Minimum

FAQ

Q: What is the Intel Core i5-10400F's position among all CPUs tested in the database?

A: The i5-10400F sits at the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185. Its closest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% faster), the Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% slower), the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% slower).

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest GPU competitors?

A: The RX 6600 XT ranks in the 70th percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 24442. It trails the Intel Arc A350M by 0.8% but leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 by 0.7%, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti by 0.8%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER by 1.1%.

Q: What is the best resolution for achieving high frame rates with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 170 FPS average. Even at Ultra settings, it maintains 83 FPS at 1080p, which is playable. The performance drops significantly at 4K, where Ultra settings yield only 29 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in this specific game?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination ranks 2635 out of 3712 tested combos in "Minimum," placing it in the lower-middle portion of all tested configurations.

Q: What are the key specifications of the GPU's memory subsystem?

A: The RX 6600 XT features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory operates at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed.

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics?

A: No. The Intel Core i5-10400F has no integrated graphics (the "F" suffix indicates this), so a discrete GPU is mandatory for any display output.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boosts up to 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L1 and L2 caches of 64 KB and 256 KB respectively. This is a desktop-oriented chip with a 65 W TDP, supporting dual-channel DDR4 memory with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. It connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 CPU lanes.

For a third-person shooter like "Minimum," the CPU's thread count and clock speed matter most in scenes with many actors, physics calculations, and game logic updates. The i5-10400F's multi-threaded capabilities are reflected in its benchmark scores: Cinebench R23 multi-core yields 10283 points, while single-core achieves 1451. Geekbench shows 6257 multi-core and 1420 single-core. In 3DMark tests, the CPU scales from 1350 with 2 threads to 4748 with 16 threads, indicating reasonable scaling but a plateau beyond 8 threads (3929).

The single-thread performance of 688 in 3DMark's single-thread test and 1451 in Cinebench R23 single-core is modest by modern standards. For a game released in 2014, the i5-10400F's single-core performance is likely sufficient, but the data shows that at lower resolutions, where the CPU becomes more relevant, frame rates are high enough (170 FPS at 1080p Low) that CPU bottlenecks are not evident at these settings.

The CPU's Passmark scores further illustrate its profile: multi-threaded score of 12115, single-thread of 2541, and physics score of 696. The integer math score of 41471 and floating-point math of 25956 indicate solid general processing power. The data compression score of 185944 suggests good throughput for data-heavy tasks, but this is less relevant for gaming.

In the context of this game's measured results, the CPU appears to keep pace with the GPU at 1080p and 1440p, as frame rates scale appropriately with resolution changes. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as discussed in later sections. The i5-10400F's position at the 68th percentile of all CPUs means it outperforms a majority of processors in the database, but its nearest rivals are a mix of enterprise Xeons and low-power mobile chips, indicating that its competitive set is broad but not top-tier.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It packs 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, with a transistor density of 46.7M per mm². The GPU has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, along with 32 ray tracing cores. Its clock speeds are 1968 MHz base, 2359 MHz game clock, and 2589 MHz boost.

The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a modest memory configuration for 2021, but for a game from 2014, it is likely adequate at most settings. The GPU's compute capabilities include 10.60 TFLOPS FP32 and 21.21 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio). Pixel rate is 165.7 GPixel/s and texture rate is 331.4 GTexel/s.

The RX 6600 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, ensuring broad API compatibility. It connects via PCIe 4.0 x8 and requires a single 8-pin power connector with a 160 W TDP and a suggested 450 W power supply. The card is dual-slot, 190 mm long, 110 mm tall, and 40 mm wide.

In benchmark tests, the GPU scores 1804 in 3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12), 88720 in Geekbench Metal, 80503 in OpenCL, and 72417 in Vulkan. Passmark results show a G3D score of 16461, G2D of 912, and GPU compute of 7520. The DirectX 11 score of 163 and DirectX 12 score of 61 are notably lower, which could indicate driver overhead or older API inefficiencies.

For "Minimum," the GPU's performance is the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions. The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is sufficient for a 2014 title, even at 4K, as the measured FPS shows playable results at Medium settings (45 FPS at 4K). The GPU's 70th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms about 70% of the database, but its nearest rivals include the GTX 1630 and RTX 2080 SUPER, showing that within its performance class, competition is tight.

The RX 6600 XT's ray tracing cores (32) are present but unlikely to be heavily utilized in a 2014 game that predates widespread RT adoption. The GPU's 16 Gbps effective memory speed and 256 GB/s bandwidth are modest by current standards, but they prove adequate for this title, as the measured results demonstrate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2635 out of 3712 tested combos in "Minimum," placing it in the 71st percentile of all tested configurations. This ranking reflects the overall performance of the pair, which is slightly below the median of tested combos.

