Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that, despite its age, still places meaningful demands on modern hardware when pushed to maximum settings. The combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers a broad range of performance across the tested configurations, spanning from exceptionally high refresh-rate territory at 1080p to just-playable frame rates at 4K Ultra. The measured data indicates a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while at lower settings and resolutions, the CPU's 10-core, 16-thread architecture proves more than sufficient to feed the GPU. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to provide clear settings guidance and a detailed look at how each component contributes to the final frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—at each of the three tested resolutions. For users prioritizing the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset delivers the maximum performance, but it comes with a significant visual compromise. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 297 FPS, which is 69 FPS higher than the next tier, Medium, at 228 FPS. This represents a 30% performance uplift, making it the only configuration that approaches the 300 FPS mark, suitable for extreme refresh-rate displays.

However, for the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, the Medium preset is the standout recommendation across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium produces an average of 228 FPS with a minimum of 193 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. At 2560x1440, it maintains a strong average of 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors. Even at 3840x2160, Medium delivers an average of 79 FPS with a minimum of 67 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that guarantees a frame rate above 60 FPS in the measured data. The step from Medium to High yields a modest visual improvement but costs a significant 25% of performance at 1080p (228 to 191 FPS), 16% at 1440p (147 to 123 FPS), and 16% at 4K (79 to 66 FPS).

The Ultra preset is the most demanding and is only recommended for users with 1080p or 1440p displays who prioritize image quality over raw frame rates. At 1080p Ultra, the system still achieves a very playable 146 FPS average, while at 1440p Ultra, it drops to 94 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average falls to 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, making it the only configuration in the entire dataset that fails to reach this threshold. The data suggests that Medium is the optimal preset for this combo, as it provides a high frame rate at 1080p and 1440p while maintaining a stable 60+ FPS experience at 4K. For those with the most capable displays, Low at 1080p offers a competitive edge with its near-300 FPS average, but for the vast majority of users, Medium presents the ideal compromise.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It features a 20 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In the context of Minimum, the data indicates that this processor is not the primary bottleneck at any tested setting. The CPU's performance is best contextualized by its benchmark scores, particularly the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23,391 and the single-core score of 3,302.

The game's frame rates scale dramatically with resolution and settings, which is a classic indicator of GPU-bound performance. For instance, at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 297, while at 4K Low, it drops to 103. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU's workload would not change significantly. Instead, the steep drop-off in FPS as resolution increases demonstrates that the GPU is the component being pushed to its limits. At 1080p Low, the CPU is likely operating near its maximum capacity to sustain such high frame rates, but it still manages to deliver an average of 297 FPS, which is an excellent result.

The processor's 10-core, 16-thread configuration provides ample headroom for the game's threading requirements. The data shows that the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 5070 even at the highest frame rates measured, as evidenced by the 297 FPS result at 1080p Low. This suggests that for Minimum, the i5-12600KF's performance is more than adequate, and any performance limitations observed in the dataset are attributable to the GPU. The processor's placement at the 79th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,799, further reinforces that it is a high-performing part that will not hold back the RTX 5070 in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant factor in this system's performance in Minimum. It features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2325 MHz and a boost clock of 2512 MHz, with 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. Its raw compute power is rated at 30.87 TFLOPS for FP32 operations, and it achieves a Passmark G3D score of 29,137, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs.

The measured FPS data clearly illustrates the GPU's role. At 1080p, the RTX 5070 is able to produce extremely high frame rates, ranging from 146 FPS at Ultra to 297 FPS at Low. However, as the resolution increases to 1440p and then 4K, the frame rates decline significantly, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's rendering workload increasing. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 51, indicating that the GPU is fully saturated. The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is not a limiting factor in this title, as even at 4K Ultra, the game runs without any indication of memory-related stuttering in the measured data, though the average FPS of 51 shows the GPU's compute limits.

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is particularly telling. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 297 at 1080p to 192 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 103 at 4K (a further 46% reduction). This is a clear sign that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate is nearly halved with each doubling of pixel count. The GPU's 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 30.87 TFLOPS of compute are the key specifications that determine these results. While the RTX 5070 is a powerful card, the data shows that Minimum at 4K Ultra is simply too demanding for it to maintain a 60 FPS average, but it excels at lower resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a stable 60 FPS experience at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 is the only configuration that guarantees this, with an average of 79 FPS and a minimum of 67 FPS. The High preset averages 66 FPS, but the minimum is not recorded, and the Ultra preset drops to an average of 51 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Medium at 1080p?

