Minimum

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a strong showing in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter from 2014. The data indicates this combination is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the i7-14700K's20-core, 28-thread configuration provides ample headroom for high frame rates at lower settings. Across the measurable presets, the combo ranks 885th out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the top 24% of all systems tested for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The benchmark results show a clear pattern: frame rates drop sharply as resolution increases, and the size of that drop depends heavily on the graphics preset. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 179 avg FPS. Moving to 1440p High reduces that to 115 avg FPS, a drop of roughly 36.3%. At 4K High, the average falls to 62 FPS, which is a 65.4% reduction from 1080p High. This scaling curve is typical for a GPU-bound scenario at High settings, where the rendering workload per pixel increases disproportionately.

However, the story changes dramatically when comparing Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system outputs 278 avg FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 179 avg FPS, and at 4K Low it settles at 97 avg FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K Low is 65.1%, similar to the High preset, but the absolute numbers remain much higher. That suggests the CPU is never the bottleneck at Low, even at 4K, as the frame rate stays above 60 FPS.

An interesting quirk appears when you examine the Medium preset. At 1080p, Medium produces 213 avg FPS, which is 34 FPS higher than High at the same resolution. At 1440p, Medium yields 137 avg FPS versus 115 for High, and at 4K Medium yields 74 avg FPS versus 62 for High. The gap between Medium and High persists across all resolutions, indicating that the High preset introduces additional GPU work that the RX 9070 XT handles but not as efficiently.

Ultra settings push the GPU to its limits. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 136 avg FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 88 avg FPS. At 4K Ultra, it falls to 47 avg FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p Ultra is a 35.3% reduction, but from 1440p to 4K Ultra it’s a 46.6% reduction, showing that the game becomes increasingly pixel-bound at the highest settings.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, but the CPU is capable of pushing over 200 FPS at Low settings, so it’s not the constraint. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, especially at Ultra settings where the frame rate drops to 47 avg FPS. The 14700K, with its high single-thread performance (Cinebench R20 single-core score of 2617), is more than sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the workhorse in this system, and its performance characteristics directly shape the frame rates across the board. The card features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are important for a game like Minimum, which can be demanding on VRAM at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the game likely consumes significant memory, but the 16 GB buffer ensures no capacity-related stutter appears in the data.

Clock speeds also play a role. The GPU has a base clock of 1660 MHz and a boost clock of 2970 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz. These high clocks help deliver the observed 278 avg FPS at 1080p Low, which is one of the highest in the dataset. The card’s compute capabilities are notable: it has 4096 shading units and can output 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw compute power is what allows the GPU to handle the pixel-heavy 4K resolution, though the game’s engine still limits the 4K Ultra performance to 47 avg FPS.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its capability. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 7260, which is a modern test, but the game is older. In Passmark G3D it scores 26795, and in Geekbench Vulkan it scores 65879. These synthetic scores indicate a GPU that is far faster than what this game requires at 1080p, but the 4K Ultra results show that even this hardware struggles with the game’s maximum settings.

The RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB of VRAM is a doubling of what many cards had when this game launched in 2015, but the game itself doesn’t seem to be VRAM-limited based on the data. The fact that the frame rate drops 65% from 1080p to 4K at High settings suggests that the GPU’s shading and pixel processing are the bottlenecks, not memory bandwidth. The card’s 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is high, but the game’s engine still requires more pixel work at 4K, which drops the frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 33 MB of L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. For a game like Minimum, which is a third-person shooter from a decade ago, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution or setting.

At 1080p Low, the system reaches 278 avg FPS, which is the highest in the dataset. This frame rate is only possible if the CPU can process the game’s renders quickly enough. The i7-14700K’s strong single-core performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 and Geekbench single-core score of 2569, ensures that the game’s main thread is not a bottleneck. The high boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly useful for this game, as it likely relies on a few high-frequency cores for the main game loop.

The CPU’s multi-core capabilities are also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a Passmark multithread score of 52392. This allows the CPU to handle background tasks and any parallel game processes, but the game itself doesn’t appear to use all 28 threads. The fact that the frame rate at 1080p Low is 278 avg FPS, and at 1080p Medium it’s 213, indicates that the CPU can easily maintain these frame rates without breaking a sweat.

