Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that, on paper, should be easy to run, but the benchmark data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination reveals a title that scales aggressively with settings and resolution. This pairing sits in the 246th percentile rank out of 3712 tested combos for this game, placing it firmly in the top tier of configurations. The data shows a system capable of delivering high refresh rate gameplay at 1440p and respectable 4K performance, though the demands of Ultra settings at higher resolutions will challenge even this formidable hardware. The following analysis breaks down exactly what the measured frames indicate for practical use.

Settings Recommendations

The measured results for this specific configuration provide a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset delivers exceptional headroom, but it does so by sacrificing the visual fidelity that a game like Minimum can offer. The data shows that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this hardware, providing a substantial performance buffer while presumably maintaining a more polished visual experience than Low. At 1440p, Medium produces an average of 176 FPS, which is only 54 FPS less than Low, but it is a massive 64 FPS more than High. This indicates that the jump from Medium to High incurs a significant cost that is not justified by the frame rate gains at lower resolutions.

At 4K, the choice becomes more stratified. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 95 FPS, with a minimum of 80 and maximum of 109, which is smooth for most displays. In contrast, the High preset drops to 79 FPS, and Ultra falls to 61 FPS. For a third-person shooter, the 95 FPS average on Medium is the recommended target for 4K, as it maintains a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset is usable, but the 16 FPS loss from Medium suggests that the visual improvements are not worth the performance hit. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K, as the 61 FPS average is too close to the minimum playable threshold for a fast-paced genre.

For 1080p users, the Ultra preset is the only one that does not provide a massive headroom surplus. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 174 FPS, which is still far above standard refresh rates, but the jump from High to Ultra costs 55 FPS. The Medium preset at 273 FPS and Low at 356 FPS are overkill for most displays, making High the practical choice for 1080p if you want a balance of visuals and performance. Ultimately, the benchmark results indicate that Medium is the most efficient preset across all resolutions, offering the best ratio of visual quality to frame rate for this CPU-GPU combination.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this configuration, and the benchmark data reflects its capabilities. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Minimum, even at 4K resolution, as the game's 2014 release date suggests it does not require extensive texture data. The RTX 4080's clock speeds are listed with a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz. The data shows that this GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Low settings, but it becomes more relevant as resolution increases.

The GPU's role becomes clearer when examining the scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 356, which drops to 230 at 1440p and 124 at 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is being utilized more heavily at higher resolutions, but the CPU still has enough headroom to keep up. The RTX 4080's 9728 shading units and 76 RT cores are more than capable of handling the game's DirectX 12 Ultimate workload, though Minimum is old enough that these modern features are likely underutilized. The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 34457, places it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, which aligns with the high frame rates observed.

The data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance differences between settings presets. The transition from Low to Medium at 4K costs 29 FPS (124 to 95), while the transition from Medium to High costs another 16 FPS. This suggests that the visual effects enabled by higher presets are directly taxing the GPU's fill rate and compute units. The RTX 4080's 112 ROPs and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate are being pushed harder as settings increase, but the card never becomes a bottleneck in a way that would cause stuttering, as evidenced by the minimum FPS values for Medium presets being respectable.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent and predictable drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 1440p to 4K. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 356 at 1080p to 230 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 124 at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 is being scaled with the pixel count, but the frame rates remain high enough to suggest that neither the CPU nor GPU is fully saturated at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 356 FPS is likely near the CPU's limit for this game, as the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has a 10-core, 10-thread configuration with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz.

The Medium preset shows a similar scaling trend, with 273 FPS at 1080p, 176 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, and from 1440p to 4K is 46%, which is consistent across presets. This consistency suggests that the resolution scaling is primarily a GPU-bound operation, with the CPU providing a stable platform. The High preset follows the same pattern: 229 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the largest absolute drops, from 174 FPS at 1080p to 112 FPS at 1440p and 61 FPS at 4K.