A: The Low preset achieves an average of 297 FPS, which is 69 FPS higher than the Medium preset's 228 FPS. This represents a 30% performance uplift.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 1440p High settings?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The frame rate of 123 FPS at 1440p High is significantly lower than the 191 FPS at 1080p High, showing that the increased resolution places a heavier load on the GPU, not the CPU.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS in the dataset is 51, which occurs at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. This is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the performance at 1080p Ultra compare to 1440p Medium?

A: The 1080p Ultra preset achieves an average of 146 FPS, which is nearly identical to the 147 FPS average of the 1440p Medium preset. However, the 1080p Ultra preset does not have a recorded minimum FPS, while the 1440p Medium has a minimum of 125 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's 16-thread configuration appear to limit performance at any point?

A: No. The highest average FPS recorded is 297 at 1080p Low, and the CPU is able to sustain this. The frame rates scale consistently with GPU load, indicating that the CPU has sufficient headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo is a textbook example of GPU-bound performance. The measured data shows a consistent and significant drop in average FPS as the resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and finally to 3840x2160. This pattern holds across all four settings presets, though the magnitude of the drop varies.

At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 297 at 1080p to 192 at 1440p, a decrease of 105 FPS or 35%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the average drops from 192 to 103, a further decrease of 89 FPS or 46%. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is a substantial 194 FPS, leaving the 4K Low average at just 35% of the 1080p Low performance. This indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the workload scales with the number of pixels.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend, with averages of 228 FPS at 1080p, 147 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K, which is very consistent with the Low preset. The High and Ultra presets follow the same pattern, with the High preset dropping from 191 to 123 to 66 FPS, and the Ultra preset dropping from 146 to 94 to 51 FPS. The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings strongly suggests that the GPU's pixel processing rate is the bottleneck. The RTX 5070's pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and its 80 ROPs are the characteristics that determine this behavior.

This scaling analysis reveals that the i5-12600KF is not a limiting factor at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates at 1080p would be capped, and increasing the resolution would not cause such a dramatic drop in performance. Instead, the data shows that the GPU is the definitive limiting component, and users should expect the frame rate to be roughly halved when moving from 1440p to 4K, regardless of the settings preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance. The Low preset averages 297 FPS, the highest in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 228 FPS, with a minimum of 193 FPS and a maximum of 262 FPS. The High preset averages 191 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 146 FPS. All 1080p configurations provide an average above 140 FPS, making them suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows a clear step down. The Low preset averages 192 FPS, which is still very high. The Medium preset averages 147 FPS, with a minimum of 125 FPS and a maximum of 169 FPS. The High preset averages 123 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 94 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration is notable for maintaining a minimum above 120 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly, but the system remains usable. The Low preset averages 103 FPS. The Medium preset averages 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS. This is the only 4K configuration with a recorded minimum above 60 FPS. The High preset averages 66 FPS, which is marginal for a 60Hz display. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset to fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

The data shows a clear trend: the Medium preset offers the best balance, with the 1080p and 1440p configurations providing excellent frame rates, and the 4K configuration being the only one to hold a 60+ FPS minimum. The Low preset is the best for maximum FPS, while the Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p and 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination is ranked 786th out of 3,712 tested combos for this game. This places the system in the top 21% of all configurations tested, indicating that it is a high-performing setup. The rank reflects the system's ability to handle the game across various settings and resolutions, with the measured data showing strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, and acceptable performance at 4K for most presets.

The CPU and GPU individually hold strong positions in their respective benchmark databases. The CPU is in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,799. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-10900K (with a deltaPct of -0.3) and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (also with a deltaPct of -0.3), showing that the i5-12600KF is within a fraction of a percent of these higher-tier processors in average score. The GPU is in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40,377. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (with a deltaPct of 0.1) and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (with a deltaPct of 2).

The combination of a top-quartile CPU and GPU results in a system that ranks in the top quartile for this game. The ranking of 786 out of 3,712 is a strong indicator that this combo is well-balanced and capable of delivering a smooth gaming experience. The data suggests that while there are certainly faster systems, this particular pairing offers a level of performance that is sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, and even for 4K at medium settings. The high rank reflects the RTX 5070's capabilities, as the game is clearly GPU-bound, and the i5-12600KF provides enough headroom to prevent any CPU-induced bottlenecks.