When comparing to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700K is in good company. Its average benchmark score is 69355, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115, and 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. The Ryzen 9 7940HX is 0.7% higher, and the Ryzen 7 9700F is 0.9% higher. These differences are negligible, meaning the i7-14700K is a top-tier processor that will not hold back the GPU in this game.

The CPU’s performance percentile is 94th, meaning it is faster than 94% of all CPUs in the database. This is a strong indicator that the CPU is not a bottleneck for the RX 9070 XT, even at the highest frame rates. The data shows that the combo is consistently GPU-limited, as the frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a way that points to the GPU, not the CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 47 frames per second, which is the lowest in the dataset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 278 avg FPS, which indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck because the frame rate is so high, but the CPU can still handle it. The GPU is the limiting factor at any resolution, but the CPU is not a constraint even at this high frame rate.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 885th out of 3712 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 24% of all systems.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between Medium and High at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 137 FPS, while High delivers 115 FPS. That’s a difference of 22 FPS, with Medium being faster.

Q: Is the GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for 4K?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient, as the data does not show any VRAM-related stuttering or performance drops that would indicate a memory capacity issue. The frame rates at 4K are limited by the GPU’s rasterization, not by memory.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS values are 63 at 4K, 117 at 1440p, and 181 at 1080p. These are the lowest frame rates recorded for that settings across the three resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT combination achieves a rank of 885 out of 3,712 tested combos for Minimum. This places it in the top 23.8% of all systems tested, which is a solid performance level for this game. The rank is based on the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, and the combo performs particularly well at lower resolutions, where the CPU can push the GPU to high frame rates.

The rank of 885 means that the majority of tested combos—2,827 of them—are slower than this system. However, it also means that 884 combos are faster, which suggests that there are many high-end systems that can achieve higher frame rates, especially at 4K Ultra. The RX 9070 XT, while a modern GPU, is not the absolute fastest for this game, as its percentile among all GPUs is 55, meaning 45% of GPUs are faster. This is a major factor in the combo’s rank.

The CPU’s percentile is 94, which is much higher than the GPU’s 55. This discrepancy explains why the combo is still able to achieve high frame rates at 1080p, where the GPU can still push 278 avg FPS at Low. At 4K, the GPU’s lower percentile becomes more evident, as the frame rate drops to 47 avg FPS at Ultra. The combo’s rank is thus a balance between the strong CPU and the moderate GPU performance.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RX 9070 XT has an average score of 13543, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7770M and 0.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570. These are older GPUs, but the data shows that the RX 9070 XT is only marginally faster in synthetic benchmarks. However, the game’s real-world performance is better because of the RX 9070 XT’s high clocks and large memory, which the synthetic scores don’t fully capture.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p is the most compelling choice. At this setting, the combo delivers an average of 137 FPS, with a minimum of 117 FPS and a maximum of 158 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the minimum FPS ensures that there are no noticeable stutters. The visuals are also much better than Low, making it a practical sweet spot.

If you prefer 1080p, the High preset is a good option, with an average of 179 FPS. This is slightly lower than the 213 FPS at Medium, but High settings provide a better visual experience for a game. The frame rate is still high enough to take advantage of a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor, and the 179 avg FPS is a smooth experience.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 74 avg FPS is the best balance. The 1440p High preset yields 115 FPS, which is good, but 4K Medium offers a higher resolution with a still-playable frame rate. The 4K Ultra preset, at 47 avg FPS, is too demanding for this GPU, and it’s best to avoid it unless you have a VRR display that can handle the lower frame rate.

The Low preset is not recommended for everyday play, as it sacrifices too much visual quality. At 1080p Low, the system produces 278 avg FPS, which is overkill for most displays, but the visual quality is poor. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it hits 136 avg FPS, but at 1440p it drops to 88, and at 4K it fails to maintain 60.

Ultimately, the best experience depends on your monitor’s resolution and refresh rate. For 1440p, the Medium or High settings offer a great balance. For 4K, stick with Medium to stay above 60 FPS. And for competitive play at 1080p, the Low setting ensures the highest frame rate, but it’s optional for most players.