Minimum

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread desktop processor built on TSMC's 7 nm process with the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename). It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, drawing a 105 W TDP. The CPU's defining feature for gaming is its large 96 MB shared L3 cache, which is substantially larger than typical desktop processors and directly benefits workloads that repeatedly access the same data — a common pattern in third-person shooter engines.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5700X3D demonstrates a strong scaling curve from low to high thread counts. Its 3DMark scores progress from 804 in the single-thread test to 3,097 at 4 threads, 5,357 at 8 threads, and peak at 6,764 at 16 threads. The near-flat difference between the 8-thread score (5,357) and the max-thread score (6,755) indicates that the CPU extracts most of its performance from 8 cores, with diminishing returns beyond that point. This pattern aligns with how this game's engine utilizes threads: it benefits from multiple cores but does not require all 16 threads to reach its performance ceiling.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 24,673, placing it in the 82nd percentile among all tested CPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, which scores 24,811 — a delta of -0.6%, meaning the 5700X3D is statistically tied with that chip. The Intel Core i7-1360P (24,627, delta +0.2%) and AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D (24,605, delta +0.3%) are also within a rounding error of this CPU's average score. The Intel Core i5-11600 trails by just 0.5% at 24,559. This clustering shows that the 5700X3D sits in a tightly contested performance band where no single rival holds a decisive advantage in aggregate CPU throughput.

In the game "Minimum," the measured FPS data reveals that CPU capability is not the primary limiter at high settings. At 1080p High, the system produces 212 FPS; at 1440p High, it produces 135.6 FPS; and at 4K High, 72.5 FPS. The progressive decline with resolution indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as pixel count rises. However, the CPU's large L3 cache and 8-core configuration ensure that even at 1080p — where the GPU has less work per frame — the processor does not bottleneck the frame rate. The 1080p Low figure of 315.2 FPS further confirms that the CPU can feed the GPU far beyond typical display refresh rates.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using the AD104 chip at TSMC's 5 nm node. It features 7,680 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation pipelines, along with 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2,310 MHz and boosts to 2,610 MHz, with memory running at 1,313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory sits on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s. Its texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s ensures that texture-heavy scenes in "Minimum" can be processed without fill-rate stalls. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is more than adequate for this game, which launched in 2014 and does not feature the massive texture sets or high-resolution assets common in modern titles.

In the benchmark suite, the RTX 4070 Ti achieves a PassMark G3D score of 31,624 and a GPU Compute score of 18,396. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 5,024, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores reach 205,028 and 186,784, respectively. The GPU's overall average benchmark score is 44,900, placing it in the 85th percentile among all GPUs.

The nearest rivals show interesting deltas. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile scores 45,152, a -0.6% delta, meaning the desktop 4070 Ti is essentially matched by that mobile part in aggregate benchmarks. The Intel Arc A730M (45,592, delta -1.5%) and AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45,642, delta -1.6%) both score slightly higher in the database's average metric, though these differences are within typical run-to-run variance. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 trails at 44,195, a +1.6% delta favoring the 4070 Ti.

The measured FPS data shows this GPU handles "Minimum" with ease. At 4K Ultra, the system still produces 57.3 FPS — playable despite the highest settings. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is sufficient to feed its 80 ROPs even at 4K resolutions, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K. The GPU is clearly the primary driver of frame rate differences across resolution changes, as the CPU remains constant throughout all measurements.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS across all three resolutions and four presets reveals a clear hierarchy. At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 315.2 FPS, Medium reaches 252.6 FPS, High produces 212 FPS, and Ultra delivers 162.4 FPS. All four presets at 1080p exceed 160 FPS, meaning any of them is suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. The step from Low to Medium costs 62.6 FPS (a 19.9% reduction), while Medium to High costs 40.6 FPS (a 16.1% reduction), and High to Ultra costs 49.6 FPS (a 23.4% reduction). The Ultra preset at 1080p still offers excellent fluidity, so the choice depends on whether visual fidelity or maximum frame rate matters more.

At 1440p, the pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low delivers 210.9 FPS, Medium 162.7 FPS, High 135.6 FPS, and Ultra 103.8 FPS. Every preset at 1440p remains above 100 FPS, which is smooth for competitive play. The High preset at 1440p (135.6 FPS) provides a strong balance — it retains most visual quality while staying well above refresh-rate thresholds for typical gaming monitors.

