Minimum

Launched in 2014, Minimum is a third-person shooter that remains surprisingly demanding at higher settings on modern hardware. For the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, the measured frame rates reveal a clear hierarchy across presets and resolutions, with the system landing at rank 462 out of 1733 tested combos. The data indicates this pairing is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p play, while 4K requires careful settings management to maintain smooth performance.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results show that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, High delivers 176.8 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display, while dropping to Low only increases the average to 280.3 FPS — a gain that is unlikely to be perceptible on most monitors. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 213.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 137.3 FPS, still playable but with diminishing returns on visual fidelity for the performance cost.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset maintains an excellent 112.9 FPS average, making it the recommended choice for this resolution. The Medium preset at 137.7 FPS is faster but likely sacrifices noticeable shadow and texture detail. Ultra at 86.7 FPS remains above the 60 FPS threshold, but the margin is thinner, and the visual upgrade from High is marginal in a game of this age. Low at 181.9 FPS is unnecessary unless targeting a 240 Hz display with maximum frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. High produces a 60.5 FPS average, just above the 60 FPS target, while Medium achieves 71.5 FPS and Low reaches 95.9 FPS. Ultra falls to 48 FPS, which is below the playability threshold for most users. The data suggests that High at 4K is the ceiling for a consistent experience, and users prioritizing frame rate over visuals should select Medium, which provides a 18% improvement over High at 71.5 FPS. Low at 4K is a fallback for those who demand higher frame rates, but the visual compromise is substantial.

The optimal configuration is High at 1440p, delivering 112.9 FPS with a 12% drop in performance compared to Medium's 137.7 FPS, but with significantly better image quality. For 1080p users, High is again the sweet spot, as it offers 176.8 FPS while Medium only adds 37 FPS more. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it consistently shows the largest performance penalty relative to High — a 22% drop at 1080p and a 23% drop at 1440p.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates across a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is rated at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective. The GPU's base clock is 1920 MHz with a boost of 2475 MHz, and it contains 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K, where the frame rate drops from 60.5 FPS on High to 48 FPS on Ultra — a 20.6% penalty that reflects the increased memory pressure and compute load. The 12 GB frame buffer is not a bottleneck at 4K High, as the game's 2014-era assets are unlikely to exceed this capacity, but the raw throughput of 504.2 GB/s becomes a limiting factor at Ultra settings. The texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s are sufficient for 4K at High, but the Ultra preset's additional effects push the GPU to its limits.

The GPU's compute capabilities, measured at 29.15 TFLOPS FP32, are more than adequate for this title. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and PassMark G3D score of 26927 place the RTX 4070 in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.6% higher average score) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (2.2% higher), but these differences are minor and do not translate to meaningful advantages in Minimum's older engine.

The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz is the key driver for 1080p performance, where the CPU is less of a factor. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 280.3 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not fully saturated. However, at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent scaling from Low to Ultra across those resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 200 FPS at Medium and 280 FPS at Low. These high frame rates require the CPU to feed the GPU with sufficient draw calls, and the i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads handle this workload effectively. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 and single-core score of 2029 indicate strong per-thread performance, which is critical for a game that may not fully utilize all 12 threads.

The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 5619 and max-thread score of 5652 show consistent scaling, but the real-world impact is visible in the benchmark data: at 1080p High, the system achieves 176.8 FPS, while at 1440p High, the frame rate drops to 112.9 FPS. This 36% decrease is primarily due to the GPU's increased workload at higher resolutions, not CPU limitation. However, at 1080p Low, the 280.3 FPS result suggests the CPU is approaching its ceiling, as the GPU is not constrained at such low settings.

The i5-11400F's performance percentile of 75 places it in the upper quartile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17181. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta) and Intel Core i7-1260P (0.2% slower), indicating this CPU is competitive with newer mobile chips despite its desktop 14 nm process. The 65 W TDP and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide a balance of power and performance, though the CPU is not unlocked for overclocking.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i5-11400F and RTX 4070 achieves a combo rank of 462 out of 1733 tested configurations, placing it in the top 26.7% of all systems. This rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: the CPU is not the fastest, but it is sufficient to keep the GPU well-fed at most settings, while the GPU provides strong 1440p and acceptable 4K performance.

At 1440p High, the system delivers 112.9 FPS, which is above the 100 FPS threshold that many users consider ideal for competitive shooters. At 4K High, the 60.5 FPS average is exactly at the standard monitor refresh rate, making it a viable option for cinematic play. The combo's performance is stronger at lower resolutions, where the CPU's 6 cores can drive frame rates above 170 FPS at 1080p High.

The rank of 462 suggests that while this combo is capable, there are 461 other configurations that perform better in Minimum — likely systems with newer CPUs like the Core i7-1260P (0.2% faster in synthetic tests) or higher-end GPUs. However, the combo's position in the top quartile indicates it is a well-matched pairing for this game, with no single component acting as a severe bottleneck. The data shows that the RTX 4070's 81st percentile GPU performance is the stronger component, while the CPU's 75th percentile is adequate but not exceptional.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 on High produces 112.9 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above the 100 FPS mark at a resolution above 1080p. At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 176.8 FPS, but the visual upgrade to 1440p is substantial.

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

A: Yes, but only with settings compromises. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 60.5 FPS, which is playable, while Medium reaches 71.5 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic tests?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 37283 is 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and 2.2% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile. It outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 5300M by 2.5%.

Q: Is the i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 280.3 FPS, suggesting the CPU is near its limit, but at 1440p and above, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU's 75th percentile performance ranking indicates it is adequate for most settings.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High at 1440p?

A: Medium averages 137.7 FPS while High averages 112.9 FPS, representing a 22% performance decrease for the High preset. The visual quality difference is likely noticeable but not critical for gameplay.

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

A: It ranks 462 out of 1733 total combos, placing it in the top 26.7%. This is a strong result, given that many higher-ranked systems likely use more recent CPUs with higher thread counts.