Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that is far more demanding than its age suggests, and the measured results for the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 show a system that is heavily GPU-limited at every setting. The data indicates that this pairing is capable of delivering exceptionally high frame rates, but the balance between the CPU and GPU shifts dramatically depending on the resolution and quality preset selected. Benchmark results show that this combination ranks in the 79th percentile of all tested configurations in this title, placing it in the top 21% of systems, which is a strong result but not the absolute top tier.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features an 18 MB shared L3 cache and an average benchmark score of 19850, which places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-9700, which scores 19831 (a 0.1% difference), and the Intel Core i7-8700 at 19894 (a -0.2% difference), indicating that the i5-12400 is essentially on par with these older i7 parts in raw compute.

In the context of Minimum’s measured FPS, the CPU’s role is largely secondary. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 298.2 FPS, which is a massive workload that would stress even the fastest processors. The fact that the i5-12400 can feed the GPU well enough to reach nearly 300 FPS shows that its single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3456, is more than sufficient for this title. The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935, are not fully utilized in Minimum, as the game’s frame rates scale almost entirely with the GPU.

The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and max-thread score of 5890 show that the CPU has headroom, but the measured FPS deltas between settings prove that the GPU is the bottleneck. For instance, moving from 1080p Low to 1080p High drops the average FPS from 298.2 to 195.5, a 34% reduction, which is a GPU-side effect. The CPU is a capable partner, but it is never the limiting factor in this specific game, as even the lowest preset at 4K yields 103.8 FPS, a number that is still well above the CPU’s threshold for causing a bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing, featuring 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2512 MHz, and it has a PassMark G3D score of 29137, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 41610 (a 0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 41441 (a 0.6% delta), showing that the RTX 5070 is positioned in a similar performance bracket to the previous generation’s flagship.

The GPU’s role in Minimum is decisive. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 50.7 FPS, which is a clear sign of the GPU being pushed to its limits by the game’s high-resolution shaders and effects. The 12 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor at any of the measured settings, as the game is from 2014 and likely does not exceed that capacity, but the raw compute power is what matters. The RTX 5070’s FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS is substantial, yet Minimum’s Ultra preset at 4K still brings it to its knees, indicating that the game has some notoriously heavy post-processing or draw-call overhead.

The data shows a clear GPU scaling pattern. At 1080p, the settings ladder from Low to Ultra yields FPS values of 298.2, 228.5, 195.5, and 146.8. This is a 50% drop from Low to Ultra, which is entirely attributable to GPU workload. At 4K, the same ladder produces 103.8, 77.9, 64.4, and 50.7 FPS, a 51% drop, confirming that the RTX 5070 is the sole arbiter of performance in this title, with the i5-12400 providing no measurable obstruction.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 298.2 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This shows the system’s peak capability in light-load scenarios.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400 compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700’s score of 19831, and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700’s score of 19894.

Q: What is the lowest measured FPS for this combo, and at which settings?

A: The lowest average FPS is 50.7, achieved at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the most demanding configuration tested.

Q: Does the RTX 5070’s 12 GB VRAM cause any performance issues in Minimum?

A: No, the benchmark data does not show any VRAM-related stutters or crashes, and the FPS scales consistently with settings, indicating that the 12 GB capacity is sufficient for this game.

Q: How much faster is the combo at 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: It is significantly faster, achieving 298.2 FPS at 1080p Low versus 50.7 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is a 5.9x difference in frame rate.

Q: What is the combo’s ranking among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 366th out of 1733 tested combinations, placing it in the 79th percentile of all systems tested for Minimum.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 366th out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, which is a solid placement. This rank puts the system in the top 21% of all configurations, but the data suggests that the ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU’s performance rather than the CPU. The RTX 5070’s 83rd percentile ranking among GPUs is higher than the CPU’s 77th percentile, and the combo’s 79th percentile is roughly a weighted average of the two, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver of the system’s position.

The rank of 366 is not higher because there are many systems with more powerful GPUs, such as those with higher-end 50-series cards or previous generation flagships. However, this combo outperforms the vast majority of the field, and its rank is consistent with the measured FPS, which show that it can handle Minimum at high refresh rates even at 1440p. The delta between the i5-12400 and its rivals is negligible (all within 0.4%), meaning that swapping the CPU for an i7-9700 would not change the rank meaningfully, while upgrading the GPU would have a much larger impact on the ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo’s performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 298.2 FPS on Low, 228.5 FPS on Medium, 195.5 FPS on High, and 146.8 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show that the system is capable of driving a 144Hz monitor at any setting, and even a 240Hz monitor at Low or Medium settings. The drop from Low to Ultra is 51.4 FPS, which is a 17% reduction, but the absolute numbers remain high.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops to 195.9 FPS on Low, 149.4 FPS on Medium, 123.6 FPS on High, and 97.1 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p results are still excellent, with all settings exceeding 97 FPS, meaning that the system can comfortably handle high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly a 34% reduction in FPS across all settings, which is consistent with the GPU’s workload increasing.

At 3840x2160, the system reaches 103.8 FPS on Low, 77.9 FPS on Medium, 64.4 FPS on High, and 50.7 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results are playable at Low and Medium, and High is borderline for a 60Hz display, but Ultra is below 60 FPS. This shows that the RTX 5070 is not quite powerful enough to run Minimum at maximum settings at 4K with a high refresh rate, but it can manage 60 FPS at High with some compromises.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot. At this setting, the combo achieves 123.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and close to 120 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The visual quality is high, and the frame rate is smooth. If the user prefers maximum visual fidelity, 1440p Ultra at 97.1 FPS is also excellent, as it remains above 90 FPS, which is a great target for esports-style play.

At 1080p, the recommendation is to use Ultra settings, since 146.8 FPS is still extremely high, and the visual upgrade from High is worth the 48.7 FPS drop. For 4K users, the data recommends Low settings at 103.8 FPS for a smooth experience, or Medium at 77.9 FPS if they can tolerate a slightly lower frame rate. Ultra at 4K is not recommended for competitive play, as 50.7 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, but it is still playable for casual gaming.

The settings ladder shows diminishing returns with Ultra presets. From High to Ultra, the FPS drops by 48.7 at 1080p, 26.5 at 1440p, and 13.7 at 4K. The absolute drop is larger at lower resolutions, but the percentage drop is similar, indicating that Ultra settings are uniformly demanding. The best experience in terms of balance is 1440p High, as it offers a high frame rate and high visual quality without the performance cost of Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 298.2 at 1080p to 103.8 at 4K, a 65% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 228.5 to 77.9, a 66% reduction. At High, it drops from 195.5 to 64.4, a 67% reduction. And at Ultra, it drops from 146.8 to 50.7, a 65% reduction. The consistency of this ~65% drop across all settings is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU’s performance is constant and the GPU’s workload scales with pixel count.

The scaling is not perfectly linear, but it is close. The pixel count increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 1440p, and the FPS drops by roughly 34%, which is less than the pixel count increase, suggesting that there are some CPU or memory overheads that are not fully scaling. However, from 1440p to 4K, the pixel count increases by 2.25x, and the FPS drops by roughly 47%, which is closer to the expected GPU-bound scaling.

The data shows that the i5-12400 is not a bottleneck at any resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would see the FPS at 1080p Low to be the same as 1080p High, because the CPU would be maxed out. Instead, we see a 51% difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p, which proves that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The conclusion is that for this game, the RTX 5070 is the component to upgrade if higher FPS is desired, as the i5-12400 has ample headroom to support even faster GPUs.