Minimum

Launched in 2014, Minimum is a Third-Person Shooter that remains a useful stress point for modern hardware. The data for the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT combination reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card in most scenarios, though the processor’s headroom becomes apparent at lower settings and resolutions. The measured results show a wide performance envelope, from a demanding 29.3 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 177.2 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the experience is entirely dependent on the user’s chosen balance of visual fidelity and frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if I want a 60 FPS experience?

A: At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 89.3 FPS, while the High preset achieves 75 FPS. Even the 4K Low preset reaches 60.9 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1080p produces an average of 85.4 FPS, which is 28.2 FPS lower than the High preset’s 113.6 FPS. This represents a significant performance cost for the extra visual effects.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. For instance, moving from 1080p High (113.6 FPS) to 4K High (38.2 FPS) shows a drastic drop, while the CPU’s 24 cores and 32 threads are far from being fully utilized.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this specific combination?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 177.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming at any settings?

A: Yes, but with compromises. The 4K Low preset averages 60.9 FPS, which is playable, but the Medium preset drops to 49 FPS, and the High and Ultra presets fall to 38.2 FPS and 29.3 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems for this game?

A: The combination ranks 1134th out of 1733 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database for Minimum.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the engine driving the visuals, and its specifications show why it struggles at higher loads. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. Its boost clock of 2635 MHz and 2048 shading units are the workhorses for this game’s rendering. The data suggests that the 4K and Ultra settings exceed what this GPU can comfortably handle. The 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s are taxed heavily at 3840x2160.

The GPU’s performance percentile of 72 versus all GPUs suggests a mid-range capability, which is reflected in the measured results. The 4K Ultra average of 29.3 FPS is a clear sign that the card is overwhelmed by the combined resolution and settings load. In contrast, the 1080p Low result of 177.2 FPS shows that when the GPU workload is reduced, the card can deliver very high frame rates. The RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process with 11,060 million transistors, provides a solid foundation, but the 128-bit memory interface is a limiting factor for high-resolution textures. The difference between the 4K Medium (49 FPS) and 4K Low (60.9 FPS) presets highlights how sensitive the card is to memory bandwidth and shader load.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target display resolution and frame rate priority. For 1080p, the High preset is the most balanced choice, delivering 113.6 FPS and providing a substantial visual upgrade over the Low preset (177.2 FPS) without the harsh performance penalty of Ultra (85.4 FPS). The Medium preset offers 135.6 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors if the visual downgrade from High is acceptable. At 1440p, the High preset stands out with 75 FPS, a solid playable frame rate that maintains good image quality. The Medium preset at 89.3 FPS is also a strong option, but it trades away some shadows and effects.

For 4K displays, the choice is much more constrained. The only preset that achieves a 60 FPS average is Low, at 60.9 FPS. This is a significant visual compromise, sacrificing most of the game’s detail. The Medium preset at 49 FPS is not smooth enough for many players, and the High and Ultra presets at 38.2 and 29.3 FPS, respectively, are not recommended for a responsive experience. Therefore, for 4K, the data suggests that the Low preset is the only viable choice for playable performance, while 1080p and 1440p users can comfortably use High or Medium settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance scale is clear: Low settings produce an average of 177.2 FPS, Medium produces 135.6 FPS, High produces 113.6 FPS, and Ultra produces 85.4 FPS. This represents a 91.8 FPS difference between the lowest and highest settings. The 1440p results follow a similar pattern but at lower absolute values. The Low preset averages 111.9 FPS, Medium averages 89.3 FPS, High averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 55 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 56.9 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses under the load. The Low preset manages 60.9 FPS, but the Medium preset falls to 49 FPS, the High preset to 38.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset to 29.3 FPS. The variance between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 31.6 FPS. The data shows a consistent scaling pattern across all resolutions, with the High preset acting as a middle ground that balances visual quality and frame rate. The Low preset is always the fastest, and the Ultra preset is always the slowest, confirming that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a massive performance drop that points directly at the GPU as the bottleneck. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 113.6 at 1080p to 75 at 1440p, a 34% reduction, and then to 38.2 at 4K, a 66% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline is characteristic of a system where the graphics card’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are saturated by the increasing pixel count. The 8 GB frame buffer and 280.3 GB/s bandwidth are simply not enough to maintain high throughput at 3840x2160.

The scaling is slightly less severe at Low settings. The 1080p Low average is 177.2 FPS, which drops to 111.9 FPS at 1440p and 60.9 FPS at 4K. This still represents a 65.6% drop from 1080p to 4K, showing that even with minimal visual effects, the resolution increase overwhelms the GPU. The fact that the CPU’s performance is not the limiting factor is evident because the frame rate scales consistently with the GPU workload. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would plateau regardless of resolution. Instead, the continuous decline from 1080p to 4K confirms that the Radeon RX 6650 XT is the component holding the system back at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is an extremely powerful processor, but its role in Minimum is largely to stay out of the way. With 24 cores and 32 threads, a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, and a 36 MB L3 cache, it has far more processing power than this game requires. The benchmark scores reflect this dominance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. The PassMark single-thread score of 4697 indicates excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics that are often single-threaded.

However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU’s potential is not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 177.2 FPS, which is high but not a maximum for this CPU. The performance difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low (177.2 FPS vs. 60.9 FPS) is entirely due to the GPU workload, not the CPU. The i9-14900K’s 125W TDP and 10 nm process (Raptor Lake) provide ample headroom, but the game simply does not create enough CPU load to challenge it. The CPU’s 97th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms its top-tier status, yet in this specific game, its power is mostly untapped, as the GPU becomes the performance ceiling long before the CPU is saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Minimum, this pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 1134th out of 1733 combos. This places it in the 35th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it is far from the worst, it is also not a high-performance combination for this specific title. The high-end CPU is paired with a mid-range GPU, and the ranking reflects that imbalance. The GPU’s 72nd percentile performance versus all GPUs is the more relevant metric, as it is the performance limiter.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7413 and Intel Core i9-14900KF, have nearly identical average benchmark scores, with delta percentages of -0.3% and 0.7%, respectively. This shows that the i9-14900K’s processing power is on par with other top-tier chips, but that raw CPU power does not translate into a high ranking in this game. The GPU’s rivals, like the AMD Radeon RX 6800M and Intel Arc A370M, also have similar average scores, with deltas of 0% and -0.5%. This suggests that the RX 6650 XT’s performance level is well-established, and the combo’s low ranking is a direct result of the GPU’s limitations in Minimum, rather than any deficiency in the CPU. The data clearly shows a system where the processor is overqualified for the task, and the graphics card defines the overall experience.