Minimum

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

The measured FPS data for Minimum tells a clear story about how this combination of an Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 behaves as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 140 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p Low drops that to 90 FPS, a reduction of 50 FPS, and then 4K Low comes in at 49 FPS. The scaling pattern is steep and consistent, which points directly at the GPU as the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

Looking at the High preset, the trend continues. At 1080p, the system produces 90 FPS, at 1440p it manages 58 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 31 FPS. The percentage drops are substantial: moving from 1080p to 1440p loses roughly 35% of the frame rate, and moving from 1440p to 4K loses nearly another 47%. This is a classic sign that the GTX 1070's rendering throughput is being saturated long before the i9-14900K's processing capabilities come into play.

The Ultra preset reinforces this interpretation. The 1080p Ultra result is 68 FPS, 1440p Ultra drops to 44 FPS, and 4K Ultra bottoms out at 24 FPS. For a third-person shooter, 24 FPS at 4K Ultra is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating that the GPU is overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum settings. The data implies that the GTX 1070's 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 256.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth are simply insufficient for 4K Ultra workloads in this title.

What makes this particularly interesting is the CPU sitting behind the GPU. The i9-14900K, with its 24 cores, 32 threads, and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, is far more capable than what Minimum requires. The fact that frame rates scale so dramatically with resolution confirms that the GPU is the limiting component across all measured configurations. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau or even drop at lower resolutions where the CPU has to feed frames faster. Instead, the 1080p Low result of 140 FPS shows the CPU can feed frames rapidly, but the GPU cannot maintain that pace at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset provides the most complete picture with min and max FPS data. At 1080p Medium, the average is 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 and maximum of 123. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 69 FPS with a range of 59 to 79. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 37 FPS with a minimum of 32 and maximum of 43. The spread between min and max FPS is relatively narrow at each resolution, suggesting consistent frame pacing rather than erratic spikes, but the overall downward trend is unmistakable. The GPU is working progressively harder as pixel count increases, and the frame rate reflects that workload directly.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo achieves in Minimum?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 140, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 107 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 90 FPS at both 1080p High and 1440p Low.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K or the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 the limiting factor?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. Resolution scaling shows large FPS drops as pixel count increases, with 4K Ultra producing only 24 FPS while 1080p Low reaches 140 FPS. The CPU's capabilities are not being saturated in this title, as evidenced by the steep performance decline tied to GPU workload.

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

A: This combination ranks 3064 out of 3712 tested combos for Minimum. That places it in the lower portion of the field, reflecting that the GTX 1070 is an older GPU with a 47th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Q: What settings provide the most consistent frame rate?

A: The Medium preset shows the narrowest FPS range at each resolution. At 1080p, the range is 91 to 123 FPS, at 1440p it is 59 to 79 FPS, and at 4K it is 32 to 43 FPS. This consistency suggests Medium offers stable pacing compared to other presets.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Minimum?

A: At 4K, the best result is 49 FPS on Low settings, while Medium drops to 37 FPS and High falls to 31 FPS. Ultra produces 24 FPS. The 4K experience is playable only at Low settings, and even then, it barely crosses the 50 FPS mark.

Q: How does the GTX 1070's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1070's average benchmark score is 9780. Its nearest rival, the AMD FirePro W5000, scores 9803, which is 0.2% higher. The NVIDIA Quadro M2000M scores 9832 (0.5% higher), while the NVIDIA Tesla M10 scores 9724 (0.6% lower) and the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 scores 9716 (0.7% lower). The GTX 1070 sits right in the middle of this group.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 3064 out of 3712 tested combos for Minimum. This places the pairing in the bottom 18% of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects the significant mismatch between the modern, high-end CPU and the aging GPU, which was released in 2016 and is now marked as end-of-life.

The i9-14900K itself holds a 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900KF at 79371 (0.3% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 79574 (0.6% higher), and the AMD EPYC 7413 at 80041 (1.2% higher). The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% lower. These are all top-tier processors, and the i9-14900K sits comfortably among them.

In contrast, the GTX 1070 holds a 47th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 9780. Its nearest rivals are clustered tightly around it: the AMD FirePro W5000 at 9803, the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M at 9832, the NVIDIA Tesla M10 at 9724, and the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 at 9716. The GTX 1070 is essentially average for its generation, but that generation is several steps behind current hardware.

The composite ranking of 3064 out of 3712 makes sense when you consider the individual parts. The CPU is a top-tier component that could drive much higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU. The GPU, meanwhile, is a mid-range part from an older architecture that limits the overall system performance in Minimum. The data shows that the combo's rank is dragged down almost entirely by the GPU, as the CPU's capabilities are largely untapped in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression across settings. Low settings produce an average of 140 FPS. Medium settings yield 107 FPS, with a minimum of 91 and a maximum of 123. High settings deliver 90 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 68 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 33 FPS, from Medium to High costs 17 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 22 FPS. This is a substantial spread, with Ultra delivering only 49% of the frame rate of Low.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings produce 90 FPS. Medium settings deliver 69 FPS, with a minimum of 59 and a maximum of 79. High settings manage 58 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 44 FPS. The gaps between presets are 21 FPS from Low to Medium, 11 FPS from Medium to High, and 14 FPS from High to Ultra. Notably, the 1440p Low result of 90 FPS matches the 1080p High result of 90 FPS, showing that resolution and settings trade off almost directly.

