Minimum

# Minimum — Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB produces a broad range of frame rates in Minimum, from a playable 40 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 234 FPS at 1080p Low. The 20-core, 28-thread processor sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU lands in the 19th percentile of all GPUs, creating a substantial performance gap that becomes clearly visible in the resolution scaling behavior. This combination ranks 1432nd out of 3712 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Minimum?*

A: The measured data shows that 1440p Medium delivers 115 FPS on average, which is above the 97 FPS High result and well below the 151 FPS Low result. At 4K, the best average is 81 FPS on Low settings, while Ultra drops to 40 FPS.

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

A: The i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69,355, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69,288, and 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X at 69,515. It trails the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX by 0.7% and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F by 0.9%.

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

A: The RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB scores 2,913 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, which is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF at 2,910 and 0.2% ahead of the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB at 2,907. It also leads the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4010 by 0.7%.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 150 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings. For comparison, Medium delivers 179 FPS and Ultra drops to 115 FPS.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this configuration?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo delivers 52 FPS on High and 62 FPS on Medium, with 81 FPS on Low. The Ultra preset yields only 40 FPS, suggesting that 4K requires lower settings for smooth gameplay.

*Q: How does this combo rank overall in Minimum?*

A: The combination ranks 1432nd out of 3,712 tested combos in this game, placing it in the 61st percentile of the tested pool.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is built on the AD106 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2310 MHz with a boost clock of 2535 MHz, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at an effective 18 Gbps across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The card has 4,352 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, 48 raster output units, 34 ray tracing cores, and 136 tensor cores.

In Minimum, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth become apparent at higher resolutions. The 4K results show a steep drop from 81 FPS on Low to 52 FPS on High, a 29 FPS difference that reflects the memory pressure and compute demands at 3840x2160. The 8 GB frame buffer is sufficient for the Medium preset at 4K, where the card achieves 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. However, the Ultra preset at 4K falls to 40 FPS, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor when texture quality and shading complexity increase.

At 1440p, the GPU's performance scales more gracefully. The Low preset produces 151 FPS, which drops to 115 FPS on Medium and 97 FPS on High. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 74 FPS, showing that the card can maintain playable rates at this resolution across all settings. The 1080p results are consistently high, with 234 FPS on Low, 179 FPS on Medium, 150 FPS on High, and 115 FPS on Ultra.

The GPU's 19th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it below the midpoint, yet the measured frame rates in Minimum show it can handle the game's demands at most resolutions and settings. The 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 2,913 puts it in a tight cluster with its nearest rivals, all within 0.7% of each other, suggesting that the card's performance in this benchmark is representative of its class.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It uses the Raptor Lake architecture on Intel's 10 nm process, with a die size of 257 mm². The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it offers PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes for the CPU.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 234 FPS, which is 55 FPS higher than the 1080p Medium result of 179 FPS. This gap suggests that at Low settings, the game is heavily CPU-bound, and the i7-14700K's 28 threads and 5.60 GHz boost clock are able to push frame rates well beyond what the GPU alone would allow.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are demonstrated in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33,440.5, while its single-core performance is represented by a score of 2,160. In the Geekbench tests, the processor scores 20,767 in multi-core and 2,569 in single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score of 52,392 and single-thread score of 4,472 further quantify its processing power.

When comparing to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700K is essentially at parity with the AMD EPYC 9115, just 0.1% ahead. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is 0.2% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX is 0.7% faster. The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F leads by 0.9%. These small deltas indicate that the i7-14700K is competitive with top-tier alternatives, though not the absolute fastest in the database.

The processor's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs reflects its strong overall performance, and the measured frame rates in Minimum show that it does not bottleneck the GPU until very high frame rates are reached. At 1080p High, the combo produces 150 FPS, and the CPU's headroom is evident in the 234 FPS Low result.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset produces 234 FPS on average, while Medium drops to 179 FPS with a minimum of 152 FPS and a maximum of 206 FPS. High settings yield 150 FPS, and Ultra settles at 115 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 119 FPS spread, with each settings tier reducing performance by roughly 30-50 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show a clear reduction from 1080p. Low settings produce 151 FPS, which is 83 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium delivers 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS and a maximum of 133 FPS. High settings yield 97 FPS, and Ultra drops to 74 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 77 FPS, narrower than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution tested, the GPU begins to struggle with the higher settings. Low produces 81 FPS, Medium delivers 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS, High yields 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 41 FPS, the smallest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU is increasingly the limiting factor.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values across all resolutions, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 152-206 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it narrows to 98-133 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it contracts to 53-72 FPS. This tightening range suggests that as resolution increases, the frame rate becomes more stable but also lower.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a consistent pattern of frame rate reduction as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At the Low preset, 1080p produces 234 FPS, 1440p produces 151 FPS, and 4K produces 81 FPS. This represents a 35.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 46.4% additional drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 153 FPS, or 65.4%.

At the Medium preset, the scaling is similar but with slightly different proportions. The 179 FPS at 1080p falls to 115 FPS at 1440p, a 35.8% reduction, then to 62 FPS at 4K, a 46.1% further reduction. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 117 FPS, or 65.4%.

The High preset shows 150 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 46.4% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction is 98 FPS, or 65.3%.

The Ultra preset produces 115 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K. The drops are 35.7% and 45.9% respectively, with a total reduction of 75 FPS, or 65.2%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings suggests that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. The near-uniform reduction of roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's influence diminishes as pixel count increases.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of which preset offers the best experience for this combo. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 179 FPS with a minimum of 152 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the 150 FPS High result and the 115 FPS Ultra result. The Medium preset's minimum of 152 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes, making it the optimal choice at this resolution.

At 1440p, the Medium preset produces 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS, which remains above the 97 FPS High result. The High preset's average of 97 FPS is lower than Medium's minimum, indicating that Medium provides a more consistent experience. The Ultra preset at 74 FPS is playable but noticeably lower, and the Low preset at 151 FPS sacrifices visual quality for performance that may not be necessary given Medium's 115 FPS.

At 4K, the Medium preset yields 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS, which is above the 52 FPS High result and well above the 40 FPS Ultra result. The Low preset achieves 81 FPS, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the 19 FPS gain over Medium. The Medium preset's minimum of 53 FPS is close to the High average, suggesting that it offers the best balance of quality and performance at 4K.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the highest minimum frame rate relative to its average. The recorded minimum values of 152 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K show that Medium maintains a stable frame rate without the steep drops seen at High or Ultra. For players seeking the best experience, Medium is the recommended preset across all tested resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB combination ranks 1432nd out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 61.4th percentile of the tested pool. This rank reflects the GPU's 19th percentile standing among all GPUs, which drags down the overall position despite the CPU's 94th percentile ranking.

The CPU's strong performance is evident in its benchmark scores, with an average of 69,355 that places it just 0.1% above the AMD EPYC 9115 and within 0.9% of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 2,913 places it in a tight cluster with its nearest rivals, all within 0.7% of each other.

The measured frame rates in Minimum show that this combo is capable of high performance at lower resolutions, with 234 FPS at 1080p Low and 179 FPS at 1080p Medium. At 1440p, the combo remains strong, with 151 FPS on Low and 115 FPS on Medium. At 4K, the combo drops to 81 FPS on Low and 62 FPS on Medium, which is playable but below the thresholds for high-refresh-rate monitors.

The rank of 1432 out of 3712 indicates that this combo is above the median but not in the top tier. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample processing power, but the GPU's 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus limit its performance at higher resolutions. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates with the Medium preset.