Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across the three tested resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling in Minimum. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 166.1 FPS, which drops to 108.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 56.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34.5% performance loss moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 66.0% loss from 1080p to 4K. Such steep declines indicate the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The scaling behavior is consistent across all settings presets. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 107.4 FPS at 1080p to 67.4 FPS at 1440p (a 37.2% reduction), then to 38.6 FPS at 4K (a 64.1% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows similar proportional declines: 82.4 FPS at 1080p, 50.9 FPS at 1440p, and 28.9 FPS at 4K. The fact that the percentage losses remain relatively uniform across presets suggests the rendering workload scales predictably with resolution, and the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities—rated at 121.9 GPixel/s—are being saturated.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (166.1 FPS) and Ultra (82.4 FPS) is 83.7 FPS. At 1440p, that gap shrinks to 57.8 FPS (108.7 vs 50.9), and at 4K it narrows further to 27.5 FPS (56.4 vs 28.9). This compression of the settings delta at higher resolutions is characteristic of a GPU that becomes increasingly pixel-bound; the extra shading work from higher presets matters less when the sheer fill-rate demand dominates.

The data indicates that at 1080p, there is headroom for the Intel Core i5-14600K to feed the GPU effectively—the 166.1 FPS Low result shows the CPU can sustain high frame rates. However, the rapid falloff at 1440p and 4K points to the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth being the constraining factors. The GPU's 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with its 9.754 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, places it in a position where 1440p is a reasonable target but 4K requires significant settings compromises.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combination in Minimum?*

A: The data shows 1440p with Low settings delivers 108.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 4K, even Low settings only reach 56.4 FPS, so 1440p represents the practical ceiling for consistently fluid performance.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from High to Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, High settings produce 107.4 FPS while Ultra yields 82.4 FPS—a 25.0 FPS reduction. At 1440p, the drop is 16.5 FPS (67.4 to 50.9), and at 4K it's 9.7 FPS (38.6 to 28.9). The absolute cost of Ultra diminishes as resolution increases.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 166.1 FPS, which is substantially higher than any other preset at that resolution. This suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor, though the Intel Core i5-14600K's strong single-thread performance (4642 in Cinebench R23 single-core) provides ample headroom for the GPU to operate near its limits.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: Technically yes, but with significant compromises. The best 4K result is 56.4 FPS at Low settings, which is playable but below 60 FPS. Medium settings drop to 43.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 28.9 FPS. The 4K experience is viable only at Low settings.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 24731 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, a 0.1% deficit) and slightly above the Intel Arc A350M (24647, a 0.3% advantage). Its percentile ranking of 68 means it outperforms roughly two-thirds of all GPUs.

Q: What memory configuration does this system use?

A: The RX 5700 XT features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, though the measured FPS data does not specify which memory type was used.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, all presets exceed 80 FPS, with even Ultra achieving 82.4 FPS. For players prioritizing maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness, High settings at 1080p (107.4 FPS) offer an excellent balance—the 25.0 FPS gap to Ultra is substantial, while the 58.7 FPS gap from High to Low is equally notable in the other direction.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts to Medium settings, which produce 84 FPS. This is comfortably above 60 FPS while still providing better visual quality than Low (108.7 FPS). High settings at 1440p drop to 67.4 FPS, which is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 1440p (50.9 FPS) falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it less desirable for consistent gameplay.

For 4K, the reality is that only Low settings (56.4 FPS) approach playability. Medium (43.7 FPS) and High (38.6 FPS) are marginal, while Ultra (28.9 FPS) is too sluggish for a third-person shooter requiring responsive controls. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is only feasible with significant visual compromises, and most users would find 1440p Medium to be the sweet spot for the overall experience.

