Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Minimum with the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D show a clear scaling pattern that shifts from CPU-bound at lower resolutions to GPU-bound at 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 367 FPS, which drops to 277 FPS at 1440p and further to 149 FPS at 4K. This represents a 59% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as pixel count rises.

The scaling behavior changes notably when moving to High settings. At 1080p High, the system delivers 276 FPS, while 1440p High yields 178 FPS and 4K High produces 96 FPS. The 1080p-to-4K drop at High settings is 65%, slightly steeper than at Low. This suggests that even with a GPU as powerful as the RTX 5090 D, the higher preset introduces enough additional shading load that the GPU becomes the primary limiter at 4K.

Ultra settings tell the most revealing story about the bottleneck. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 210 FPS, but 1440p Ultra falls to 136 FPS and 4K Ultra drops to 73 FPS. The 1080p-to-4K reduction at Ultra is 65%, matching the High preset's scaling. The fact that 1080p Ultra yields only 210 FPS while 1080p Low produces 367 FPS points to the GPU being heavily engaged even at 1080p when the preset is cranked up.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max data in the measured set, offering insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 329 FPS with a minimum of 280 and maximum of 379. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 212 FPS with a range of 180 to 244. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 and maximum of 131. The consistency between min and max values across resolutions suggests stable performance without major stuttering.

The data reveals that at 1080p, the i3-12100F's four cores and eight threads are likely the limiting factor, as the RTX 5090 D is capable of far higher frame rates than 367 FPS if left unconstrained. The gap between 1080p Low at 367 FPS and 4K Low at 149 FPS demonstrates how the GPU takes over as the bottleneck once resolution increases. The i3-12100F, with its 3.30 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clock, appears sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 D at 1080p Low without creating a severe CPU limit, but the frame rates plateau at a level far below what the GPU could theoretically deliver.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The maximum measured average is 367 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest measured average is 73 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, placing it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904) and 2.4% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79605 is actually higher, so the RTX 5090 D trails that card by 2.4%). The RTX 5090 D sits 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940).

Q: Is the i3-12100F competitive with other CPUs in its class?

A: The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494, placing it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. It is essentially tied with the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% ahead). The Intel Core 5 120UL scores 13594, which is 0.7% higher.

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

A: Only the Medium preset includes min and max data. At 1080p Medium, frames range from 280 to 379 with an average of 329. At 1440p Medium, the range is 180 to 244 with an average of 212. At 4K Medium, the range tightens to 97 to 131 with an average of 114.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for Minimum?

A: This CPU-GPU combination ranks 41st out of 2939 total combos tested for the game, placing it in the top 1.4% of all configurations.

Q: What memory and interface specifications does the i3-12100F support?

A: The i3-12100F supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. It has 12 MB of shared L3 cache and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes available from the CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain much of the measured performance in Minimum. The GPU is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, packing 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

The RTX 5090 D's compute resources are substantial: 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units. It also includes 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, allowing the GPU to reach peak FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. The pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 D achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,915. Its Passmark G3D score of 44,065 and GPU compute score of 28,396 further confirm its position in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The average benchmark score of 77,712 places it in the same performance tier as several mobile and workstation parts, with the RX 6850M XT being 1.6% faster and the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB being 2.4% faster.

The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what Minimum requires, even at 4K Ultra. This means memory capacity is never a limiting factor in the measured results. Instead, the GPU's raw shading throughput and memory bandwidth determine performance at higher resolutions. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and memory access patterns at 4K do not create bottlenecks. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 4K Ultra, the system still manages 73 FPS, which is a playable frame rate for a third-person shooter.

The boost clock behavior is relevant to the scaling analysis. With a boost clock of 2407 MHz, the GPU can sustain high frequencies under load, but the actual sustained clocks depend on thermal and power headroom. The 575 W TDP and the requirement for a 950 W suggested PSU indicate that power delivery is substantial, allowing the GPU to maintain boost clocks during extended gaming sessions. The dual-slot cooler and 304 mm length suggest adequate thermal solution for sustained loads.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS of 329 with a minimum of 280 ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay well above display refresh rates. At 1440p Medium, the average of 212 FPS with a minimum of 180 provides a comfortable margin for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 4K Medium, the average of 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 keeps gameplay smooth on standard 60 Hz displays and most 120 Hz panels.

The High preset is a reasonable alternative for users prioritizing visual quality over raw frame rates. At 1080p High, the average of 276 FPS remains excellent. At 1440p High, 178 FPS is still very smooth. However, at 4K High, the average drops to 96 FPS, which may be borderline for competitive play on high-refresh displays. The Ultra preset, while visually superior, pushes 4K down to 73 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less fluid than Medium or High.

