Minimum

# Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for this Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination in Minimum shows a clear scaling pattern from 1080p through 1440p to 4K. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 356 FPS at 1920x1080 to 230 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 124 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 35% reduction going from 1080p to 1440p, and another 46% reduction going from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear — the pixel count increase from 1080p to 4K is roughly fourfold, but the frame rate only drops by about 65%. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is playing a significant role in limiting performance, while at 4K the GPU becomes the dominant constraint.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers: 273 FPS at 1080p, 176 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K. The 4K result includes a measured minimum of 80 FPS and maximum of 109 FPS, showing some variance but no severe hitches. At High settings, the numbers drop further: 229 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The step from 1440p to 4K at High settings is a 47% reduction, which is consistent with the Low setting pattern.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic resolution scaling: 174 FPS at 1080p, 112 FPS at 1440p, and 61 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS average, landing at 61 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is 46%, again consistent. What this tells us is that the RTX 4080 is the primary limiter at 4K regardless of settings — the difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 63 FPS (from 124 to 61), which is a substantial gap that reflects the GPU's workload scaling with quality settings.

At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is much larger: 356 FPS versus 174 FPS, a difference of 182 FPS. This wider spread at lower resolution suggests that the CPU has enough headroom to push higher frame rates when the GPU workload is reduced, but the GPU still matters even at 1080p. The data suggests that for this game, the i7-14700KF is capable of feeding the RTX 4080 well up to around 350 FPS at Low settings, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases.

The 1440p results sit in a sweet spot: at High settings, 148 FPS is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors, and even at Ultra, 112 FPS remains playable. At 4K, the High setting at 79 FPS is the best balance for smooth gameplay, while Ultra's 61 FPS is borderline for high-refresh displays. The scaling data indicates that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, slightly GPU-limited at 4K, and CPU-marginally-limited at 1080p only at the very highest frame rates.

# FAQ

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

A: The 2560x1440 resolution offers the best balance of performance and visual quality. At High settings, it delivers 148 FPS average, which is well above 144 Hz. At Ultra, it still maintains 112 FPS, making it fully playable. At 4K, High settings drop to 79 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh monitors.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 sufficient for 4K gaming in this title?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the average is 79 FPS, and at Medium it is 95 FPS. At Ultra, it drops to 61 FPS, which is just above 60 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS experience, Medium or High settings at 4K are the safe choices.

Q: Does the i7-14700KF bottleneck the RTX 4080 at 1080p?

A: At Low settings, 1080p produces 356 FPS, which is extremely high. The fact that this is far above what most displays can show suggests the CPU is not a practical bottleneck at 1080p for normal use. However, the 46% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings indicates the GPU becomes more limiting as resolution rises.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Medium averages 176 FPS with a minimum of 149 and maximum of 202. Ultra averages 112 FPS. The difference is 64 FPS, or roughly 36% lower performance at Ultra compared to Medium.

Q: Is the CPU's 20-core / 28-thread configuration relevant for this game?

A: Minimum is a Third-Person Shooter from 2014, and the data shows very high frame rates even at 4K. The 20 cores and 28 threads are far more than this game can utilize, but the high single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6235) likely contributes to the strong 1080p results.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 246th out of 3712 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top 7% of all tested systems. The RTX 4080's percentile of 86 among all GPUs and the i7-14700KF's percentile of 94 among all CPUs both contribute to this high ranking.

# How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 pairing in Minimum is 246 out of 3712 tested combinations. That places it in the top 6.6% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The CPU's percentile of 94 among all CPUs means it outperforms 94% of all processors in the benchmark database, while the GPU's percentile of 86 indicates it beats 86% of all graphics cards.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each component helps contextualize this ranking. The CPU's closest competitor is the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, which scores 69996 on average — a delta of just 0.2% compared to the i7-14700KF's average benchmark score of 70163. This effectively means these two CPUs perform identically in synthetic benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX is also close at 0.4% behind, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X trails by 0.9%. Interestingly, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K leads the i7-14700KF by 1% in average score, showing that newer Intel silicon has a slight edge in general compute.

For the GPU, the RTX 4080's nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209 on average — a delta of only 0.1% ahead. This makes sense given the architectural similarity. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% behind, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and AMD Radeon 8060S are 2.6% and 2.7% behind respectively. The RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54247 puts it in a tight cluster with these rivals, meaning real-world game performance differences will be minor.

