Minimum

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers a playable experience in Minimum, but the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates show a clear pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases, while the CPU’s six cores provide sufficient headroom to keep up at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, examining how the components interact across resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K is a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces 76 FPS average. Moving to 1440p drops that to 49 FPS, and at 4K, the average falls to 26 FPS. That represents a 65.8% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Ultra, which is a steep curve indicating the Radeon RX 6600 is struggling to fill the increasing pixel count.

The scaling pattern shifts when examining lower settings. At Low settings, the system achieves 156 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.9%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 46%. This non-linear scaling suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the CPU is doing more work proportionally at lower settings. The fact that 1080p Low produces over 150 FPS indicates the i5-10400F can feed the GPU efficiently at high frame rates.

The Medium preset offers the most complete data with min and max FPS numbers. At 1080p Medium, the average is 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 137. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 77 FPS, with a minimum of 65 and maximum of 88. At 4K Medium, the average is 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 48. The min-to-max spread widens as resolution increases, from 36 FPS at 1080p to 13 FPS at 4K, showing that frame pacing becomes more erratic when the GPU is under heavier load.

The data implies that the RX 6600’s 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are the constraining factors at 4K, rather than the CPU. The i5-10400F’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to handle the game’s demands, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. The resolution scaling shows a component combination that is well-balanced for 1080p gaming but falls off sharply as the resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F brings six cores and twelve threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This Comet Lake processor, built on Intel’s 14 nm process, has a 65 W TDP and supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration. Its synthetic benchmarks show a 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and a multi-thread score of 4748, which puts it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs tested.

In the context of Minimum, the CPU’s role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and max-thread score of 4735 are nearly identical, suggesting that the processor’s twelve threads are well-utilized under load. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and single-core score of 1451 indicate a balanced performance profile that should handle both lightly-threaded game logic and more demanding background tasks.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the i5-10400F sits within a tight performance band. It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6756E and 0.5% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552, while trailing the Intel Core 7 160UL by 0.3% and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C by 0.6%. These deltas are negligible, meaning the CPU is not a differentiator in this benchmark — the GPU is.

The game’s release date of 2014-06-25 suggests a title that predates modern multi-core scaling expectations. The fact that the i5-10400F can push 156 FPS at 1080p Low demonstrates that the CPU has ample headroom for this older game. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz likely helps maintain consistent frame delivery, as evidenced by the tight min-to-max spread at 1080p Medium (101 to 137 FPS). The CPU is not the bottleneck here — the data supports the conclusion that the RX 6600 is the limiting component at every resolution tested.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 119 FPS average with a minimum of 101 FPS, which is comfortably above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 1080p produces 100 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 76 FPS. The Low preset reaches 156 FPS, but this comes at the cost of visual fidelity that most players would find unnecessary given the Medium preset’s performance.

At 1440p, the Medium preset yields 77 FPS average with a minimum of 65 FPS. This remains playable, though the minimum dips below the 70 FPS mark that some players prefer for competitive shooters. The High preset at 1440p produces 65 FPS average, which is borderline, while Ultra drops to 49 FPS. For 1440p gaming, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot, offering a good balance between frame rate and visual quality.

The 4K resolution presents a challenge for this combo. The Medium preset produces 41 FPS average with a minimum of 35 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most players expect. The High preset at 4K produces 35 FPS, and Low produces 54 FPS. None of these options achieve a consistently smooth experience at 4K, indicating that this resolution is not viable for this hardware combination in Minimum.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the optimal choice for 1080p and 1440p play, providing the best balance of performance and visual quality. The measured min and max FPS values for Medium show consistent frame delivery, particularly at 1080p where the spread is 36 FPS. At 4K, players would need to accept either the Low preset’s 54 FPS or the Medium preset’s 41 FPS, neither of which provides a fully smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination ranks 2885 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the ranking table, with approximately 77.7% of tested combinations performing better. The percentile ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows the combo struggling at higher resolutions and settings.

The combo’s ranking reflects the RX 6600’s position in the GPU hierarchy. The graphics card sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19036. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K6000, which matches its score with a 0% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile, which trails by 0.1%. The NVIDIA Tesla K20m is 0.3% behind, while the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation is 0.4% ahead. These tight deltas show the RX 6600 is a mid-range performer that can compete with older high-end cards but falls short of modern mid-range options.