The measured results also indicate diminishing returns from High to Ultra across all resolutions. The jump from High to Ultra costs roughly 23-25% of frame rate at 1080p, and similar proportional losses at higher resolutions. This makes High the recommended ceiling for quality settings, with Ultra reserved for players who prioritize visuals over frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings achieve 166.1 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings reach 129.8 FPS, High produces 107.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 82.4 FPS. The step-down from Low to Medium costs 36.3 FPS, while Medium to High costs 22.4 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 25.0 FPS. This linear degradation pattern suggests each preset tier adds similar rendering workloads.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably but remain playable at most settings. Low leads with 108.7 FPS, followed by Medium at 84 FPS, High at 67.4 FPS, and Ultra at 50.9 FPS. The differences between tiers are 24.7 FPS (Low to Medium), 16.6 FPS (Medium to High), and 16.5 FPS (High to Ultra). Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 57.8 FPS, compared to 83.7 FPS at 1080p—the settings spread narrows as resolution climbs.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal across the board. Low settings produce 56.4 FPS, Medium drops to 43.7 FPS, High falls to 38.6 FPS, and Ultra reaches only 28.9 FPS. The tier-to-tier differences are 12.7 FPS (Low to Medium), 5.1 FPS (Medium to High), and 9.7 FPS (High to Ultra). The compressed gaps at 4K illustrate how the GPU's fill-rate limits dominate, making preset choices less impactful than at lower resolutions.

The overall best result is 166.1 FPS at 1080p Low, while the worst is 28.9 FPS at 4K Ultra—a 137.2 FPS spread across the entire test matrix. The median result across all 12 measurements is approximately 76.4 FPS, indicating that this combo can deliver smooth performance in most scenarios but struggles at the highest resolution and quality combination.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 1320th out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the lower 24th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly three-quarters of the tested combinations perform better in this game. The ranking reflects the GPU's age and tier; the RX 5700 XT, released in 2019, is now end-of-life and sits at the 68th percentile among all GPUs.

The CPU, by contrast, is a modern part that ranks at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. The i5-14600K's average benchmark score of 49166 is virtually tied with its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49062 (a 0.2% difference). It also edges out the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 1.0% (48698) and trails the i5-14600KF by 0.4% (49367). This suggests the processor is not the limiting factor in the combo's ranking.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all mobile or professional parts, with the RTX A5000 Mobile (24763) being essentially identical, the Arc A350M (24647) slightly behind, and the RTX 5060 Mobile (24592) and Quadro RTX 5000 (24519) trailing by 0.6% and 0.9% respectively. This indicates the RX 5700 XT's desktop-class performance is roughly comparable to mid-range mobile GPUs from newer generations.

Given that the CPU is high-end while the GPU is mid-range, the overall combo rank of 1320 is primarily driven by the graphics card's limitations. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the system struggles at 4K and only shines at 1080p or 1440p with lower settings. For a third-person shooter released in 2014, the game is old enough that the CPU's strong single-thread performance (4642 in Cinebench R23) helps maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck as resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz can boost to 5.30 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus and features 24 MB of shared L3 cache, with 2 MB of L2 per core and 80 KB of L1 per core. This modern processor, released in October 2023, delivers strong single-thread performance with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 and a multi-core score of 32881.

In the context of Minimum, a game from 2014, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (166.1 FPS) demonstrates that the i5-14600K can sustain very high frame rates without bottlenecking the RX 5700 XT. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its 5.30 GHz boost clock, suggests it has ample headroom for this older title.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 38682 and single-thread score of 4270 provide context for the CPU's overall capability. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores nearly identically (49062 vs 49166 average), indicating that the i5-14600K is competitive with top-end previous-generation parts. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are far more than Minimum requires, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates at 1080p are likely limited by the GPU's 9.754 TFLOPS rather than any CPU constraint.

The data shows that as resolution increases, the CPU's influence diminishes further. At 4K, the frame rates drop to 28.9-56.4 FPS, which is entirely consistent with GPU-bound performance. The i5-14600K's strong single-core performance (467 in Cinebench R15 single-core) ensures that even at high frame rates, the CPU can keep up with the game's logic and rendering commands. For users with this combo, the CPU is not a concern in Minimum; it provides more than enough processing power to support the GPU at any resolution.