Minimum

Minimum, the 2014 third-person shooter, shows a remarkable performance ceiling with the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination. The benchmark data indicates that this pairing is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong single-threaded performance ensures extremely high frame rates at 1080p. The most balanced experience is achieved at Medium settings, which provides the best ratio of visual quality to frame rate stability across all tested resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that Medium settings offer the most compelling experience for this configuration. At 1080p, Medium produces 309 FPS average with a minimum of 262 FPS and maximum of 355 FPS, which is only 94 FPS lower than the Low preset's 403 FPS but delivers substantially better visual fidelity. The 47 FPS gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is relatively small compared to the 112 FPS difference between Medium and High, indicating that Medium captures most of the performance headroom while providing a meaningful graphical upgrade.

At 1440p, Medium again emerges as the sweet spot with 199 FPS average, 169 FPS minimum, and 229 FPS maximum. This represents a 61 FPS improvement over High settings (167 FPS) while maintaining a 72 FPS advantage over Ultra (127 FPS). The minimum frame rate of 169 FPS at Medium ensures smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes, whereas the High preset's average of 167 FPS leaves no such guarantee. For players prioritizing consistency, Medium at 1440p delivers the best combination of fluidity and visual quality.

The 4K results further reinforce Medium as the recommended preset. At 2160p, Medium produces 107 FPS average with 91 FPS minimum and 123 FPS maximum, comfortably above the 90 FPS achieved by High settings. The Low preset at 4K reaches 140 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant for only a 33 FPS gain over Medium. Ultra at 4K drops to 69 FPS, which falls below the 90 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a smooth experience. Medium at 4K provides the only settings level that maintains triple-digit averages while keeping minimums above 90 FPS.

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. This configuration, combined with 33 MB of shared L3 cache, provides substantial headroom for the game's engine. The CPU's single-threaded performance is particularly relevant here, as the benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 403 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 5090 well beyond typical display refresh rates.

The 1080p results across all settings illustrate the CPU's role in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the 403 FPS average indicates that the CPU can sustain extremely high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p (403 → 309 → 259 → 197 FPS) shows a steady decline that aligns with increasing GPU workload, suggesting the CPU maintains consistent throughput even as the GPU's rendering demands grow. The 20-core, 28-thread configuration ensures that any background processes or game threads have ample resources without competing with the main rendering pipeline.

The CPU's 94th percentile ranking among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 69,355, places it in the top tier of available hardware. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, scores 69,515, a mere 0.2% difference, while the AMD EPYC 9115 trails by 0.1%. This performance parity with leading chips confirms that the i7-14700K provides sufficient computational power to avoid limiting the RTX 5090 in Minimum, particularly at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 200 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Minimum with this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The data shows that 1440p at Medium settings provides the most balanced experience, delivering 199 FPS average with a 169 FPS minimum. This resolution maintains high frame rates while offering better visual clarity than 1080p, and the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory ensures no capacity constraints at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 79,842 on average, ranking in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. It sits 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605) and 0.6% ahead of the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396), while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X leads by 1.4% with a score of 80,959.

Q: Is the i7-14700K capable of maximizing the RTX 5090's performance in Minimum?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 403 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it maintains 197 FPS. These results indicate the CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock and strong single-threaded performance are sufficient to drive the GPU to very high frame rates, with the CPU ranking in the 94th percentile of all processors.

Q: What frame rate can players expect at 4K with this combination?

A: At 2160p, the measured results range from 69 FPS on Ultra to 140 FPS on Low. Medium settings provide 107 FPS average with a 91 FPS minimum, which represents the most playable configuration for 4K gaming, as Ultra falls below the 90 FPS threshold while Low sacrifices significant visual quality.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Minimum?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K with RTX 5090 ranks 80th out of 3,712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2% of all configurations evaluated for this game. This high ranking reflects the combination's ability to deliver exceptional performance across all resolution and settings combinations.

Q: Does the game scale well with the RTX 5090's compute capabilities?

A: The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth translate to measurable results: the 4K Medium preset achieves 107 FPS, while the 1080p Low preset reaches 403 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows consistent frame rate reductions, indicating the game utilizes the GPU's resources effectively across settings levels.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 80 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 97.8th percentile of all configurations. This exceptional ranking is driven by the GPU's dominant performance, as the RTX 5090 sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 79,842, while the CPU's 94th percentile ranking provides complementary strength.

The high rank is particularly notable given the game's age and the hardware's modern architecture. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus width deliver 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Minimum's 2014-era rendering requirements. This headroom means the combo's ranking is likely limited by game engine constraints rather than hardware capabilities, as evidenced by the 403 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low.

Among the 3,712 tested combinations, this pairing outperforms 3,632 other configurations, demonstrating that it belongs to the elite tier of gaming setups. The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% slower) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% slower), but these competitors lack the RTX 5090's modern feature set and driver optimizations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 309 FPS, which drops to 199 FPS at 1440p Medium (a 35.6% reduction) and further to 107 FPS at 2160p Medium (a 65.4% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is consistent with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU maintains sufficient throughput to feed the rendering pipeline.

The Low preset shows even more pronounced resolution scaling: 403 FPS at 1080p drops to 260 FPS at 1440p (35.5% reduction) and 140 FPS at 2160p (65.3% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at higher resolutions, rather than any CPU-side constraint.

At 4K, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows to 71 FPS (140 vs 69 FPS), compared to the 206 FPS gap at 1080p (403 vs 197 FPS). This compression of performance differences at higher resolutions is typical of GPU-bound scenarios, where the rendering workload dominates and settings have proportionally less impact on overall frame rate. The RTX 5090's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth appears sufficient for 4K rendering, as the Medium preset maintains 107 FPS average with a 91 FPS minimum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its highest frame rates. The Low preset achieves 403 FPS average, Medium produces 309 FPS with a minimum of 262 FPS and maximum of 355 FPS, High reaches 259 FPS, and Ultra maintains 197 FPS. The progression shows that each settings tier costs approximately 50-90 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (50 FPS).

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong across all settings. Low achieves 260 FPS, Medium produces 199 FPS with 169 FPS minimum and 229 FPS maximum, High delivers 167 FPS, and Ultra maintains 127 FPS. The 1440p results show a similar relative scaling to 1080p, with Medium providing the best minimum-to-average ratio for consistent gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes more demanding. Low reaches 140 FPS, Medium produces 107 FPS with 91 FPS minimum and 123 FPS maximum, High achieves 90 FPS, and Ultra drops to 69 FPS. The 4K Medium preset is the only configuration that maintains both triple-digit average FPS and a minimum above 90 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming with this hardware combination.