Minimum

The data for Minimum with the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti reveals a pairing where the GPU is the decisive factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU's substantial headroom ensures frame rates remain fluid at 1080p. The GTX 1080 Ti delivers playable results across most settings, but the step to 4K Ultra is a clear outlier, dropping below the 60 FPS threshold.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain high frame rates?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings except Ultra produce average frame rates above 120 FPS, making it the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate mark. At 2560x1440, High and Medium settings deliver 80 and 95 FPS respectively, which is still smooth for most displays.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: The difference is substantial. At 3840x2160, the average frame rate drops from 67 FPS on Low to 33 FPS on Ultra, representing a 50% reduction in performance. This indicates that the Ultra preset imposes a rendering load that the GTX 1080 Ti cannot sustain at 4K.

Q: Does the Core i7-14700K bottleneck the GTX 1080 Ti in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate no CPU bottleneck at 1080p, where the GPU is the limiting factor. The i7-14700K's high single-core performance (2160 in Cinebench R23) ensures that the GPU is fully utilized, as evidenced by the 192 FPS average on Low settings at 1080p.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p on High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 124 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80 FPS at 2560x1440 on High settings, a 35% reduction. This scaling shows that the GTX 1080 Ti's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth (484.4 GB/s) are increasingly stressed as resolution increases.

Q: Is the GTX 1080 Ti's 11 GB VRAM sufficient for Maximum settings?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate of 33 FPS suggests the GPU's compute capacity, not just the 11 GB VRAM, is overwhelmed. However, at 1440p Ultra, the 61 FPS average indicates the memory capacity is adequate for that resolution, with the performance ceiling being set by the GP102 chip's processing power.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: This specific combination ranks 2082 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the 56th percentile overall. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GTX 1080 Ti's position in the GPU hierarchy (58th percentile) rather than the CPU, which sits in the 94th percentile.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K provides an overwhelming amount of processing headroom for Minimum, a title from 2014 that does not require the full capabilities of this 20-core, 28-thread processor. With a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, the CPU's single-thread performance is exceptional, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160. This translates directly to game performance, where the primary thread handling game logic and draw calls is never the bottleneck.

The CPU's benchmark scores are telling: a Geekbench single-core score of 2569 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4472 indicate that the Raptor Lake architecture is more than capable of feeding the GTX 1080 Ti with data. The 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core ensure that frequently accessed game assets remain close to the execution cores, reducing memory latency. At 1080p Low settings, the combination achieves 192 FPS, a figure that is almost certainly limited by the GPU's rasterization throughput rather than any CPU constraint.

Comparing the i7-14700K to its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database, the data shows it is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (deltaPct -0.2%) and the AMD EPYC 9115 (deltaPct 0.1%). This confirms that the i7-14700K is operating at the very top of the consumer desktop performance tier. In a game like Minimum, where the CPU is not heavily stressed by complex AI or physics simulations, the i7-14700K's role is to provide a stable, high-frequency platform that never introduces frame time spikes. The Passmark physics score of 2964 further underscores the CPU's capability in handling the game's rigid body and projectile calculations without breaking a sweat.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the definitive performance limiter in this configuration. Built on the Pascal architecture with a GP102 chip, this GPU features 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 88 ROPs. The boost clock of 1582 MHz and 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus provide a memory bandwidth of 484.4 GB/s, which is critical for feeding the high pixel rates required at 4K. The GPU's raw compute capability is 11.34 TFLOPS FP32, a figure that dictates the frame rates seen across all resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 58 places it in the mid-range of all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 18600. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (deltaPct 1.7%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (deltaPct -0.8%). This context is essential: the GTX 1080 Ti, while older, still performs competitively with newer mid-range cards, but it lacks the headroom required for maxed-out 4K gaming in Minimum.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU delivers only 33 FPS, indicating that the combination of pixel shading, texture fill rate (354.4 GTexel/s), and ROP throughput (139.2 GPixel/s) is insufficient for the highest preset. The transition from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a linear degradation: 67 FPS on Low, 51 FPS on Medium, 43 FPS on High, and 33 FPS on Ultra. This pattern demonstrates that each incremental quality increase adds a consistent load on the GPU, which has no more compute headroom to spare. The GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score of 66 and Vulkan score of 40511 show that while the architecture supports modern APIs, its shader complexity is a limiting factor for the game's more demanding visual effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rate data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's capabilities across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings achieve an average of 192 FPS, Medium 147 FPS, High 124 FPS, and Ultra 94 FPS. The Medium preset has a recorded range of 125 to 169 FPS, showing consistent frame pacing without significant dips.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 124 FPS on Low, 95 FPS on Medium, 80 FPS on High, and 61 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a range of 81 to 109 FPS, indicating that while the average is smooth, there are occasional drops that could be noticeable on a high refresh rate monitor. The 4K results at 3840x2160 are: 67 FPS on Low, 51 FPS on Medium, 43 FPS on High, and 33 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a range of 43 to 59 FPS, which means the frame rate can dip below the 60 FPS threshold at times, making the experience feel less consistent.

