Minimum

Intel Core i5-14400F and Intel Arc B580 deliver a playable yet demanding experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The data shows a strong pairing that scales predictably with resolution and settings, though it requires careful settings management to hit high refresh rates at 4K. This combination ranks in the 23rd percentile of tested combos, indicating significant headroom exists among other hardware pairings, but the measured results provide a clear picture of what this specific duo can achieve.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, revealing the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo averages 107.3 FPS, but moving to 1440p High drops that to 71.1 FPS, a 33.7% reduction. Pushing to 4K High further reduces performance to 35.7 FPS, which is exactly half of the 1440p figure and a 66.7% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario; the CPU has more than enough headroom at 1080p, but the Arc B580's rendering workload grows exponentially with pixel count.

The trend holds across all settings. At Low settings, 1080p produces 162.5 FPS, 1440p drops to 105.8 FPS, and 4K falls to 56.6 FPS. That 4K Low result is still above 50 FPS, but it requires sacrificing visual fidelity to get there. At Ultra settings, the decline is even more pronounced: 82.2 FPS at 1080p, 52.6 FPS at 1440p, and a barely playable 28.7 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that 1440p is the sweet spot for this pairing, offering a 45% performance uplift over 4K at High settings while maintaining a 71.1 FPS average. For 4K gaming, the user must accept Medium settings (44.2 FPS) or lower to stay above 30 FPS.

The limiting component shifts clearly between resolutions. At 1080p, the high frame rates suggest the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU, but at 4K, the GPU's raw pixel throughput becomes the sole constraint. The 3.0x performance gap between 1080p Low and 4K Low (162.5 vs 56.6 FPS) underscores how quickly the Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is saturated by 8.3 million pixels.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the workhorse of this pairing, and its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is ample for Minimum, even at 4K Ultra, where the 28.7 FPS result is more likely compute-bound than memory-limited. The GPU's boost clock of 2670 MHz is identical to its base clock, indicating a fixed operating point that sustains consistent performance across the benchmark sequence.

The B580's 2560 shading units and 160 TMUs deliver a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, which explains why the jump from Medium to High settings at 1440p costs only 6.9 FPS (78.0 to 71.1 FPS). However, the move from High to Ultra at the same resolution costs 18.5 FPS (71.1 to 52.6 FPS), suggesting that Ultra settings introduce more demanding effects that strain the 80 ROPs. At 4K, the Ultra preset's 28.7 FPS is only 51% of the Medium preset's 44.2 FPS, highlighting that the 20 ray tracing cores and 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 performance are insufficient for maxed-out 4K in this title.

The GPU's 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021, places it slightly above the AMD Radeon 760M (deltaPct 0.1) and NVIDIA P106-100 (deltaPct 0.3), but 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060. In practical terms, the B580's 4K High result of 35.7 FPS reflects this mid-tier positioning; it can handle 4K but only with settings compromises. The 190 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a card that runs warm but manageable, though the 450 W suggested PSU is worth respecting in a system build.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 4K smoothly?*

A: At 4K, the average FPS ranges from 28.7 on Ultra to 56.6 on Low. High settings produce 35.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. Only Low settings at 4K approach playable smoothness, while Medium (44.2 FPS) is borderline.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, all settings except Ultra exceed 100 FPS, with Low hitting 162.5 FPS and High at 107.3 FPS. 1440p is limited to Low (105.8 FPS) and Medium (78.0 FPS) for 100+ FPS. 4K cannot reach 100 FPS on any setting.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: The B580's average benchmark score is 23021, which is 0.7% lower than the RTX 4060's 23181. In Minimum, this translates to a negligible performance difference, so either GPU would produce nearly identical FPS figures.

Q: Is the i5-14400F holding back the Arc B580?

A: The CPU benchmarks show a 10-core, 16-thread processor with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and a multi-thread score of 21914 in Cinebench R23. At 1080p High, the 107.3 FPS result suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck, as the GPU scales down in performance predictably as resolution increases.

Q: What settings should I use for a 60 FPS target at 1440p?

A: High settings at 1440p yield 71.1 FPS, which is above 60 FPS. Medium settings produce 78.0 FPS, and Low gives 105.8 FPS. Ultra falls short at 52.6 FPS, so High is the recommended max preset for 60 FPS.

*Q: How demanding is Minimum on VRAM?*

A: The B580 has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, and the game runs at 4K Ultra without indication of memory capacity issues, as the FPS drop from Medium to Ultra is gradual (44.2 to 28.7 FPS). Memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s appears sufficient for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings average 162.5 FPS, Medium drops to 125.5 FPS, and High settles at 107.3 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that falls below 100 FPS, averaging 82.2 FPS. These numbers indicate a fully playable experience at all presets, with Low settings providing a 98% advantage over Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve flattens but remains solid. Low settings hit 105.8 FPS, Medium achieves 78.0 FPS, and High produces 71.1 FPS. Ultra drops to 52.6 FPS, which is still playable but misses the 60 FPS target. The gap between Low and High at 1440p is 34.7 FPS, smaller than the 55.2 FPS gap at 1080p, showing diminishing returns from settings reductions at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become marginal. Low settings average 56.6 FPS, Medium drops to 44.2 FPS, and High falls to 35.7 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that dips below 30 FPS, averaging 28.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 27.9 FPS, nearly a 2x multiplier, emphasizing that 4K requires Low or Medium for acceptable performance. Across all resolutions, the step from Medium to High costs roughly 10-15% performance, while High to Ultra costs 20-25%, making High the most efficient preset for quality-per-frame.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 1733 tested combinations, this i5-14400F and Arc B580 pairing ranks 1333rd, placing it in the bottom 23% of all combos. This rank reflects the B580's 66th percentile GPU standing and the i5-14400F's 88th percentile CPU standing; the combination underperforms relative to what the CPU alone suggests. The CPU's average benchmark score of 32508 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, deltaPct 0) and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, deltaPct 0.2), but the GPU's score lags behind the RTX 4060 by 0.7%.

The low combo rank indicates that most other pairings in the database produce higher FPS in Minimum. This is likely due to the game's age and its preference for higher-end GPUs; the B580's 13.67 TFLOPS is modest by 2024 standards. However, the rank does not tell the full story: the measured FPS at 1080p High (107.3 FPS) is still highly playable, and the combo's 4K performance is usable with settings adjustments. For a 1080p or 1440p gamer, this rank is less relevant than the actual frame rates, which are solid. For 4K enthusiasts, the rank correctly signals that other combos will deliver smoother experiences.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides a strong foundation with 10 cores and 16 threads, boosting up to 4.70 GHz from a 2.50 GHz base. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core help feed the GPU efficiently. In Cinebench R23, it scores 21914 multi-core and 3093 single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 11209. These numbers place it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outpaces most processors currently on the market.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is to maintain frame pacing and handle game logic. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 162.5 FPS, which is close to the CPU's practical limit for this title. At 4K Ultra, the 28.7 FPS is clearly GPU-bound, but the CPU still has headroom, as evidenced by the consistent scaling from Low to Ultra. The Passmark multi-thread score of 25783 and single-thread score of 3723 indicate robust threading performance, which is sufficient for a 2014 shooter that likely uses fewer than 8 cores.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node make it an efficient partner for the 190 W GPU. The dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support means the user can pair it with either memory type, though the memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor in the measured results. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores nearly identically (32513 vs 32508), confirming that the i5-14400F is a well-balanced mid-range chip that will not bottleneck the Arc B580 in this game. For Minimum, the CPU is a non-issue; the GPU dictates the experience at all resolutions.