Minimum

# Minimum with Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

This 2014 third-person shooter, running on a 2023 Intel Core i7-14700K paired with a 2025 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, delivers exceptional frame rates across all tested configurations. The data reveals a system that utterly dominates this title, with the lowest average FPS recorded at 63 (4K Ultra) still being comfortably playable. The combination of a 20-core, 28-thread CPU with a 16 GB GDDR7 GPU produces results that rank 209th out of 3,712 tested combos, placing it in the top percentile for this game. The benchmark results show a clear pattern: even at the most demanding settings, this pairing rarely breaks a sweat, making Minimum an excellent showcase for high-refresh-rate displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play this game at with this hardware?

A: The data shows excellent playability at all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, even Ultra settings produce 181 FPS average, while High settings reach 237 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, High settings still deliver 153 FPS average, and at 3840x2160, High settings maintain 82 FPS. For competitive play, 1080p Low hits 369 FPS average, while for visual quality, 4K High offers the best balance.

Q: How does the RTX 5080's 16 GB VRAM affect performance in Minimum?

A: With 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, the RTX 5080 has ample resources for this game. The measured frame rates show no signs of VRAM limitation, as even at 4K Ultra settings, the GPU maintains 63 FPS average. The high bandwidth and large memory pool ensure that texture streaming and asset loading at any resolution do not bottleneck performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the jump from Low to Ultra settings reduces average FPS from 238 to 117, a drop of 121 FPS. This represents about a 51% reduction in frame rate when maximizing visual quality. Medium settings sit at 182 FPS, while High produces 153 FPS, showing a fairly linear scaling with each settings tier.

Q: Is the i7-14700K a bottleneck for the RTX 5080 in this game?

A: Based on the benchmark data, the CPU does not appear to be a limiting factor. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads, with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, provide substantial processing power. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 369 FPS average, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. The CPU's passmark multithread score of 52,392 and single-thread score of 4,472 indicate strong performance for gaming workloads.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 209th out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 5.6% of all configurations. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, scores 2.2% higher in average benchmarks, while the CPU sits within 0.9% of its closest competitors. This ranking reflects the exceptional performance of both components working together.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 4K with different settings?

A: At 3840x2160, the measured results show: Low settings produce 128 FPS average, Medium yields 98 FPS (with min 83 and max 113), High delivers 82 FPS, and Ultra drops to 63 FPS. All configurations are playable, but the 65 FPS gap between Low and Ultra highlights the significant impact of settings at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. For players prioritizing competitive performance, 1080p Low delivers the highest frame rate at 369 FPS average, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. At this setting, the game runs at nearly four times the refresh rate of a standard 60 Hz display, ensuring minimal input lag.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, 1440p High appears to be the sweet spot. The 153 FPS average at this setting is well above the 144 Hz threshold common on gaming monitors, while High settings provide substantial visual improvements over Low. Medium settings at 1440p offer 182 FPS, which could be preferred for those seeking even higher frame rates without sacrificing too much visual fidelity.

At 4K, the recommendation depends on display capabilities. High settings at 82 FPS average are suitable for 60 Hz displays with headroom for frame drops, while Medium at 98 FPS provides a more comfortable margin. Ultra at 63 FPS is the most demanding option but remains playable on 60 Hz screens. For 4K 120 Hz displays, Low settings at 128 FPS are necessary to approach the refresh rate limit, though this sacrifices visual quality significantly. The data suggests that Medium at 4K offers the best compromise, with 98 FPS average and a minimum of 83 FPS ensuring consistent performance.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about system bottlenecks. At High settings, performance drops from 237 FPS at 1080p to 153 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and further to 82 FPS at 4K (a 65% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly stressed at higher resolutions, as expected with a 4x pixel count difference between 1080p and 4K.

Low settings show a similar trend: 369 FPS at 1080p drops to 238 FPS at 1440p (35% reduction) and 128 FPS at 4K (65% reduction). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that resolution scaling is primarily GPU-bound, with the CPU maintaining sufficient performance even at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 369 FPS without apparent CPU limitation indicates the i7-14700K is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution.

