Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Minimum with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 show a classic progression as resolution climbs, but the curve is steeper than typical for a modern shooter. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 356 FPS average. Dropping to 2560x1440 Low reduces that to 230 FPS, a 35% decline. Moving further to 3840x2160 Low yields 124 FPS, which is 46% lower than the 1440p result and 65% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is heavily engaged, but the GPU begins to assert dominance as pixel count rises.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (356 FPS) to Ultra (174 FPS) is 182 FPS. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 118 FPS (230 Low vs 112 Ultra). At 4K, the spread collapses further to 63 FPS (124 Low vs 61 Ultra). This convergence suggests that at 4K, the RTX 4080's rendering workload becomes the limiting factor, compressing the performance delta between quality presets. The data shows a GPU that is still capable at 4K — 61 FPS on Ultra is playable — but the headroom for higher settings shrinks as resolution increases.

Interestingly, the 1080p Low result of 356 FPS is extraordinarily high, indicating that the Ultra 7 265 with its 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock is feeding the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions. The 1440p Medium result of 176 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS shows consistent frame pacing, while the 4K Medium row (95 FPS average, 80 minimum, 109 maximum) reveals a tighter band. The resolution scaling data points to a system that is balanced at 1440p, where the CPU and GPU workloads are more evenly matched, but becomes GPU-bound at 4K and CPU-bound at 1080p.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Minimum?*

A: The highest measured average is 356 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 350 FPS in the dataset.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 61, while at 1920x1080 Ultra it is 174. The 4K result is approximately 65% lower, showing a substantial penalty for the higher resolution.

*Q: Is the RTX 4080 sufficient for 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: The data shows 79 FPS average at 4K High and 61 FPS at 4K Ultra. Both are above the 60 FPS threshold, but Medium at 95 FPS provides more comfortable headroom for frame time spikes.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum FPS is 80, recorded at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. The 1440p Medium configuration shows a minimum of 149 FPS, and 1080p Medium shows 232 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance relate to the game's results?

A: The Ultra 7 265 scores 42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 49,682 in Passmark multithread. These strong scores align with the high frame rates at 1080p, where CPU overhead is more significant.

Q: What is the combo's rank among tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 246th out of 3,712 tested combos, placing it in the top 7% of all configurations in the database for Minimum.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data suggests that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 273 FPS average with a minimum of 232 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate displays while providing better visual fidelity than Low. The jump from Low to Medium costs 83 FPS at 1080p (356 to 273), but the visual improvement typically justifies that trade-off in a third-person shooter where environmental detail matters.

At 1440p, Medium produces 176 FPS average with a 149 FPS minimum — this is the sweet spot for this resolution. The High preset at 148 FPS is also viable, but Medium's higher minimum ensures smoother frame delivery during intense combat sequences. Ultra at 1440p drops to 112 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less margin for drops below 100 FPS in crowded scenes.

For 4K, the recommendation shifts. Medium at 95 FPS average with an 80 FPS minimum is the safest choice for consistent performance. High at 79 FPS average is acceptable for slower-paced exploration, but the 61 FPS average on Ultra risks dipping below 60 FPS in demanding moments. Given that the game released in 2014, the visual differences between Medium and High on modern hardware may be subtle, making Medium the pragmatic choice. Low at 124 FPS at 4K is overkill for most displays and sacrifices too much visual quality for marginal gains.

The measured data shows that Medium is the only preset with recorded minimum FPS values at all three resolutions (232 at 1080p, 149 at 1440p, 80 at 4K), suggesting the benchmark suite treated it as the reference configuration. This consistency reinforces Medium as the recommended preset for balanced performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 246 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all configurations. This is a strong showing for a CPU that itself ranks in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs and a GPU in the 86th percentile against all GPUs. The combo outperforms its individual component percentiles, indicating that the pairing works particularly well for this game.

The combo's ranking benefits from the CPU's exceptional multi-threaded performance. The Ultra 7 265 scores 42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, placing it just 0.7% behind the AMD EPYC 7343 (64,202 average score) in the nearest rivals list. The CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads, combined with a 5.30 GHz boost clock, provide ample headroom for game logic and physics calculations that Minimum requires.

