Minimum

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a robust experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. Across the measured rows, the combination shows a clear pattern: performance scales predictably with resolution, and the GPU is the primary constraint at higher settings. The data indicates that the most balanced experience is found at Medium settings for high resolutions, while Low settings unlock the highest frame rates for competitive play.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data shows a distinct trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate for this combo. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 135.6 FPS, which is fully playable, but the jump to High yields 182 FPS—a substantial 34% increase. For players prioritizing smoothness over maximum detail, High at 1080p is the sweet spot, as it maintains well over 144 FPS while still offering a significant visual upgrade over Low.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. High produces 112.4 FPS, which is excellent for most displays, but Medium delivers 136.8 FPS, representing a 21.7% improvement over High. Given that the gap between Medium and High in visual quality is often less noticeable than the frame rate difference, Medium at 1440p is the recommended preset for a high-refresh-rate experience. Ultra at this resolution drops to 89.7 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices the headroom needed for consistent 100+ FPS gameplay.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. High manages 60.9 FPS, just crossing the 60 FPS threshold, while Medium provides 72.6 FPS—a 19.2% improvement that makes it the better choice for 4K. Ultra falls to 46 FPS, which is below the standard for smooth play, and Low at 98.5 FPS is the only preset that offers a truly high-refresh experience at this resolution. Based on the data, Medium at 4K offers the best compromise between visual quality and playability, as it avoids the sub-60 FPS territory of Ultra while providing a noticeably better image than Low.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for handling the texture loads in Minimum at 4K. The card’s base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with 10240 shading units, drive the raw compute needed for the game’s effects. The GPU’s 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than sufficient for a title from 2014, as evidenced by the frame rates exceeding 270 FPS at 1080p Low.

The performance scaling across resolutions highlights the GPU’s role. At 1080p, the RTX 3080 Ti is rarely the bottleneck, as even Ultra settings yield 135.6 FPS. However, at 4K, the load becomes more balanced. The transition from 1440p Medium (136.8 FPS) to 4K Medium (72.6 FPS) shows a 46.9% drop, which is consistent with the quadrupling of pixel count from 2.5 million to 8.3 million. This indicates that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and rasterization throughput are the limiting factors at 4K, not the CPU. The card’s 186.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 532.8 GTexel/s texture rate are being fully utilized at this resolution, as evidenced by the Ultra preset dropping to 46 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes, but only up to High settings. The data shows 60.9 FPS at 4K High, 72.6 FPS at 4K Medium, and 98.5 FPS at 4K Low. The Ultra preset falls to 46 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best preset for competitive play at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest frame rate at 275.9 FPS. However, High at 182 FPS is also far above the 144 Hz refresh rate threshold and offers better visuals, making it the better choice for most players.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti’s memory configuration affect performance?

A: The 12 GB GDDR6X memory with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck. This is particularly evident at 4K, where the frame rate drops are consistently tied to pixel fill rate rather than memory capacity limitations.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, but at 1080p the frame rates exceeding 275 FPS indicate the i5-12400F can feed the GPU effectively. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, appear sufficient for this title.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p with maximum visual quality?

A: The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 89.7 FPS. While this is below the 100 FPS mark, it remains playable on a 90 Hz monitor, but the High preset at 112.4 FPS is the recommended option for smoother motion.

Q: How significant is the difference between Medium and Ultra at 4K?

A: The difference is substantial. Medium averages 72.6 FPS, while Ultra averages 46 FPS—a 57.8% reduction in frame rate. The visual upgrade from Medium to Ultra is unlikely to justify this performance penalty.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination ranks 451 out of 1733 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the top 26% of all configurations. This ranking reflects a strong pairing, though it is not at the very top tier. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 19221 places it within 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-8700K and 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-1335U, while being 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS. This indicates that the CPU is competitive with older high-end desktop chips but not a class leader.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 41224 is 0.5% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and 1.1% below the RTX 5070, but it is 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M40. This places the RTX 3080 Ti in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of graphics cards. The combination of a mid-range CPU with a high-end GPU is well-balanced for Minimum, as the game’s age means even a modest CPU can keep pace with the GPU’s output. The 451st rank out of 1733 suggests that many other combos use faster CPUs, but for this specific title, the bottleneck is clearly the GPU at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the frame rate data.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process, delivers strong single-threaded performance, as shown by its Geekbench single-core score of 2221 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2332. For Minimum, a game released in 2014, single-thread performance is critical for game logic and physics, and the i5-12400F’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensures that the CPU does not become a bottleneck.

The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities are also relevant. Its 3DMark max-thread score of 5912 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 indicate that it can handle background tasks without impacting game performance. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache is sufficient for the game’s asset access patterns, and the dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provides flexible bandwidth options. In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s role is evident at 1080p, where the frame rates reach 275.9 FPS on Low settings. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU can generate enough draw calls to feed the RTX 3080 Ti, as the GPU would otherwise limit performance to a lower value. At 4K, the CPU is less relevant, as the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, but the consistent scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 2160p shows that the CPU does not introduce any unexpected stalls or frame time spikes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 275.9 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor. Medium averages 213.1 FPS, High averages 182 FPS, and Ultra averages 135.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 51.4% reduction in frame rate, but even the lowest value remains well above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU’s workload. Low averages 181 FPS, which is a 34.4% drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 136.8 FPS, High averages 112.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 89.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 50.4%, similar to 1080p, indicating that the performance scaling is consistent across settings.

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution, the frame rates drop significantly. Low averages 98.5 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium drops to 72.6 FPS and High to 60.9 FPS. Ultra falls to 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The difference between 1080p Ultra (135.6 FPS) and 4K Ultra (46 FPS) is a 66.1% reduction, highlighting the GPU’s limitations at 4K with maximum settings. The data shows that the 3080 Ti can handle 4K High, but players seeking 60+ FPS with headroom should opt for Medium at this resolution. The measured results across all resolutions and settings confirm that this combo provides a flexible range of experiences, from esports-level frame rates at 1080p to cinematic 4K visuals at Medium settings.