Minimum

Minimum with the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 570 presents a stark study in system balance, where the 14th-generation flagship CPU is paired with a 2017-era graphics card. The benchmark results show a configuration that is almost entirely GPU-bound across all tested resolutions, with the CPU's substantial headroom going largely unused in this third-person shooter. The data reveals a predictable scaling pattern where frame rates are dictated by the RX 570's capabilities, making this combo a clear example of graphics-limited performance in a title from 2014.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a high-end desktop processor with 20 cores and 28 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, supported by a 33 MB shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU demonstrates exceptional throughput, scoring 33440.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2160 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 52392. Its average benchmark score of 69355 places it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, making it a top-tier performer for compute-intensive tasks.

However, when paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 in Minimum, this CPU power is largely irrelevant to the measured frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p, the lowest resolution tested, the average FPS ranges from 40 at Ultra settings to 82 at Low settings. These numbers are far below what the i7-14700K is capable of producing on its own, indicating that the game's frame rate is not limited by CPU processing power. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with an average score of 69515, show a delta of -0.2%, and the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69288 with a delta of 0.1%, are all statistically similar in performance. This means that swapping the i7-14700K for any of these comparable CPUs would yield virtually identical results in Minimum, as the bottleneck lies elsewhere.

The CPU's role in this specific combo is therefore to provide a stable platform with no processing bottlenecks. The high core count and clock speeds ensure that game logic, physics, and draw calls are handled without issue, but the measured FPS does not improve with the CPU's strength. The data suggests that the game is not demanding on the CPU, and the i7-14700K is operating well within its capabilities, leaving the graphics card as the sole arbiter of performance. The 20 cores and 28 threads are excessive for this title, but they do not hurt performance either; they simply represent unused potential in a GPU-limited scenario.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Analyzing the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, the data provides a clear picture of what is achievable with this hardware combo. At 1080p, the resolution where the game is most playable, the Low preset delivers an average of 82 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this configuration. The Medium preset drops to 63 FPS, while High yields 53 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 19 FPS reduction, which is significant, but the visual quality improvement may not be worth the performance loss for competitive play.

At 1440p, the frame rates become more marginal. Low settings produce 53 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium drops to 40 FPS, and High falls to 34 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields only 26 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. At 4K, the situation is poor across the board, with Low settings achieving only 28 FPS, Medium at 22 FPS, High at 18 FPS, and Ultra at a slideshow-like 14 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K is not a viable option for this combo, even on the lowest settings.

The best experience per the measured rows is clearly at 1080p with the Low preset. This configuration provides an average of 82 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. The Medium preset at 1080p, with 63 FPS, is also acceptable, but the data shows that the GPU is already struggling to maintain higher frame rates. Given that the i7-14700K is not the limiting factor, the recommendation is to prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. For players who prefer higher settings, the 1080p High preset at 53 FPS is the ceiling for a stable experience, but it comes with a significant performance cost compared to Low. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as the frame rates fall below 40 FPS, which is generally considered the minimum for playable action in a shooter.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the average FPS scales from 82 at 1080p to 53 at 1440p, a reduction of 29 FPS or 35%. Moving to 4K, the frame rate plummets to 28 FPS, which is a 66% decrease from the 1080p result. This pattern is repeated across all settings presets. For example, at Medium settings, the FPS drops from 63 at 1080p to 40 at 1440p, and then to 22 at 4K. At High settings, the numbers are 53, 34, and 18 for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, respectively.

This scaling behavior indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 570 is the primary limiting component. The GPU's rendering workload increases quadratically with resolution, and the RX 570, with its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, simply does not have the pixel throughput to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. The i7-14700K, with its massive computational headroom, is not the bottleneck, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS drops are directly proportional to the pixel count increase. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, or the drop would be less pronounced.

The data further supports this conclusion by showing that the frame rate at 1080p Low (82 FPS) is more than double the frame rate at 4K Low (28 FPS). This is a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's fill rate and memory bandwidth are saturated. The RX 570's 32 ROPs and 159.2 GTexel/s texture rate are insufficient for 4K rendering, leading to the observed low frame rates. The conclusion is that any attempt to improve performance in this game must focus on the GPU, as the CPU is already providing a stable and non-limiting foundation.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution that provides consistently playable frame rates. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 40 (Ultra) to 82 (Low), while at 1440p it drops to a range of 26 (Ultra) to 53 (Low), and at 4K it falls to 14 (Ultra) to 28 (Low).

