Minimum

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT shows a clear and consistent performance gradient as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 204 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 132 FPS, a reduction of 72 FPS. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 71 FPS. This represents a 65% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern is more pronounced at higher settings. With Ultra settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 100, dropping to 64 at 1440p and 35 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 35% of the 1080p Ultra figure, showing that the combination of heavy settings and high resolution places substantial stress on the Radeon RX 6700 XT. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra workload clearly saturates the card's capabilities.

The delta between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the gap between Low (204 FPS) and Ultra (100 FPS) is 104 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 68 FPS (132 versus 64). At 4K, the difference is 36 FPS (71 versus 35). This compression of the settings gap at higher resolutions is typical of GPU-bound scenarios; when the render target grows, settings quality has less relative impact because pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck.

The Medium settings rows provide additional insight. At 4K Medium, the average is 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 and maximum of 62. The 1440p Medium row shows 101 FPS average with 86 minimum and 116 maximum. At 1080p Medium, the average is 156 FPS with 133 minimum and 180 maximum. The spread between minimum and maximum FPS at Medium settings is 16 FPS at 4K, 30 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 1080p. This suggests that frame time variance increases at lower resolutions where the CPU's role in frame pacing becomes more visible.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Minimum?*

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 204, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 156 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 132 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where the average is 71 FPS. At Medium settings, the average drops to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings yield 46 FPS, and Ultra produces 35 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High delivers 85 FPS average, while Ultra delivers 64 FPS. The gap of 21 FPS represents a 25% performance penalty for moving from High to Ultra at this resolution.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at 1080p Medium?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum of 133 FPS and a maximum of 180 FPS, with an average of 156 FPS. The 47 FPS spread between minimum and maximum indicates moderate frame time variation.

Q: Does the RX 6700 XT outperform the RTX 3090 in this game?

A: The benchmark data for the RX 6700 XT shows an average score of 27425, which is 0.5% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090's average score of 27565. The deltaPct of -0.5 indicates the RTX 3090 holds a marginal lead in synthetic benchmarks, though the difference is negligible.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 7 265 rank among all CPUs?

A: The processor sits at the 93rd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 4464P, scores 64823, which is 0.3% higher.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. These clock speeds are substantial for a card in this class, and the measured FPS data confirms that the GPU can push high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p in Minimum.

The card has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. At 4K resolution, the memory subsystem is exercised heavily. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS average suggests the card's 64 ROPs and 160 TMUs are overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum settings. The pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s are theoretical limits that the measured data shows are not sustainable under 4K Ultra load.

The GPU's compute resources include 2560 shading units and 40 ray accelerators. The FP32 throughput of 13.21 TFLOPS is moderate by modern standards, and the 4K High result of 46 FPS aligns with what this compute capability would predict for a third-person shooter with Minimum's engine demands. The card's TDP is 230 W, and it requires a 550 W power supply, but these power figures do not directly translate to gaming performance in the measured rows.

Comparing the RX 6700 XT to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database, it scores 27425 on average, placing it at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile scores 27435, a delta of 0%. The RTX 3090 scores 27565, which is 0.5% higher. These synthetic scores suggest the RX 6700 XT is closely matched with these competitors, though the measured FPS in Minimum is specific to this game's optimization.

The memory clock runs at 2000 MHz, or 16 Gbps effective. This memory speed, combined with the 192-bit bus, provides the 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. In Minimum, the 12 GB capacity is likely sufficient even at 4K Ultra, as the game's release date of 2014-06-25 predates modern high-VRAM requirements. The bottleneck at 4K is more likely the GPU's shading throughput rather than memory capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and RX 6700 XT combination delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 204 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all resolutions and settings. Medium settings yield 156 FPS average, with a minimum of 133 and maximum of 180. High settings reduce the average to 131 FPS. Ultra settings produce 100 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a steady decline of roughly 50 FPS per settings tier, though the drop from High to Ultra (31 FPS) is steeper than from Medium to High (25 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings maintain 132 FPS average, which remains highly playable. Medium settings deliver 101 FPS average, with a minimum of 86 and maximum of 116. High settings drop to 85 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 64 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 68 FPS, which is a larger absolute difference than the 104 FPS gap at 1080p when expressed as a percentage of the Low result. At 1440p, the Low-to-Ultra loss is 51.5%, compared to 51.0% at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings yield 71 FPS average, which is the only 4K preset above 60 FPS. Medium settings drop to 54 FPS average, with a minimum of 46 and maximum of 62. High settings produce 46 FPS average. Ultra settings fall to 35 FPS average. The 4K results show that the RX 6700 XT can handle Minimum at 4K only with reduced settings. The difference between 1440p Ultra (64 FPS) and 4K Low (71 FPS) is notable: the 4K Low preset actually outperforms 1440p Ultra by 7 FPS, suggesting that players prioritizing frame rate should favor lower settings at higher resolution.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones with complete min/max data. At 1080p Medium, the spread is 47 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the spread narrows to 30 FPS. At 4K Medium, the spread compresses to 16 FPS. This tightening of frame time variance at higher resolutions aligns with the GPU becoming the bottleneck; when the GPU is fully saturated, frame delivery becomes more consistent.

