Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers a wide performance envelope in Minimum, scaling from exceptionally high refresh-rate territory at 1080p to a playable but demanding 4K experience. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily balanced toward GPU limitation at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance ensures headroom at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the rendering load scales aggressively with pixel count. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 301.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 194 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 35.7%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields 101.4 FPS, which represents a 47.7% drop from the 1440p figure. This trajectory shows that even at the lowest graphical load, the RTX 5070’s rendering throughput becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs.

The High preset shows a similar pattern but with a more compressed range. The average at 1080p is 194.3 FPS, which falls to 124.1 FPS at 1440p (a 36.1% decrease) and then to 66.8 FPS at 4K (a 46.2% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is larger at High settings than at Low settings suggests that the additional pixel shading and texture work at High amplify the GPU’s workload more than the resolution increase alone.

At Ultra settings, the scaling becomes even more pronounced. The 1080p result of 149.7 FPS drops to 96.4 FPS at 1440p, a 35.6% decline. The 4K Ultra average of 48.8 FPS is a 49.4% reduction from the 1440p figure, and it falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many displays target. This indicates that Ultra at 4K is pushing the GPU to its limits, with the data showing a near-linear relationship between pixel count and frame time at this preset.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU across all resolutions. The Ryzen 7 7700’s single-thread score of 1049 in 3dmark and its Cinebench R23 single-core result of 4136 points are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 5070 at 1080p, where the CPU is not the bottleneck. The evidence lies in the scaling: if the CPU were limiting, the frame rates at 1080p Low would plateau rather than reaching 301.7 FPS. Since the FPS continues to rise as resolution drops, the data confirms that the GPU is the constraining factor in every measured configuration.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 7700 provides a robust foundation for this title, with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz are directly relevant to Minimum’s frame pacing, as the game’s reliance on single-threaded performance is evident from the benchmark data. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1049 and the Cinebench R23 single-core result of 4136 place the CPU in the 91st percentile among all processors, indicating that its per-core throughput is well above average.

The core configuration matters less than the clock speed in this context. The multi-threaded scores, such as the Cinebench R23 multicore result of 29302, show that the CPU can handle heavy workloads, but the game’s FPS at 1080p Low (301.7) is not limited by the CPU’s ability to process game logic or draw calls. The data shows that the CPU’s performance headroom is substantial; even at 1440p High, where the GPU is more stressed, the CPU is not a limiting factor.

The nearest rivals in the benchmark database reinforce this position. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940H scores 40431 on average, which is 0.1% lower than the 7700’s 40468 average. The Intel Core i9-13905H is 0.6% higher at 40712, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T trails by 1.2%. These marginal differences in synthetic benchmarks have little bearing on Minimum’s real-world FPS, as the game’s engine appears to be more sensitive to raw clock speed than to core count or cache hierarchy.

The L3 cache of 32 MB shared across the cores provides a solid buffer for game assets, but the measured FPS data does not show any unusual dips that would indicate cache misses causing stutter. The DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is ample for a game released in 2014, and the CPU’s PCIe Gen 5 interface (24 lanes) ensures that the RTX 5070 is not bandwidth-starved, even at 4K where texture streaming demands are higher.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across the four presets at each resolution provides a clear picture for optimizing the experience. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 301.7 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, making it a viable choice for competitive play where frame timing is critical. The Medium preset at 232.1 FPS still offers a massive margin over 144Hz displays, while High at 194.3 FPS and Ultra at 149.7 FPS are both playable, with Ultra just barely clearing the 144Hz mark.

For 2560x1440, the High preset at 124.1 FPS is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it stays above 120 FPS. The Medium preset at 148.3 FPS is even more comfortable, providing a buffer for demanding scenes. The Low preset at 194 FPS is excessive for most displays, while Ultra at 96.4 FPS is still smooth but does not hit the 120 FPS target. The data suggests that Medium or High at 1440p offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate headroom.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset at 66.8 FPS is playable on a 60Hz display, but the Medium preset at 78.7 FPS offers a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Low preset at 101.4 FPS is the only configuration that approaches high-refresh-rate territory, but it sacrifices visual quality. The Ultra preset at 48.8 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold and would result in noticeable frame pacing issues on standard displays. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it provides the highest fidelity that remains comfortably above 60 FPS without the steep cost of High or Ultra.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 2560x1440, which delivers 148.3 FPS. This configuration provides a high level of visual detail while maintaining frame rates that are suitable for 144Hz displays, and it avoids the diminishing returns seen when moving from Medium to High.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with the High preset?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with the High preset is 194.3 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

Q: Can this combination handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 66.8 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 78.7 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 48.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance affect the game?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700 has a 3dmark single-thread score of 1049 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4136. These results indicate strong per-core performance that prevents the CPU from bottlenecking the GPU at any resolution tested.

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

A: The Low preset averages 194 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 96.4 FPS at 2560x1440. This represents a 50.3% reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra.

Q: Is the RTX 5070’s performance close to any other GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 5070’s average benchmark score is 41687, which is 0.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090’s score of 41441. It is also 0.2% above the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 0.5% below the NVIDIA Tesla M40.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz 1440p monitor?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 achieves 148.3 FPS, which is above 144 FPS. The High preset at 124.1 FPS is also acceptable but does not provide as much margin above the refresh rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant factor in Minimum’s performance, as the resolution scaling demonstrates. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game’s textures at all settings. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective, and the boost clock of 2512 MHz drives the GPU’s compute throughput.

The GPU’s raw compute capabilities are substantial, with an FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s. These figures translate directly to the FPS numbers seen in the data. At 1080p Low, the GPU is not fully utilized, as evidenced by the 301.7 FPS average, but the scaling to 4K shows where its limits lie. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s is a key metric for resolution scaling, and the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K aligns with the quadrupling of pixel count.

The benchmark scores for the RTX 5070 place it in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 41687. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, scores 41441, which is 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 0.2% lower at 41610, while the NVIDIA Tesla M40 is 0.5% higher at 41897. These small deltas in synthetic benchmarks do not fully capture the RTX 5070’s advantage in Minimum, as the game’s engine benefits from the newer architecture’s efficiency.

The 250 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with the GPU’s performance class, and the PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures that data transfer from the CPU is not a bottleneck. The RTX 5070’s role is clear: it is the component that determines the frame rate ceiling, and the measured data shows that it is capable of delivering high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K requires a compromise on settings to maintain smooth gameplay.