The data shows a clear progression where the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 98 FPS (192 vs 94). At 1440p, this gap narrows to 63 FPS (124 vs 61). At 4K, the gap is only 34 FPS (67 vs 33). This compression of frame rates at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU saturation, where the pixel fill rate becomes the dominant constraint, and the quality settings have less relative impact on the final frame time.

Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. On High settings, the frame rate drops from 124 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 43 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 65% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a 46% drop (80 to 43 FPS), which is less severe than the 1080p to 1440p drop of 35% (124 to 80 FPS), but still indicates that the GPU is being overwhelmed.

The resolution scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that has a fixed rendering pipeline. The number of pixels at 4K is 4.5 times that of 1080p, and the frame rate scales almost inversely with the pixel count. If the GPU were perfectly pixel-bound, we would expect 192 FPS at 1080p to translate to approximately 42 FPS at 4K (192 / 4.5). The measured 43 FPS on High settings at 4K confirms that the GTX 1080 Ti is almost entirely pixel-throughput limited at this resolution.

On Low settings, the scaling is slightly more favorable, with 192 FPS at 1080p dropping to 124 FPS at 1440p and 67 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K reduction of 65% (192 to 67 FPS) is less than the pixel count ratio suggests, indicating that at Low settings, there is some CPU or memory bandwidth overhead that becomes relatively less significant as the GPU work increases. The 11 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient even at 4K, as the game's texture requirements are within the 11 GB allocation, but the 484.4 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor that prevents higher frame rates at lower quality settings. The data overall points to the GPU being the sole bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p, with the CPU's role being negligible.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this hardware, the data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot. At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves 80 FPS, which is smooth for most gaming monitors and provides a good balance of visual fidelity and performance. The 1440p Medium preset offers 95 FPS, which is preferable for competitive play, but the visual quality difference between Medium and High is likely noticeable given the 15 FPS cost of upgrading.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 94 FPS is the recommended choice for users with a standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor. The 192 FPS on Low settings is only useful for extreme competitive scenarios where frame rate is paramount, but the visual clarity suffers. The Medium preset at 147 FPS offers a good compromise, but the High preset at 124 FPS provides better image quality while still staying above the 120 FPS threshold that many high-refresh-rate gamers desire.

For 4K, the data is clear: Ultra settings are not viable with a 33 FPS average, and even High settings at 43 FPS fall below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The Low preset at 67 FPS is the only 4K option that provides acceptable smoothness, but it sacrifices significant visual quality. The Medium preset at 51 FPS is marginal, with a minimum of 43 FPS that could cause stuttering. Given the GTX 1080 Ti's performance profile, users should avoid 4K unless they are willing to accept Low settings. The 1440p High preset offers the best overall experience, balancing the GPU's capabilities with the game's visual demands, and it remains above the 60 FPS threshold with enough headroom to avoid noticeable frame drops.