Settings Recommendations

For players using this combo, the measured data suggests that 1920x1080 with High settings (131 FPS average) offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The High preset at 1080p provides a 31 FPS advantage over Ultra (100 FPS) while maintaining the same core resolution. The difference between High and Ultra at 1080p is a 23.7% performance gain for what is typically a marginal visual improvement in most games.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (101 FPS average) is the recommended choice. It delivers a 16 FPS improvement over High (85 FPS) and a 37 FPS improvement over Ultra (64 FPS). The Medium preset at 1440p also provides the most consistent frame delivery among the 1440p options, with a min/max spread of 30 FPS compared to the unknown spreads of other presets. For players with 1440p displays who require 60 FPS minimums, the High preset at 85 FPS average is also viable, though the minimum FPS is not recorded.

At 3840x2160, only the Low preset (71 FPS average) achieves a 60 FPS average. The Medium preset at 54 FPS average is borderline, and the minimum of 46 FPS may result in noticeable stutter during intense scenes. For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only measured option that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The 4K High (46 FPS) and Ultra (35 FPS) presets are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain a 100 FPS average, which is sufficient for high-refresh-rate displays. At 1440p, Medium or High settings provide the best experience. At 4K, the system is limited to Low settings for 60 FPS gameplay, making 4K a secondary consideration for this hardware pairing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. The processor has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The 20 cores are configured without hyper-threading, meaning each core maps to one thread. This design prioritizes single-thread performance, which is relevant for Minimum, a title from 2014 that likely does not scale perfectly across many cores.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz is notably high, and the single-core benchmark results reflect this. In Cinebench R23, the processor scores 5960 in single-core tests and 42216 in multi-core tests. The PassMark single-thread score is 4689, and the multithread score is 49682. These synthetic numbers suggest strong per-core performance, which is beneficial for games that rely on a few heavily loaded threads.

The processor's cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The L3 cache size of 30 MB is shared across all 20 cores, providing a substantial pool for game data that benefits from fast access. The memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus, yielding a theoretical bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This memory bandwidth is ample for a game like Minimum, whose data footprint is modest by 2025 standards.

The CPU's measured FPS impact is most visible at lower resolutions and settings where GPU load is reduced. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 204 FPS, which is likely CPU-bound or near the game engine's frame rate ceiling. The fact that 1080p Low (204 FPS) is nearly double the 4K Low (71 FPS) highlights that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU is not saturated. The Core Ultra 7 265 sits at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 4464P, scores 64823, a delta of -0.3%. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438, a delta of 0.3%. These close scores indicate that the 265 is well-positioned among high-end desktop processors.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 1501 out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum. This places the combo in the 51st percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms just over half of the configurations in the database. Given that the CPU is a high-end 2025 processor and the GPU is a mid-range 2021 card, this ranking reflects the GPU's role as the performance limiter in this pairing.

The rank of 1501 against 2939 total combos indicates that many systems with more powerful GPUs achieve higher frame rates in Minimum, despite having weaker CPUs. This is consistent with the resolution scaling analysis, which showed that the GPU is the dominant constraint at 1440p and 4K. The CPU's position at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs does not translate to a top-tier gaming rank because the RX 6700 XT, at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, holds the combo back.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (27435, delta 0%), the RTX 3090 (27565, delta -0.5%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (27839, delta -1.5%). These deltas are all within 1.5% of the RX 6700 XT's score, indicating that the card is competitively positioned in its class. However, in Minimum specifically, the measured FPS data shows that the card cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K beyond Low settings.

The combo's rank of 1501 suggests that for a game from 2014, this hardware is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming and solid 1440p performance. The system would rank higher if paired with a more powerful GPU, as the CPU's 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom. The 2939 tested combos include a wide range of hardware, and this pairing lands in the upper half, which is a reasonable outcome for a mid-range GPU with a high-end CPU. Players using this combo should target 1080p High or 1440p Medium for the best experience, as the data shows these settings provide the most favorable balance of frame rate and visual fidelity.