Minimum

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

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread Alder Lake-S processor with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It pairs 8 performance cores with 4 efficiency cores, a configuration that matters for Minimum because this 2014 third-person shooter was designed in an era when quad-core CPUs were the norm. The 125W TDP and 25 MB of shared L3 cache provide ample headroom for a title that simply does not stress modern processors to their limits.

Benchmark results indicate the i7-12700K sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35287. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, scores 35305 — a delta of only -0.1%, placing the two effectively at parity. The Core i7-12700KF is similarly close at 35365 (-0.2%), and the Core i7-13700T trails by just -0.3% with a score of 35403. This clustering demonstrates that the i7-12700K's compute capability is firmly mid-pack among modern desktop processors, yet it is far more than Minimum requires.

Single-threaded performance is where this CPU excels in the context of older games. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5 indicate strong per-core throughput. Minimum was released in 2014, when even the best consumer CPUs had far lower single-core scores; consequently, the i7-12700K's single-thread capability is unlikely to bottleneck frame delivery at any resolution. The PassMark single-thread score of 4013 reinforces this — the game's logic threads will be served with substantial headroom.

Multi-threaded performance, while not essential for a title from 2014, is nonetheless robust. The 3DMark max-threads score of 9979 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 show that the i7-12700K can handle any background tasks or modern game overlays without contention. The 12-core, 20-thread configuration means that even if Minimum were to spawn unexpected worker threads, the CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and PassMark multithread score of 34404 provide ample compute reserve.

The measured frame rates in this data show a CPU that never appears to be the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 187 FPS; at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 92 FPS. This 95 FPS spread is far larger than what CPU-bound scaling would produce, indicating that graphics settings — not processor throughput — are dictating performance. The i7-12700K's role here is to stay out of the way, and with boost clocks reaching 5.00 GHz across its performance cores, it does exactly that.

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

The data shows a clear tiering of performance across the four settings presets, and the optimal choice depends heavily on the target display refresh rate. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 143 FPS average with a minimum of 122 FPS and maximum of 165 FPS. This is the sweet spot for 144 Hz displays, as it maintains frame pacing above the refresh threshold while providing better visual fidelity than Low. The Low preset at 187 FPS is technically faster, but the visual compromise is substantial for a game where environmental readability matters in a third-person shooter.

For 1440p users, the Medium preset again emerges as the balanced recommendation. At 92 FPS average with a 79 FPS minimum and 106 FPS maximum, it sits comfortably above the 60 FPS playability floor while leaving headroom for brief dips. The High preset at 78 FPS is playable but leaves less margin; the Ultra preset at 59 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold on average, which introduces perceptible stutter on standard 60 Hz panels. The Low preset at 121 FPS is excessive for most 1440p displays and sacrifices too much visual quality.

At 4K, the recommendation shifts dramatically. The Ultra preset craters to 32 FPS average, which is below the playability threshold for any modern display. Even High at 42 FPS is marginal at best. The Medium preset at 50 FPS average with a 42 FPS minimum and 57 FPS maximum is the highest playable option, but it still falls short of the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 65 FPS is the only 4K option that clears 60 FPS, making it the pragmatic choice for 4K users who prioritize smoothness over fidelity.

The verdict is straightforward: for 1080p and 1440p, run Medium. It provides the best balance of frame rate stability — as evidenced by the narrow 43 FPS spread between minimum and maximum at 1080p — and visual quality. For 4K, the choice is between Low for consistent 60+ FPS or Medium for better visuals at 50 FPS; given the genre's need for responsive aiming, Low is the safer recommendation. The Ultra preset is not viable at any resolution above 1080p, and even at 1080p its 92 FPS average is only marginally better than the 78 FPS High preset at 1440p, making it a poor trade for the visual uplift.

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

The FPS degradation across resolutions reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings, with CPU headroom becoming apparent only at the lowest settings. At Low settings, the progression from 1080p to 1440p to 4K is 187 → 121 → 65 FPS. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 66 FPS (35.3%), while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 56 FPS (46.3%). This accelerating decline is characteristic of a GPU that is increasingly saturated as pixel count rises.

At Medium settings, the same progression is 143 → 92 → 50 FPS. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 51 FPS (35.7%), and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 42 FPS (45.7%). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium settings — roughly 35% for the first step and 46% for the second — indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter even at modest settings. The i7-12700K's compute capability is not being exercised to its limit, as evidenced by the fact that doubling the pixel count from 1080p to 4K at Low settings reduces FPS by 65.2% (187 to 65), which is close to the theoretical inverse scaling expected from a purely GPU-bound workload.

At High settings, the progression is 120 → 78 → 42 FPS. The percentage drops are 35.0% and 46.2%, respectively — nearly identical to the Low and Medium patterns. This uniformity across three settings presets strongly suggests that the rendering pipeline is consistently GPU-limited, with the CPU providing frames faster than the GPU can process them at every resolution. The Ultra preset, at 92 → 59 → 32 FPS, shows slightly different scaling: 35.9% and 45.8%. The near-constant percentage drops regardless of settings confirm that resolution scaling is the dominant variable, not settings scaling.

The implication is clear: the i7-12700K is not the bottleneck in this configuration. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would typically be expected to limit frame rates in an older game, the combo reaches 187 FPS — a figure that suggests the game engine's single-threaded workload is far below the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and PassMark single-thread score of 4013. The AMD Radeon RX 9060, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth, is the component that scales with resolution. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014, places it in the mid-range tier, which aligns with the observed 4K performance ceiling of 65 FPS at Low settings.

# FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Minimum with this CPU/GPU combo?*

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p Medium provides the best balance at 92 FPS average with a 79 FPS minimum and 106 FPS maximum. This clears the 60 FPS threshold with comfortable margin while maintaining visual quality. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 143 FPS average, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

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

A: Yes, but with limitations. The Low preset at 4K achieves 65 FPS average, which is playable. The Medium preset drops to 50 FPS average with a 42 FPS minimum, which is borderline for smooth gameplay. The High and Ultra presets at 4K are not recommended, as they produce 42 FPS and 32 FPS averages, respectively.

Q: How does the i7-12700K compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-12700K's average benchmark score of 35287 places it within 0.4% of its nearest rivals. The Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35305 (-0.1%), the Core i7-12700KF scores 35365 (-0.2%), the Core i7-13700T scores 35403 (-0.3%), and the Core 5 213PE scores 35428 (-0.4%). This indicates all four CPUs are functionally equivalent in raw compute.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 places it at the 59th percentile. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129 (-0.7%), the AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862 (1%), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852 (1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679 (2.1%). The RX 9060 sits within 2.1% of all four rivals.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 187 FPS, which suggests the CPU could push higher if the GPU allowed it. The consistent percentage drops in FPS when moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K (approximately 35% and 46% per step, respectively) across all settings presets confirm a GPU-bound workload.

Q: What is the 4K Ultra experience like?

A: The 4K Ultra preset delivers 32 FPS average, which falls below the 60 FPS playability standard and even below the 30 FPS cinematic minimum for some users. This is the worst-performing configuration in the measured data, and it is not recommended for competitive or fast-paced gameplay.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for Minimum's 2014-era textures and geometry. The GPU's boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz are high for the architecture, with a base clock of 1700 MHz. The 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute rated at 21.43 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark results place it at the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129 — a delta of -0.7% — while the AMD Radeon R9 370X trails by 1% at 15862. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 also scores 15852 (1%), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679 (2.1%). These near-parity results suggest the RX 9060 is positioned in the mid-range segment, which aligns with its 4K performance in Minimum.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is relevant to Minimum's performance at high resolutions. While the game's 2014 release predates the era of large texture packs, the Ultra preset at 4K still causes the GPU to drop to 32 FPS, indicating that raw compute throughput — not memory capacity — is the limiting factor. The 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but they are sufficient for a game from 2014 that was designed for GPUs with far less bandwidth.

The RX 9060's 132W TDP and dual-slot cooler design suggest it is a power-efficient card, but the measured FPS data shows its limits clearly. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 143 FPS average; at 1440p Medium, 92 FPS; and at 4K Medium, 50 FPS. This scaling pattern — roughly 35% loss per resolution step — is consistent with a GPU that is compute-bound at higher resolutions. The 42 FPS minimum at 4K Medium versus the 122 FPS minimum at 1080p Medium further illustrates the GPU's struggle as pixel count rises.

The RX 9060's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility are more advanced than Minimum requires, but they ensure the GPU is not held back by API overhead. The PassMark DirectX 12 score of 44 and DirectX 11 score of 182 indicate the GPU's driver stack handles modern APIs well, though the game's 2014 codebase likely uses older DX11 paths. The GPU's 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 compute is more than sufficient for the game's shader complexity, confirming that the bottleneck at 4K is pixel throughput and memory bandwidth rather than raw compute capability.

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

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 187 FPS average
• Medium: 143 FPS average, 122 FPS minimum, 165 FPS maximum
• High: 120 FPS average
• Ultra: 92 FPS average

The 1080p results show the widest performance range, from 187 FPS at Low to 92 FPS at Ultra — a 95 FPS spread. The Medium preset's 43 FPS spread between minimum and maximum (122 to 165) is the tightest of any settings at this resolution, indicating consistent frame pacing. The Low preset's 187 FPS average suggests the GPU has headroom even at this resolution, as the jump from Low to Medium (a 44 FPS drop) is proportionally larger than the jump from Medium to High (a 23 FPS drop).

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 121 FPS average
• Medium: 92 FPS average, 79 FPS minimum, 106 FPS maximum
• High: 78 FPS average
• Ultra: 59 FPS average

At 1440p, the performance range narrows to 62 FPS (121 to 59). The Medium preset maintains a 27 FPS spread between minimum and maximum (79 to 106), which is tighter than the 1080p Medium spread in absolute terms but proportionally similar. The Ultra preset at 59 FPS average falls just below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the first preset at this resolution to drop below playable smoothness. The Low preset at 121 FPS provides excellent headroom for high-refresh-rate 1440p displays.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 65 FPS average
• Medium: 50 FPS average, 42 FPS minimum, 57 FPS maximum
• High: 42 FPS average
• Ultra: 32 FPS average

At 4K, the performance range compresses to 33 FPS (65 to 32). The Low preset is the only option that clears 60 FPS, while the Medium preset's 50 FPS average with a 42 FPS minimum is borderline for smooth gameplay. The High and Ultra presets at 42 FPS and 32 FPS, respectively, are below playable thresholds for most users. The Medium preset's 15 FPS spread between minimum and maximum (42 to 57) is the narrowest in absolute terms across all resolutions, but it comes at the cost of a sub-60 FPS average.

The data reveals that the combo's performance tiers are consistent: Low delivers roughly 3x the FPS of Ultra at 1080p (187 vs 92), 2x at 1440p (121 vs 59), and 2x at 4K (65 vs 32). The Medium preset is the most stable across all resolutions, with minimum FPS values that stay within 20% of the average. The Ultra preset is the least stable, with no minimum FPS data provided for most resolutions, suggesting high variance. Overall, this configuration is best suited to 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K reserved for Low or Medium settings depending on the user's tolerance for sub-60 FPS gameplay.