Minimum

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a top-tier combination for Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. This pairing achieves the highest rank among 2,939 tested combos. The data shows a system capable of delivering exceptionally high frame rates across all settings, though the performance scaling reveals where the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 430 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 277 FPS, and 4K Low yields 149 FPS. This represents a 65% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is doing progressively heavier lifting as pixel count rises.

The scaling is even more pronounced at higher settings. At Ultra, the frame rates are 210 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 73 FPS at 4K. That is a 65% drop from 1080p to 4K, consistent with the Low setting pattern. The RTX 5090 D's memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and 32 GB of GDDR7 memory allow it to handle the increased pixel throughput, but the sheer pixel count at 3840x2160 still demands significantly more processing power.

The gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K. At Medium settings, 1080p produces 329 FPS, 1440p produces 212 FPS, and 4K produces 114 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 46%. This suggests the GPU is scaling efficiently up to 1440p, but the transition to 4K places a heavier burden on the rendering pipeline.

At 1080p High, the combo yields 276 FPS, which is likely beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU and GPU are both capable of pushing frame rates high enough that the limiting factor shifts to the display or other system components. The 4K High result of 96 FPS is still very playable and represents a 65% reduction from 1080p High, showing that the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks first in Minimum out of 2,939 tested combos. This top position indicates that no other CPU and GPU pairing in the database achieves higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects the combination of the CPU's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's massive rendering capabilities.

The i5-14600K sits in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,618. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (score 48,698, delta -0.2%), AMD EPYC 4345P (score 48,470, delta 0.3%), Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (score 48,287, delta 0.7%), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (score 48,995, delta -0.8%). These deltas are all within 1% of each other, suggesting that CPU performance is not a differentiator at the top end for this game.

The RTX 5090 D ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (score 76,904, delta 1.1%), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78,940, delta -1.6%), NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (score 79,396, delta -2.1%), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79,605, delta -2.4%). The deltaPct values here are small, but the RTX 5090 D's raw compute power with 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance puts it in a class that dominates this game's workload.

The fact that this combo achieves first place out of 2,939 configurations, despite the GPU having rival scores that are within 2.4%, suggests that the CPU-GPU pairing works particularly well together in Minimum. The game's engine appears to respond favorably to the combination of the i5-14600K's 14 cores and the RTX 5090 D's 21,760 shading units.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data storage for game logic and physics calculations.

For Minimum, a game released in 2014, the CPU requirements are modest compared to modern titles. The i5-14600K's single-thread performance is particularly strong, as shown by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,064 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,491. This matters because older game engines often rely heavily on a single main thread for game logic and draw call submission.

The multi-core performance is equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24,491 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 16,673. While Minimum may not fully utilize all 14 cores, the headroom ensures that background tasks or future patches with higher thread counts will not bottleneck the system. The PassMark multithread score of 38,682 and integer math score of 125,737 indicate strong computational throughput.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with a dual-channel memory bus, allows for flexible system configuration. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 16 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 5090 D, which uses PCIe 5.0 x16. This ensures that data transfer between the CPU and GPU is not a limiting factor.

The i5-14600K's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,618, places it in the upper echelon of processors. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245, scores 48,995, which is only 0.8% higher. This close grouping suggests that the i5-14600K is not leaving performance on the table in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, it achieves 430 FPS. Medium settings produce 329 FPS, with a minimum of 280 FPS and maximum of 379 FPS. High settings yield 276 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 210 FPS. These numbers show a clear scaling pattern: each step up in quality costs roughly 50-80 FPS at 1080p.

Moving to 1440p, the performance remains high but drops noticeably. Low settings produce 277 FPS, a 36% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings deliver 212 FPS (min 180, max 244), High settings produce 178 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 136 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 141 FPS, compared to 220 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a bottleneck.

At 4K, the frame rates are the lowest but still very playable. Low settings achieve 149 FPS, Medium settings deliver 114 FPS (min 97, max 131), High settings produce 96 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 73 FPS. The minimum FPS of 97 at 4K Medium is particularly notable, as it shows the system maintains smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes.

The data reveals that this combo is capable of running Minimum at 4K Ultra with an average of 73 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for smooth gameplay. At 4K High, the 96 FPS average provides a comfortable margin for high-refresh-rate 4K monitors. The 1440p results are even more impressive, with all settings exceeding 136 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a massive GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its chip, GB202, is built on a 5 nm process with 92,200 million transistors and a die size of 750 mm². The GPU has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores.

The boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with the base clock of 2017 MHz, allows the GPU to sustain high performance under load. The FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS is a key indicator of its raw compute capability, which directly impacts frame rendering in games like Minimum. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s ensure that the GPU can fill the screen with detailed textures at high resolutions.

The RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712, places it in the top tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605, which is 2.4% higher. However, the RTX 5090 D's gaming-oriented features, such as DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12 GB more memory than the Tesla, make it more suitable for this game.

The GPU's 32 GB of memory is far more than Minimum requires, even at 4K Ultra. This excess capacity ensures that texture streaming and draw distances are not limited by VRAM. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is also more than sufficient for the game's data requirements, allowing the GPU to process frames without memory bottlenecks.

The RTX 5090 D's performance in synthetic benchmarks corroborates its gaming results. Its PassMark G3D score of 44,065 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,915 indicate strong graphics processing capabilities. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 further validates its ability to handle modern graphics workloads, which is relevant even for a 2014 game that may receive graphical updates or run under compatibility layers.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Minimum?*

A: The highest average FPS is 430, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

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

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 73 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The i5-14600K scores 2,064 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 24,491 in multi-core, indicating strong performance in both areas, with single-thread being particularly relevant for a 2014 game engine.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only minimum FPS recorded is 97 FPS, which occurs at 4K resolution with Medium settings.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 1st out of 2,939 tested combinations in Minimum, making it the top-performing configuration in the database.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 5090 D has a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, which allows it to handle high-resolution textures and frame buffers without bottlenecking, contributing to its strong 4K performance.