Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter with a measured data set for the Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, placing this combo at rank 1764 out of 2939 tested configurations. The benchmark results offer a clear picture of how this mid-range pairing handles a decade-old title, revealing distinct scaling patterns across resolutions and settings that point to a system where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher loads, while the CPU demonstrates ample headroom even at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions provides a clear hierarchy for optimal play. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 179 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset, but it comes at the cost of visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 137 FPS with a minimum of 117 FPS, offering a substantial frame rate cushion above typical 60 FPS displays while providing better visual quality than Low. The High preset at 1080p drops to 115 FPS, which is still excellent, but the jump from Medium to High only costs 22 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 88 FPS, indicating that the most demanding settings still maintain playable frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the scaling pattern shifts. Medium delivers 88 FPS, which is identical to the 1080p Ultra result, while High produces 74 FPS and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 116 FPS, barely edging out the 1080p High result. For 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically: Medium averages 48 FPS with a minimum of 41 FPS, High drops to 40 FPS, Low manages 62 FPS, and Ultra falls to 30 FPS. The 4K Medium result sits right at the edge of playability, while the minimum of 41 FPS suggests potential stutter in intense scenes.

The best experience per the measured rows is the Medium preset at 1920x1080. This configuration provides 137 FPS average and 117 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay with no frame rate drops below common high-refresh display thresholds. The 1440p Medium preset at 88 FPS is a strong alternative for users prioritizing resolution over raw frame rate, but the 1080p Medium result offers the most balanced combination of performance and visual quality without dipping below 100 FPS. The data indicates that Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p where 88 FPS remains serviceable, while 4K should be reserved for Low settings (62 FPS) or Medium (48 FPS) if users accept sub-60 FPS gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 2317 MHz with a boost clock of 2572 MHz, and it houses 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The memory operates at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed. These specifications place the RTX 5050 in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035.

The GPU's role in Minimum becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 1080p, the RTX 5050 produces 179 FPS on Low, 137 FPS on Medium, 115 FPS on High, and 88 FPS on Ultra. This wide spread—from 88 to 179 FPS—indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor even at the lowest resolution, as the CPU is unlikely to constrain frame rates at these levels. The 4K results reinforce this: 62 FPS on Low, 48 FPS on Medium, 40 FPS on High, and 30 FPS on Ultra. The consistent drop from Low to Ultra across all resolutions (roughly 50% reduction in FPS) points to a GPU-bound scenario where increasing graphical load directly impacts performance.

The RTX 5050's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (0.6% slower), AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1% slower), AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (1.6% faster), and NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (1.6% slower). These tight margins—all within 2% of the RTX 5050's average score—suggest that the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 320 GB/s bandwidth are competitive for this era of gaming, but the 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS indicates the memory capacity and bandwidth are insufficient for maximum settings at high resolutions in Minimum.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on the Raptor Lake architecture on a 10 nm process. It features 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 L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 24 MB shared L3. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and has PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544 and single-core score of 4594, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 49394.

In Minimum, the CPU's influence is most visible when comparing the FPS scaling from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings. At Low settings, the jump from 1080p (179 FPS) to 1440p (116 FPS) represents a 35% drop, which is substantial. However, at Medium settings, the drop from 137 FPS to 88 FPS is 36%, and at High settings, 115 FPS to 74 FPS is 36%. This consistent ~35% drop across all settings from 1080p to 1440p suggests the GPU is the primary limiter, but the CPU's high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 4594) ensures it is not the bottleneck at any resolution.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.3% faster), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (0.4% faster), Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (0.8% faster), and AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 (0.8% slower). These margins indicate the i5-14600KF is competitively positioned. The 20 threads and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample processing power for a 2014 title like Minimum, which likely does not utilize more than a few cores. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 179 FPS without any apparent CPU limitation confirms that the processor is not the constraining component in this pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination ranks 1764 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 60th percentile of all configurations tested. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GPU's modest position (66th percentile of all GPUs) combined with the CPU's strong showing (90th percentile of all CPUs). The combo's rank suggests that while the CPU is high-end, the GPU holds the overall system back from top-tier performance in this game.

The ranking implies that many other CPU-GPU combinations achieve higher frame rates in Minimum, likely those pairing the RTX 5050 with faster GPUs or pairing the i5-14600KF with more powerful graphics cards. The 60th percentile rank indicates that the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 320 GB/s bandwidth are not sufficient to fully exploit the i5-14600KF's processing capabilities, especially at higher resolutions. The data shows that the combo performs best at 1080p where the GPU can deliver 88-179 FPS depending on settings, but the ranking suggests other combos with similar CPUs but stronger GPUs would achieve higher scores.

