that the GPU maintains stable performance even when pushed to its limits, with no catastrophic frame drops.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution is consistent: at 1080p, Ultra delivers 49% of Low’s frame rate (68 vs 140 FPS); at 1440p, Ultra delivers 49% of Low (44 vs 90 FPS); at 4K, Ultra delivers 49% of Low (24 vs 49 FPS). This uniform 49% ratio across resolutions indicates that the settings scaling is purely GPU-bound, with no CPU-induced variation. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p (90 to 68 FPS) represents a 24% reduction, which is the largest single-setting penalty, suggesting that Ultra introduces disproportionately heavy effects that tax the GTX 1070’s resources.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Minimum with this hardware?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 with Medium settings provides the best experience, averaging 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS. This resolution offers smooth gameplay with no frame drops below 90 FPS.

Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming in Minimum?

A: The data shows that 4K is only playable at Low settings, which averages 49 FPS. Medium at 4K drops to 37 FPS, and Ultra falls to 24 FPS, making those presets unsuitable for a shooter where responsiveness is critical.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rival GPUs in benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 9780, placing it 0.2% below the AMD FirePro W5000 and 0.5% below the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M. It is 0.6% above the NVIDIA Tesla M10 and 0.7% above the NVIDIA Tesla C2070.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Minimum?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the CPU has more influence, as the GPU is less loaded and frame rates reach 140 FPS. At 1440p and above, the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent 45-47% FPS drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like for this combination?

A: The Medium preset has measured min/max values, showing a 32 FPS spread at 1080p (91-123 FPS), a 20 FPS spread at 1440p (59-79 FPS), and an 11 FPS spread at 4K (32-43 FPS). This indicates stable frame pacing with no severe stutters.

Q: Does the GTX 1070’s 8 GB VRAM cause any limitations in Minimum?

A: The data does not indicate VRAM-related bottlenecks, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings. The performance drops are better explained by the GPU’s compute throughput, with the 256-bit memory bus providing adequate bandwidth for this game’s requirements.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, with 6 cores and 12 threads, plays a supporting role in Minimum’s performance, primarily ensuring that the GPU is never starved of data. The CPU’s base clock of 4.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz, combined with 96 MB of shared L3 cache, provide strong single-thread performance for game logic and physics. Its PassMark single-thread score of 3494 and multithread score of 25047 place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44573.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i9-13950HX (deltaPct 0.5), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (deltaPct 0.6), and Intel Core i5-14600 (deltaPct -0.7). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the 7500X3D is well-matched with high-end laptop and desktop chips from the recent generation. The CPU’s 5 nm process node from TSMC and 65 W TDP make it an efficient choice, but these specifications do not directly influence Minimum’s frame rates.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s influence is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the GPU’s workload is light enough for the CPU to become the primary limiter. The 140 FPS average at this setting suggests that the CPU’s single-thread performance is sufficient to drive high frame rates, but the 12 threads are not fully utilized by this game, which likely relies on a few core threads for its 2014-era engine. At higher resolutions and settings, the GPU’s rendering load dominates, and the CPU’s role diminishes to a background support function. The fact that FPS scaling from Low to Ultra remains consistent at 49% across all resolutions further confirms that the CPU is not introducing variable bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 2412 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the bottom 18% of all configurations. This rank is primarily attributable to the GPU’s aging architecture, as the CPU is a modern, high-performing part. The GTX 1070’s 47th percentile ranking among all GPUs contrasts sharply with the CPU’s 89th percentile, creating a significant imbalance where the GPU limits overall system performance.

This rank means that the combination outperforms approximately 527 other tested combos, but it lags behind the vast majority in Minimum’s specific workload. The GPU’s nearest rivals—the AMD FirePro W5000, NVIDIA Quadro M2000M, NVIDIA Tesla M10, and NVIDIA Tesla C2070—are all workstation or mobile parts, and none would offer a meaningful improvement in this game. The combo’s rank is not surprising given that the GTX 1070 was released in 2016 and is now end-of-life, while the CPU is a 2025 release with active production status.

For context, combos ranked higher likely feature more modern GPUs that can handle Minimum’s effects at higher settings and resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that this combo is fully playable at 1080p and 1440p with Medium settings, but it cannot achieve high frame rates at 4K. The rank of 2412 reflects this capability: it is a mid-range performer that excels in esports-style conditions but falls short in high-fidelity scenarios. Users seeking better ranks should prioritize a GPU upgrade, as the CPU has ample headroom to support a more powerful graphics card without becoming a bottleneck.