Minimum

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a benchmark profile in Minimum that is defined by the CPU’s strong multi-threaded foundation and the GPU’s massive rendering throughput. The i5-14600K is built on Intel’s Raptor Lake architecture with 14 cores and 20 threads, operating at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This configuration places it in the 93rd percentile among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,166. Its synthetic performance is tightly clustered with rivals: it sits just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (average score 49,062) and 1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (average score 48,698), while trailing the Intel Core i5-14600KF by 0.4% (average score 49,367) and the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.9% (average score 49,595). These deltas are small, indicating that the 14600K’s gaming performance is not bottlenecked by raw compute headroom relative to its nearest peers.

The RTX 5090, based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and the GB202 chip, is a separate and dominant force. It carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, and its boost clock reaches 2407 MHz. The GPU’s percentile ranking is 94th among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. In the Minimum data set, this combo ranks 19th out of 1,733 tested configurations, which places it in the top 1.1% of all combinations. That ranking is a direct reflection of how the CPU and GPU interact in this title: the 14600K supplies enough single-thread and multi-thread performance to keep the RTX 5090 fed, while the GPU’s sheer pixel and texture rates—423.6 GPixel/s and 1,636.8 GTexel/s, respectively—dominate the frame buffer.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The i5-14600K’s role in Minimum is primarily to sustain high frame rates by avoiding CPU-side stalls. With 14 cores and 20 threads, the processor supports heavy background workloads without degrading game performance, but the game itself is unlikely to use all threads. The boost clock of 5.30 GHz is the more relevant figure for gaming, as it drives single-threaded game logic and draw-call submission. The CPU’s single-core Cinebench R23 score of 4,642 points and Geekbench single-core score of 2,803 points indicate strong per-thread performance, which is critical for a third-person shooter where frame pacing depends on the main game thread.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy also plays a supporting role. It has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. For a game released in 2014, the working set is small enough that the L3 cache can hold frequently accessed data, reducing memory latency. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, but the benchmark data does not isolate memory speed effects; the measured FPS reflects the default dual-channel configuration. In practical terms, the 14600K’s 14 cores provide headroom for the RTX 5090 to reach its limits at lower resolutions, where the CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 408.4 FPS, which is near the ceiling of what the CPU can push in this title, given that the GPU is far from saturated at that resolution.

The CPU’s 125 W TDP is a modest thermal envelope for a 14-core part, and its unlocked multiplier allows overclocking, but the measured results do not reflect any manual tuning. The processor’s integrated UHD Graphics 770 is irrelevant in this discrete-GPU configuration. The key takeaway is that the 14600K provides a balanced platform: it is not the strongest CPU in the database (it ranks below the EPYC 4345P by 0.9% in average score), but its 5.30 GHz boost clock and robust multi-thread scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core of 32,881) ensure that it does not become a bottleneck in Minimum, except possibly at the very highest frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the i5-14600K and RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 19 out of 1,733 in Minimum. That rank places it in the 98.9th percentile of all tested pairings, meaning only 18 other CPU-GPU combinations deliver higher average FPS across the tested resolution and settings matrix. The ranking is a composite measure, so it reflects performance across all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) and three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K). The data shows that the combo is exceptionally strong at 1440p and 1080p, where the GPU’s raw power is fully utilized, but it loses ground at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 67.5.

To contextualize the rank, consider the GPU’s nearest rivals in isolation. The RTX 5090 scores 0.1% higher than the RTX 5090 D (average score 84,241) and 0.2% higher than the RTX 5050 Mobile (average score 84,171), but those are different products with different thermal and power characteristics. The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 39,650 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,411 are indicative of its top-tier status. The combo rank of 19 suggests that the 14600K is not holding the RTX 5090 back in most scenarios, but it also means that there are 18 combos that manage to squeeze out higher FPS, likely with even stronger CPUs (e.g., higher-clocked Raptor Lake parts or Ryzen X3D chips) that can push the GPU harder at 1080p. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 49,166 is only 0.2% above the Ryzen 9 5950X, so the difference between rank 19 and higher ranks in this game is likely due to small CPU clock advantages rather than core count.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic GPU-bound shift as pixel count increases. At 1080p High, the combo produces 265.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces that to 167.4 FPS, a drop of 36.9%. At 4K High, the average FPS falls to 88.4, which is 66.6% lower than the 1080p High result. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 5090 is the primary limiter at higher resolutions, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU at 1080p but the GPU’s rendering workload scales with pixel count.

