Minimum

Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter, is an older title that nevertheless shows a clear performance hierarchy on the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 platform. The measured data indicates that the RTX 4060 is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the 12th-gen Intel processor provides ample headroom at 1080p. The benchmark results reveal a consistent pattern: frame rates scale predictably with both resolution and graphical preset, but the most efficient configuration balances visual fidelity with the GPU's 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings preset for this pairing depends entirely on the target resolution, but the data supports a clear best choice for most users. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 130 average FPS, which is a 31 FPS improvement over the Ultra preset's 99 FPS. This 24% performance gain comes with minimal visual sacrifice in a game from this era, making High the sensible default for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset at 155 FPS offers an additional 25 FPS over High, but the jump from Medium to High costs only 25 FPS while providing noticeably better textures and effects; therefore, High strikes the best balance.

At 2560x1440, the High preset again emerges as the recommended choice, producing 84 average FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it is 20 FPS faster than the Ultra preset's 64 FPS. The Medium preset at 100 FPS is viable for users who prioritize frame rate over fidelity, but the 16 FPS difference between Medium and High is small enough that High remains the better experience for most. The Low preset at 130 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution, as the GPU already delivers high performance without dropping to the lowest settings.

For 4K (3840x2160), the situation changes dramatically. The High preset produces only 45 average FPS, and Ultra drops to 34 FPS, both below the ideal smoothness threshold. The Medium preset at 54 FPS is the only 4K option that approaches playable frame rates, with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 62 FPS. Consequently, Medium is the recommended preset for 4K gaming on this hardware, as it provides the best playable experience without the severe performance penalties of High or Ultra. The Low preset at 70 FPS is technically the fastest, but the visual degradation is substantial enough that Medium's 54 FPS is the superior overall choice for 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the decisive component in Minimum's performance envelope, particularly as resolution increases. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for this 2014 title, but the data shows clear limitations at 4K. The transition from 1920x1080 High (130 FPS) to 2560x1440 High (84 FPS) represents a 35% drop, and the further drop to 3840x2160 High (45 FPS) is another 46% reduction. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load grows faster than the memory bandwidth can sustain.

The RTX 4060's clock speeds—1830 MHz base and 2460 MHz boost—are high for the Ada Lovelace architecture, and the 272.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming. However, the 4K results indicate that the 128-bit memory bus becomes a limiting factor. The benchmark scores support this interpretation: the GPU achieves a Passmark G3D score of 19545 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302, but its percentile rank of 61 among all GPUs shows it is a mid-range part. This is further evidenced by its nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (deltaPct -0.2) and the AMD Radeon 780M (deltaPct 0.3), which are not high-end competitors.

The GPU's 3072 shading units and 48 ROPs handle Minimum's DirectX 12 workload effectively at lower resolutions, but the 4K Ultra preset (34 FPS) demonstrates that the card lacks the raw throughput for maximum settings at high pixel counts. The 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance is respectable for a 115 W card, yet the data shows that 4K requires a reduction to Medium settings (54 FPS) to maintain playability. The 8 GB VRAM is not the primary constraint in this title, as the game's age means textures are modest, but the memory bus width and bandwidth are the likely culprits for the steep 4K performance cliff.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Minimum?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 with High settings provides the best overall experience, delivering 84 average FPS while maintaining visual quality. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the 1920x1080 High preset (130 FPS) is only necessary for users with 144 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 scores 19545 in Passmark G3D, putting it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7790 and 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon 780M. Its average benchmark score of 17639 places it 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 460, indicating it sits in a tight mid-range performance cluster.

