Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that remains a useful stressor for modern hardware, largely due to its settings scaling and resolution behavior. The benchmark data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 provides a clear picture of a system that is capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions but begins to strain at 4K, particularly with maximum quality presets. The following analysis breaks down the measured results, contextualizes them against rival components, and offers practical guidance based on the recorded frames per second.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this CPU and GPU combination in Minimum?

A: The combo ranks 1584th out of 2939 tested combinations in this game. This places it in the upper-middle portion of the database, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer for this specific title, it outperforms a significant majority of other tested systems.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU holds an average benchmark score of 34083, which is 0.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H and 0.4% higher than the AMD EPYC 4244P and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350. It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X by 0.5%, making these four processors extremely close in overall compute performance.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 199 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 97 FPS. This represents a drop of 102 FPS, or roughly 51%, when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the RTX 5070 have a clear advantage over its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377. It is 2% faster than the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile and 0.8% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100. However, it is 0.1% slower than the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and 1.2% slower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, showing that its direct competitors are quite close.

Q: Is the game playable at 4K Ultra settings with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the average frame rate is 34 FPS. This is below the standard 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is not a viable option for a consistently fluid experience.

Q: Which resolution provides the highest frame rate advantage for this combo?

A: The data shows that the 1920x1080 Low preset achieves the highest average at 199 FPS. Moving down in resolution from 1440p to 1080p offers a significant boost, particularly when comparing the High presets, which jump from 82 FPS to 128 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Minimum, and its memory configuration and clock speeds are central to understanding the measured results. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This substantial bandwidth is critical for handling the texture and geometry data at higher resolutions, as the 4K results show a more pronounced performance penalty compared to 1440p.

The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 263 mm² and 31,100 million transistors. Its base clock is 2325 MHz, with a boost clock of 2512 MHz. The memory operates at an effective speed of 28 Gbps. These clocks, combined with 6144 shading units and 192 texture mapping units, allow the card to achieve a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s. In the context of Minimum, which is not a graphically intensive title by modern standards, these specifications are more than sufficient to push high frame counts at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS is ample for this game's shader complexity. The data suggests that the RTX 5070 is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions, as the frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution decreases. For instance, the High preset at 1080p yields 128 FPS, while at 1440p it drops to 82 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 44 FPS. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU that is fully utilized; the performance drop is consistent with the increase in pixel count. However, the 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS indicates that the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution finally saturates the GPU's capabilities, pushing it to its limits. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40377, confirms that it is a strong performer, but the 4K Ultra data shows that even strong hardware has a ceiling.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance scaling across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system delivers high frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset achieving 199 FPS and the High preset at 128 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, these numbers drop to 128 FPS and 82 FPS, respectively. Finally, at 3840x2160, the Low preset manages 69 FPS, while the High preset drops to 44 FPS.

This scaling indicates that the RTX 5070 is the dominant component in determining frame rates. The transition from 1080p to 1440p represents a 78% increase in pixel count, and we see a corresponding drop in performance. For example, the Medium preset at 1080p averages 152 FPS, which falls to 98 FPS at 1440p. This is a 35.5% reduction in frame rate, which is close to what would be expected from the pixel count increase. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced; the 4K resolution has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p. The High preset drops from 82 FPS to 44 FPS, a 46.3% reduction, showing that the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed as the resolution climbs.

