Minimum

# Minimum with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This combination pairs a 12-core Intel Core i7-12700KF from the Alder Lake generation with NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 D, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture. In the 2014 third-person shooter Minimum, this pairing ranks 26th out of 2,939 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1% of all configurations. The benchmark data shows a system capable of extreme frame rates, though the scaling patterns across resolutions and settings reveal where each component's contribution matters most.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Minimum?

A: The combination ranks 26th out of 2,939 tested combos, placing it in the top 1% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The highest average FPS is 425, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next highest is 329 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 73, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This is the only measured configuration that drops below 100 FPS average.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i7-12700KF scores 1,043 in 3dmark single-thread and 9,983 in 3dmark max-threads, showing roughly a 9.6x scaling from single to max thread usage. In Cinebench R23, it scores 4,071 single-core and 28,838 multi-core.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5090 D features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

Q: Does the measured FPS data include minimum or maximum frame rates for all settings?

A: No. Only the Medium settings rows include both minimum and maximum FPS values. At 3840x2160 Medium, the range is 97 to 131 FPS; at 2560x1440 Medium, it's 180 to 244 FPS; at 1920x1080 Medium, it's 280 to 379 FPS. All other settings rows list only average FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and the benchmark data reflects its capabilities. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the GPU has substantial memory resources that are unlikely to be stressed by Minimum, a game from 2014. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s provides more than enough throughput for the game's textures and geometry at any resolution.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The boost clock represents the sustained frequency under load, and the measured FPS results suggest the GPU is consistently hitting boost frequencies even at 4K Ultra settings. The 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute provides massive raw shading power, which explains why even the most demanding preset at 4K still manages 73 FPS average.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 92 versus all GPUs places it well above average, though interestingly its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% higher score) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% lower score). These mobile-oriented GPUs scoring similarly in synthetic benchmarks highlights that the RTX 5090 D's raw compute is not the only factor in real-world gaming performance.

Looking at the measured frame rates, the GPU's role becomes clearer as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, even Ultra settings produce 210 FPS average, which is far beyond what any display can show. This suggests the GPU is being underutilized at lower resolutions, with the CPU becoming the bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the scaling across settings shows the GPU working harder, with High settings producing 96 FPS and Ultra producing 73 FPS. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far more than Minimum requires, so memory capacity is never a limiting factor in these measurements.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and its 170 RT cores indicate modern feature support, though Minimum from 2014 likely does not utilize ray tracing or the full DirectX 12 feature set. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 API support means the GPU can run the game through any available API path. The passmark DirectX 11 score of 371 and DirectX 12 score of 219 show strong legacy API performance, which is relevant for a game released in 2014.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF contributes 12 cores and 20 threads from its Alder Lake architecture, running at a 3.60 GHz base clock and boosting to 5.00 GHz. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L1 (80 KB) and L2 (1.25 MB) caches provide adequate data locality for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU scores in the 85th percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,365.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, scoring 9,983 in 3dmark max-threads and 28,838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. Single-thread performance is also solid, with 1,043 in 3dmark single-thread and 4,071 in Cinebench R23 single-core. These numbers suggest the CPU can handle both lightly-threaded game logic and heavily-threaded background tasks without issue.

The CPU's role in Minimum's measured FPS becomes apparent when comparing resolutions. At 1920x1080 Low settings, the system produces 425 FPS average. This extremely high frame rate indicates the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls and game state updates to maintain such performance. The 5.00 GHz boost clock is likely the key factor here, as Minimum's game logic may rely on single-thread performance.

At 3840x2160 Ultra, the CPU's role diminishes relative to the GPU. The 73 FPS average at this setting shows the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU can clearly maintain much higher frame rates based on the 1080p results. The CPU's 20 threads provide ample parallelism for any background tasks or game engine threads, though Minimum from 2014 may not fully utilize all 20 threads.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-13700T (0.1% lower score) and the Intel Core i5-13600T (0.2% higher score), showing that the 12700KF sits in a competitive performance tier. The Core i7-12700K scores 0.2% higher, confirming that the KF variant (without integrated graphics) performs nearly identically to the K variant in CPU benchmarks. The CPU's 10 nm process node and 215 mm² die size indicate a mature manufacturing process that keeps thermals manageable within its 125 W TDP.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings, providing a grid of twelve data points. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 425 FPS at Low, 329 FPS at Medium (with a range of 280 to 379 FPS), 276 FPS at High, and 210 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution shows a 215 FPS drop, representing a 50.6% reduction in average frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show more GPU influence. Low settings produce 277 FPS, Medium produces 212 FPS (range of 180 to 244 FPS), High produces 178 FPS, and Ultra produces 136 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings ranges from 148 FPS at Low (425 to 277) to 74 FPS at Ultra (210 to 136), showing that higher settings are more affected by the resolution increase.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes substantial. Low settings still produce 149 FPS, but Medium drops to 114 FPS (range of 97 to 131 FPS), High to 96 FPS, and Ultra to 73 FPS. The 4K Low to 4K Ultra scaling shows a 76 FPS drop, which is a 51% reduction from Low to Ultra. The minimum FPS data available for Medium settings shows that even the minimums remain above 97 FPS at 4K, indicating consistent frame delivery.

