Minimum

The Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB combination delivers a highly capable experience in Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. The data shows a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions, with the GPU acting as the primary constraint at higher settings and the CPU's strength becoming apparent at lower resolutions. This pairing ranks in the 62nd percentile of tested combos for this title, indicating solid, above-average performance within the database.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 149 FPS at 1080p to 96 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 52 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% reduction in performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% reduction when scaling from 1440p to 4K. The scaling behavior indicates that the rendering load is expanding significantly with each resolution step, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

The Low preset shows a similar trajectory, albeit at higher absolute frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 233 FPS, which drops to 150 FPS at 1440p and 81 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are more pronounced here: a 36% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 46% decrease to 4K. This pattern suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become limiting factors at higher resolutions.

Medium settings provide the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum frame rates. The average FPS at 1080p Medium is 178, with a minimum of 151 and a maximum of 205. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 115 FPS, with a minimum of 98 and a maximum of 132. At 4K Medium, the average drops significantly to 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 71. The narrowing gap between minimum and maximum frame rates at higher resolutions suggests that the system is becoming more consistently bottlenecked by the GPU, reducing frame time variance as the workload saturates the graphics processor.

Ultra settings produce the most demanding workload, with average frame rates of 114 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p results in a 36% drop, while the move to 4K causes a 45% reduction. The fact that 4K Ultra is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS, landing at 40 FPS, indicates that this setting is too demanding for the RTX 5060 Ti at that resolution. The overall scaling pattern points to the GPU as the limiting component, as the frame rate drops are proportional to the increase in pixel count, rather than being constrained by CPU processing power.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB ranks 1113 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum. This places the configuration in the top 38% of all tested pairings, which is a respectable position for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU. The combo rank reflects the overall system balance, where the strong CPU prevents any significant bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the GPU's capabilities limit performance at higher settings and resolutions.

Relative to other tested configurations, this combo sits above the median, indicating that it outperforms the majority of systems in the database for this specific title. The rank is likely influenced by the fact that Minimum is not an exceptionally demanding game by modern standards, allowing the i7-14700F's strong single-thread performance to push frame rates higher when the GPU is not fully saturated. The fact that the combo ranks better than the GPU's individual percentile ranking suggests that the CPU is improving the overall system performance beyond what the GPU alone would achieve.

The data indicates that this is not an extreme high-end configuration, but rather a well-balanced one that delivers strong performance in this title. The rank of 1113 out of 2939 combos suggests that there is headroom for improvement with a more powerful GPU, but the current pairing provides a smooth experience in most scenarios. The system is clearly not at the top of the performance hierarchy, but it is far from the bottom, making it a competent choice for playing Minimum at high frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features a GB206 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2407 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, with 4608 shading units and 144 tensor cores. The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU's measured FP32 performance is 23.70 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 123.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 370.4 GTexel/s.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a mixed picture, with a Passmark G3D score of 21981 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4019. The GPU's percentile rank among all GPUs is 29, which places it in the lower third of the performance spectrum. However, this ranking is based on a broad range of benchmarks, and its performance in Minimum is more favorable due to the game's age and relatively modest graphics requirements. The nearest rivals based on average benchmark score are the AMD FirePro W5130M, which is 0.1% behind, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450, which is 0.2% ahead.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this title, as the game's textures and geometry are not overly demanding by modern standards. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate to feed the GPU's 23.70 TFLOPS of compute power, but it becomes a limiting factor at 4K resolution. The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings, as evidenced by the significant frame rate drops when moving from 1440p to 4K. The boost clock of 2572 MHz is relatively high, but it cannot compensate for the memory bandwidth limitations at extreme resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers excellent performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 233 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain very high frame rates. The Medium preset produces an average of 178 FPS, with a minimum of 151 and a maximum of 205, demonstrating smooth and consistent performance. The High preset reaches 149 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 114 FPS. All of these values are well above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a fluid gaming experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. The Low preset achieves 150 FPS, which is still very playable, while the Medium preset averages 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 and a maximum of 132. The High preset delivers 96 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 73 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1440p is well within the capabilities of this GPU for this game, with even the most demanding settings maintaining frame rates above 70 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limitations. The Low preset averages 81 FPS, which is playable, while the Medium preset drops to 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 71. The High preset falls to 52 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 40 FPS. The data shows that 4K gaming is possible with this GPU, but only at lower settings to maintain a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 4K provides a minimum of 53 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target, but the High and Ultra presets fall below this threshold, indicating that the GPU is not powerful enough for maximum settings at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 33 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory and has a TDP of 65 W, with a launch MSRP of $359. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 35122 and a single-core score of 4958, along with a Geekbench multicore score of 19620 and a single-core score of 2429.

The CPU's percentile rank among all CPUs is 91, placing it in the top 10% of all processors in the database. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P, which is 0.2% behind in average benchmark score, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, which is 0.6% behind. This indicates that the i7-14700F is a high-performance processor that is well-suited for gaming, with strong single-thread performance that is critical for frame rate generation.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with rendering commands and handle game logic. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 233 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame rate capability for this title. This suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions, as the GPU is capable of rendering frames faster than the CPU can issue commands. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 40 FPS, which is clearly GPU-limited. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.40 GHz and large cache help maintain high frame rates in less demanding scenarios, ensuring that the system does not suffer from CPU-induced stuttering.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 233 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this configuration in Minimum.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 62, with a minimum of 53. At 4K High, the average drops to 52 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 40 FPS, indicating that 4K is only playable at lower settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 53620, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Xeon 6505P, 0.3% higher than the Intel Xeon Phi 7290, and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5060 Ti has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The memory operates at 1750 MHz, which is 28 Gbps effective.

Q: At which settings does the system maintain 60+ FPS at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, all settings maintain an average FPS above 60. The Ultra preset averages 73 FPS, while High averages 96 FPS, Medium averages 115 FPS, and Low averages 150 FPS.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 1113 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 38% of all systems in the database.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, the High preset provides an excellent balance, delivering 149 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience. The Ultra preset at 1080p achieves 114 FPS, which is also highly playable, but the performance difference between High and Ultra may not justify the additional GPU load for most users.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the recommended choice, offering 96 FPS average, which provides a smooth and responsive experience. The Medium preset achieves 115 FPS, which is even higher, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the additional frame rate. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 73 FPS, which is still playable, but the lower frame rate may be noticeable in fast-paced scenes. For a balance of visual quality and performance, High settings at 1440p are the best option.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only viable choice for a smooth experience, with an average of 62 FPS and a minimum of 53 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 52 FPS, which dips below the 60 FPS target and may result in perceptible stuttering. The Low preset at 4K achieves 81 FPS, which is smooth but requires significant visual compromises. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended, as the 40 FPS average is below the threshold for a playable experience. For 4K gaming, Medium settings provide the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, ensuring that the frame rate remains above 50 FPS in most scenarios.