The Low preset delivers the highest frame rates at every resolution, with 367 FPS at 1080p, 277 FPS at 1440p, and 149 FPS at 4K. For competitive players who prioritize frame rate above all else, Low settings at 1080p or 1440p are the clear choice. The scaling from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 38 FPS (from 367 to 329), while the jump from Medium to High costs another 53 FPS (from 329 to 276). The step from High to Ultra costs 66 FPS.

The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for this combination in Minimum. The complete min/max data available for Medium indicates stable frame delivery, with the spread between minimum and maximum being 99 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. This tightening of the frame range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded as resolution increases, reducing the impact of CPU-side frame time spikes.

For 4K users, the choice between Medium and High is worth considering carefully. The difference is 18 FPS on average (114 vs 96), but the Medium preset offers a minimum of 97 FPS compared to no min data for High. Given that Medium provides a higher minimum frame rate and keeps the average above 100 FPS, it is the recommended preset for 4K gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression across presets. Low settings produce an average of 367 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 329 FPS, with a minimum of 280 FPS and a maximum of 379 FPS. High settings yield 276 FPS on average. Ultra settings bring the average down to 210 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 157 FPS, representing a 43% reduction in performance when maxing out all settings.

At 2560x1440, the same preset progression shows lower absolute values but a similar relative pattern. Low settings average 277 FPS. Medium settings drop to 212 FPS, with a minimum of 180 FPS and a maximum of 244 FPS. High settings average 178 FPS. Ultra settings produce 136 FPS on average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 141 FPS, a 51% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings average 149 FPS. Medium settings produce 114 FPS, with a minimum of 97 FPS and a maximum of 131 FPS. High settings average 96 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 73 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 76 FPS, a 51% reduction that mirrors the 1440p scaling.

The resolution scaling at each preset reveals consistent behavior. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p costs 90 FPS (367 to 277), and moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 128 FPS (277 to 149). At Medium settings, the 1080p-to-1440p transition costs 117 FPS (329 to 212), and the 1440p-to-4K transition costs 98 FPS (212 to 114). At High settings, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is 98 FPS (276 to 178), and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 82 FPS (178 to 96). At Ultra settings, the 1080p-to-1440p reduction is 74 FPS (210 to 136), and the 1440p-to-4K reduction is 63 FPS (136 to 73).

The diminishing absolute drops at higher presets indicate that the GPU is being saturated more completely at each successive resolution step. The percentage reductions from 1080p to 4K are 59% at Low, 65% at Medium, 65% at High, and 65% at Ultra. This consistency at Medium through Ultra suggests that the GPU workload scales predictably with pixel count once the preset exceeds a certain complexity threshold.

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. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a TDP of 58 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, connected via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes from the CPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i3-12100F shows strong single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread capabilities. The 3DMark scores range from 893 in single-thread to 4,051 in 16-thread tests. The Cinebench R23 scores are 1,674 for single-core and 11,860 for multi-core. Geekbench results show 1,932 for single-core and 7,252 for multi-core. Passmark single-thread score is 3,444, while multi-thread is 14,015.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 68 places it above the median of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13,494. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core 3 N355 (13,492, 0% delta), Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452, 0.3% ahead), and Intel Core 5 120UL (13,594, 0.7% behind). The close scores among these CPUs indicate that the i3-12100F sits at a performance plateau where small architectural differences create minimal benchmark separation.

In the context of Minimum's measured results, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the 1080p Low data. At 367 FPS, the frame rate is likely limited by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls and process game logic, rather than the GPU's rendering capacity. The i3-12100F's boost clock of 4.30 GHz provides solid single-thread performance, which is critical for game engines that rely heavily on a primary simulation thread.

The 4-core, 8-thread configuration means the CPU can handle multiple background tasks while dedicating cores to the game. However, the 3DMark 16-thread score of 4,051, which is nearly identical to the 8-thread score of 4,026, reveals that the CPU's performance does not scale beyond 8 threads. This is expected for a 4-core part with hyper-threading, and it means that games optimized for more than 8 threads may not see full utilization of the CPU's resources.

The Passmark physics score of 985 and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,659 indicate that the CPU's dual-core performance is adequate for games that primarily use two threads. The single-thread 3DMark score of 893 and Cinebench R15 single-core score of 168 confirm that the CPU's per-core performance is competitive within its class. These characteristics are well-suited for a 2014 third-person shooter like Minimum, where modern multi-threaded rendering techniques are less prevalent.

The measured FPS data at 1080p shows a plateau effect across presets. From Low to Medium, the drop is 38 FPS (367 to 329). From Medium to High, the drop is 53 FPS (329 to 276). From High to Ultra, the drop is 66 FPS (276 to 210). The diminishing returns at higher presets suggest that the CPU can sustain high frame rates, but the GPU becomes progressively more loaded as settings increase. At 1080p Low, the CPU is likely the primary bottleneck, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The transition point appears to be around 1440p Medium, where both components share the workload more evenly.