Comparing across resolutions at the same setting, the 1080p to 4K drop at Low is 276 FPS (425 to 149), at Medium is 215 FPS (329 to 114), at High is 180 FPS (276 to 96), and at Ultra is 137 FPS (210 to 73). The absolute FPS drops are larger at lower settings, but the percentage drops are more uniform, ranging from 65% at Low to 65.2% at Ultra, showing consistent resolution scaling behavior.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 26th out of 2,939 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the top 0.9% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the system's ability to deliver high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking versus all GPUs and the CPU's 85th percentile ranking versus all CPUs combine to place this system well above the median configuration.

The ranking suggests that in Minimum specifically, this hardware combination excels. The game's 2014 release date means it predates many modern rendering techniques, and the RTX 5090 D's massive compute resources are likely underutilized by the game's engine. The CPU's high single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 1,043 3dmark single-thread score, helps maintain high frame rates even at lower resolutions where CPU-bound scenarios are more common.

The gap between this combo's rank and its component percentiles indicates that Minimum is particularly well-suited to this hardware. A system with a CPU in the 85th percentile and GPU in the 92nd percentile achieving a rank of 26 out of 2,939 (approximately the 99.1st percentile) shows that the combination delivers more than the sum of its parts in this specific title. The high frame rates at 1080p, where the system exceeds 400 FPS at Low settings, are a strong indicator of efficient CPU-GPU coordination.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 329 FPS average with a minimum of 280 FPS, providing a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining frame rates far above display refresh rates. At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 212 FPS average with a minimum of 180 FPS, still comfortably above 144 Hz displays. At 3840x2160, Medium achieves 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS, making it the only settings level that consistently stays above 90 FPS at 4K.

For users with high refresh rate displays at 1080p or 1440p, the High preset provides a better visual experience while still delivering excellent performance. At 1080p High, the system averages 276 FPS, and at 1440p High, it averages 178 FPS. These frame rates are sufficient for even the fastest competitive displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p still produces 136 FPS average, making it viable for 144 Hz displays, though the jump from High to Ultra costs 42 FPS at this resolution.

At 4K, the High preset's 96 FPS average is the recommended choice for users prioritizing visual quality while maintaining smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset's 73 FPS average is playable but may not be ideal for fast-paced third-person shooter action. The Low preset at any resolution provides excessive frame rates that exceed most displays' capabilities, making it unnecessary except for extreme competitive play or hardware testing. The Medium preset's minimum FPS data shows consistent frame delivery, with the 4K minimum of 97 FPS indicating no significant frame drops.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals the system's bottleneck characteristics. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 425 FPS at 1080p to 277 FPS at 1440p to 149 FPS at 4K, representing a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU becomes more significant as resolution increases, though the absolute frame rates remain extremely high.

At Medium settings, the drop from 1080p (329 FPS) to 1440p (212 FPS) is 35.6%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K (114 FPS) is 46.2%. The larger percentage drop at higher resolutions suggests the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. The High settings show a similar pattern, with 1080p (276 FPS) to 1440p (178 FPS) representing a 35.5% drop, and 1440p to 4K (96 FPS) representing a 46.1% drop.

The Ultra settings show the most consistent scaling, with 1080p (210 FPS), 1440p (136 FPS), and 4K (73 FPS). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.2%, and from 1440p to 4K is 46.3%. This near-identical scaling across all settings levels indicates that the resolution increase has a consistent multiplicative effect on rendering workload, regardless of detail level.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting component, as the GPU would be capable of much higher frame rates given its performance at 4K. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the CPU's high single-thread performance being more than sufficient to keep up. The 1440p results sit in a balanced zone where both components contribute meaningfully to overall performance, making it the resolution where the hardware pairing works most efficiently together.