Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 Third-Person Shooter whose engine demands are modest by modern standards, yet the data for this Intel Core i5-14600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination reveals a fascinating bottleneck shift. The measured FPS table shows that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset delivers 197.4 FPS, while the Low preset screams to 407.4 FPS. This spread is enormous, suggesting that the CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are not the limiting factor at lower resolutions; instead, the GPU is still flexing its muscle. However, the jump from 1440p to 4K tells a different story, indicating that the RTX 5090's raw compute is being tamed by the render resolution.

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

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a Raptor Lake-R part with 14 cores and 20 threads, a configuration that is overkill for a 2014 title. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz provide the single-thread headroom that older game engines often crave, and its 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps feed data to those cores efficiently. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU sits at the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,367. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, scores 49,166, a delta of only 0.4% — effectively a tie, meaning the "KF" variant (without integrated graphics) offers no performance penalty.

In the context of Minimum's measured FPS, the CPU's role becomes clear when examining the 1080p results. At Low settings, the combo hits 407.4 FPS, which is far beyond any display's refresh rate and indicates that the game is not CPU-bound here; otherwise, we would see a plateau. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32,889 and single-core score of 4,643 reinforce that this processor can handle the game's physics and AI threads without breaking a sweat. Compared to the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49,062 (a 0.6% deficit), the i5-14600KF holds its own, proving that core count is not the sole driver of game performance — clock speed and IPC matter just as much, especially for a title from 2014.

The data implies that the CPU is never the bottleneck in this pairing, even at 1080p Low where the FPS reaches 407.4. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,273 and multithread score of 38,697 show a balanced design. With a TDP of 125 W, it is a power-hungry chip, but its efficiency in gaming workloads is evident from the FPS numbers. The architecture, Raptor Lake-R on a 10 nm process, is mature and well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming, as the measured results suggest that the GPU is the primary limiter only when resolution scales up.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Looking at the measured FPS rows, the sweet spot for this combo is the High preset across all resolutions. At 4K, High yields 90.1 FPS, which is playable for a third-person shooter, while Medium drops to 108.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 68.1 FPS. The jump from Medium to High at 4K is only 18.5 FPS (from 108.6 to 90.1), but the visual fidelity gain is worth it, as the RTX 5090 has the headroom to push those pixels. At 1440p, High delivers 170.3 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth, and at 1080p, High hits 259.9 FPS — far beyond any 240 Hz monitor's capability.

The Low preset is a statistical outlier, offering 407.4 FPS at 1080p and 144.2 FPS at 4K, but such high frame rates come at the cost of visual quality, which is unnecessary given the hardware. The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, drops below 70 FPS at 4K (68.1 FPS), which is a significant hit for a game of this age. The data suggests that High is the optimal balance: it never falls below 90 FPS at any resolution, and it stays above 170 FPS at 1440p and 259 FPS at 1080p. For competitive play, Medium at 1080p (315.5 FPS) might be preferable, but for a single-player experience, High is the recommended choice.

The measured rows show a clear pattern: the GPU is so powerful that even at High settings, the frame rates are excessive for most displays. The 1440p High result of 170.3 FPS is the standout, offering a perfect mix of resolution and speed. The data does not include min or max FPS, so we cannot assess frame pacing, but the average FPS numbers are consistently high enough to avoid any perceptible stutter. Thus, the recommendation is to use High settings, with Medium as a fallback for those who prioritize frame rate over detail.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 197.4 FPS. This is a high frame rate, indicating that the RTX 5090 can handle even the most demanding preset at this resolution without breaking a sweat.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49,367, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K's 49,166. The data shows a near-tie, meaning the "KF" suffix does not affect performance.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 4K?

A: At 4K, the frame rates drop significantly, with Ultra hitting only 68.1 FPS compared to 197.4 FPS at 1080p. This 129.3 FPS drop indicates that the GPU's rendering workload is the limiting factor, as the CPU's performance remains constant across resolutions.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 170.3 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset drops to 130.6 FPS, which is still smooth, but High offers a better balance of visual quality and speed.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and does it matter for this game?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with a 512-bit bus. For a 2014 title, this is far more than needed, and the data shows no VRAM-related bottlenecks, as even 4K Ultra remains playable.

Q: Does the CPU's 14-core configuration help in this 2014 game?

A: While the game may not use all 14 cores, the CPU's high single-thread performance (boost clock of 5.30 GHz) is more critical. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 407.4 FPS, indicating the CPU is not a bottleneck, so the extra cores provide headroom for background tasks.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 15th out of 1,733 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the top 0.9% of all pairings. This is an exceptional rank, given the game's age and the hardware's modern specifications. The rank reflects the GPU's dominance, as the RTX 5090 sits at the 94th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. Its nearest rivals, such as the RTX 5090 D (84,241, a 0.1% delta) and the RTX 5050 Mobile (84,171, a 0.2% delta), are virtually identical in synthetic scores, but the desktop RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth give it a real-world edge.