At 3840x2160, the results show the GPU struggling. Low settings produce 49 FPS. Medium settings deliver 37 FPS, with a minimum of 32 and a maximum of 43. High settings drop to 31 FPS. Ultra settings bottom out at 24 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest measured, at just 17% of the 1080p Low result. Even at 4K Low, the frame rate of 49 FPS is below what most players would consider smooth for a shooter.

Comparing across resolutions at the same settings tells the story of GPU scaling. At Low settings, 1080p to 1440p drops from 140 to 90 FPS, and 1440p to 4K drops from 90 to 49 FPS. At Medium settings, the progression is 107 to 69 to 37 FPS. At High settings, it is 90 to 58 to 31 FPS. At Ultra settings, it is 68 to 44 to 24 FPS. The consistent pattern across all settings confirms that resolution is the dominant factor in performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture using a 16 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,200 million transistors into a 314 mm² die, with a transistor density of 22.9M per mm². The GPU has 1,920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. Its pixel rate is 107.7 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 202.0 GTexel/s.

The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2002 MHz, which translates to 8 Gbps effective. The core clocks are 1506 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost. These specifications define a GPU that was competitive at its 2016 release but has since been surpassed by newer architectures.

In Minimum, the GTX 1070's role is clearly that of the limiting component. The 1080p Low result of 140 FPS shows the GPU can handle light workloads, but the rapid decline at higher resolutions and settings reveals its ceiling. The 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS is particularly telling, as it shows the GPU running out of compute and memory bandwidth simultaneously.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide additional context. Its passmark G3D score is 13498, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1082. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 44700, while the Vulkan score is 22121. These scores place the GPU at the 47th percentile among all GPUs, which aligns with its mid-range positioning in Minimum's measured results.

The GPU's VRAM of 8 GB is sufficient for Minimum at all tested settings, as the game is from 2014 and does not appear to have excessive memory requirements. However, the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth appears to be a constraint at 4K, where the pixel throughput demands exceed what the memory subsystem can sustain. The 4K Medium result of 37 FPS, with a tight range of 32 to 43 FPS, suggests the GPU is consistently bandwidth-limited at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the best experience in Minimum with this combination, the data points to specific presets depending on resolution priorities. At 1080p, all settings produce playable frame rates, with Low at 140 FPS, Medium at 107 FPS, High at 90 FPS, and Ultra at 68 FPS. The Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, with a minimum of 91 FPS ensuring no drops below the common 90 FPS threshold.

At 1440p, the options narrow. Low produces 90 FPS, which is smooth, while Medium delivers 69 FPS with a minimum of 59. High drops to 58 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44 FPS. For most players, 1440p Medium at 69 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum is the recommended choice, as it maintains a playable frame rate while offering better visuals than Low. The 90 FPS Low result is smoother but sacrifices visual fidelity.

At 4K, the choices are more constrained. Low produces 49 FPS, which is borderline playable. Medium delivers 37 FPS, and High drops to 31 FPS. Ultra is effectively unplayable at 24 FPS. For 4K, the Low preset is the only option that approaches a playable frame rate, but even it falls short of the 60 FPS target most players prefer. The data suggests that 4K is not a practical resolution for this combo in Minimum.

The Medium preset stands out for its consistency. At every resolution, the Medium results show the narrowest gap between minimum and maximum FPS. At 1080p, the range is 32 FPS (91 to 123), at 1440p it is 20 FPS (59 to 79), and at 4K it is 11 FPS (32 to 43). This consistency indicates stable frame pacing, which is important for a third-person shooter where predictable performance helps with aiming and movement.

The overall recommendation is to use Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p, depending on monitor resolution. The 1080p Medium result of 107 FPS average with a 91 FPS minimum provides a smooth experience that should satisfy most players. The 1440p Medium result of 69 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum is slightly less smooth but still playable. Higher presets offer diminishing returns, with Ultra producing only 68 FPS at 1080p and 24 FPS at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, specifically the Raptor Lake-R codename. It has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. The CPU is built on a 10 nm process at Intel, with a die size of 257 mm². It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel bus, and it includes integrated UHD Graphics 770, though the discrete GTX 1070 handles rendering in this configuration.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. It has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes and supports ECC memory. The CPU was released in October 2023 with a launch MSRP of $589, and it remains in active production.

Benchmark results show the i9-14900K is a top-tier processor. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 39399.5, and its single-core score is 2262.5. The Geekbench multicore score is 21697, and the single-core score is 2655. The Passmark multithread score is 58674, and the single-thread score is 4697. These scores place the CPU at the 95th percentile among all CPUs.

In Minimum, the CPU's role appears minimal. The fact that frame rates scale so dramatically with resolution and settings, while the CPU remains constant, indicates that the i9-14900K is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 140 FPS result shows the CPU can feed frames at a high rate, but the GPU cannot maintain that pace at higher resolutions. The CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads are far more than Minimum requires, given the game's 2014 release date.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the i9-14900KF, which scores 79371 (0.3% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, which scores 79574 (0.6% higher). The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041 (1.2% higher), while the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740 (1.7% lower). These are all high-end processors, and the i9-14900K sits comfortably among them, but none of this CPU headroom translates into higher frame rates in Minimum because the GPU is the limiting factor.

The data implies that this CPU is massively overqualified for Minimum when paired with a GTX 1070. A less powerful CPU would likely produce identical frame rates in this game, as the GPU is the constraint at every measured resolution and settings combination. The i9-14900K's capabilities are essentially untapped, with the 140 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low being the only point where the CPU's frame-feeding ability is even approached.