The data implies that 1440p is the most efficient resolution for this combo, offering a substantial visual upgrade over 1080p while retaining frame rates above 150 FPS at most settings. At 4K, the system still delivers playable performance, but the frame rate drops become more pronounced, particularly at Ultra settings where the average falls to 63 FPS. This suggests that for maximum frame rates, 1080p or 1440p are preferable, while 4K is viable for slower-paced gameplay or on displays with variable refresh rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show a wide range of performance across settings. Low settings produce the highest average at 369 FPS, followed by Medium at 283 FPS (with minimum 240 and maximum 325), High at 237 FPS, and Ultra at 181 FPS. The 188 FPS spread between Low and Ultra demonstrates the significant impact of graphical settings at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain impressive. Low settings deliver 238 FPS average, Medium yields 182 FPS (minimum 155, maximum 210), High produces 153 FPS, and Ultra maintains 117 FPS. The 121 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution shows that settings still have a substantial effect, though all configurations remain highly playable.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more demanding. Low settings achieve 128 FPS average, Medium drops to 98 FPS (minimum 83, maximum 113), High produces 82 FPS, and Ultra falls to 63 FPS. The 65 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is smaller in absolute terms than at lower resolutions, but the percentage difference is similar, indicating consistent scaling behavior. The Medium setting at 4K shows the only recorded minimum FPS values, suggesting that this configuration provides the most stable frame delivery in the data set.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080's specifications directly influence the measured performance in Minimum. With 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, the GPU has substantial raw processing power. The boost clock of 2617 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz provide high operating frequencies, while the 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 performance ensures rapid shader processing.

The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for handling high-resolution textures and assets. The memory clock of 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective) contributes to this impressive bandwidth figure. In Minimum, which dates from 2014, the VRAM requirements are modest, and the RTX 5080's memory subsystem provides far more bandwidth than necessary, eliminating any potential memory-related bottlenecks.

The GPU's 84 ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores, while not directly utilized by this older title, demonstrate the architectural advancement of the Blackwell 2.0 design. The 5 nm process node from TSMC, with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, enables the high clock speeds and efficiency seen in the benchmark results. The pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s provide theoretical maximums that align with the measured frame rates at various settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores, including a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8,637 and a Passmark G3D score of 36,565, position it well above the minimum requirements for this game. The percentile ranking of 87 among all GPUs indicates strong overall performance, though the nearest rivals show that the RTX 5080 sits in a competitive segment with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scoring 2.2% higher on average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K provides the processing foundation for this gaming configuration. With 20 cores and 28 threads, the CPU offers substantial multi-threading capability, while the boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures excellent single-thread performance. The base clock of 3.40 GHz provides a solid baseline, and the Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node delivers efficient operation.

The CPU's cache hierarchy, including 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache, helps reduce memory latency and improve game performance. The dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 allows flexibility in system configuration, while the PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes provides high-bandwidth connectivity to the GPU.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The benchmark results show that even at 1080p Low with 369 FPS average, the CPU keeps up with the GPU's output. The passmark single-thread score of 4,472 and multithread score of 52,392 indicate strong performance across both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 33,440.5 and single-core score of 2,160 further confirm the CPU's capability.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 94 among all CPUs places it in the top 6%, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% higher average score) and AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% higher). This competitive positioning means the i7-14700K provides ample processing power for Minimum, ensuring that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 209 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 5.6% of all configurations. This high ranking reflects the exceptional performance of both components, with the CPU ranking in the 94th percentile and the GPU in the 87th percentile among their respective categories.

The combo ranking suggests that this pairing is well-balanced for this game, with neither component significantly limiting the other. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, scores 2.2% higher in average benchmarks, while the AMD Radeon 8060S and RX 6750 GRE 12 GB score 0.6% and 0.7% lower respectively. This close grouping indicates that the RTX 5080 is competitively positioned, though the 2.2% gap to the RX 9070 GRE is notable.

On the CPU side, the i7-14700K's average benchmark score of 69,355 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69,288 (0.1% difference), while the Ryzen 9 7950X scores 0.2% higher at 69,515. This tight clustering means that CPU choice has minimal impact on overall system ranking in this game, as the GPU becomes the primary performance differentiator.

The rank of 209 out of 3,712 combos places this configuration in the upper echelon of tested systems, though the presence of 208 higher-ranked combos indicates that some pairings achieve even better performance. The measured FPS data shows that this combo delivers frame rates well above playability thresholds at all settings and resolutions, making it a top-tier choice for Minimum. The results demonstrate that both the i7-14700K and RTX 5080 contribute to a system that handles this game with considerable headroom, suitable for high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p and 1440p, and capable of smooth 4K gameplay at reduced settings.