Minimum

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional performance in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets show a combination that is heavily balanced toward high-refresh-rate gaming, though the scaling patterns reveal distinct bottlenecks depending on the workload. This analysis examines the resolution scaling, component roles, and optimal settings based strictly on the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a classic GPU-bound curve at higher settings, but the data also exposes a significant CPU ceiling at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination produces 392.5 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 254.4 FPS, a reduction of 35.2%. Moving to 4K Low brings the average down to 134.5 FPS, which is a further 47.1% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline at Low settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases, while the CPU is capable of feeding frames at an extremely high rate at 1080p.

The scaling pattern changes character when examining the High preset. At 1080p High, the average is 255.6 FPS. At 1440p High, the score falls to 164.8 FPS, a 35.5% reduction. At 4K High, the average drops to 85.7 FPS, representing a 48.0% decline from the 1440p result. The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High presets—both hovering near 35% for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and near 47-48% for the 1440p-to-4K transition—suggests that resolution scaling is primarily a function of pixel throughput rather than settings complexity.

Ultra settings tell a more dramatic story. The 1080p Ultra average is 190.4 FPS, which falls to 122.2 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 35.8% drop) and then to 68.5 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 44.0% drop). The 4K Ultra result of 68.5 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, indicating that the combination of maximum quality settings and 4K resolution creates a workload that stresses the RTX 4090 substantially, though it remains comfortably playable. The data shows that the gap between 1080p and 1440p remains proportionally stable across all presets, while the 4K penalty becomes more pronounced at higher settings, confirming that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the dominant constraint at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K brings substantial processing resources to this combination, featuring 24 cores and 32 threads. The processor's base clock of 3.20 GHz and boost clock of 6.00 GHz provide the single-thread performance necessary for high-FPS scenarios. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49,872 and a single-core score of 7,040, placing it in the 97th percentile against all CPUs. Its PassMark single-thread score of 4,697 further confirms strong per-core capability.

The CPU's role in Minimum becomes evident when analyzing the 1080p Low result of 392.5 FPS. At this resolution and preset, the GPU is nowhere near its maximum throughput, yet the frame rate does not approach the theoretical limits of either component. The 6.00 GHz boost clock allows the processor to maintain high instruction throughput, which is critical for a third-person shooter where physics, AI, and game logic must be processed each frame. The 36 MB of shared L3 cache provides ample capacity for the game's working set, reducing memory latency and keeping the pipeline fed.

The nearest rival comparison shows the i9-14900K is marginally behind the AMD EPYC 7413 by 0.3% in average benchmark score, while ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900KF by 0.7%. The Core Ultra 7 265KF and 265K trail by 0.7% and 0.9% respectively. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, and the data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1440p or 4K, where the frame rates scale consistently with GPU load. At 1080p, however, the 392.5 FPS Low result suggests the CPU's multi-threading capabilities—32 threads across 24 cores—are being utilized to keep frame generation ahead of the GPU's demand.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, with specifications that explain the high frame rates across all resolutions. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and 16,384 shading units provide massive compute throughput, with an FP32 rating of 82.58 TFLOPS. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores add specialized processing capabilities, though their impact on a 2014 title is likely minimal.

The GPU's influence is most visible in the 4K results, where the average FPS ranges from 68.5 at Ultra to 134.5 at Low. The 24 GB VRAM capacity ensures that even the highest texture and geometry settings at 4K will not exceed memory limits, allowing the GPU to maintain consistent performance without memory swapping. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the rendering pipeline at all measured settings, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from Low to Ultra.

Comparing the RTX 4090 to its nearest rivals, the data shows it is 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4 in average benchmark score, 0.5% ahead of the Tesla P40, and 1.3% ahead of the Quadro P6000. These professional-grade cards are not gaming-oriented, so the RTX 4090's 91st percentile ranking against all GPUs reflects its position among consumer hardware. The PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and DirectX 12 score of 150 indicate strong DirectX performance, which is relevant for Minimum's API requirements. The GPU's end-of-life production status and launch MSRP of 1,599 USD position it as a flagship component, and the measured frame rates confirm that it handles this game with substantial headroom at most settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data allows for a clear hierarchy of presets based on the balance between visual quality and frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 255.6 FPS, which is 34.6% higher than the Ultra preset's 190.4 FPS but 15.8% lower than the Medium preset's 303.4 FPS. The Low preset's 392.5 FPS is the highest measured value in the entire dataset, but the visual fidelity trade-off is substantial. For 1080p gaming, High represents the best compromise, delivering more than double the refresh rate of most 120 Hz displays while retaining meaningful visual detail.

At 1440p, the High preset produces 164.8 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors. The Medium preset at 196.8 FPS offers even more headroom, while Ultra at 122.2 FPS still provides a smooth experience on 120 Hz displays. The data suggests that High is the recommended preset for 1440p, as it maintains a frame rate above 160 FPS without the diminishing returns of dropping to Medium. The Ultra preset's 122.2 FPS is playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes.

At 4K, the High preset's 85.7 FPS is the sweet spot, exceeding the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while providing better visuals than Medium's 103.8 FPS or Low's 134.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at 68.5 FPS is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS, and while it remains above 60 FPS, the performance cost relative to High is a 20.1% reduction. The data indicates that High at 4K is the recommended configuration, as it balances the GPU's workload to maintain a stable frame rate without sacrificing the visual enhancements that matter in a third-person shooter.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 47th out of 1,733 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the top 2.7% of all tested hardware pairings. This ranking reflects the strength of both components individually and their synergy in this particular game. The CPU's 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs contribute to a combined result that outperforms the vast majority of systems.

The rank of 47 out of 1,733 is notable given that the RTX 4090 is marked as end-of-life production status, yet it still competes with newer hardware. The data indicates that the i9-14900K's high boost clock and 32 threads are sufficient to avoid becoming a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game, even at lower resolutions where CPU demand is highest. The 0.7% performance advantage over the i9-14900KF and the 0.9% advantage over the Core Ultra 7 265K suggest that this Intel platform is well-optimized for high-FPS gaming scenarios.

The ranking also implies that only 46 other combinations produce higher average frame rates in Minimum, which reflects the raw compute power of this pairing. The combination's performance at 1080p, where the CPU's single-thread performance is most critical, and at 4K, where the GPU's bandwidth and shading capabilities take precedence, shows a balanced system that does not exhibit significant weakness at any resolution. The measured FPS values across all 12 data points confirm that this is a top-tier configuration for playing Minimum at any settings level.