Looking at the Low settings, the trend is even more pronounced. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 408.4 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 262.6 FPS (a 35.7% reduction), and at 4K Low, it falls to 140.9 FPS (a 65.5% reduction compared to 1080p Low). The fact that the FPS still drops by roughly 35% when going from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests that even at minimal graphics load, the GPU is not fully saturating the CPU’s capabilities; the 408.4 FPS at 1080p Low is likely close to a CPU-imposed limit, but the 14600K can still push higher, as evidenced by the 4K Low result of 140.9 FPS, which is still well above standard refresh rates.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more dramatic. 1080p Ultra yields 199 FPS, 1440p Ultra drops to 127.1 FPS (a 36.1% reduction), and 4K Ultra falls to 67.5 FPS (a 66.1% reduction from 1080p Ultra). The 4K Ultra result of 67.5 FPS is the lowest in the entire data set, and it shows that the game’s Ultra preset, combined with 4K resolution, overwhelms even the RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The pattern across all settings—a consistent ~35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~65% drop from 1080p to 4K—confirms that the GPU is the scaling bottleneck, while the CPU maintains stable frame delivery. The RTX 5090’s pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are the relevant specs here; they determine how fast the GPU can fill pixels, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, those rates are insufficient to maintain 100+ FPS.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo rank for the i5-14600K and RTX 5090 in Minimum?*

A: The combination ranks 19th out of 1,733 tested CPU-GPU combos in this game, placing it in the top 1.1% of all configurations.

Q: How does the i5-14600K compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-14600K has an average score of 49,166. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (49,062), 1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48,698), 0.4% behind the Intel Core i5-14600KF (49,367), and 0.9% behind the AMD EPYC 4345P (49,595).

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 408.4, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS, and does it indicate a GPU or CPU limitation?

A: The lowest average FPS is 67.5, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This indicates a GPU limitation, as the RTX 5090’s rendering throughput is saturated at 4K Ultra, while the CPU has sufficient headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 5090’s average benchmark score compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average score of 84,306. It is 0.1% ahead of the RTX 5090 D (84,241), 0.2% ahead of the RTX 5050 Mobile (84,171), and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (83,209), but 1.6% behind the NVIDIA CMP 40HX (85,637).

Q: What is the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 265.1 at 1920x1080 to 88.4 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 66.6%.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the observed FPS across resolutions. The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is far more than Minimum requires, even at 4K Ultra. This excess VRAM means that memory capacity is never a limiting factor; the game’s assets fit comfortably within the 32 GB pool. Instead, the limiting factor is memory bandwidth and compute throughput. The 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are substantial, but the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU cannot maintain high frame rates, suggesting that the game’s Ultra preset imposes a heavy shader and pixel workload that exceeds the GPU’s 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput in practice.

The GPU’s clock speeds are also relevant. The base clock is 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with the 21,760 shading units and 680 TMUs, deliver the texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s. In Minimum, the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is stark: 140.9 FPS at Low versus 67.5 FPS at Ultra, a 52.1% reduction. This indicates that the game’s Ultra settings add significant per-pixel work, which the RTX 5090 processes at a rate that falls to 67.5 FPS. The GPU’s RT cores (170) and tensor cores (680) are present, but the game, being from 2014, likely does not use ray tracing or DLSS-based tensor operations, so those units are idle. The measured FPS therefore reflects pure rasterization performance.

The RTX 5090’s average benchmark score of 84,306 and 94th percentile ranking confirm its position as a top-tier part, but the in-game results show that even this GPU has limits. The 67.5 FPS at 4K Ultra is the clearest evidence that the GPU is the bottleneck at that setting, while the 408.4 FPS at 1080p Low shows that the CPU is the limiting factor at the lowest resolution and settings. The GPU’s 95 W TDP (575 W) and suggested 950 W PSU are power characteristics that do not appear in the FPS data, but they underscore that this is a high-consumption part. The display outputs—1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b—are sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors, and the PCIe 5.0 x16 interface provides ample bandwidth. Overall, the RTX 5090’s role is to provide massive rasterization headroom, which the i5-14600K can feed up to a point, after which the GPU’s own throughput caps the frame rate at 4K Ultra.