Being 15th out of 1,733 means there are only 14 combos that outperform this one, likely including higher-end CPUs like the Core i9 series or AMD Ryzen 9 parts. However, the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game, so the rank is primarily driven by the RTX 5090's raw performance. The combo's percentile ranking is consistent with the measured FPS, which are all above 68 FPS even at 4K Ultra. This rank suggests that for Minimum, this pairing is near the apex of what is possible, and any improvement would require a GPU with even higher compute, which is not currently available in the data.

The rank also contextualizes the CPU's role: it does not hold the GPU back. The i5-14600KF's 93rd percentile standing among all CPUs means it is a top-tier processor, but the game's engine is likely single-threaded in its rendering path, so the CPU's 14 cores are underutilized. The combo rank of 15 indicates that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, and the CPU is merely providing enough IPC to keep the frame rate from dropping below the GPU's output.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 21,760 shading units and 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, offering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is 2407 MHz, and it has a TDP of 575 W, making it a power-hungry beast. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 39,650 in PassMark G3D and 14,411 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it at the 94th percentile against all GPUs. For a 2014 game like Minimum, this GPU is massively overprovisioned, but the data shows that it still scales with resolution, from 407.4 FPS at 1080p Low to 68.1 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's 32 GB VRAM is never fully utilized by this game, as even 4K textures from 2014 are small by modern standards. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck, but the compute load is what drives the FPS differences. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized, as evidenced by the 407.4 FPS at Low settings — this is likely a CPU limit, but the CPU's high clock speeds keep it from being a major issue. At 4K, the GPU's fill rate and shading units become the limiting factor, with Ultra dropping to 68.1 FPS, which is still playable but shows the GPU's limits.

The RTX 5090's nearest rivals, such as the RTX 5090 D (84,241 avg score) and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (83,209), are close in synthetic benchmarks, but the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is unmatched. In Minimum, this translates to high frame rates even at demanding settings, but the game's age means that the GPU is not the bottleneck until 4K Ultra. The data implies that this GPU is future-proof for this title, as even the most demanding preset is playable at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are staggering: Low hits 407.4 FPS, Medium 315.5 FPS, High 259.9 FPS, and Ultra 197.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 210 FPS, which is a 51.5% reduction, indicating that the Ultra preset adds significant shading and post-processing effects that tax the GPU. At 2560x1440, the numbers drop but remain high: Low 259.7 FPS, Medium 200.3 FPS, High 170.3 FPS, and Ultra 130.6 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 129.1 FPS, a 49.7% reduction, showing that resolution scaling is consistent.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become more moderate: Low 144.2 FPS, Medium 108.6 FPS, High 90.1 FPS, and Ultra 68.1 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 263.2 FPS, a 64.6% reduction, which is expected due to the fourfold increase in pixel count. The Ultra settings at 4K dip below 70 FPS, which is still playable but not ideal for competitive play. The data shows a clear linear scaling with resolution, and the settings' impact is more pronounced at lower resolutions, where the GPU has more headroom.

The absence of min and max FPS data is a limitation, as we cannot assess frame time consistency. However, the average FPS numbers are all above 68, which is a solid baseline for a third-person shooter. The High preset at 1440p (170.3 FPS) and Medium at 1080p (315.5 FPS) stand out as the most balanced options, offering high frame rates without sacrificing too much visual fidelity.

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

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the bottleneck dynamics of this combo. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 407.4 FPS at 1080p to 144.2 FPS at 4K, a 263.2 FPS reduction (64.6% decrease). This is a near-linear scaling with pixel count (a 4x increase in resolution results in a 64.6% drop), which suggests that the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions, while at 1080p, the CPU is likely the ceiling. The fact that Low settings at 1080p hit 407.4 FPS, which is higher than the CPU's single-thread performance would suggest, indicates that the game is not heavily CPU-bound, but the GPU's raw power is being throttled by the CPU's ability to feed it.

At Ultra settings, the drop is less dramatic in absolute terms but similar in percentage: from 197.4 FPS at 1080p to 68.1 FPS at 4K, a 129.3 FPS reduction (65.5% decrease). This consistency across settings implies that the bottleneck shifts smoothly from CPU to GPU as resolution increases. The 1440p results are the midpoint, with Low at 259.7 FPS and Ultra at 130.6 FPS, showing that the GPU is still able to maintain high frame rates at this resolution.

The scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 5090 is the limiting component at 4K, as the CPU's performance does not change with resolution. The CPU's 14 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for this game, so the FPS drop is entirely due to the GPU's rendering workload. This is typical for a modern GPU paired with a mid-range CPU, but the data shows that the i5-14600KF is not holding the GPU back at any resolution, as the 4K Ultra result of 68.1 FPS is still respectable for a game from 2014.