Minimum

Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter, presents a demanding workload for the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the Intel Arc B390. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks 2602 out of 2939 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of systems for this title. The measured FPS reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the GPU, particularly at higher resolutions and settings, where the Arc B390's performance drops dramatically. While the i7-14700F provides ample processing power, the graphics solution becomes the primary bottleneck, making settings and resolution management crucial for a playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a steep performance drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, clearly identifying the Intel Arc B390 as the limiting component. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 95 FPS, but this falls to 61 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 33 FPS at 4K. This represents a 65% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a pattern consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering workload outpaces the graphics processor's capabilities. The trend is consistent across all settings, indicating that resolution scaling is the dominant factor in performance.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced when examining the frame rate drops between consecutive resolutions. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings yields a drop from 61 FPS to 39 FPS, a 36% decrease. However, the jump from 1440p to 4K is even more severe, with High settings falling from 39 FPS to 21 FPS, a 46% reduction. This non-linear scaling suggests that the Arc B390's memory bandwidth or fill rate is being saturated at 4K, causing a disproportionate performance penalty. The GPU's system-shared memory and dependence on system bandwidth likely contribute to this bottleneck, as the demand for pixel throughput at 4K exceeds the available resources.

At Ultra settings, the resolution scaling is even more punishing. The system manages 46 FPS at 1080p, but this drops to 30 FPS at 1440p and a nearly unplayable 16 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is stark: 33 FPS versus 16 FPS, a 52% performance loss from simply increasing graphical fidelity. This data indicates that the Arc B390 is not well-suited for high-resolution gaming, and users targeting 4K will need to accept very low frame rates or sacrifice most visual quality. The 1080p resolution is the only one where the system approaches playable frame rates across multiple settings, with Low and Medium settings both exceeding 60 FPS.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system consistently delivers playable frame rates. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 46 on Ultra to 95 on Low, with Medium and High hitting 72 and 61 FPS respectively. At 1440p, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS, and at 4K, all settings fail to reach 35 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset imposes a significant performance penalty across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra averages 46 FPS compared to 61 FPS on High, a 25% reduction. At 1440p, the drop is from 39 FPS on High to 30 FPS on Ultra, a 23% decrease. At 4K, Ultra averages 16 FPS versus 21 FPS on High, a 24% loss, making Ultra impractical at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck even at 1080p. While the i7-14700F has 20 cores and 28 threads, the Arc B390's performance ceiling limits frame rates. The fact that FPS scales significantly with resolution and settings, from 95 FPS at Low to 46 FPS at Ultra, indicates the graphics card is the constraining factor, not the CPU.

Q: What kind of frame rate stability can be expected at Medium settings?

A: The only resolution with complete min/max data is Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the average is 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 83 FPS, showing good stability with a 21 FPS variance. At 1440p Medium, the average is 47 FPS with a range of 40 to 54 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 25 FPS with a range of 21 to 29 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the Arc B390 scores 1482. This is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the GT 710 (1443). This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, indicating entry-level performance.

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

A: Technically yes, but not at playable frame rates. At 4K, the highest average FPS is 33 on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings at 4K produce only 16 FPS. The data indicates that 4K is not a viable resolution for this GPU in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This configuration provides substantial multi-threaded capability, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and Passmark multithread score of 41317. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a 91st percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 53620. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P (0.2% lower score), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.3% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (0.6% higher), and AMD EPYC 7313P (0.8% higher), demonstrating that the i7-14700F sits in a competitive performance tier.

