Minimum

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a dominant performance in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter from 2014. The benchmark data shows this combination is exceptionally well-suited for high-refresh-rate displays, with the only meaningful frame rate limitations appearing at 4K Ultra settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, examines the roles of the CPU and GPU, and contextualizes the combo’s standing among thousands of other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, indicating where the system’s bottleneck shifts. At 1080p, the combo is wildly overpowered for this title. With Low settings, the average FPS hits 354, and even at High settings, it maintains a robust 228 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed frames, but the sheer headroom means the experience is fluid regardless of settings.

Moving to 1440p, the performance remains stellar but shows the first signs of GPU dependency. The average FPS at Low settings is 228, dropping to 147 at High and 112 at Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at High settings shows a 35.5% drop (from 228 to 147 FPS), which is substantial but expected as pixel count increases. At Ultra settings, the gap narrows between 1440p (112 FPS) and 1080p (173 FPS), a 35.3% reduction, showing that the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as the workload intensifies.

The jump to 4K (3840x2160) confirms the GPU-bound nature of high-resolution gaming. At 4K High, the average FPS drops to 79, which is a 46.3% reduction from the 1440p High result. This is a massive performance hit, but it still provides a smooth experience for a shooter. The most demanding scenario, 4K Ultra, brings the average down to exactly 60 FPS. This is the only point in the dataset where the combo dips to the edge of what is considered ideal for competitive play, though it remains perfectly playable for a standard single-player or casual multiplayer experience.

The data shows a distinct transition point. From 1080p to 1440p, the scaling is steep, suggesting the CPU’s headroom is being utilized to maintain high frame rates. From 1440p to 4K, the scaling is even more aggressive, confirming that the RTX 4080 SUPER’s rendering capabilities are the definitive bottleneck. The 4K Low setting result of 123 FPS shows that even at the highest resolution, the hardware can be pushed to high refresh rates if visual fidelity is sacrificed, proving the GPU has immense raw power that is only fully utilized at lower resolutions or settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the driving force behind the high-resolution performance. Its specifications are formidable: 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU is based on the AD103 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process by TSMC. With 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, it is a compute monster. The chip’s boost clock is rated at 2550 MHz, with a base clock of 2295 MHz.

In Minimum, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this 2014 title, even at 4K Ultra. The game’s textures and geometry are unlikely to exceed 8 GB, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor. The bottleneck is purely the GPU’s compute and fillrate capabilities. The 4K Ultra average of 60 FPS aligns with the GPU’s raw performance metrics; the pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are being fully taxed by the 4K resolution.

The GPU’s benchmark scores corroborate its strong standing. It holds a percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54209. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, is statistically identical, with a deltaPct of -0.1%. This indicates that the SUPER variant offers a marginal performance uplift in synthetic tests, a difference that is within the margin of error. The data shows that the GPU is the clear limiter at 4K, as the frame rates scale linearly with the workload. At 1080p Low, where the CPU can keep up, the GPU is underutilized, but at 4K Ultra, it is running at its maximum capacity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 354 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: Yes, it can. At 4K High settings, the average frame rate is 79 FPS. At 4K Ultra, it averages exactly 60 FPS, which is still within the playable range for most users.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69355. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 9115, scores 69288, a delta of 0.1%. The Intel chip is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which has a deltaPct of -0.2%.

Q: What is the GPU’s position relative to all other tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it outperforms 86% of the competition.

Q: Is there a significant performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the difference is noticeable. At 1440p High, the average FPS is 147, while at Ultra, it drops to 112, a 23.8% reduction in performance.

Q: What is the only scenario where the combo fails to maintain a high refresh rate?

A: The only scenario where the average FPS drops to 60 is at 4K resolution with Ultra settings. All other tested combinations of resolution and settings produce frame rates above 79 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific game Minimum, this configuration of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks at position 311 out of 3712 tested combos. This places it in the top 8.4% of all systems tested, a very strong result. This high rank demonstrates that the pairing is exceptionally well-balanced for this title.

The rank is likely influenced by the game’s age and the sheer power of the components. While the CPU and GPU are individually in the top percentile of their respective categories, the rank of 311 out of 3712 suggests that there are a few combinations that edge it out, likely those with the absolute top-tier components like the RTX 4090 or newer generation CPUs. However, for a 2014 game, this combo is overkill for most scenarios, and the rank reflects that it is near the top of the heap, ensuring maximum performance in Minimum. The data is measured, not estimated, which adds confidence to this ranking.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K serves as the central processor, and its capabilities are crucial for feeding the GPU at lower resolutions. It features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high boost clock is essential for single-threaded performance, which is often the limiting factor in older games like Minimum that may not be heavily multithreaded. The CPU has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, ensuring fast access to frequently used data.

The CPU’s benchmark results show its immense power. It achieves a multi-core score of 33440.5 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 2160. In Geekbench, it scores 20767 multi-core and 2569 single-core. The Passmark multithread score is 52392, and the single-thread score is 4472. These scores place the CPU in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355. Its nearest rival is the AMD EPYC 9115 with a score of 69288, a negligible 0.1% difference. This indicates that the i7-14700K is at the very top of the performance stack.

In Minimum, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p. The 354 FPS average at Low settings reflects the CPU’s ability to process game logic and draw calls without bottlenecking the GPU. Even at 4K, the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is. This is evidenced by the fact that the frame rate still scales with resolution, which is a GPU-bound behavior. The CPU is powerful enough to handle the game’s demands at any resolution, leaving the GPU as the sole determinant of frame rate at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across all settings and resolutions.

1920x1080:

• Low: The average FPS is 354. This is the highest score recorded and shows the absolute ceiling of the CPU/GPU combination.
• Medium: The average FPS is 271, with a minimum of 230 and a maximum of 312.
• High: The average FPS is 228.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 173.

2560x1440:

• Low: The average FPS is 228.
• Medium: The average FPS is 175, with a minimum of 149 and a maximum of 201.
• High: The average FPS is 147.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 112.

3840x2160:

• Low: The average FPS is 123.
• Medium: The average FPS is 94, with a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 108.
• High: The average FPS is 79.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 60.

The data reveals a consistent hierarchy. At each resolution, Low settings provide the highest frame rate, followed by Medium, then High, and finally Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 181 FPS (354 vs 173). At 1440p, the difference is 116 FPS (228 vs 112). At 4K, the difference narrows to 63 FPS (123 vs 60). This is because at lower resolutions, the CPU is the primary driver, and the difference in settings affects the GPU load. At 4K, the GPU is already saturated, so the relative impact of settings is smaller, though still significant. The minimum FPS values for Medium settings across all resolutions remain high, indicating a stable experience without major frame drops, which is critical for a third-person shooter.