The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at these settings. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see frame rates that plateau or become more similar across different resolutions. Instead, the frame rates continue to drop significantly with each resolution increase, which is the signature of a GPU-bound workload. The 4K Ultra preset, with an average of 34 FPS, is the clearest example of this. At this point, the GPU is rendering over 8 million pixels with the highest quality assets, and the frame rate suffers accordingly. The game is playable at 4K only with lower settings; the Low preset at 4K achieves 69 FPS, which is a playable frame rate, but it shows that users must trade visual fidelity for performance at this resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark results provide a complete matrix of average frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system performs exceptionally well. The Low preset records an average of 199 FPS, the Medium preset records 152 FPS with a minimum of 129 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS, the High preset records 128 FPS, and the Ultra preset records 97 FPS. This shows that even at the highest settings, the system is capable of delivering frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows a clear step down. The Low preset averages 128 FPS, the Medium preset averages 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 113 FPS, the High preset averages 82 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 63 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 83 FPS is still comfortably above 60 FPS, making 1440p a viable resolution for high-refresh-rate monitors with most settings. The Ultra preset, at 63 FPS, is just barely above the 60 FPS target, indicating that this is the limit for a consistently smooth experience at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly, and the system becomes less capable of maintaining high frame rates. The Low preset averages 69 FPS, which is playable. The Medium preset averages 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS, showing that frame times can become inconsistent. The High preset averages 44 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 34 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K gaming is only feasible with the Low or Medium presets, and even then, the frame rate may dip below 60 FPS in demanding scenes. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 35 FPS, from 69 to 34, showing the significant cost of the highest quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is ranked 1584th out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum. This rank places it in the 54th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms 54% of the combinations in the database. While this might seem like a middling result, it is important to consider the context. This is a mobile CPU paired with a desktop-class GPU, and the rank reflects the overall system's capability in this specific game.

The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance, as the RTX 5070 is the primary driver of frame rates. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests that the graphics card is a high-performing part. However, the CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs is also strong. The combined rank of 1584 suggests that other systems in the database likely have either faster desktop CPUs or more powerful GPUs, pushing them higher in the rankings. The close margins in the CPU's nearest rivals, with deltas of only 0.3% to 0.5%, show that the Core Ultra 7 165H is competitive but not a leader in its class. This is reflected in the overall combo rank, which is solid but not exceptional for a high-end setup. The data indicates that this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, as evidenced by the measured FPS, but the rank shows there is a large population of faster systems in the database.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H plays a supporting role in Minimum, providing enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5070 at most settings. The CPU features 16 cores and 22 threads, based on the Meteor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has a 24 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. These specifications are more than sufficient for a game from 2014, which is unlikely to utilize more than a few cores effectively.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores confirm its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 14551 in multi-core and 1759 in single-core. In Passmark, its multithread score is 25933 and its single-thread score is 3509. These numbers indicate strong performance, particularly in multi-threaded workloads. However, for Minimum, the single-core performance is more relevant. The single-thread score of 3509 is robust, ensuring that the game's main game logic and physics threads are processed quickly.

The fact that frame rates scale so consistently with resolution changes indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor. If the CPU were struggling, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, as the CPU would be the bottleneck. Instead, the frame rates drop proportionally with the increase in pixel count, which is a sign of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its proximity to rivals like the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (0.5% faster) and Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (0.3% slower) show that it is a modern, capable processor. It provides ample headroom for the RTX 5070 to operate at its full potential, ensuring that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's resolution and frame rate target. For the best experience at 1920x1080, the High preset is the recommended choice. It delivers an average of 128 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target and provides a significant visual improvement over the Medium preset's 152 FPS. The Ultra preset, at 97 FPS, is also viable for users who prioritize visual fidelity over maximum frame rates, but the High preset offers a better balance of performance and quality for most users.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is again the most balanced option, providing an average of 82 FPS. This is a smooth experience for most players. The Medium preset, at 98 FPS, is also a good choice for those seeking higher frame rates, but the visual difference from High is noticeable. The Ultra preset, at 63 FPS, is right at the edge of the 60 FPS threshold, making it a less consistent option. For users with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, the Medium preset is recommended to ensure frame rates remain high and consistent.

At 3840x2160, the situation is different. The Ultra preset is not recommended, as its 34 FPS average is too low for a smooth experience. The High preset, at 44 FPS, is also below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset, at 53 FPS, is the highest quality option that approaches playability, but its minimum of 45 FPS suggests there may be noticeable stutters. The Low preset, at 69 FPS, is the only option that provides a consistently smooth experience at 4K. Therefore, for 4K gaming, the Low preset is the recommended setting, as it is the only one that consistently maintains FPS above the 60 FPS target. Users who prioritize visual quality over performance at 4K may opt for the Medium preset, but they should be prepared for frame rate dips.