The measured FPS values corroborate this ranking: at 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 88 FPS, which is playable but not exceptional for a system with a high-end CPU. The 4K results (30-62 FPS) further indicate the GPU is the limiting factor, as the i5-14600KF's 20 threads and 5.30 GHz boost clock are likely underutilized in a game from 2014. The combo's rank of 1764 out of 2939 suggests it sits comfortably in the upper-middle range, outperforming lower-end systems but falling short of high-end configurations that pair better GPUs with this CPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveals a consistent scaling pattern that identifies the limiting component. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 35% across all settings: Low goes from 179 to 116 FPS, Medium from 137 to 88 FPS, High from 115 to 74 FPS, and Ultra from 88 to 57 FPS. This uniform percentage drop strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as a CPU-bound scenario would show smaller drops at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes more stressed.

From 1440p to 4K, the scaling becomes more variable. Low drops from 116 to 62 FPS (47% reduction), Medium from 88 to 48 FPS (45%), High from 74 to 40 FPS (46%), and Ultra from 57 to 30 FPS (47%). The slightly larger percentage drops at 4K compared to 1080p-to-1440p suggest that the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 320 GB/s bandwidth are being overwhelmed at this resolution, leading to more significant frame rate losses. The fact that even Low settings at 4K only achieve 62 FPS, while 1080p Low hits 179 FPS, underscores how resolution scaling stresses the GPU disproportionately.

The resolution scaling analysis points to the RTX 5050 as the bottleneck. The i5-14600KF's performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 1080p (up to 179 FPS), but the GPU cannot translate that CPU headroom into proportional performance at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS is particularly telling—it suggests the GPU is saturated, with the 32 ROPs and 2560 shading units unable to handle the pixel count at maximum settings. For users seeking higher resolutions, the data recommends dropping to Medium or Low settings, as the 4K Low result of 62 FPS is the only 4K configuration that approaches playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU-GPU pairing?

A: The 1920x1080 Medium preset delivers 137 FPS average with a 117 FPS minimum, providing the best balance of performance and visual quality. For higher resolution, 2560x1440 Medium yields 88 FPS, while 3840x2160 requires Low settings (62 FPS) for playable frame rates.

Q: Is this system CPU-bound or GPU-bound in Minimum?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The consistent ~35% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings, and ~47% drop from 1440p to 4K, points to the RTX 5050 as the bottleneck, while the i5-14600KF's high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4594) shows no signs of constraint.

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

A: Only at Low settings (62 FPS) or Medium settings (48 FPS with a 41 FPS minimum). High settings produce 40 FPS, and Ultra drops to 30 FPS, making 4K playable only with significant quality reductions.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score is 21035, placing it 0.6% faster than the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, 1% faster than the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, 1.6% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, and 1.6% faster than the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and what does it mean?

A: The i5-14600KF ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 49394. This places it well above the RTX 5050's 66th percentile GPU ranking, confirming the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 1764 out of 2939 tested configurations, placing it in the upper-middle range. This rank reflects the GPU's modest performance relative to the CPU, as the i5-14600KF is in the top 10% of processors while the RTX 5050 sits in the 66th percentile of GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 179 FPS average
• Medium: 137 FPS average, 117 FPS minimum, 158 FPS maximum
• High: 115 FPS average
• Ultra: 88 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 116 FPS average
• Medium: 88 FPS average, 75 FPS minimum, 102 FPS maximum
• High: 74 FPS average
• Ultra: 57 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 62 FPS average
• Medium: 48 FPS average, 41 FPS minimum, 55 FPS maximum
• High: 40 FPS average
• Ultra: 30 FPS average

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low achieves the highest frame rate at 179 FPS, while 4K Ultra produces the lowest at 30 FPS. The Medium presets across all resolutions provide the only configurations with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, giving insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the 117 FPS minimum ensures no drops below triple-digit frame rates, while 1440p Medium's 75 FPS minimum and 4K Medium's 41 FPS minimum highlight the increasing risk of stutter at higher resolutions. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens with resolution: 91 FPS at 1080p (179 vs 88), 59 FPS at 1440p (116 vs 57), and 32 FPS at 4K (62 vs 30), demonstrating that the RTX 5050's performance ceiling is reached more quickly at higher pixel counts.