Minimum

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a strong 1080p experience in Minimum, but the data shows a clear transition to GPU-bound territory as resolution increases. At 1080p, the combo achieves a 214 FPS average on Low settings, indicating abundant headroom, but this drops significantly at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates suggest that while the CPU handles the game’s logic capably at lower resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary constraint as pixel count rises, a pattern typical of a well-balanced mid-range pairing in a title from 2014.

Resolution Scaling

The benchmark results reveal a predictable yet pronounced scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system posts an average of 214 FPS, which serves as the ceiling for this configuration. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 138 FPS, a 35.5% reduction, while 4K Low further reduces performance to 74 FPS—a 46.4% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline indicates that the Radeon RX 7700’s rendering workload grows substantially with each resolution step, overwhelming the GPU’s capabilities at 4K despite the game’s age.

The scaling becomes more telling when examining the High settings preset. At 1080p High, the average sits at 137 FPS, which is respectable for smooth gameplay. At 1440p High, the average falls to 89 FPS, a 35% decrease, and at 4K High, it plummets to 48 FPS—a 46% drop from 1440p. The consistent ~35-46% reduction across resolution tiers suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at every step, as the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant regardless of resolution. The i5-11400F’s six cores and 12 threads provide sufficient processing power to avoid bottlenecking at 1080p, but the RX 7700’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus width cannot sustain high frame rates when pushing 8.3 million pixels at 4K.

The Medium settings data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Medium, the average is 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 FPS and maximum of 188 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 106 FPS with a 90 FPS minimum, and at 4K Medium, it falls to 57 FPS with a 48 FPS minimum. The frame time consistency, as indicated by the min-max spread, narrows at higher resolutions, suggesting the GPU is working closer to its limits. At 1080p, the 49 FPS spread between min and max indicates some variability, likely from CPU-driven scenes, while at 4K, the 17 FPS spread shows more uniform GPU-bound performance.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario, with 1080p averaging 105 FPS, 1440p averaging 68 FPS, and 4K averaging just 36 FPS. The 4K Ultra result falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered playable, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra shows a 35.2% drop, consistent with other presets, but the 1440p to 4K drop is 47.1%, slightly steeper, indicating that the RX 7700’s compute resources—25.18 TFLOPS FP32—are simply insufficient for the combined load of Ultra settings and 4K resolution.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this CPU-GPU combo in Minimum?*

A: The highest recorded average is 214 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the peak performance ceiling for this pairing, with the Core i5-11400F and Radeon RX 7700 both operating well within their limits at this resolution and preset.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the combo averages 74 FPS on Low, 57 FPS on Medium, 48 FPS on High, and 36 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, while Medium falls just short. For consistent 60 FPS gameplay at 4K, users must stick to Low settings.

Q: How does the CPU’s thread count affect performance in this game?

A: The i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, which is sufficient for Minimum’s 2014-era engine. The benchmark data shows no CPU bottleneck at 1080p, as evidenced by the 214 FPS Low result. The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 4.40 GHz boost clock help maintain high frame rates in CPU-intensive scenes.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 138 FPS, while Ultra settings average 68 FPS—a 50.7% reduction. This substantial gap indicates that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy GPU load, with the RX 7700’s 2560 shading units struggling to handle the increased visual complexity.

Q: Is the RX 7700’s 16 GB memory capacity beneficial for this game?

A: While Minimum was released in 2014 and likely does not require 16 GB of VRAM, the RX 7700’s 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures no memory-related bottlenecks at any tested setting. The data shows consistent frame rates across presets, with no sudden drops attributable to VRAM exhaustion.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1298 out of 2939 tested combinations, placing it in the 44.2nd percentile. This mid-range ranking suggests that while the pairing is capable, many other CPU-GPU combos deliver higher performance in Minimum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F plays a supporting role in Minimum, providing enough processing power to avoid becoming a bottleneck at most settings. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads represent a solid foundation for a 2014 title, which was designed for the 4-core/8-thread era. The 2.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock allow the processor to ramp up quickly for single-threaded tasks, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024. These scores indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for older game engines that often rely on one or two primary threads.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy—80 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 12 MB shared L3—provides adequate data locality for game assets. The benchmark data supports this, as 1080p Low results show no signs of CPU limitation; the 214 FPS average likely represents a game engine cap or GPU limit rather than a CPU constraint. However, at 4K Ultra, the 36 FPS average is clearly GPU-bound, as the RX 7700’s 96 ROPs and 393.4 GTexel/s texture rate are insufficient for the pixel workload.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 14 nm process node are modest by modern standards, but the architecture’s efficiency is not a limiting factor in this game. The passmark multithread score of 16908 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14340 place the i5-11400F in the 71st percentile among all CPUs, indicating it outperforms most processors. In Minimum, this translates to consistent frame delivery in scenes with multiple characters or physics calculations, though the exact frame time data is not available for all settings.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth is more than adequate for this game’s requirements. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, though the RX 7700 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, which is fully supported. Overall, the i5-11400F’s role is to feed the GPU efficiently, and the data shows it succeeds at this task, with the GPU consistently being the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 achieves a rank of 1298 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the upper-middle tier of configurations. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the GPU’s specifications—16 GB of VRAM, 2560 shading units, and a 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth—but the 2014 game engine may not fully utilize modern GPU features. The Radeon RX 7700’s percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs, based on an average benchmark score of 15852, suggests it is a mid-range performer, and this is reflected in the game’s results.

