Minimum

# Minimum — Intel Core i7-14700KF + Intel Arc B570

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. Measured frame rates show this combination sits near the lower-middle of the database, ranking 2336th out of 2939 tested combos. The data reveals a system where the GPU becomes the primary performance arbiter as resolution climbs, while the CPU's substantial multi-threaded capacity remains largely untapped by this title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, pointing squarely at the GPU as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 145 FPS at 1920x1080 to 94 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 50 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 35% loss moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% loss moving from 1440p to 4K. The pattern is similar at Medium: 111 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K — a 65% total reduction from the lowest to highest resolution.

High settings show the same trajectory: 93 FPS at 1080p, 60 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, starting at 71 FPS at 1080p and dropping to 46 FPS at 1440p, then collapsing to 25 FPS at 4K. Notably, the 4K-to-1440p ratio across all settings is remarkably consistent — roughly 0.53 to 0.54 of the 1440p value — which suggests the rendering pipeline scales predictably with pixel count. This linearity indicates the Arc B570's memory bandwidth and shading throughput are the bottlenecks, not the CPU or driver overhead.

The fact that 4K Low (50 FPS) barely outperforms 1440p Ultra (46 FPS) is telling. It implies that even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot overcome the pixel-count penalty at 4K. Conversely, at 1080p, even Ultra settings achieve 71 FPS, well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This suggests that for 1080p displays, the GPU has headroom; for 4K, it does not. The data implies a classic GPU-bound scenario where resolution scaling is the dominant variable, with settings adjustments providing secondary, smaller gains.

FAQ

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

A: Based on measured data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings exceed 60 FPS on average. At 2560x1440, only Low (94 FPS) and Medium (72 FPS) clear that bar. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS; the highest average is 50 FPS at Low.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for fluid motion. It is comparable to the 4K Low result of 50 FPS, indicating that the GPU is equally stressed by high settings at 1440p as it is by low settings at 4K.

Q: Is there a large gap between Medium and High settings?

A: The gap is moderate. At 1080p, Medium averages 111 FPS versus 93 FPS for High, a 19% difference. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 20% (72 vs 60 FPS). At 4K, the difference is 22% (39 vs 32 FPS). The relative penalty for High over Medium grows slightly with resolution.

Q: What does the 4K Medium min/max range tell us?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the measured minimum is 33 FPS and maximum is 44 FPS, with an average of 39 FPS. The narrow 11 FPS spread suggests consistent frame pacing rather than occasional stutters, which is a positive sign for a GPU at its limit.

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

A: The combo ranks 2336th out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the lower 21% of the database. This is consistent with the measured FPS, which are playable at 1080p but struggle at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at any point?

A: The data does not show CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 145 FPS, which is high but not extreme. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect similar FPS across resolutions at the same settings; instead, FPS falls consistently with resolution, a hallmark of GPU limitation.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the decisive component in these results. Its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a 1080p-focused card but insufficient for 4K in this title. The 2304 shading units and 144 texture mapping units, paired with 80 raster output units, generate a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. These figures explain the measured scaling: the GPU's raw throughput is taxed heavily as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

Clock speeds are fixed at 2500 MHz for both base and boost, which means the card does not have dynamic headroom to compensate under load. The 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 23.04 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1) are respectable for the card's class, but the observed 4K performance — 25 FPS at Ultra — indicates that memory bandwidth and fill rate are the limiting factors in Minimum's rendering path. The GPU's percentile ranking of 65th among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556, places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% faster) and Intel Arc A750 (0.1% slower).

The 150 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface are noteworthy. The x8 bus width could theoretically limit data transfer in CPU-bound scenarios, but the measured resolution scaling suggests this is not a factor here. The 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, deliver the efficiency needed for sustained gaming. In Minimum, the GPU's role is clear: it provides smooth 1080p performance across all settings, acceptable 1440p performance at Low and Medium, and falls short at 4K regardless of settings.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 2336 out of 2939 in Minimum, this system sits in the 21st percentile of tested configurations. This is a low ranking, but it must be interpreted in context: the i7-14700KF is a high-end CPU, while the Arc B570 is a mid-range GPU. The ranking reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. Among all GPUs, the Arc B570 ranks in the 65th percentile, meaning it outperforms most discrete cards but lags behind higher-tier options. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a mid-tier GPU produces a lopsided system where the GPU is the clear performance ceiling.

