Minimum

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy across settings, with the combination ranking 1392nd out of 3712 tested combos for this title, placing it in the upper half of the database. The measured results indicate that this pairing is well-balanced at lower resolutions, but 4K Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits, revealing the graphics card as the primary constraint at higher visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a predictable and significant drop in average frame rates across all quality presets. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 151 at 1080p to 97 at 1440p, a reduction of 54 frames, and then further to 52 at 4K, representing a 65.6% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count, which is typical for a title of Minimum's era that relies on fill-rate-bound effects.

Low settings exhibit a similar trajectory, starting at 234 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 151 FPS at 1440p, and finally settling at 81 FPS at 4K. The scaling factor from 1080p to 4K is roughly 2.9x, which is close to the theoretical 4x pixel increase, suggesting that at Low settings the system is not entirely bottlenecked by the CPU at lower resolutions. Medium settings show a gentler curve: 179 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result showing a measurable minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling, with 115 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and only 40 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is the lowest recorded score in the entire dataset, and the 75 FPS gap between 1080p and 4K Ultra demonstrates that the most demanding preset combination imposes a heavy burden on the GPU. This pattern suggests that the RX 7700 XT is the limiting component at 4K, as the frame rate collapses regardless of preset, while at 1080p the CPU likely provides sufficient headroom to keep the GPU fed.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, based on the Navi 32 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, carries 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for Minimum's texture and shader workloads, as evidenced by the consistent performance scaling when moving from Low to Ultra presets at 1440p. The GPU's boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz provide substantial compute throughput, with the FP32 rating of 35.17 TFLOPS supporting high fill rates.

The data shows that the GPU's performance ceiling is approached at 4K, where even Medium settings yield only 62 FPS average. The gap between Low (81 FPS) and Ultra (40 FPS) at 4K is 41 frames, indicating that the GPU's pixel throughput and texture units are heavily taxed by higher-quality settings. At 1440p, the GPU maintains a playable 74 FPS at Ultra, while at 1080p it exceeds 100 FPS even at Ultra, demonstrating that the card's 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs are sufficient for lower resolutions but struggle to sustain high frame rates at 4K with maxed-out detail.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the RX 7700 XT's average benchmark score of 22549 places it 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile and 1.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5700, while sitting 1.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080. In Minimum, the GPU's 12 GB VRAM is more than adequate for the title's requirements, and the measured results show no signs of memory capacity throttling, as frame rates remain stable across presets at each resolution. The GPU's percentile ranking of 67 among all GPUs indicates solid mid-to-high-tier performance, which aligns with its observed behavior in this benchmark.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate data throughput for feeding the RX 7700 XT. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a multi-core score of 14340 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 2024, which positions it as a capable mid-range part.

In Minimum, the CPU's role becomes evident at 1080p Low settings, where the average FPS of 234 suggests the processor is able to maintain high frame delivery without bottlenecking the GPU. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and 2-thread score of 1691 indicate that the CPU's single-core performance is sufficient for the game's physics and game logic, which typically rely on fewer threads. However, the lack of min FPS data for Low and High presets limits the analysis of frame pacing, though the Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum of 153 FPS and maximum of 206 FPS, indicating consistent frame delivery.

The CPU's 12 threads provide reasonable multi-threaded headroom, as evidenced by its PassMark multithread score of 16908 and Geekbench multicore score of 7737. At higher resolutions, the CPU's influence diminishes, as the frame rates at 4K are primarily dictated by GPU throughput. The i5-11400F's percentile ranking of 71 among all CPUs places it above average, and its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12, which scores 0.3% higher, and the Intel Core i5-12450H, which scores 0.4% higher, showing that the CPU is competitive with other mid-range options.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance is achieved at 1440p Medium settings, which delivers an average of 116 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 133 FPS. This preset provides a substantial improvement over Low settings (151 FPS) in visual fidelity while maintaining frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p displays, High settings at 151 FPS is the recommended choice, as it offers strong visuals without sacrificing the frame rate advantage of the lower resolution.

