Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that still gets played for its tight mechanics, and the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a strong, playable experience across all tested settings. The data shows a system that is clearly capable of handling the game, but the balance between CPU and GPU shifts dramatically depending on your resolution and quality targets. This analysis breaks down exactly what the measured FPS numbers mean for your build decisions, focusing on where the bottleneck lies and how the hardware components interact with this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K, highlighting the increasing load on the GPU as pixel count rises. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 229 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU is feeding frames faster than the display can likely show. Moving to 2560x1440 at Low, the average drops to 148 FPS, a reduction of approximately 35% from the 1080p figure, which is a substantial hit but still leaves plenty of headroom. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls further to 79 FPS, showing that even at the lowest settings, 4K demands significant GPU work.

This scaling tells a story about the limiting component. At 1080p, the system is primarily CPU-limited, as the i7-14700KF's 20 cores and 28 threads can push frame rates far beyond what the RTX 3070 can render at higher resolutions. The 229 FPS at 1080p Low reflects the CPU's strength, but it's a scenario where the GPU is not the bottleneck. As resolution increases to 1440p and then 4K, the GPU's role becomes more dominant. The 4K Low score of 79 FPS is less than half of the 1080p Low score, a drop that is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering workload, not CPU limitations.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution further confirms this. At 1080p, the difference between Low (229 FPS) and Ultra (112 FPS) is a 117 FPS gap, which is a massive range. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased visual complexity of Ultra settings, but the CPU is still pushing frames efficiently. However, at 4K, the gap between Low (79 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) narrows to 40 FPS, showing that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint; the absolute performance is lower, and the relative cost of higher settings is less pronounced because the GPU is already saturated.

The data suggests a practical recommendation: for 1080p and 1440p gaming, this combo is overkill in many scenarios, providing high refresh rate potential. For 4K, the system is still playable, but users will need to make significant compromises on settings to maintain smooth frame rates, as the RTX 3070's 8 GB of VRAM and its compute capabilities are pushed to their limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS the combo achieves in Minimum?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 229, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo drop below 60 FPS?

A: The combo drops below 60 FPS only at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, where the average FPS is 39. At 4K High, it maintains a 51 FPS average, and at 4K Medium, it reaches 61 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70163, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F's score of 69996. It also edges out the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875) by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515) by 0.9%, but it trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (70879) by -1%.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks in the 61st percentile among all tested GPUs, indicating it performs better than most but is not a top-tier part.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 148 on Low settings to 72 on Ultra settings, a difference of 76 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU have a higher or lower benchmark score than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070 has a higher benchmark score. Its average score is 17208, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT's score of 17083.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process. It features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The GPU's clock speeds are a base of 1500 MHz and a boost of 1725 MHz, which are the frequencies that dictate its raw processing throughput. The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a critical factor in Minimum, especially at higher resolutions and settings.

In the measured results, the GPU's role is clearly the limiting factor at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game, but the compute load at 3840x2160 is what drives the FPS down. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 39, which is a demanding scenario. The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 20.31 TFLOPS, which is a measure of its compute capability, and the pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s are the metrics that determine how quickly it can fill the screen. At 4K, these rates are saturated, leading to the lower scores.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context. Its Passmark G3D score is 22214, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3162. These numbers place it in the 61st percentile among all GPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, it is 0.7% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083), 1% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037), and 1.1% faster than the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019), but it is -1.5% slower than the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17468). This shows that while the RTX 3070 is a competent part, it is not at the top of the performance stack, and its limitations become apparent when pushing 4K high-quality settings in Minimum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of performance across resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the combo excels. Low settings yield an average of 229 FPS, which is the peak performance observed. Medium settings average 175 FPS, with a minimum of 149 FPS and a maximum of 201 FPS. High settings average 147 FPS, and Ultra settings average 112 FPS. This range shows that at 1080p, the system is highly capable of driving high refresh rate monitors, even at the highest quality preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but scales down with resolution. Low settings average 148 FPS. Medium settings average 113 FPS, with a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 130 FPS. High settings average 95 FPS, and Ultra settings average 72 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that the system is still well-suited for high-refresh gaming, though the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows compared to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the strain on the GPU becomes evident. Low settings average 79 FPS, which is playable but not exceptionally high. Medium settings average 61 FPS, with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. High settings average 51 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to an average of 39 FPS. The 4K results show that while the combo can handle the game, users will need to use Medium or Low settings to maintain a smooth 60 FPS experience. The jump from 1080p to 4K at any given setting represents a significant performance hit, confirming the GPU as the primary bottleneck at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination is ranked 1589 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the upper half of all systems tested. This ranking is a holistic measure of combined CPU and GPU performance in this specific game. The data indicates that this combo is not a top-tier powerhouse, but it is far from a weak pairing. The rank of 1589 suggests that there are many other combinations that perform better, likely those with more powerful GPUs, but it also means that this combo outperforms a majority of the 3712 tested systems.

The ranking is a direct result of the balance between the CPU and GPU. The i7-14700KF is a high-end processor with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the RTX 3070 is a mid-to-high-end GPU in the 61st percentile. The CPU's strength ensures that frame rates are not limited by processing power at lower resolutions, but the GPU's relative weakness compared to the CPU means that at 4K, the combo's overall ranking is dragged down by the GPU's inability to keep pace. In games like Minimum, which are not typically CPU-intensive, the GPU's role is more important, and the combo's rank reflects this balance.

Compared to other potential builds, this combo sits in a specific performance tier. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, have similar benchmark scores, but the GPU's performance is what differentiates this combo from others. The 1589 rank out of 3712 is a solid result, indicating that this is a reliable configuration for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with acceptable 4K performance at lower settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It features 33 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235. The Passmark multi-thread score is 52425, and the single-thread score is 4480. These numbers place the CPU in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, showing its strength in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. At 1080p, the CPU is not the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 229 FPS Low score. The high boost clock of 5.60 GHz is beneficial for the single-threaded performance that many games rely on, and the 28 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and any potential multi-threaded game engine features. The CPU's performance is so high that it is unlikely to be a limiting factor in this game at any resolution tested.

The CPU's memory support is also relevant. With dual-channel memory and support for DDR4 and DDR5, the system can be configured with high-speed memory, which can help reduce latency and improve frame pacing. However, the data does not specify the memory configuration used in the tests. The CPU's TDP is 125 W, which is a manageable figure for most cooling solutions. The CPU's benchmark comparison shows it is only 0.2% faster than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.4% faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, meaning that in terms of raw processing power, there is little difference between these top CPUs. This indicates that for Minimum, the choice of CPU among these high-end models will have minimal impact on the final FPS, as the GPU is the more significant factor in determining performance.