The CPU’s percentile ranking of 71 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177, is higher than the GPU’s, indicating that the processor is relatively stronger in general compute tasks. However, in Minimum, the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions, caping the combo’s overall ranking. The nearest rivals for the CPU—AMD EPYC 7H12, Intel Core i5-12450H, AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G, and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U—all have average benchmark scores within 0.6% of the i5-11400F, showing that the processor is well-positioned among its peers. For the GPU, the nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X (0.1% difference), AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1% difference), AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.1% difference), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% difference), all of which are closely matched in synthetic benchmarks.

The combo’s rank of 1298 out of 2939 means that 1641 configurations perform worse and 1297 perform better, placing it just above the median. This suggests that while the pairing is capable of playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, it does not excel in this particular title compared to other combinations. The data indicates that the RX 7700’s strengths—high FP32 throughput and ample VRAM—are not fully leveraged by Minimum’s older graphics engine, which may favor different architectural features.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results: Low settings average 214 FPS, Medium averages 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 FPS and maximum of 188 FPS, High averages 137 FPS, and Ultra averages 105 FPS. These figures indicate that 1080p is the sweet spot for this pairing, with even Ultra settings delivering playable frame rates. The 77 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p highlights the significant impact of the Ultra preset’s visual enhancements.

At 2560x1440, performance remains respectable but drops noticeably. Low settings average 138 FPS, Medium averages 106 FPS with a 90 FPS minimum and 121 FPS maximum, High averages 89 FPS, and Ultra averages 68 FPS. The Medium preset’s min-max spread of 31 FPS is wider than at 1080p, suggesting some scene-dependent variability. The Ultra result at 68 FPS is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it viable for most players, though the 48 FPS minimum at Medium indicates potential stutter in demanding moments.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limits become apparent. Low settings average 74 FPS, Medium averages 57 FPS with a 48 FPS minimum and 65 FPS maximum, High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 48 FPS falls below playable levels for many users, and the Ultra result is clearly unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The 4K data shows that the RX 7700 can handle Low settings adequately, but anything above Medium requires compromising on resolution or accepting sub-60 FPS performance.

The pattern across resolutions is consistent: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the most demanding. The performance gap between Low and Ultra widens with resolution, from 49% at 1080p (214 vs 105 FPS) to 51% at 1440p (138 vs 68 FPS) to 51% at 4K (74 vs 36 FPS). This consistency suggests that the game’s settings scale uniformly across resolutions, with no unexpected performance cliffs.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset is the recommended choice, as it delivers an average of 137 FPS while providing substantially better visual quality than Medium (164 FPS) or Low (214 FPS). The 27 FPS difference between High and Medium is noticeable but not critical, and High’s 137 FPS average provides ample headroom for any monitor up to 144 Hz. Ultra at 105 FPS is also viable for 1080p gaming, offering the best visual fidelity at the cost of 32 FPS compared to High.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset strikes the best balance, averaging 106 FPS with a minimum of 90 FPS. This ensures smooth gameplay on 1440p monitors, which typically refresh at 60-144 Hz. The High preset at 89 FPS is also acceptable for 60 Hz displays, but the Medium preset’s higher minimum of 90 FPS provides more consistent frame pacing. Ultra at 68 FPS is borderline, with frame rates that may dip below 60 FPS in heavy scenes, making it less ideal for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, users face a trade-off. The Low preset, averaging 74 FPS, is the only option that consistently exceeds 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. Medium at 57 FPS is playable but may experience drops to 48 FPS, which can be noticeable. High at 48 FPS and Ultra at 36 FPS are not recommended for smooth gameplay. For 4K users prioritizing visual quality over frame rate, Medium offers the best compromise, but the data clearly shows that this combo is not designed for high-settings 4K gaming.

The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p users with high-refresh-rate monitors who prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rates. For most players, the High preset at 1080p or Medium at 1440p provides the best experience, balancing visual quality with performance. The data suggests that the RX 7700’s 16 GB VRAM and 96 ROPs are sufficient for 1440p Ultra, but the 4K results indicate that the GPU’s compute throughput is the limiting factor, not memory capacity. Ultimately, the recommendations align with the measured data: 1080p High for general use, 1440p Medium for balanced performance, and 4K Low for resolution purists.