The nearest GPU rivals — the RTX 3070 Mobile, Arc A750, Quadro M4000M, and Radeon R9 M390X — all have average scores within 0.5% of the Arc B570. This suggests that any of these GPUs would produce nearly identical results in Minimum at the same settings. The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals like the Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% faster) and Ryzen 9 7950X (0.9% slower) indicating a tightly packed top tier. The mismatch between CPU and GPU performance tiers explains why the combo ranks so low: the CPU's potential is wasted in this GPU-bound scenario, and the overall system performance is dragged down by the GPU's 4K weakness.

The data implies that upgrading the GPU would yield disproportionate gains in Minimum, while upgrading the CPU would provide almost no benefit. The combo's rank is a function of the GPU's mid-range status, not a reflection of poor engineering or driver issues.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080 displays, the Ultra preset is the best choice. It averages 71 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, and the visual quality improvement over High (93 FPS) is likely worth the 24% performance cost. If the user prefers maximum smoothness, Low at 145 FPS offers nearly double the frame rate, but the visual trade-off is severe. Medium at 111 FPS is a balanced middle ground.

For 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. Low at 94 FPS is the only preset that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium at 72 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. High at 60 FPS is exactly at the threshold, which may result in occasional dips below 60 FPS in intense moments. Ultra at 46 FPS is not recommended for competitive play, though it could be acceptable for slower, exploration-focused segments.

For 3840x2160, the data is unambiguous: Low at 50 FPS is the only preset that approaches playability. Medium at 39 FPS, High at 32 FPS, and Ultra at 25 FPS are all below the minimum for smooth gameplay. Users with 4K displays should either accept Low settings or consider reducing the resolution to 1440p, where the experience is significantly better. The measured min/max at 4K Medium (33-44 FPS) shows a tight range, but even the maximum is below 45 FPS.

The overall recommendation is 1080p Ultra for the best balance of visual quality and performance, or 1440p Low/Medium if higher resolution is preferred. 4K is viable only at Low settings and even then, the experience is marginal.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings is well-supported. Low averages 145 FPS, Medium averages 111 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS and maximum of 128 FPS, High averages 93 FPS, and Ultra averages 71 FPS. All presets exceed 60 FPS on average, making 1080p the sweet spot for this combo.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low averages 94 FPS, Medium averages 72 FPS with a range of 61 to 82 FPS, High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 46 FPS. Only Low and Medium maintain averages above 60 FPS, and High sits exactly at the threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmed. Low averages 50 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS with a range of 33 to 44 FPS, High averages 32 FPS, and Ultra averages 25 FPS. No settings achieve 60 FPS, and even the best case (Low) is below the commonly accepted playability standard.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each settings tier costs roughly 20-25% of frame rate relative to the tier below it, regardless of resolution. The resolution penalty is steeper: moving from 1080p to 1440p costs about 35-38% of frame rate, and moving from 1440p to 4K costs an additional 45-48%. This compounding effect means that 4K Ultra (25 FPS) is less than one-fifth of 1080p Low (145 FPS).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1700 platform. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz boosts to 5.60 GHz, and it features a substantial 33 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive: 44167 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 6235 in single-core, and 52425 in Passmark multithread. It ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70163.

However, in Minimum, the CPU's capabilities are largely irrelevant. The measured FPS scale with resolution in a way that is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 145 FPS, which is high but not indicative of CPU limitation — a CPU-bound title would show similar FPS at all resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops consistently from 1080p to 1440p to 4K, confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and 10 nm process (Intel's designation for Raptor Lake) are secondary factors. The 257 mm² die size and 80 KB L1 cache per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 33 MB shared L3 are architectural details that do not translate into measurable advantages in this title. The nearest CPU rivals — Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% faster), Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.4% faster), and Ryzen 9 7950X (0.9% slower) — are all within 1% of the i7-14700KF's average score, indicating that any of these CPUs would perform identically in Minimum. The processor's role in this combo is to provide ample headroom so that the GPU is never starved for data; it does not contribute to frame rate differences beyond ensuring the GPU can reach its maximum potential. For a 2014 game like Minimum, the CPU's modern multi-core architecture is massively over-provisioned, and the data shows no scenario where CPU performance limits the experience.