The combo rank of 246 out of 3712 indicates that there are 245 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely featuring newer or higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4090 or RTX 5080. However, for a game released in 2014, this combo is massively overqualified — the 4K High result of 79 FPS is far above what most systems could achieve at launch. The ranking reflects both component strength and the game's relatively low demands, making this combo one of the top performers in the database.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on your display's refresh rate and resolution. At 1080p, all settings are playable, but Low delivers 356 FPS, Medium delivers 273 FPS, High delivers 229 FPS, and Ultra delivers 174 FPS. If you have a 240 Hz monitor, Low or Medium settings will saturate it. For a 144 Hz display at 1080p, even Ultra at 174 FPS is sufficient, so you can maximize quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, High settings at 148 FPS is the recommended choice for 144 Hz displays. Medium at 176 FPS offers more headroom if you prefer higher frame rates, while Ultra at 112 FPS is still above 100 FPS and acceptable for most gamers. Low at 230 FPS is excessive unless you have a 240 Hz+ monitor, which is rare at 1440p. The Medium setting's minimum of 149 FPS is also solid, ensuring no dips below the 144 Hz threshold.

At 4K, the recommendations change significantly. High settings at 79 FPS is the best balance for 60 Hz displays, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium at 95 FPS is even better if you want extra headroom, with a minimum of 80 FPS ensuring no drops below 60. Ultra at 61 FPS is technically playable but leaves almost no margin for demanding scenes — the data shows no minimum for Ultra, but the average is close to the 60 FPS line. Low at 124 FPS is an option for high-refresh 4K monitors, but it sacrifices visual quality.

The overall best experience across all resolutions is the Medium preset at 1440p, which delivers 176 FPS average with a 149 FPS minimum. This combination of high frame rate, low variance, and decent visual quality represents the sweet spot for this hardware. If you prioritize visual fidelity, High at 1440p (148 FPS) or High at 4K (79 FPS) are both strong choices depending on your display.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 356 FPS, Medium produces 273 FPS with a minimum of 232 and maximum of 313, High produces 229 FPS, and Ultra produces 174 FPS. The Medium setting's variance — 81 FPS between minimum and maximum — is notable, suggesting some scenes are more demanding than others. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 182 FPS, which is the largest absolute spread across all resolutions.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 230 FPS, Medium at 176 FPS with a minimum of 149 and maximum of 202, High at 148 FPS, and Ultra at 112 FPS. The Medium setting's variance here is 53 FPS, smaller than at 1080p but still present. The step from Low to Medium is 54 FPS, from Medium to High is 28 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 36 FPS. This shows diminishing returns as you increase settings, with the largest drop occurring between Low and Medium.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 124 FPS, Medium at 95 FPS with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 109, High at 79 FPS, and Ultra at 61 FPS. The Medium setting's variance is 29 FPS, the smallest of all resolutions, indicating more consistent frame pacing at 4K. The drop from Low to Medium is 29 FPS, from Medium to High is 16 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 18 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at each setting is consistent: a 46-47% reduction in average FPS.

The data shows that the RTX 4080 maintains playable frame rates at 4K across all settings, with Ultra just barely staying above 60 FPS. The minimum FPS values are only provided for Medium settings, but those values — 232 at 1080p, 149 at 1440p, and 80 at 4K — indicate that the Medium preset has acceptable frame pacing without severe drops. The overall pattern is that this combo delivers high frame rates at every resolution, with 4K Ultra being the only configuration that approaches the 60 FPS threshold.

# 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. Its benchmark scores are impressive: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 44167, while single-core hits 6235. Geekbench multi-core scores 21462 and single-core 2578. These numbers place the CPU in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 94% of processors in the database.

For a game like Minimum, released in 2014, the CPU's role is primarily about delivering high single-thread performance to feed the GPU. The game's age means it likely does not utilize more than a few cores, so the 20-core configuration is largely irrelevant for this title. However, the high boost clock of 5.60 GHz and the strong single-core Cinebench R23 score of 6235 suggest excellent per-thread performance, which is what drives the 1080p frame rates.

The PassMark results provide additional context: multi-thread score of 52425, single-thread score of 4480, and physics score of 2961. These benchmark values indicate a processor that excels at both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads, though the latter is not needed for Minimum. The CPU's percentile of 94 and its proximity to rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% difference in average score) show that it is a top-tier performer, even if the game does not fully utilize its capabilities.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 356 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game. The fact that 4K Low still hits 124 FPS suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck even at higher resolutions — the GPU takes over as the limiting factor. This is the expected behavior for a modern high-end CPU paired with a high-end GPU in an older title: the CPU provides ample headroom, and the GPU's rendering capabilities determine the final frame rate. The i7-14700KF's launch MSRP of $384 positions it as a high-end desktop processor, and its performance in this game confirms that it will not hold back the RTX 4080 in any scenario.