Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 places 584th out of 1,733 tested combinations for Minimum. That positions this build comfortably in the upper third of all tested configurations, roughly the 66th percentile of combos. The ranking reflects a system that is far from the top of the leaderboard but clearly above the median experience, indicating a balanced pairing rather than one with a severe bottleneck.

Context for this placement comes from the component-level percentiles. The CPU sits at the 77th percentile against all processors, while the GPU reaches the 79th percentile against all graphics cards. The near-match in relative standing suggests neither part is dramatically holding the other back in this title, though the measured frame rates will reveal where the actual limits lie.

Looking at synthetic benchmarks, the CPU's average score of 19,221 is effectively tied with the Intel Core i7-8700K, which scores 19,210 and is only 0.1% ahead. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS trails by 0.7%, and the AMD EPYC 7773X is 1.3% behind. On the GPU side, the RX 9070's average of 34,780 sits within 0.8% of the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 and within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon HD 7970, showing a tight cluster of comparable graphics performance in aggregate benchmarks. The data indicates this combo lands in a dense mid-to-upper tier where small percentage shifts in synthetic scores do not necessarily translate to large differences in actual gameplay.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 9070 brings 16 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus, yielding 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. Memory clocks run at 2,518 MHz, which translates to 20.1 Gbps effective. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2,520 MHz, with a game clock of 2,070 MHz and a base of 1,330 MHz. These specifications matter for Minimum because the title can consume significant video memory at higher settings, and the 16 GB allocation provides ample headroom.

In the measured results, the GPU's influence becomes apparent when comparing settings across the same resolution. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra drops average FPS from 260.7 to 127.3, a reduction of 133.4 FPS that illustrates how heavily the rendering load scales with quality presets. At 1440p, the same settings swing from 167.6 down to 85.6 FPS. The GPU's raw throughput, rated at 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 and 564.5 GTexel/s texture rate, supports these frame rates, but the scaling pattern suggests that the card is not the sole constraint at lower resolutions.

The GPU's pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and 128 ROPs provide the foundation for rasterization, while the 3,584 shading units handle the shader workload. In a game like Minimum, which was released in 2014, the RX 9070's modern architecture with RDNA 4.0 and DirectX 12 Ultimate support is far beyond the title's original requirements, yet the measured FPS still shows clear differentiation across presets, indicating that settings selection remains meaningful.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals how frame rates contract as resolution increases. At Low settings, the jump from 1080p to 1440p drops average FPS from 260.7 to 167.6, a 35.7% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Low brings the average down to 91.4, another 45.5% cut. This steep decline at lower quality settings points to the GPU becoming progressively more dominant as the pixel count rises.

At High settings, the pattern is similar but with a smaller absolute range. The 1080p average of 167 FPS falls to 111.3 at 1440p, then to 58.5 at 4K. The 4K High result of 58.5 FPS is notably below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth gameplay, while the 1440p High result of 111.3 FPS is comfortably above it.

The Medium preset shows 201.3 FPS at 1080p, 128.9 at 1440p, and 69.2 at 4K. Ultra is the most demanding, with 127.3 at 1080p, 85.6 at 1440p, and 44.7 at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 64.9% drop, which is less severe proportionally than the Low preset's 64.9% drop from 260.7 to 91.4. This suggests that at Ultra, the CPU has more room to contribute before the GPU becomes the absolute limiting factor, whereas at Low, the GPU is already stretched by the resolution increase.

The interpretation is straightforward: the RX 9070 becomes the primary limiter as resolution climbs, but at 1080p, the i5-12400F's performance caps the frame rates, particularly at Low and Medium settings where the GPU could otherwise push higher numbers.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal preset depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, the High preset delivers 167 FPS on average, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most standard monitors and represents a strong balance between visual quality and performance. The Medium preset at 201.3 FPS offers a higher frame rate but at a visible quality reduction, while Ultra at 127.3 FPS still remains highly playable. Low at 260.7 FPS is only relevant for competitive play on high-refresh displays.

At 1440p, High produces 111.3 FPS, which is excellent for smooth gameplay on 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors. Medium at 128.9 FPS pushes further into high-refresh territory, while Ultra at 85.6 FPS remains above the 60 FPS threshold. Low at 167.6 FPS is available for those who prioritize maximum smoothness over visuals.

At 4K, the situation changes. High yields 58.5 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target and may result in noticeable frame pacing issues on some displays. Medium at 69.2 FPS clears the 60 FPS bar with some headroom, making it the recommended preset for 4K play. Ultra at 44.7 FPS is not advisable for smooth gameplay, and Low at 91.4 FPS sacrifices significant visual fidelity for a frame rate that is still below 1440p High results.

The data shows that Medium at 4K is the sweet spot, offering 69.2 FPS with a reasonable quality level. For 1440p, High at 111.3 FPS is the best experience per the measured rows, and for 1080p, High at 167 FPS provides an ideal balance of quality and speed.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 584th out of 1,733 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the upper third of all results.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 69.2 FPS on average, which is the highest quality setting that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS. High drops to 58.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44.7 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 260.7, which is so high that the CPU's per-thread performance likely becomes the constraint. The data shows diminishing returns as resolution drops, indicating the i5-12400F cannot feed the GPU fast enough at lower quality settings.

Q: How does the i5-12400F compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 19,221 is 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-8700K, 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-1335U, 0.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS, and 1.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7773X.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the RX 9070 provide?

A: The GPU has a 256-bit memory bus with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth and a memory clock of 2,518 MHz, which equates to 20.1 Gbps effective.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 85.6, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for smooth gameplay on most monitors.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, along with 80 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus, and it connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU only.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16,518 and a single-core score of 2,332. The 3DMark results range from 1,699 in the 2-thread test to 5,912 in the max-thread test, indicating that the processor scales well with additional threads up to its 12-thread limit. Geekbench scores of 9,138 multi-core and 2,221 single-core further confirm this balance.

For Minimum, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p. At Low settings, the average FPS of 260.7 is so high that the GPU is likely not the bottleneck. The CPU's single-thread performance, reflected in a PassMark single-thread score of 3,481, becomes the limiting factor at these frame rates. The game, released in 2014, may not utilize all 12 threads efficiently, but the 6-core architecture with a 4.40 GHz boost clock provides sufficient headroom for high-FPS scenarios.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU takes over. The frame rate differences between Low and Ultra at 4K are narrower in absolute terms than at 1080p, confirming that the GPU is the dominant constraint at higher resolutions. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node keep thermals manageable, allowing sustained boost clocks during extended sessions.

The i5-12400F's percentile rank of 77 against all CPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 19,221, places it just ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K in aggregate performance. This means the CPU is not holding back the RX 9070 in most scenarios, except at extremely high frame rates where the 1080p Low result of 260.7 FPS shows the practical ceiling of this pairing.