Minimum

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a broad performance envelope in Minimum, a 2014 Third-Person Shooter. The measured data shows a system capable of high refresh rates at lower resolutions while remaining playable at 4K, with the scaling behavior revealing a shift in bottleneck as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the growing burden on the graphics card. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 195.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p reduces this to 125.1 FPS, a drop of 70.0 FPS (35.9%). The jump to 4K yields 66.3 FPS, which is 58.8 FPS lower than the 1440p result (47.0%) and 128.8 FPS lower than the 1080p result (66.0%).

This scaling pattern is typical for a system where the CPU is highly capable. At 1080p, the frame rate is likely constrained by the processor's ability to feed the GPU, but even so, the 195.1 FPS average at High settings indicates a strong pairing. The substantial drop at each higher resolution step, particularly the 47.0% reduction from 1440p to 4K, points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting component as pixel count increases.

The data for Low settings emphasizes this trend further. At 1080p Low, the system reaches an average of 297.9 FPS. At 1440p Low, it achieves 194.6 FPS, and at 4K Low, it settles at 102.2 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 92.4 FPS drop (47.5%), which is nearly identical to the percentage drop seen at High settings. This consistency suggests that the GPU's rendering workload scales predictably with resolution, while the CPU has ample headroom to maintain high frame rates even when the graphical load is light.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the defining component in this configuration for higher resolution performance. With 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, the card provides an 800.0 GB/s bandwidth. This memory subsystem is well-suited for the demands of 4K gaming, where large textures and high-resolution buffers can quickly consume available memory. The benchmark results show that the card maintains a playable 66.3 FPS average at 4K High, which is a respectable result for a game from 2014, indicating that the GPU's capabilities are not severely taxed even at the highest pixel counts.

The GPU's clock behavior also informs the results. The card has a base clock of 1387 MHz, a game clock of 2025 MHz, and a boost clock of 2394 MHz. The relatively large gap between base and boost clocks suggests the card can dynamically increase its performance when thermal and power headroom allow. This is particularly relevant in a title like Minimum, which may not be as demanding as modern releases, allowing the GPU to potentially sustain higher clock speeds for longer periods.

The GPU's raw compute power, as indicated by its 51.48 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, provides a substantial foundation for this game. The 5376 shading units and 192 ROPs are more than adequate for a title of this era. The performance gap between settings at 4K highlights the GPU's role: the difference between Low (102.2 FPS) and Ultra (53.2 FPS) is 49.0 FPS, or 48.0%. This shows that the Ultra preset's additional effects, such as increased draw distances and post-processing, place a significant load on the GPU's compute and pixel processing capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience in Minimum. For players seeking the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p yields an average of 297.9 FPS, which is 102.8 FPS higher than the Medium preset at the same resolution. This setting is ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

However, the data suggests that the High preset offers the most balanced experience. At 1440p High, the system averages 125.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is 30.7 FPS higher than the Ultra preset at the same resolution (95.3 FPS), while likely providing a significant visual improvement over Medium (146.5 FPS). The High preset at 1440p provides a 29.8 FPS advantage over the 4K High result (66.3 FPS), making it the preferred choice for a high-refresh-rate experience without sacrificing image quality.

For 4K resolution, the High preset is the recommended maximum. The 66.3 FPS average is playable, but the Ultra preset's 53.2 FPS average is noticeably lower. The Medium preset at 4K offers 81.8 FPS, which is a 15.5 FPS improvement over High, but this comes at a significant reduction in visual fidelity. The data indicates that High at 4K is the sweet spot for this resolution, providing a stable frame rate while retaining a higher level of graphical detail. The Low preset at 4K, while achieving 102.2 FPS, is unlikely to be a preferred choice given the visual compromises.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 297.9 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to 4K High?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 53.2 FPS, while the 4K High preset averages 66.3 FPS. This represents a 13.1 FPS difference, meaning High is 24.6% faster than Ultra.

Q: Is this system capable of 1440p gaming at high refresh rates?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combination achieves an average of 125.1 FPS, which is well-suited for 120Hz or 144Hz displays. The Medium preset yields 146.5 FPS for even higher refresh rates.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average is 195.1 FPS. At 4K High, the average drops to 66.3 FPS. This is a total decrease of 128.8 FPS, or 66.0%.

Q: Which resolution provides the most significant performance jump over 4K?

A: Moving from 4K High (66.3 FPS) to 1440p High (125.1 FPS) provides a 58.8 FPS increase. This is a larger absolute gain than moving from 1440p High to 1080p High, which yields a 70.0 FPS increase.

Q: Does the Ultra preset at 1080p outperform the High preset at 1440p?

A: Yes. The 1080p Ultra preset averages 145.8 FPS, which is 20.7 FPS higher than the 1440p High preset's average of 125.1 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is ranked 364th out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. This places the combo in the top 21% of all tested systems, indicating a high-performing pairing for this specific title. The strong ranking is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show the system comfortably handling high refresh rates at 1440p and maintaining playability at 4K.

The CPU's performance is a contributing factor to this rank. The Intel Core i5-13400F sits in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25236. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i7-13620H (avg score 25201, a 0.1% difference) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (avg score 25365, a -0.5% difference). This places the i5-13400F in a tight competitive cluster, where its performance is essentially on par with these other processors.

Similarly, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 38358. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile (avg score 38349, a 0.0% difference) and the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (avg score 38225, a 0.3% difference). The GPU's performance is also tightly grouped with these rivals, showing that the RX 7900 XT provides a level of compute performance consistent with these other high-end cards.

The combination of a top-quartile CPU and GPU results in a system that ranks highly in this game. The 364th position out of 1733 combos reflects not just the individual component strength but also their effective cooperation, as evidenced by the high frame rates and the relatively smooth scaling across resolutions. This pairing demonstrates that both the processor and graphics card are well-matched for a title like Minimum, ensuring that neither component becomes a severe bottleneck in typical gaming scenarios.