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

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69355, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288), 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515), and 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875). These differences are negligible for gaming.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The FPS scales inversely with resolution, dropping significantly from 1080p to 4K, which indicates the AMD Radeon RX 570 is saturated. The i7-14700K's high scores, such as 33440.5 in Cinebench R23 multicore, do not translate to higher FPS in this title.

Q: Is the 4 GB VRAM of the RX 570 sufficient for Minimum?

A: The measured data suggests that VRAM capacity is not the primary issue, as the game runs at 1080p with acceptable frame rates. However, at 4K, the frame rates are very low (14-28 FPS), which indicates the GPU's overall compute and memory bandwidth are insufficient, not just the VRAM size.

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

A: The highest average FPS measured is 82, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next highest is 63 FPS at 1080p with Medium settings.

Q: How does the RX 570 rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 28766, placing it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs. It is 0.4% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28874) and 0.8% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28996).

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is a graphics card based on the Polaris 20 chip, using the GCN 4.0 architecture. It features 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. The card is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. Its compute capabilities include 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 880 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and 42752 in Geekbench Vulkan, with an average benchmark score of 28766, placing it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs.

In Minimum, the RX 570 is the defining component of this combo's performance. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (82 FPS) is the only result that approaches a high-refresh-rate experience, but this is an exception rather than the rule. The card's 4 GB of VRAM is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions, but the overall pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are. At 1440p, the card struggles to maintain 60 FPS even on Low settings, averaging 53 FPS. At 4K, the card is overwhelmed, with the highest average FPS being 28 on Low settings. This indicates that the RX 570's 32 ROPs are insufficient for the pixel workload at higher resolutions, leading to the observed frame rate drops.

The GPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals shows a tight cluster. It is 0.4% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28874) and 0.7% faster than the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28580). This suggests that the RX 570 is a mid-range card from its era, and its performance in Minimum is consistent with its standing. The data clearly shows that the GPU's clock speeds and memory bandwidth are the primary determinants of the frame rates, as the CPU is not a bottleneck. The card's 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for its class, but they do not influence the measured FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield an average of 82 FPS, Medium yields 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 72, High yields 53 FPS, and Ultra yields 40 FPS. These numbers show a clear degradation as settings increase, with a 42 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset is the only one with recorded min/max values, indicating a stable range of 53 to 72 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. Low settings produce an average of 53 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS with a range of 34 to 46, High averages 34 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all settings, with the Low preset losing 29 FPS and the Ultra preset losing 14 FPS. At 3840x2160, the performance is marginal at best. Low settings average 28 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS with a range of 19 to 25, High averages 18 FPS, and Ultra averages 14 FPS. These 4K results are below playable thresholds for a fast-paced shooter.

The progression across resolutions and settings shows a linear relationship for each preset. For instance, the Medium preset goes from 63 FPS at 1080p to 40 FPS at 1440p to 22 FPS at 4K, which is a consistent halving of frame rate for each doubling of resolution. This pattern is indicative of a GPU that is filling pixels at its maximum rate, with the CPU not imposing any additional limits. The data also shows that the difference between Low and Ultra settings is roughly a 50% reduction in FPS at each resolution, which is a significant visual quality trade-off.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 3542 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the bottom 5% of all configurations, which is a direct reflection of the GPU's limitations. The ranking is not a measure of the CPU's performance, but rather the overall system's ability to run the game. Given that the i7-14700K is a top-tier CPU, the low rank is almost entirely attributable to the RX 570's age and performance tier.

The low ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows that the combo struggles to achieve playable frame rates at higher resolutions. The fact that it ranks near the bottom of the database indicates that most other tested combos, which likely include more modern or higher-end GPUs, outperform it significantly. The CPU's high percentile ranking (94th) does not compensate for the GPU's lower standing (74th), as the game's performance is dictated by the weaker component. This ranking serves as a clear indicator that this is not a balanced configuration for Minimum, and that the GPU is the primary reason for the poor relative performance.

The data suggests that any improvement in the combo's rank would require a GPU upgrade, as the CPU is already providing ample performance. The gap between the combo's rank and the CPU's individual rank highlights the importance of balanced system building for gaming. While the i7-14700K is an excellent processor, its capabilities are wasted when paired with a GPU that cannot keep up with its output. The rank of 3542 out of 3712 is a definitive statement that this pairing is suboptimal for this specific game, and the bottleneck is clearly on the graphics side.