Q: Is the Core i7-12700KF a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests no. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 202 average FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. The processor's 3DMark max-threads score of 9983 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28838 show ample processing headroom for this older title.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium averages 100 FPS while High averages 84 FPS, a difference of 16 FPS (16% faster for Medium). The Medium preset also shows a minimum of 85 FPS and maximum of 115 FPS, whereas the High preset has no reported minimum or maximum values in the data.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 34, which is below the generally accepted 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. Even High settings at 4K only reach 45 FPS, so users must drop to Medium (54 FPS) for a playable 4K experience.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35365, which is 0.2% faster than the Core i7-12700K (35287) and 0.2% faster than the Core i5-13600T (35305). It is 0.1% slower than the Core i7-13700T (35403), showing it performs essentially identically to its closest competitors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a comprehensive picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates: Low averages 202 FPS, Medium averages 155 FPS with a minimum of 131 FPS and maximum of 178 FPS, High averages 130 FPS, and Ultra averages 99 FPS. This resolution shows a consistent 25-30 FPS step between each preset, with Low being 47 FPS faster than Medium and Medium being 25 FPS faster than High.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop proportionally but remain strong. Low averages 130 FPS, Medium averages 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS and maximum of 115 FPS, High averages 84 FPS, and Ultra averages 64 FPS. The step between Medium and High is 16 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 20 FPS. This resolution is where the 60 FPS threshold is crossed for Ultra settings, but High remains well above it.

At 3840x2160, the performance falls significantly. Low averages 70 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 62 FPS, High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 16 FPS, between Medium and High is 9 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 11 FPS. Notably, the Medium preset is the only 4K option with reported minimum and maximum values, indicating it is the most stable configuration at this resolution.

The data also shows that the RTX 4060's performance scales linearly with the preset level at each resolution, but the absolute drop from 1080p to 4K is severe. For example, High settings go from 130 FPS at 1080p to 84 FPS at 1440p to 45 FPS at 4K, a total reduction of 65% from the lowest to highest resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-limited pattern. At High settings, the frame rates are 130 FPS at 1920x1080, 84 FPS at 2560x1440, and 45 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 65%, which is close to the theoretical pixel-count increase (1080p has 2.07 million pixels, 4K has 8.29 million pixels, a 4x increase) but not proportional, indicating some CPU headroom at lower resolutions.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar: 155 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 35% and 46% respectively, matching the High preset almost exactly. This consistency suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth is the limiting factor, as the relative performance degradation is identical regardless of the graphics load.

At Low settings, the scaling is slightly less severe: 202 FPS at 1080p, 130 FPS at 1440p, and 70 FPS at 4K. The drops are 36% and 46%, respectively, showing that even at low settings, the 4K resolution is too demanding for the RTX 4060's 128-bit memory bus. The Ultra preset shows the steepest scaling: 99 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K, with drops of 35% and 47%.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. At 1080p, the system reaches 202 FPS on Low settings, which is near the CPU's maximum frame output capability. As resolution increases, the GPU's rendering load grows, and the CPU becomes less relevant. The 4K results, where even Low settings only produce 70 FPS, confirm that the RTX 4060 cannot sustain high frame rates at this resolution, making the CPU's role secondary.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF plays a supporting role in Minimum's performance, providing enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4060 at most settings. The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture, deliver strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28838 and a Geekbench multicore score of 14367. The 3DMark max-threads score of 9983 and Passmark multithread score of 34092 further confirm its capability.

At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 202 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's frame-rate ceiling for this game. The single-thread performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4071 and a Passmark single-thread score of 3984, ensuring that Minimum's primary thread (common for games of this era) is well-served. The 5.00 GHz boost clock on the Performance cores provides the necessary IPC for older game engines that rely on single-thread speed.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is positioned in a tight performance band. The Core i7-12700KF's average benchmark score of 35365 is 0.2% faster than the Core i7-12700K (35287) and 0.2% faster than the Core i5-13600T (35305), while being 0.1% slower than the Core i7-13700T (35403). This indicates that the 12700KF is effectively at the top of its performance class, and no CPU upgrade would meaningfully improve Minimum's frame rates given the GPU's limitations.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU's percentile rank of 85 among all CPUs places it in the upper echelon, but the GPU's percentile rank of 61 is the constraint. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further; the 45 FPS on High settings is entirely dictated by the RTX 4060's memory bandwidth and shading throughput. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and 8-thread score of 7211 demonstrate that the CPU has ample multi-threading headroom, but Minimum does not scale well beyond a few threads, making the high core count less relevant than the single-thread performance. In summary, the i7-12700KF is more than sufficient for this game, and the RTX 4060 is the sole performance limiter at resolutions above 1080p.