The RTX 4080, while not the top GPU in the database, holds its own with a Passmark G3D score of 34,457 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, is only 0.1% ahead in average score, showing that the standard 4080 is nearly as capable for this workload. The combo's rank of 246 suggests that only a small fraction of tested configurations — likely those with newer GPUs or higher-end CPUs — can meaningfully outperform this pairing in Minimum.

The rank also reflects the game's age and optimization. Minimum released in 2014, and modern hardware like this combo can push frame rates well beyond what the game's engine was designed to handle. The fact that this combo lands in the top 7% of all tested configurations, despite the CPU and GPU not being the absolute fastest available, speaks to the efficiency of the Arrow Lake architecture and Ada Lovelace GPU design.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-S architecture, manufactured on a 3nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. These specifications translate into strong synthetic benchmarks: 5,960 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 42,216 in multi-core, with a Passmark single-thread score of 4,689.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p resolution. The 356 FPS average on Low settings demonstrates that the processor can handle high draw call counts and game simulation workloads without becoming a bottleneck. The 5.30 GHz boost clock provides the single-threaded speed that older game engines often rely on, while the 20 cores handle background tasks and any multi-threaded game systems. The Passmark physics score of 2,923 and floating-point math score of 172,776 suggest strong computational throughput for physics calculations, which are often the CPU-bound component in shooters.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5, combined with 30 MB of L3 cache, ensures that game data is readily available to the cores. The data compression benchmark of 522,983 and integer math score of 134,773 indicate efficient data processing, which can help with asset streaming and game logic. The 93rd percentile ranking against all CPUs places this processor well above average, and its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 4464P (-0.3% delta) and Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (+0.3% delta) — show that it sits in a competitive performance band.

However, the CPU's contribution diminishes at 4K. The 61 FPS Ultra result at 3840x2160 is likely constrained by the GPU's pixel throughput, not the CPU. The RTX 4080's 280.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate become the limiting factors at this resolution. The CPU's role shifts from primary performance driver at 1080p to a supporting role at 4K, ensuring that frame times remain consistent even when the GPU is fully saturated. The data supports this interpretation: the 4K Medium minimum FPS of 80 is higher than the Ultra average of 61, indicating that the CPU is not introducing frame hitches — the GPU is simply working harder on Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in Minimum is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 356 FPS average
• Medium: 273 FPS average, 232 FPS minimum, 313 FPS maximum
• High: 229 FPS average
• Ultra: 174 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 230 FPS average
• Medium: 176 FPS average, 149 FPS minimum, 202 FPS maximum
• High: 148 FPS average
• Ultra: 112 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 124 FPS average
• Medium: 95 FPS average, 80 FPS minimum, 109 FPS maximum
• High: 79 FPS average
• Ultra: 61 FPS average

At 1080p, all presets exceed 170 FPS, with Low and Medium both surpassing 270 FPS. The Medium preset's maximum of 313 FPS shows that the combo can briefly hit very high frame rates even with moderate settings. The 1440p results show a clear step down, with Ultra falling to 112 FPS — still above the 100 FPS mark but noticeably lower than 1080p Ultra's 174 FPS. The 4K results round out the dataset, with all presets staying above 60 FPS, though Ultra at 61 FPS leaves minimal headroom.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all resolutions, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the range from 232 to 313 FPS (81 FPS spread) indicates some variance. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 53 FPS (149 to 202). At 4K, the spread is 29 FPS (80 to 109). This tightening of frame time distribution at higher resolutions suggests that GPU-bound workloads produce more stable frame pacing, while CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions introduce more variability.

The 4K Medium result of 95 FPS average is particularly notable for a game released in 2014 — it demonstrates that modern hardware can run older titles at high resolutions with comfortable performance. The 4K Low result of 124 FPS shows that even with reduced settings, the resolution demands are significant, but the RTX 4080's 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth and 16 GB of GDDR6X VRAM are sufficient to avoid memory-related stutters. The complete dataset shows a system that delivers playable frame rates at every tested configuration, with the only caveat being 4K Ultra's 61 FPS average, which is borderline for competitive play but acceptable for casual sessions.