Minimum

Minimum places the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in an interesting position, as the data shows a pairing where the GPU's raw power is frequently held back by the CPU's four physical cores. The measured FPS values reveal a consistent pattern across all resolutions: the combination is capable of extremely high frame rates, but the scaling from 1080p to 4K is far from linear, and the performance ceiling at lower resolutions appears to be dictated by the processor rather than the graphics card.

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

The measured FPS data shows a clear and dramatic drop as resolution increases, which is typical for a system where the GPU becomes more stressed at higher pixel counts. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 356 FPS, but this falls to 230 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 124 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 35% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% decrease from 1440p to 4K, meaning the 4K result is roughly one-third of the 1080p score. This steep decline indicates that at 1080p, the system is not GPU-bound; the RTX 4080 is capable of far more than 356 FPS, but the i3-12100F with its 4 cores and 8 threads simply cannot feed the GPU fast enough.

Looking at the High settings preset, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. At 1080p High, the combo produces 229 FPS, which drops to 148 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 79 FPS at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across presets suggest that the limiting factor shifts gradually from the CPU to the GPU as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is the clear bottleneck—the difference between Low and High settings is only 127 FPS (356 vs 229), which is a smaller gap than what the GPU alone would produce if it were fully utilized. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, as the gap between Low and High at 4K is 45 FPS (124 vs 79), and the Ultra preset at 4K drops to just 61 FPS.

The Medium preset provides the only rows with min and max FPS data, which offers additional insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 273 FPS with a min of 232 and max of 313, a spread of 81 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 176 FPS with a min of 149 and max of 202, a spread of 53 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 95 FPS with a min of 80 and max of 109, a spread of 29 FPS. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the CPU-induced frame time variance diminishes when the GPU is more heavily loaded, which reinforces the interpretation that the processor is the performance limiter at lower resolutions.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings substantial hardware to this pairing, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 2205 MHz with a boost clock of 2505 MHz, and the memory runs at 1400 MHz with 22.4 Gbps effective speed. These specifications are far beyond what a game like Minimum, released in 2014, would typically require, and the benchmark results confirm that the GPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios.

The RTX 4080's 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs provide a massive amount of compute throughput, with the FP32 performance rated at 48.74 TFLOPS. The GPU also includes 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, though these are unlikely to be heavily utilized in a game from 2014. The pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for Minimum's rendering demands, even at 4K resolution. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for high-resolution textures, but the measured FPS data shows that the GPU is rarely the limiting factor—the fact that 4K Ultra produces 61 FPS while 4K Low produces 124 FPS suggests the GPU is still not saturated at lower settings, as a fully GPU-bound system would show a larger gap between preset levels.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its position in the market: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 6567, and the Geekbench Vulkan score is 263779, placing it at the 86th percentile among all GPUs. In the measured results for Minimum, the RTX 4080's performance is consistently above 60 FPS at 4K even on Ultra settings, which indicates that the GPU can handle the game's highest preset at that resolution without dropping below playable frame rates. The data shows that the GPU's role in this pairing is to provide a high ceiling that the CPU cannot always reach, particularly at 1080p and 1440p where the i3-12100F's limitations become apparent.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Minimum?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 356, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is significantly higher than the next preset at the same resolution, which is 273 FPS on Medium, indicating that the Low preset allows the system to push frame rates to their maximum potential.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K on all settings?

A: Yes, the data shows that even at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 61, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 4K produces 95 FPS, High produces 79 FPS, and Low produces 124 FPS, so all settings at 4K remain playable.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance in this game?

A: The i3-12100F has a 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and a 4-thread score of 2859, while its max-thread score is 4023. The game Minimum appears to be sensitive to single-thread performance, as the 1080p Low result of 356 FPS suggests the CPU is the limiting factor, and the single-thread score of 893 indicates strong per-core performance despite only having 4 cores.

Q: What is the frame time variance like at different resolutions?

A: The Medium preset provides min and max FPS data. At 1080p, the range is 232 to 313 FPS (81 FPS spread), at 1440p it is 149 to 202 FPS (53 FPS spread), and at 4K it is 80 to 109 FPS (29 FPS spread). The variance decreases as resolution increases, which indicates that the CPU-induced frame pacing issues are more pronounced at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the combo's GPU compare to its nearest rival in terms of benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, while its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, a delta of 0.1%. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, which is 1.1% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, which is 2.6% higher.

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

A: The combo ranks 246th out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 7% of all configurations. This high rank is primarily driven by the GPU's strong performance, as the CPU's percentile of 68 is lower than the GPU's percentile of 86.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 246th out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum, which places it in the 93rd percentile of all configurations. This is a strong result, but it is important to contextualize this rank against the individual components' standings. The CPU ranks at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks at the 86th percentile among all GPUs. The combo's rank of 246 out of 3712 is better than either component's individual percentile would suggest, which indicates that the pairing works well for this game despite the CPU's relatively modest position.

