Minimum

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination delivers a highly playable experience in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter from 2014. Benchmark results show this pairing ranks 3198 out of 3712 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower-middle tier of systems. With 12 cores, 20 threads, and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz on the CPU side, and a 6 GB GDDR6 GPU with a 192-bit bus, the system has enough headroom for smooth gameplay at most settings, though 4K Ultra remains out of reach. The data below breaks down exactly what to expect across resolutions and presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows indicate that the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 84 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth third-person shooting. The Low preset pushes that to 131 FPS, but the jump from Low to High costs just 47 FPS while providing a substantial visual upgrade—this is the sweet spot for competitive play. Medium sits at 100 FPS, offering a middle ground, but High's 84 FPS remains perfectly responsive for a game that rewards precise aiming.

At 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 54 FPS, which is borderline for fast-paced action. The Medium preset, however, delivers 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 1440p users who want consistent frame pacing. The Low preset at 84 FPS is the only option that fully saturates a 60 Hz display at this resolution, but the visual compromise may not be worth it for a game that already has a stylized aesthetic. Ultra at 1440p falls to 41 FPS, which is too choppy for reliable aiming.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset produces 45 FPS, which is the only playable option for 4K displays, though it still sits below 60. Medium drops to 35 FPS with a minimum of 30, and High falls to 29 FPS. Ultra at 4K is effectively unplayable at 22 FPS. Given these numbers, the best experience per the measured data is High at 1080p for most players, with Medium at 1440p as a strong alternative for those with higher-resolution monitors. The data suggests that 4K gaming should be reserved for Low settings, and even then, only if the player can tolerate sub-60 frame rates.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 131, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

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

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which yields 45 FPS average. Medium drops to 35 FPS, High to 29 FPS, and Ultra to 22 FPS, so 4K requires significant visual compromises.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti's VRAM affect performance?

A: The GPU has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. This is sufficient for the game's demands at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra preset likely stresses memory bandwidth, contributing to the 22 FPS result.

Q: What is the CPU's role in this game's performance?

A: The i7-12700KF has 12 cores, 20 threads, and boosts to 5.00 GHz. Its single-thread score of 4071 in Cinebench R23 and 1043 in 3DMark single-thread indicates strong per-core performance, which is important for a third-person shooter's game logic and physics.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever worth using?

A: Only at 1080p, where it delivers 64 FPS average. At 1440p it drops to 41 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 22 FPS, so Ultra is only viable on lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo compare to the GPU's nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 7723, which is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon 540 (7673), 1.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580), and 2.3% ahead of the Intel Arc A310 (7550). This places it in the 41st percentile of all GPUs.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture using the TU116 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It features 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications put the GPU in the 41st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7723.

In Minimum, the GPU's role becomes evident when comparing preset scaling. At 1080p, moving from Low to High costs 47 FPS (from 131 to 84), while moving from High to Ultra costs another 20 FPS (to 64). This shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, as the CPU has ample headroom. At 4K, the GPU's limitations are stark: even Low settings only produce 45 FPS, and Ultra falls to 22 FPS. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue—the game likely uses far less—but the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are insufficient for 4K Ultra.

The GPU's DirectX 12 (12_1) support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure the game runs on modern graphics paths. Its pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s are modest by current standards, which explains why high-resolution rendering struggles. The card's dual-slot design and 120 W TDP make it a capable air-cooled solution, but the data clearly shows that 1080p and 1440p are its comfort zone for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a clear progression across presets. The Low preset achieves 131 FPS average, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium delivers 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 and a maximum of 115, indicating good frame consistency. High drops to 84 FPS, still comfortably above 60. Ultra falls to 64 FPS, which is playable but leaves little margin for dips in intense firefights.

Moving to 2560x1440, the impact of resolution is immediate. Low produces 84 FPS, which matches the 1080p High result—showing that the resolution increase roughly costs one full preset tier. Medium achieves 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74, making it the most balanced option for 1440p. High drops to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. Ultra falls further to 41 FPS, which is too low for a competitive shooter.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. Low yields 45 FPS, the only preset above 40. Medium drops to 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 40, showing significant frame variance. High falls to 29 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 22 FPS. The pattern is consistent: each preset step at 4K costs roughly 7-10 FPS, whereas at 1080p the same steps cost between 16 and 31 FPS. This suggests the GPU is hitting a memory bandwidth or fill-rate wall at 4K.

The data also reveals that the Medium preset is the only one with both minimum and maximum FPS recorded across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 85-115 FPS; at 1440p, it is 55-74 FPS; at 4K, it is 30-40 FPS. This consistency makes Medium the most predictable preset for frame pacing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and non-linear. At Low settings, 1080p produces 131 FPS, 1440p produces 84 FPS, and 4K produces 45 FPS. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. At High settings, the pattern is similar: 84 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K—drops of 36% and 46% respectively. The consistency of these percentages across presets indicates that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, not by CPU limitations.

The 4K results are particularly telling. The GTX 1660 Ti has a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s, which translates to roughly 84.96 million pixels per second. A 4K frame contains 3840x2160 pixels, which is 8.3 million pixels per frame. Even at 45 FPS, the GPU is processing over 373 million pixels per second, which exceeds its rated pixel rate. This suggests the game is using some form of dynamic resolution or the pixel rate calculation is not directly comparable, but the data shows clear scaling limits.

The scaling behavior indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The i7-12700KF's strong single-thread performance (4071 in Cinebench R23 single-core) means it can feed the GPU at any resolution. The FPS drops align almost perfectly with the increase in pixel count: 4K has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, and the FPS at 4K Low (45) is roughly one-third of 1080p Low (131). This is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the frame rate is determined by the graphics pipeline's throughput rather than CPU processing speed.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes. Its launch MSRP is $384.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700KF scores 28838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4071 in single-core. The 3DMark results show 9282 in the 16-thread test, 7211 in the 8-thread test, and 1043 in the single-thread test. These numbers place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365. Compared to its nearest rivals, it is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305) and 0.2% faster than the Intel Core i7-12700K (35287), while being 0.1% slower than the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403) and 0.2% slower than the Intel Core 5 213PE (35428).

For Minimum, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 131 FPS, which suggests the CPU can handle the game's physics and AI without bottlenecking. The fact that 1080p High (84 FPS) is 36% lower than 1080p Low (131 FPS) indicates the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p, because the CPU would be able to push higher frame rates if the GPU could render faster. The CPU's 20 threads are likely overkill for a 2014 title, but the high single-thread performance (1043 in 3DMark single-thread) ensures that the game's main thread is never starved.

The CPU's multi-threading capabilities do not appear to provide any additional benefit in this game, as the FPS scaling is consistent across resolutions regardless of CPU load. This is expected for a third-person shooter that likely uses only a few threads for core gameplay logic. The CPU's 25 MB of L3 cache helps with data locality, but the game's modest requirements mean the cache is rarely stressed. Overall, the data shows that the i7-12700KF is more than sufficient for Minimum, and any performance limitations come from the GTX 1660 Ti's graphics throughput.