In the context of Minimum, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that performance scales primarily with resolution and graphics settings, which are GPU-intensive variables. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 95 FPS, suggesting the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to reach that level. However, the fact that frame rates do not exceed this threshold indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU. The i7-14700F's high single-thread performance, reflected in its Geekbench single-core score of 2429 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4958, should be more than sufficient for a 2014 title like Minimum, which was released years before this CPU's 2024 launch.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache, which helps reduce memory latency for frequently accessed data. With a TDP of 65 watts, the i7-14700F is relatively power-efficient for its core count. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, though the game's performance is unlikely to be memory-bandwidth limited given the GPU bottleneck. The 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and streaming, but for Minimum specifically, the CPU's contribution is to ensure that it does not become a bottleneck at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. Low settings produce an average of 95 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded across all configurations. Medium settings average 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 83 FPS, showing a stable frame time distribution. High settings drop to 61 FPS, while Ultra settings average 46 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 52% reduction in performance, from 95 to 46 FPS, indicating that the GPU struggles with the increased graphical load at Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 61 FPS, which exactly matches the 1080p High setting, suggesting that the resolution increase to 1440p negates the benefit of lower graphical fidelity. Medium settings average 47 FPS with a range of 40 to 54 FPS, High settings average 39 FPS, and Ultra settings average 30 FPS. At this resolution, only Low settings achieve a playable 60 FPS average, while Medium and High hover near the 30-50 FPS range that may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but not ideal for a shooter.

At 3840x2160, the system is severely constrained. Low settings average 33 FPS, Medium settings average 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 29 FPS, High settings average 21 FPS, and Ultra settings average a mere 16 FPS. The 4K data shows that even the lowest settings cannot maintain a smooth frame rate, as the Arc B390's rendering capabilities are overwhelmed by the pixel count. The variance at Medium settings (21-29 FPS) suggests frame pacing issues, which could lead to stuttering during gameplay. Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: the GPU is the limiting factor, and users must prioritize resolution or settings to achieve playable performance.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and can boost to 2500 MHz, providing a peak FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS. However, its memory configuration is system-shared, meaning it relies on the host system's RAM rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth described as "system dependent." This is a critical limitation for gaming, as memory bandwidth is often a bottleneck in GPU-intensive scenarios.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Arc B390 scores 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA entry-level parts: the GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (score 1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (score 1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (score 1443, 2.7% slower). This places the Arc B390 at the very bottom of the discrete GPU hierarchy, performing only marginally better than decade-old integrated and low-end mobile parts. The 3 nm process node and high boost clock (2500 MHz) cannot compensate for the limited memory bandwidth and small ROPS count (24).

In Minimum, the GPU's limitations are evident in the measured FPS. The system's performance at 1080p Low (95 FPS) suggests the Arc B390 can handle light loads, but the steep drop at higher resolutions and settings indicates a lack of raw throughput. The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are insufficient for 4K rendering, where the demand is quadruple that of 1080p. The system-shared memory architecture means the GPU competes with the CPU for memory access, potentially causing additional latency and bandwidth contention. The 80 W TDP and IGP form factor (slot width) indicate this is designed for portable or low-power devices, not high-performance gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this system depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the only viable option is 1080p with Low settings, which averages 95 FPS, or 1080p with Medium settings, which averages 72 FPS. Both provide ample headroom above 60 FPS, with Medium offering better visual quality at the cost of 23 FPS compared to Low. High settings at 1080p (61 FPS) are borderline, as the average is just above 60 FPS, but frame drops could push it below that threshold.

For users willing to accept lower frame rates, 1080p Ultra (46 FPS) or 1440p Low (61 FPS) are options, though the latter matches the frame rate of 1080p High while providing a higher resolution. The data suggests that Medium settings at 1080p (72 FPS) offer the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as the min FPS of 62 ensures it stays above 60 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings (61 FPS) reach playable levels, while Medium (47 FPS) and High (39 FPS) may be acceptable for less demanding players but are not recommended for a shooter where reaction time matters.

At 4K, no settings provide a playable experience, with the highest average being 33 FPS on Low. Users should avoid 4K entirely with this GPU, as even the lowest settings fail to hit 35 FPS. For the best experience, the recommendation is to run at 1080p with Medium settings, which provides a stable 72 FPS average and a 62 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual quality. If higher resolutions are desired, 1440p Low (61 FPS) is the only option, but expect a significant visual downgrade compared to 1080p Medium. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it provides less than 50 FPS even at 1080p.