The gap between the combo rank and the CPU percentile highlights the imbalance in this pairing. The RTX 4080 is a top-tier GPU that can drive very high frame rates, but the i3-12100F with only 4 cores and 8 threads will limit performance in CPU-bound scenarios. In Minimum, which is a 2014 third-person shooter that likely does not scale well beyond a few threads, the CPU's single-thread performance of 893 in 3DMark single-thread is more important than its multi-thread capabilities. The data shows that the combo achieves 356 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a very high number, but the fact that it does not exceed this even with the powerful RTX 4080 suggests that the CPU is the ceiling.

Compared to other combos, the 246th rank out of 3712 means there are 245 configurations that perform better, and 3466 that perform worse. This places the combo in the upper tier of tested systems, but the CPU's 68th percentile indicates that many of the higher-ranked combos likely use more powerful processors. The GPU's 86th percentile is closer to the combo's overall rank, suggesting that the GPU contributes more to the final ranking than the CPU. The data also shows that the combo's performance is consistent with what would be expected from a high-end GPU paired with a mid-range CPU—the GPU does not bottleneck at higher resolutions, but the CPU limits maximum frame rates at lower resolutions.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset appears to offer the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 273 FPS average with a min of 232 and max of 313, which is a significant improvement over High's 229 FPS and Ultra's 174 FPS, while still maintaining a smooth frame pacing. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 356 FPS, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the additional 83 FPS over Medium, especially since the min FPS is not recorded for Low, suggesting potential variance.

At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 176 FPS with a min of 149 and max of 202, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on 1440p monitors. The High preset at 148 FPS is also acceptable, but Medium offers a 28 FPS advantage with the same visual quality tier. At 3840x2160, Medium produces 95 FPS with a min of 80 and max of 109, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 61 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for frame time spikes, while High at 79 FPS is a better compromise if visual fidelity is preferred over Medium.

For players with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p, the Low preset at 356 FPS would be the best choice to maximize frame rates, but the data suggests that the CPU bottleneck becomes more pronounced at this resolution, and the difference between Low and Medium (83 FPS) is larger than the difference between Medium and High (44 FPS). The Medium preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it maintains high frame rates while reducing the CPU bottleneck that affects the Low preset. Overall, the Medium preset is recommended for most users, as it offers the highest average FPS that still maintains consistent frame pacing across all three resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete set of measured FPS data for this combo in Minimum is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces an average of 356 FPS. The Medium preset averages 273 FPS with a minimum of 232 and maximum of 313. The High preset averages 229 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 174 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, with each preset step reducing the average FPS by roughly 80-90 FPS, indicating that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution since the GPU should be capable of much higher frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces an average of 230 FPS. The Medium preset averages 176 FPS with a minimum of 149 and maximum of 202. The High preset averages 148 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 112 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 118 FPS, which is less severe than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is beginning to play a larger role in performance at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces an average of 124 FPS. The Medium preset averages 95 FPS with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 109. The High preset averages 79 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 61 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 63 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference among all resolutions, confirming that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min and max data across all resolutions, providing a clear picture of frame time consistency. At 1080p, the spread is 81 FPS, at 1440p it is 53 FPS, and at 4K it is 29 FPS. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions is a key indicator that the CPU's frame pacing issues diminish as the GPU workload increases.

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

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It has a 12 MB shared L3 cache, and its benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread capabilities. The 3DMark single-thread score is 893, the 2-thread score is 1659, the 4-thread score is 2859, and the 8-thread score is 4026. The max-thread score of 4023 is nearly identical to the 8-thread score, which indicates that the processor does not benefit from more than 8 threads, and the 4-thread score is significantly lower than the 8-thread score, showing that scaling from 4 to 8 threads provides a 41% improvement.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is critical at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 356 FPS is likely near the CPU's maximum frame rate capability, as the boost clock of 4.30 GHz and single-thread score of 893 suggest that the processor can handle high per-core throughput, but the 4-core limit prevents it from feeding the RTX 4080 more frames. The fact that the 1080p Ultra preset produces 174 FPS, which is less than half of the Low preset, indicates that the CPU is not the sole bottleneck at Ultra settings, but it still constrains the maximum achievable FPS.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores of 11860 multi-core and 1674 single-core further illustrate its performance profile. The multi-core score is only 7 times the single-core score, which is lower than what would be expected from a processor with more cores, confirming that the 4-core design limits multi-threaded performance. In a game like Minimum, which was released in 2014 and likely uses fewer threads, the single-thread performance of 1674 in Cinebench R23 is more relevant than the multi-thread score. The CPU's percentile of 68 among all CPUs places it in the upper-middle range, but when paired with the RTX 4080, the CPU becomes the limiting factor in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p and 1440p.