Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that scales surprisingly well on modern hardware, and the pairing of an Intel Core i3-12100F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 produces a wide spectrum of performance across resolutions and presets. The data shows this combination ranks 484th out of 1733 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper tier of configurations. Benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4070 is the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions, but the i3-12100F’s strong single-threaded and multi-threaded scores ensure it never becomes a bottleneck even at lower settings where frame rates climb well past 200 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the most dramatic drops occurring when moving from 1440p to 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 276.5 FPS, which drops to 181.2 FPS at 1440p (a decrease of roughly 34%), and then falls further to 96.9 FPS at 4K (another 47% reduction from the 1440p figure). This steep decline at 4K strongly indicates that the GeForce RTX 4070’s rendering workload becomes the limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom at these frame rates.

The scaling pattern shifts when looking at higher presets. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 133.7 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 44.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 32%, which is similar to the Low preset’s drop, but the 4K Ultra figure represents a 51% reduction from 1440p, indicating that the GPU is being pushed to its limits with the combination of high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity. This suggests that for 4K gaming, users should expect to lower settings to Medium or High to maintain smooth play, as the data shows 74.5 FPS at 4K Medium and 60.7 FPS at 4K High, both of which are playable.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is relatively consistent across all presets, with frame rates dropping by roughly one-third, which points to a balanced workload between CPU and GPU at those resolutions. However, the jump to 4K reveals the RTX 4070’s memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s and 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM become more critical, as the frame rate penalties grow larger with each preset tier. The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, offering high frame rates even at Ultra (91 FPS) without the steep penalties seen at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain high frame rates?

A: The measured data shows 1440p delivers the best balance, with 114.8 FPS at High and 135 FPS at Medium settings. At 4K, even the High preset only reaches 60.7 FPS, making 1440p the practical choice for frame rates above 100 FPS.

Q: How does the i3-12100F perform in multi-threaded workloads relevant to this game?

A: The CPU scores 11912 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4026 in 3dmark 8-thread tests, with a passmark multithread score of 14015. These figures indicate it handles the game’s threading demands well, ranking in the 72nd percentile against all CPUs.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 have enough VRAM for Minimum at 4K?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The measured 4K results show playable frame rates at Medium (74.5 FPS) and High (60.7 FPS), suggesting the VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game’s requirements.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low settings yield 276.5 FPS, while Ultra drops to 133.7 FPS, a difference of 142.8 FPS. This shows that Ultra settings more than double the rendering workload compared to Low at the same resolution.

Q: How does this combo compare to other configurations in the database?

A: The combo ranks 484th out of 1733 tested, placing it in the top 28% of all combinations. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 13516 is within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, showing it competes well despite its lower core count.

Q: Is the measured FPS data reliable for making purchasing decisions?

A: The dataIsMeasured field confirms these are actual benchmark results, not estimates. The consistent scaling patterns across resolutions and settings suggest the measurements are accurate and repeatable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the clear performance leader in this pairing, with benchmark results showing it sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 37283 places it within 0.6% of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and 2.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, showing it competes at a high level despite being an end-of-life product. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for maintaining frame rates at higher resolutions where texture data demands increase.

The GPU’s clock speeds are notable, with a base clock of 1920 MHz and boost up to 2475 MHz, running on the Ada Lovelace architecture fabricated on a 5 nm process. The 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units contribute to a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, which directly impact how quickly the GPU can process the game’s visual effects. The 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance provides substantial compute headroom for the game’s rendering pipelines.

In Minimum, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU provides enough frames to push the GPU to its limits, but the data shows the RTX 4070 still delivers 276.5 FPS at Low settings, indicating it is not the bottleneck at that resolution. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 44.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, demonstrating that the GPU’s compute and memory resources are fully taxed at that configuration. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest the card is adequately cooled for sustained workloads, and its PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provides sufficient bandwidth to the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 276.5 FPS on Low, 212.8 FPS on Medium, 178 FPS on High, and 133.7 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a consistent degradation as settings increase, with the gap from Low to Ultra being 142.8 FPS, which is a 52% reduction in performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop substantially. Low settings yield 181.2 FPS, Medium produces 135 FPS, High delivers 114.8 FPS, and Ultra manages 91 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 30-35% across all settings, with the largest absolute drop seen at Low (95.3 FPS difference) and the smallest at Ultra (42.7 FPS difference). This indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU is already working harder, so the resolution increase has a relatively smaller impact.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low settings still deliver a respectable 96.9 FPS, Medium drops to 74.5 FPS, High reaches 60.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra figure is the only one below 60 FPS in the entire dataset, making it the sole configuration where smooth gameplay may be compromised. The data shows that from 1440p to 4K, frame rates drop by 46-51% depending on settings, which is a steeper penalty than the 1080p to 1440p transition.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, Ultra settings are entirely viable with 133.7 FPS, providing the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. Even High settings at 178 FPS offer a significant margin for high-refresh-rate displays, and Medium at 212.8 FPS is suitable for 240 Hz monitors.

For 1440p, the data suggests that High settings at 114.8 FPS offer the best compromise between visual fidelity and performance. Ultra at 91 FPS is still playable and may be preferred by users with 90 Hz or 100 Hz displays, while Medium at 135 FPS is ideal for 144 Hz monitors. Low settings at 181.2 FPS are excessive for most displays and would only be necessary for competitive play at extreme refresh rates.

At 4K, the recommendations change dramatically. High settings at 60.7 FPS is the highest preset that maintains a 60 FPS average, making it the default choice for 4K gaming. Medium at 74.5 FPS provides a safer margin for frame rate fluctuations, while Ultra at 44.8 FPS should be avoided unless the user accepts sub-60 FPS gameplay. Low at 96.9 FPS is viable but sacrifices too much visual quality for the resolution’s benefits. The data indicates that 4K Medium or High are the sweet spots for this combo.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its benchmark scores show strong single-threaded performance, with a 3dmark single-thread score of 893 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681, which are critical for games that rely heavily on one or two cores. The CPU’s base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz provide solid frequency headroom, and its 12 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency.

In Minimum, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it becomes more relevant at 1080p where frame rates exceed 200 FPS. The CPU’s passmark single-thread score of 3444 and geekbench single-core score of 2224 indicate it can handle the game’s physics and logic calculations without bottlenecking the GPU. The multi-threaded performance is also adequate, with a Cinebench R20 multicore score of 5003 and a passmark multithread score of 14015, allowing the processor to manage background tasks while gaming.

The CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking against all CPUs and its average benchmark score of 13516 place it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which is a much more expensive workstation processor. This suggests the i3-12100F punches well above its price class in this game. The 4-core, 8-thread configuration with a TDP of 58 W makes it an efficient choice for a gaming system, and its support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory provides flexibility in system builds. The CPU’s performance in the measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low with 276.5 FPS, the processor does not become a limiting factor, as the frame rates are consistently high across all settings.