At 4K, the data suggests that Medium settings (62 FPS average) is the highest preset that remains playable, though users may prefer Low settings (81 FPS) for more headroom. Ultra settings at 4K produce an average of 40 FPS, which is below the threshold for a smooth experience in a third-person shooter, and should be avoided unless the user prioritizes image quality over frame rate. The 1440p Ultra preset (74 FPS) is a viable alternative for users who want maximum detail without the 4K penalty, offering a 34 FPS improvement over 4K Ultra.

The measured data indicates that the combo is most efficient at 1080p, where even Ultra settings achieve 115 FPS, but the recommended experience for most users is 1440p Medium, which balances the GPU's capabilities with the CPU's headroom. The Medium preset at 1440p also shows the tightest frame time variance in the dataset, with a difference of 35 FPS between minimum and maximum, suggesting stable performance under load.

How This Combo Ranks

In Minimum, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ranks 1392nd out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the 62.5th percentile of all configurations. This ranking indicates that the pairing performs better than the majority of tested systems, but it is not among the top performers. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's 71st percentile ranking and the GPU's 67th percentile ranking, with the combined system achieving a slightly higher position than either component's individual percentile would suggest.

The combo's position in the upper third of the database is consistent with its measured performance at 1440p, where it achieves strong frame rates across all presets. Compared to other combos that might pair the RX 7700 XT with a higher-end CPU, the i5-11400F does not appear to hold back the GPU significantly at lower resolutions, as the 1080p Low result of 234 FPS is unlikely to be CPU-limited. However, at 4K Ultra, the 40 FPS result suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, and a more powerful graphics card would be needed to improve the ranking further.

The ranking of 1392 out of 3712 places this combo in the top 37.5% of all tested systems, which is a respectable position for a mid-range pairing. The data implies that users of this combo can expect solid performance in Minimum at 1080p and 1440p, with playable frame rates at 4K only at lower settings. This ranking does not account for the age of the game, as it was released in 2014, but the measured data suggests that the combo is well-matched for the title's requirements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 234 FPS, Medium settings yield 179 FPS with a minimum of 153 and maximum of 206, High settings achieve 151 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 115 FPS. These results show that the combo can comfortably drive high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p, with even the most demanding preset exceeding 100 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops appreciably but remains strong. Low settings average 151 FPS, Medium settings average 116 FPS with a minimum of 98 and maximum of 133, High settings average 97 FPS, and Ultra settings average 74 FPS. The 1440p results demonstrate that the combo is well-suited for 1440p gaming, with all presets except Ultra maintaining frame rates above 90 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the combo's limitations become apparent. Low settings average 81 FPS, Medium settings average 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 and maximum of 72, High settings average 52 FPS, and Ultra settings average 40 FPS. The 4K results indicate that only Low and Medium presets provide playable frame rates, with High and Ultra falling below the 60 FPS threshold. The complete dataset shows a consistent pattern of performance scaling, with the combo losing roughly half its frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at each preset level.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p provides the best balance of performance and visual quality, with High settings achieving 97 FPS and Medium settings achieving 116 FPS, both above the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: At 4K, only Low (81 FPS) and Medium (62 FPS) presets deliver playable frame rates. High (52 FPS) and Ultra (40 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold, making them less suitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU perform relative to its rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F scores 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7H12 and 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G, while scoring 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-12450H, based on average benchmark scores.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ranks in the 67th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 22549, placing it 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile.

Q: Is the combo CPU-limited or GPU-limited at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 234 suggests the CPU and GPU are well-balanced, as the frame rate is high enough to indicate neither component is severely bottlenecked, though the CPU's single-thread performance is likely the limiting factor at this extreme frame rate.

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

A: The combo ranks 1392nd out of 3712 tested configurations for Minimum, placing it in the upper 37.5% of all tested systems, which indicates solid mid-range performance for this title.