Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 lands at rank 1402 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. That places it in the lower-middle tier of the database, at roughly the 19th percentile of all possible system configurations. The data suggests this is a combo that can play the game, but it is far from a top-tier performer; the ranking indicates that nearly 81% of tested pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title.

The CPU itself is a strong component in isolation. Its average benchmark score of 49367 places it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, and it sits within 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 4345P's score of 49595 and 0.4% of the Intel Core i5-14600K's 49166. The i5-14600KF is also 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X's 49062 and 1.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H's 48698. However, the GPU is a different story. The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 16074 puts it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: it is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S's 15996 and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500's 15786, while sitting 1.7% behind both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700, which each score 16351.

The disparity between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the combo's overall low rank points to a bottleneck situation. The data implies that the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor in this pairing, holding back what would otherwise be a much higher-performing system. The GPU's end-of-life production status and its aging Turing architecture are likely contributors to this dynamic, as the CPU has headroom to drive significantly more frames than this GPU can render.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of what settings yield the best experience. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 156 FPS, which is the highest measured value for any resolution or settings combination in the entire dataset. This is a substantial jump over the Medium preset's 116.4 FPS and the High preset's 97.7 FPS. For players prioritizing smoothness and high refresh rates, Low at 1080p is the clear choice, offering a 34% improvement over Medium and a 60% improvement over High.

However, the Ultra preset at 1080p still manages 78.4 FPS, which is playable for most users, though it represents a 50% drop from Low. At 2560x1440, the Low preset drops to 99.3 FPS, which remains smooth, but the Medium preset at 77.2 FPS and High at 64.6 FPS are still within acceptable ranges for slower-paced gameplay. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 52 FPS, which is borderline for a third-person shooter.

The data suggests that the sweet spot for this combo is the Medium preset at 1080p or the Low preset at 1440p. The Medium 1080p result of 116.4 FPS offers a balance between visual fidelity and performance, while the Low 1440p result of 99.3 FPS provides higher resolution with still-strong frame rates. The Ultra preset is only recommended for players who prioritize visuals over performance, as it consistently produces the lowest frame rates at every resolution, bottoming out at 25.5 FPS at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals where the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the High preset drops the average FPS from 97.7 to 64.6, a reduction of 33.9%. The same resolution step on the Low preset shows a drop from 156 to 99.3 FPS, a 36.3% decrease. This consistent reduction of roughly one-third when increasing pixel count by 78% indicates that the GPU is being pushed progressively harder, but the scaling is not perfectly linear.

The jump from 1440p to 4K is far more punishing. On the High preset, the average FPS falls from 64.6 to 35.6, a 44.9% drop. On the Low preset, it falls from 99.3 to 55.6, a 44.0% decrease. This steeper decline suggests that at 4K, the RTX 2060 is running out of raw pixel-pushing capability. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus width are likely saturated at this resolution, causing the frame rate to collapse more dramatically than resolution scaling alone would predict.

The data implies that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions. If the i5-14600KF were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU workload stays constant. Instead, the significant drops at each resolution step confirm that the GPU is doing all the heavy lifting, and its Turing architecture with 1920 shading units is simply not sufficient for 4K gaming in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings sweep shows a wide performance envelope. The Low preset leads with 156 FPS, followed by Medium at 116.4 FPS, High at 97.7 FPS, and Ultra at 78.4 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 77.6 FPS, indicating that settings have a massive impact on performance at this resolution. The step from Low to Medium costs 39.6 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 18.7 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 19.3 FPS. The largest single drop occurs between Low and Medium, suggesting that Medium introduces significant graphical effects that tax the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. Low delivers 99.3 FPS, Medium drops to 77.2 FPS, High to 64.6 FPS, and Ultra to 52 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 47.3 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than at 1080p but proportionally similar. The step from Low to Medium costs 22.1 FPS, Medium to High costs 12.6 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 12.6 FPS. The more uniform drops at this resolution indicate that the GPU is becoming more evenly taxed across settings.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal. Low manages 55.6 FPS, Medium drops to 39.7 FPS, High to 35.6 FPS, and Ultra to 25.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 30.1 FPS, with the largest single drop of 15.9 FPS occurring between Low and Medium. The Ultra preset at 4K produces the lowest frame rate in the entire dataset at 25.5 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a shooter. Even the Low preset at 4K barely crosses the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the TU106 chip using TSMC's 12 nm process, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die. Its memory configuration consists of 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the data reflects that in the frame rate measurements.

The GPU's base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and it features 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. It also includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though these are unlikely to be heavily utilized in a 2014 title like Minimum. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s provide theoretical limits that align with the observed performance drops at higher resolutions.

The GPU's passmark G3D score of 14111 and its 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs place it firmly in the mid-range category. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, scores 15996, which is 0.5% lower. The RTX 2060's passmark DirectX 12 score of 53 is notably low, which may explain its difficulty maintaining frame rates at higher settings where more complex draw calls are issued. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is also a potential concern at 4K, where the Ultra preset's 25.5 FPS suggests the memory buffer is being overwhelmed.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers 156 FPS on average, which is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset. Medium follows at 116.4 FPS, High at 97.7 FPS, and Ultra at 78.4 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Minimum?

A: Barely, and only at Low settings, which produces 55.6 FPS. Medium drops to 39.7 FPS, High to 35.6 FPS, and Ultra to 25.5 FPS, making 4K impractical for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: It scores 16074 on average, which is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S's 15996 and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500's 15786, but 1.7% behind both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700's 16351.

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

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The i5-14600KF ranks in the 93rd percentile among CPUs, while the RTX 2060 ranks in the 58th percentile among GPUs, and frame rates drop significantly with each resolution increase.

Q: What frame rate does the Ultra preset achieve at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 52 FPS, which is the lowest measured value at that resolution and below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for shooters.

Q: How much performance is lost going from Low to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The drop is 77.6 FPS, from 156 FPS on Low to 78.4 FPS on Ultra, representing a 50% reduction in average frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm². It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, and its ECC memory support is notable for a desktop chip.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32889 and a single-core score of 4643. Its Geekbench scores are 15636 multi-core and 2778 single-core. Passmark results show a multithread score of 38697 and a single-thread score of 4273. These numbers place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49367.

The CPU's nearest rivals are all closely matched. It is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K's 49166, 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X's 49062, and 1.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H's 48698. It trails the AMD EPYC 4345P's 49595 by 0.5%. This tight clustering suggests that the i5-14600KF is a well-balanced performer, but its capabilities are largely untapped in this combo because the RTX 2060 cannot deliver enough frames to stress the CPU.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Minimum. The frame rates scale steadily with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect frame rates to plateau or drop more dramatically at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the 1080p Low result of 156 FPS demonstrates the CPU's ability to feed frames well above what the GPU can render at higher resolutions, confirming that the i5-14600KF has ample headroom for this title.