To contextualize this rank, consider that there are 3712 total combos in the database for this game. A rank of 2635 means the combo outperforms roughly 1077 other configurations but lags behind 2634. This places it in the lower third of tested systems, which is surprising given the individual component percentiles (CPU at 68th, GPU at 70th).

The discrepancy between component percentiles and combo rank can be explained by the game's age and optimization. "Minimum" was released in 2014, and its engine may not scale efficiently with modern hardware. The combo's rank suggests that other, potentially older or differently balanced systems achieve better frame rates in this specific title.

When examining the measured FPS data, the combo performs admirably at 1080p, achieving 170 FPS at Low settings and 109 FPS at High. At 1440p, it maintains 110 FPS at Low and 70 FPS at High. However, at 4K, performance drops to 59 FPS at Low and 38 FPS at High, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players consider ideal.

The combo's rank of 2635 out of 3712 suggests that while the components are individually capable, their pairing does not produce exceptional results in this particular game. This could be due to CPU limitations at lower resolutions or GPU limitations at higher resolutions, but the data shows a balanced scaling pattern that is typical of a well-matched CPU-GPU pair.

Compared to the nearest rivals in the CPU and GPU benchmarks, this combo does not have a direct comparable pair in the database. The CPU's closest rivals (Xeon 6756E, Core 7 160UL, EPYC 7552, Ryzen 3 7320C) and GPU's closest rivals (GTX 1630, Arc A350M, GTX 780 Ti, RTX 2080 SUPER) are not typically paired together, making direct comparisons difficult.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 170 FPS at Low, 130 FPS at Medium, 109 FPS at High, and 83 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, frame rates drop to 110 FPS at Low, 84 FPS at Medium, 70 FPS at High, and 54 FPS at Ultra. At 3840x2160, the numbers fall to 59 FPS at Low, 45 FPS at Medium, 38 FPS at High, and 29 FPS at Ultra.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K varies by setting. At Low settings, the drop is from 170 to 59 FPS, a reduction of approximately 65%. At Medium, it goes from 130 to 45 FPS, a 65% drop. High settings fall from 109 to 38 FPS, a 65% reduction, and Ultra drops from 83 to 29 FPS, also a 65% decrease.

This consistent ~65% reduction across all settings indicates that the scaling is resolution-bound rather than setting-bound. The GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU's workload remains constant regardless of resolution, while the GPU's pixel throughput requirement increases with each resolution step.

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a similar pattern: Low drops from 170 to 110 FPS (35% reduction), Medium from 130 to 84 (35%), High from 109 to 70 (36%), and Ultra from 83 to 54 (35%). Again, consistent scaling suggests a GPU bottleneck at higher resolutions.

However, the scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper: Low drops from 110 to 59 (46%), Medium from 84 to 45 (46%), High from 70 to 38 (46%), and Ultra from 54 to 29 (46%). This increased drop at 4K indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being stressed beyond their comfortable operating range at 4K.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as frame rates above 170 FPS would require more CPU throughput. At 1440p, the balance shifts toward the GPU, and at 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. This is typical behavior for a mid-range CPU paired with a mid-range GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 170 FPS average. This is the highest measured frame rate across all resolutions and settings, indicating that the combo can easily handle the game at 1080p with minimal graphical demands.
• Medium: 130 FPS average, with a minimum of 111 FPS and maximum of 150 FPS. The tight frame time distribution suggests consistent performance.
• High: 109 FPS average. Still above the 60 FPS threshold, providing smooth gameplay.
• Ultra: 83 FPS average. Even at maximum settings, the combo maintains a playable frame rate at 1080p.

2560x1440:

• Low: 110 FPS average. A 35% drop from 1080p Low, but still very smooth.
• Medium: 84 FPS average, with a minimum of 71 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS. The min FPS remains above 60, indicating no major stutters.
• High: 70 FPS average. This is just above the 60 FPS target, suitable for most players.
• Ultra: 54 FPS average. This is below 60 FPS, which may be noticeable in fast-paced shooter gameplay.

3840x2160:

• Low: 59 FPS average. This is just below 60 FPS, making 4K Low playable but not ideal.
• Medium: 45 FPS average, with a minimum of 38 FPS and maximum of 52 FPS. The minimum frame rate is significantly below 60, indicating potential stutters.
• High: 38 FPS average. This is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.
• Ultra: 29 FPS average. This is not playable for a third-person shooter requiring responsive controls.

The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming across all settings, with 1440p playable at Low through High settings, and 4K only viable at Low settings. The Medium settings at each resolution provide the most consistent frame pacing, as indicated by the min/max values, which show a narrower band compared to other settings.