Minimum

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The measured data shows that even at the most demanding preset, the system remains highly playable, though the gap between settings reveals where the hardware's strengths lie. The benchmark results suggest that players can prioritize visual fidelity without sacrificing competitive responsiveness, making the Ultra preset the most compelling choice for owners of high-refresh-rate displays. While the Low preset offers the highest raw frame counts, the diminishing returns in smoothness are not worth the substantial drop in image quality, given the hardware's clear headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates indicate that the Ultra preset is the optimal experience for this CPU and GPU pairing. At 1920x1080, Ultra delivers an average of 161 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 50 FPS (from 211 to 161), but the visual upgrade in a title from this era is likely transformative. The data shows no reason to compromise; even at 2560x1440, Ultra holds an average of 104 FPS, which remains fluid. The only scenario where Ultra dips below the 60 FPS threshold is at 3840x2160, where it averages 56 FPS. For most users, 1440p Ultra is the sweet spot, offering a 104 FPS average that balances detail and speed.

For those with 4K displays, the Medium preset is the pragmatic choice. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, ensuring consistent performance. The step from Medium to High at 4K drops the average from 87 to 73 FPS, a 16% reduction that may not justify the extra graphical load. Conversely, the Low preset at 4K reaches 114 FPS, but the visual compromises in a third-person shooter are likely too severe for an immersive experience. Benchmark results indicate that High at 1080p (211 FPS) and 1440p (136 FPS) are excellent fallbacks for competitive play, but the hardware clearly has the capacity for Ultra at standard resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. In Minimum, a game from 2014, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The processor's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,645 and single-core score of 3,055 suggest strong per-thread performance, which is critical for older game engines that may not scale well across many cores. The L3 cache of 20 MB shared also helps reduce memory latency in complex scenes. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 329 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (329 vs. 161 FPS) suggests that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase.

The i5-14400F's 16 threads are likely more than enough for Minimum's engine, which was designed for much older hardware. The processor's PassMark single-thread score of 3,701 and multi-thread score of 25,470 place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of desktop processors. This headroom is evident in the 1440p results, where the frame rate scales almost linearly with resolution, implying the CPU is not holding back performance. The nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U and Intel Core i9-11900, have similar average scores, but the i5-14400F's higher boost clock gives it an edge in lightly-threaded tasks typical of this game's logic.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, it offers a bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s, which is ample for a game from 2014. The GPU's 8,448 shading units and 96 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s, ensuring high fill rates even at 4K. The boost clock of 2610 MHz and FP32 performance of 44.10 TFLOPS are far beyond what Minimum requires. The measured data shows the GPU's capability: at 1080p Low, the system hits 329 FPS, and even at 4K High, it maintains 73 FPS. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 5,569 and PassMark G3D score of 31,811 place it in the 76th percentile of all GPUs, confirming its high-end status.

The VRAM capacity is notably overkill for this title, as Minimum likely uses only a fraction of the 16 GB buffer. However, this headroom means that texture quality and shadow resolution at Ultra settings will not cause memory swapping. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA TITAN RTX and RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell, have similar average scores, but the 4070 Ti SUPER's newer architecture provides better efficiency. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates at higher settings, as seen in the 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS, which is the only measurement below 60 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's raw compute is the constraining factor at extreme resolutions, not the CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations, this CPU-GPU pairing ranks 449th out of 3,712 combos, placing it in the top 12% of all systems tested. This rank reflects the balance between the i5-14400F's strong single-core performance and the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's high-end rasterization power. The combo's performance in Minimum is exceptional, but the rank considers all games and workloads, where the GPU's 16 GB VRAM and the CPU's 10 cores are well-matched. The data shows that this system outperforms the vast majority of tested combos, with only 449 systems achieving higher average scores. This reflects the synergy between the components, as neither is significantly underpowered for the other's capabilities.

The percentile rankings reinforce this: the CPU is in the 83rd percentile and the GPU in the 76th, meaning both are above-average parts. In a game like Minimum, this combo excels because the game is not particularly demanding on modern hardware. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (161) and 1440p Ultra (104) are high enough to saturate most high-refresh-rate monitors. The rank of 449 suggests that while there are faster combos, they typically involve higher-tier CPUs like the Core i9 or GPUs like the RTX 4090, which would offer diminishing returns for this older title. The data implies that this pairing is a sweet spot for 1440p gaming in Minimum.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals the system's scaling behavior. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 211 at 1080p to 136 at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and further to 73 at 4K (a 65% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels is the primary factor. At Low settings, the drop is steeper: 329 FPS at 1080p, 212 at 1440p (a 36% drop), and 114 at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentages across settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with resolution.

The data suggests that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rates halve from 1440p to 4K. For example, at Medium settings, the average drops from 162 to 87 FPS, a 46% reduction. This is less than the 50% expected from a 2.25x increase in pixel count, implying that the GPU has some headroom due to the game's age. The 256-bit memory bus and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the GPU's shading units are taxed at 4K Ultra, resulting in 56 FPS. Conversely, the CPU's 2.50 GHz base and 4.70 GHz boost clocks are more than adequate, as evidenced by the 329 FPS at 1080p Low, which is likely near the engine's maximum frame rate cap.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers outstanding performance across all presets. The Low preset averages 329 FPS, Medium averages 252 FPS with a minimum of 214 FPS and maximum of 290 FPS, High averages 211 FPS, and Ultra averages 161 FPS. These numbers indicate that even at Ultra, the frame rate is high enough for 165 Hz monitors. The minimum FPS for Medium (214) is above the average for Ultra (161), suggesting that the variance between settings is significant but not disruptive.

At 2560x1440, the results remain highly playable. Low averages 212 FPS, Medium averages 162 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS, High averages 136 FPS, and Ultra averages 104 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium (138) is still above 120, ensuring a smooth experience on most high-refresh-rate panels. The step from Medium to High at 1440p costs 26 FPS (from 162 to 136), while High to Ultra costs 32 FPS (from 136 to 104), showing a non-linear scaling as the GPU approaches its limits.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show strain. Low averages 114 FPS, Medium averages 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 101 FPS, High averages 73 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. The 4K Medium result is the most balanced, as the minimum of 74 FPS ensures no drops below 60. The Ultra preset at 56 FPS is the only measurement below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that 4K Ultra is not recommended for this combo. The data shows that the GPU's 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is insufficient for max settings at 4K in this title, but it handles 1440p Ultra with ease.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU and GPU in Minimum?*

A: Based on the measured FPS, 2560x1440 with the Ultra preset is optimal, as it delivers an average of 104 FPS. This offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance. For 4K, the Medium preset is recommended, averaging 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS.

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p with Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 329 FPS. This is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset, indicating that the CPU and GPU are both capable of extremely high refresh rates when graphical load is minimal.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low (329 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (161 FPS), the frame rate drops by 51%, which is a classic sign of GPU scaling. The CPU's performance is sufficient, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower settings.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo at 4K Medium?

A: The minimum FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 74 FPS, with a maximum of 101 FPS and an average of 87 FPS. This ensures that the frame rate never drops below 60, providing a consistently smooth experience.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested CPU-GPU combinations?

A: This pairing ranks 449th out of 3,712 tested combos, placing it in the top 12% of all systems. The CPU's 83rd percentile and GPU's 76th percentile scores contribute to this strong overall ranking.

Q: Does the GPU's 16 GB VRAM provide any benefit in this game?

A: While Minimum likely does not require 16 GB of VRAM, the capacity ensures no memory-related stutters at Ultra settings. The 672.3 GB/s bandwidth also helps maintain high frame rates at 4K, as seen in the 73 FPS average at High settings.