Minimum

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The measured frame rates show that this combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors at the two lower resolutions, while 4K remains playable only with adjusted settings. The data indicates a clear hierarchy where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance ensures headroom at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset is the clear recommendation at both 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 137.6 FPS average, which is only slightly behind the 163.7 FPS of Medium, but offers a substantial visual upgrade over the Low preset’s 208.2 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs just 26.1 FPS (a 16% drop), which is an acceptable trade for better image quality. At 1440p, High produces 86.7 FPS, which is still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while Medium achieves 105.4 FPS and Low reaches 137.1 FPS.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination. At 1080p, Ultra drops to 102 FPS, which is a 25.9% reduction from High, and at 1440p, it falls to 66 FPS, barely maintaining playability. The performance penalty is disproportionate to the visual gains typically seen in a game from 2014. For 4K gaming, the data shows that High settings yield 49.3 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS mark, but Low settings at 70.8 FPS provide a smooth experience. Therefore, for 4K, the Low preset is the most practical choice, while High is the sweet spot for 1080p and 1440p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for Minimum’s age, as the game does not appear to be VRAM-limited at the tested settings. The GPU’s boost clock of 1665 MHz and base clock of 1410 MHz are based on the Ampere architecture, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process. The card’s 4864 shading units and 152 texture mapping units contribute to its 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is more than enough for a title from this era.

The GPU’s performance percentile of 69 indicates it sits above the median of all tested GPUs, but the benchmark results show that it is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The measured FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is steep; for instance, the High preset drops from 137.6 FPS at 1080p to 49.3 FPS at 4K, a 64% reduction. This steep decline points to the GPU being the primary constraint as resolution increases. The RTX 3060 Ti’s nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Radeon RX 6600 (deltaPct -0.5), and AMD Radeon 890M (deltaPct -0.5), all showing nearly identical average benchmark scores. This suggests that the 3060 Ti is in a tightly contested performance tier, but its actual in-game results are dictated by its 8 GB frame buffer and memory bandwidth.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, which provides exceptional single-threaded performance. Its benchmark scores are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505, along with a Geekbench single-core score of 2850. The processor also has 30 MB of shared L3 cache, which helps with game data access.

In the context of Minimum, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to avoid bottlenecking. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combination achieves 208.2 FPS, which is a clear indication that the CPU can push extremely high frame rates when the GPU load is low. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10717 and the Passmark single-thread score of 4333 reinforce that this CPU has ample headroom for older games. However, the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios. The percentileVsAllCpus of 93 places it in the top 7% of all processors, and its nearest rivals show minimal differences: the Core i7-13700KF is only 0.1% faster, and the AMD EPYC 4364P is 0.3% slower. The CPU’s performance is effectively a non-issue for this game, as even the most demanding preset at 1080p (Ultra at 102 FPS) is likely still GPU-bound.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i7-13700K and RTX 3060 Ti ranks 898 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 51st percentile of all system configurations. This mid-pack ranking is surprising given the individual component strengths, but it reflects the fact that the game is older and that many other combos in the database feature higher-end GPUs. The rank suggests that while this pairing is competent, it is not a top-tier setup for this specific title.

The ranking relative to other combos indicates that the GPU is the weaker link. The CPU’s high percentile (93) versus the GPU’s lower percentile (69) confirms this asymmetry. In practice, this means that the combo is likely held back by the RTX 3060 Ti in scenarios where frame rates are high, but the CPU ensures that the system never feels sluggish. The rank of 898 out of 1733 implies that roughly half of the tested systems outperform this combo, which is consistent with the GPU being a mid-range part. For users looking to improve performance in Minimum, the data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield a larger benefit than upgrading the CPU, provided the rest of the system remains unchanged.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High settings, the combo achieves 137.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces this to 86.7 FPS, a 37% drop, and at 4K High, it falls to 49.3 FPS, a further 43% reduction from 1440p. This steep, consistent decline across all presets indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases. The Low preset shows a similar pattern: 208.2 FPS at 1080p, 137.1 FPS at 1440p, and 70.8 FPS at 4K.

The scaling behavior also reveals that the CPU is not a significant constraint. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would not drop as dramatically with resolution increases. The fact that 4K Ultra yields only 34.6 FPS, compared to 102 FPS at 1080p Ultra, shows that the GPU’s rendering capabilities are being exhausted. Conversely, the high frame rates at 1080p Low (208.2 FPS) demonstrate that the CPU can handle extremely high draw calls without issue. This pattern is typical for a system where a powerful CPU is paired with a mid-range GPU. For the best experience, users should target 1080p or 1440p with High settings, as 4K requires dropping to Low to maintain a smooth frame rate, which mitigates the visual benefits of the higher resolution.