The CPU’s 68th percentile ranking is slightly better than the GPU’s 63rd percentile, suggesting the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card in this pairing. The i5-10400F’s average benchmark score of 14185 places it just 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon 6756E and 0.3% behind the Intel Core 7 160UL. This CPU-GPU imbalance is reflected in the game’s resolution scaling, where the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The 2885th rank out of 3712 combos indicates that while this is not a top-tier configuration for Minimum, it is also far from the bottom. The measured data shows the combo is capable of delivering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings, but it cannot handle 4K or maximum settings. This ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s mid-range performance characteristics.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, manufactured on TSMC’s 7 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU has 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, with 28 ray tracing cores. Its base clock is 1626 MHz, with a boost clock of 2491 MHz and a game clock of 2044 MHz.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmarks show a Passmark G3D score of 15096, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs. Its DirectX 12 score of 51 and DirectX 11 score of 152 indicate strong API support, while the Vulkan score of 67623 shows excellent low-level API performance. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 8.928 TFLOPS and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are respectable for its class.

In Minimum, the GPU’s role is clearly the dominant factor in determining frame rates. The 4K results are particularly telling: even at Low settings, the GPU only manages 54 FPS, which is far below the 1080p Low result of 156 FPS. This 65.4% drop in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings underscores the GPU’s limitations at high resolutions.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game, as evidenced by the fact that the 4K Ultra setting produces playable (if not smooth) frame rates rather than failing due to memory exhaustion. The 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, however, appears to be a limiting factor at 4K, where the GPU must move more data per frame. The pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results show the GPU is overwhelmed.

The GPU’s launch MSRP of 329 USD places it in the mid-range market segment. Its performance in Minimum reflects this positioning: capable at 1080p with high frame rates, adequate at 1440p with medium settings, and insufficient at 4K. The GPU’s end-of-life production status suggests it is being phased out, but its measured performance in this game shows it can still handle older titles like Minimum at mainstream resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Minimum?*

A: The measured data shows 1080p is the best resolution, with the Medium preset delivering 119 FPS average and a 101 FPS minimum. At 1440p, the Medium preset produces 77 FPS average, which is playable but less comfortable.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K in Minimum?*

A: The data indicates 4K is not viable for smooth gameplay. The best 4K result is 54 FPS at Low settings, while Medium produces 41 FPS with a 35 FPS minimum. Ultra drops to 26 FPS, which is below playable thresholds.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 156 FPS shows the CPU can feed the GPU effectively, but the 4K Low result of 54 FPS demonstrates the GPU cannot maintain performance as resolution increases.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2885 out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the 77.7th percentile of the ranking table. The CPU sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 63rd percentile.

Q: What settings should I use for the best experience?

A: The Medium preset provides the best balance at both 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, it delivers 119 FPS average with a 101 FPS minimum. At 1440p, it delivers 77 FPS average with a 65 FPS minimum. Higher settings reduce performance significantly without proportional visual gains.

Q: Does the RX 6600’s 8 GB VRAM cause any issues in this game?

A: The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for Minimum, as the game runs at all tested settings without memory-related failures. However, the 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth appears to be a limiting factor at 4K, where the GPU struggles to maintain frame rates even at Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for the Intel Core i5-10400F with AMD Radeon RX 6600 in Minimum is as follows:

1080p:

• Low: 156 FPS average
• Medium: 119 FPS average, 101 FPS minimum, 137 FPS maximum
• High: 100 FPS average
• Ultra: 76 FPS average

1440p:

• Low: 100 FPS average
• Medium: 77 FPS average, 65 FPS minimum, 88 FPS maximum
• High: 65 FPS average
• Ultra: 49 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 54 FPS average
• Medium: 41 FPS average, 35 FPS minimum, 48 FPS maximum
• High: 35 FPS average
• Ultra: 26 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern where each resolution step down from 1080p reduces performance by approximately 35-50%, depending on the settings preset. The Medium preset is the only one with complete min and max data across all resolutions, showing that frame delivery becomes less consistent as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the spread between minimum and maximum is 36 FPS, which tightens to 23 FPS at 1440p and 13 FPS at 4K, indicating more erratic frame pacing at lower frame rates. This breakdown confirms that the combo is optimized for 1080p gaming, with acceptable 1440p performance at Medium settings, but falls short of playable standards at 4K.