At 4K, the situation changes. Low produces 113.4 FPS, Medium 85.5 FPS, High 72.5 FPS, and Ultra 57.3 FPS. Here, the Ultra preset dips below 60 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays. The Medium preset at 4K (85.5 FPS) offers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while preserving moderate visual enhancements. The High preset at 4K (72.5 FPS) remains playable but with less headroom.

The best experience per the measured data depends on the target display. For 1080p, the High preset at 212 FPS is recommended as it captures most visual improvements over Medium while remaining far above any refresh-rate ceiling. For 1440p, the High preset at 135.6 FPS offers the best trade-off between image quality and performance. For 4K, the Medium preset at 85.5 FPS is the optimal choice — it avoids the sub-60 FPS drop of Ultra while still looking noticeably better than Low. Users with 120 Hz+ 4K displays may prefer Low (113.4 FPS) for competitive play.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum FPS achievable with this CPU and GPU combination in "Minimum"?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 315.2, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The lowest measured average FPS is 57.3, at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X3D scores 24,673 on average, which is within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (24,811). It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1360P (24,627) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D (24,605). All four CPUs are effectively tied in aggregate performance.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 Ti have enough VRAM for this game?

A: Yes. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. "Minimum" is a 2014 title, and the measured FPS data shows no memory-related performance degradation even at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 210.9 FPS, while Ultra achieves 103.8 FPS. The difference is 107.1 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers approximately 50.8% of the Low preset's frame rate.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in "Minimum"?

A: The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 222nd out of 1,733 tested combinations, placing it in the top 12.8% of all configurations.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU is the primary limiter, as evidenced by the FPS scaling with settings changes. The CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration with 96 MB L3 cache provides sufficient throughput, as the Low preset reaches 315.2 FPS without a CPU-induced cap.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across three resolutions provides a clear picture of how this system scales with pixel count. At the High preset, the frame rate drops from 212 FPS at 1920x1080 to 135.6 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 72.5 FPS at 3840x2160. The step from 1080p to 1440p (a 1.78x increase in pixels) reduces FPS by 36.0%, while the step from 1440p to 4K (a 2.25x increase in pixels) reduces FPS by 46.5%. This progressive degradation is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario — the CPU's work per frame remains constant, but the GPU must process increasingly more pixels.

The Low preset shows even more dramatic scaling: 315.2 FPS at 1080p, 210.9 FPS at 1440p, and 113.4 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 33.1% and the 1440p-to-4K drop of 46.2% are remarkably consistent with the High preset's scaling percentages. This consistency across presets indicates that the limiting component is the GPU's rasterization and pixel-processing throughput, not any specific setting or memory constraint.

The Medium preset follows the same pattern: 252.6 FPS at 1080p, 162.7 FPS at 1440p (a 35.6% drop), and 85.5 FPS at 4K (a 47.4% drop). The Ultra preset yields 162.4 FPS at 1080p, 103.8 FPS at 1440p (a 36.1% drop), and 57.3 FPS at 4K (a 44.8% drop). The uniformity of these percentage drops — all falling within a 33-47% range for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and a 44-47% range for the 1440p-to-4K transition — strongly suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the dominant factors.

The fact that the 4K-to-1080p FPS ratio is consistently around 2.7-3.0x for all presets (e.g., 315.2/113.4 = 2.78 for Low; 212/72.5 = 2.92 for High) indicates that the GPU scales nearly linearly with pixel count, which is expected for a fill-rate-limited workload. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would plateau at higher resolutions rather than declining proportionally to pixel count.

The RTX 4070 Ti's pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s provide ample headroom for this game, but the measured data shows that even this powerful GPU cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 57.3 FPS at that setting falls just short of the 60 FPS threshold, which means users targeting 4K must either accept the Medium preset (85.5 FPS) or the Low preset (113.4 FPS) to ensure smooth gameplay. At 1440p, all presets exceed 100 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1080p, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings, with even the Ultra preset reaching 162.4 FPS — well beyond typical 144 Hz displays.