These scaling figures indicate that the limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is likely the ceiling, as the GPU could theoretically push higher frame rates. At 4K, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck, as evidenced by the frame rates dropping to levels that are closer to 60 FPS. The data shows that for a 4K gaming experience, the RTX 4080 is the component to watch, while at 1080p, the Ultra 5 225's single-threaded performance is what keeps frame rates in the triple digits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset averages 356 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 273 FPS, with a minimum of 232 and a maximum of 313, providing a solid window for high refresh rate monitors. The High preset averages 229 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 174 FPS. None of these results dip below 170 FPS, meaning that even the most demanding preset at 1080p is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many competitive gamers use.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but begins to separate. The Low preset averages 230 FPS, which is still excellent. The Medium preset averages 176 FPS, with a minimum of 149 and a maximum of 202, ensuring smooth gameplay on 144 Hz displays. The High preset averages 148 FPS, which is a significant drop from Medium but still playable. The Ultra preset averages 112 FPS, showing that the RTX 4080 is starting to feel the load at this resolution with maximum settings.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the true limits of this combination. The Low preset averages 124 FPS, which is a respectable 4K result. The Medium preset averages 95 FPS, with a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 109, providing a stable experience for most 60-100 Hz 4K monitors. The High preset averages 79 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Ultra preset averages 61 FPS, which is right at the edge of the 60 FPS standard, and this is the only setting where the performance becomes marginal. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 63 FPS, highlighting how much headroom the GPU has at lower settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor with a 144 Hz refresh rate?

A: The Medium preset is the optimal choice. The measured data shows an average of 176 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS, which keeps the frame rate above the 144 FPS target even in demanding moments. The High preset averages 148 FPS, but it has no reported minimum FPS, making it riskier.

Q: Can this system run the game at 4K with a solid 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only on the Low, Medium, or High presets. The Low preset averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 95 FPS, and High averages 79 FPS. The Ultra preset averages exactly 61 FPS, which is too close to the 60 FPS threshold for comfort and should be avoided.

Q: Why is the frame rate so much higher at 1080p compared to 4K?

A: The data shows a consistent resolution scaling pattern. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 356 at 1080p to 230 at 1440p and then to 124 at 4K. This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel count increases and puts more load on the RTX 4080.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 356 is unusually high, suggesting the CPU is the limiting component. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has a 10-core, 10-thread configuration with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, which is likely the ceiling for this game's single-threaded engine at lower resolutions.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to the Medium preset in terms of frame rate?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, Ultra averages 174 FPS compared to Medium's 273 FPS, a difference of 99 FPS. At 1440p, the gap is 64 FPS (112 vs 176), and at 4K, the gap is 34 FPS (61 vs 95).

Q: What is the lowest frame rate recorded for this configuration?

A: The lowest average FPS in the dataset is 61 FPS, which occurs at 4K resolution with the Ultra preset. The lowest reported minimum FPS is 80 FPS, which is from the Medium preset at 4K, indicating that even the most demanding scenarios do not cause severe frame drops.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's single-threaded performance is crucial for Minimum, as the game's 2014 release date implies a reliance on fewer cores. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at higher resolutions, but it does appear to cap performance at 1080p Low settings, where the average FPS of 356 is likely near the engine's limit.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores support its gaming capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 3655 points in single-core and 25891 points in multi-core. The single-core score is particularly relevant for Minimum, as third-person shooters often have a primary thread that handles game logic and physics. The Passmark single-thread score of 4412 places the CPU in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, which is a strong showing. The multi-threaded performance is also solid, with a Passmark multithread score of 30459, ensuring that background tasks and any additional game threads are handled without issue.

The nearest rivals to this CPU include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which has an average score of 36945, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, with an average score of 37093. The Intel Core i9-12900T is also close, with an average score of 37112. The Ultra 5 225's average benchmark score of 36938 is nearly identical to these competitors, with a deltaPct of 0 to 0.5%, meaning there is no practical difference in synthetic performance. For Minimum, this means the CPU is more than sufficient, and the data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rate differences between settings and resolutions. The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support ensure that it does not create any thermal or bandwidth bottlenecks that would affect the RTX 4080's performance.