Minimum

Opening

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile delivers a versatile 1080p and 1440p gaming experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The data shows a combo that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but has enough CPU headroom to push very high frame rates at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, explains what the numbers mean for the limiting component, and provides practical settings guidance based on the benchmark rows.

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Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, and the pattern clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 99 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra drops that to 64 FPS, a 35 FPS reduction. At 4K Ultra, the average falls to 34 FPS, which is roughly one-third of the 1080p Ultra score. This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 4070 Mobile's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are being saturated.

The 1080p to 1440p scaling at Ultra settings shows a 35% performance loss, while the 1440p to 4K jump at Ultra shows a 47% loss. The curve is not linear — the 4K hit is disproportionately worse, indicating the GPU is running out of both fillrate and memory bandwidth at that resolution. For High settings, the pattern repeats: 130 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K remains about 46%, confirming that the RTX 4070 Mobile is the limiting factor once you exceed 1440p.

At Low settings, the scaling is more forgiving because the GPU workload is lighter. The combo achieves 202 FPS at 1080p Low, 130 FPS at 1440p Low, and 70 FPS at 4K Low. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 36%, but the 1440p-to-4K drop is 46%. Even at the lowest preset, 4K remains a struggle, suggesting that the game's engine at 4K demands more from the GPU than this mobile part can reliably deliver. The data indicates that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo if you want consistently smooth gameplay, while 1080p is where the hardware truly shines.

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GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. It carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1395 MHz with a boost clock of 1695 MHz. These specs place the GPU in the 73rd percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27435.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is decisive at every resolution above 1080p. The 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS is the lowest measured score in the entire dataset, and it directly reflects the GPU's inability to maintain playable frame rates at that workload. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at all presets, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of high-resolution textures and heavy post-processing likely pushes against the memory ceiling. The 128-bit memory bus, while efficient, limits the bandwidth available for high-resolution frame buffers.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores nearly identically to the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, with a delta of 0%. It sits 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell. This tells you that the mobile RTX 4070 is punching well above its mobile-class weight in raw compute, but the 4K results in Minimum show that raw compute alone doesn't solve memory bandwidth constraints. The 1440p Medium result of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS and maximum of 115 FPS is the most balanced data point, showing the GPU can maintain a tight frame time distribution when not overstressed.

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How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile ranks 2029 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. That places it in the middle of the pack, which is surprising given the individual component strengths. The CPU alone sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU sits in the 73rd percentile, yet the combo ranking is only around the 55th percentile. This suggests that the game's engine does not fully utilize the hardware, or that the mobile form factor imposes thermal and power limits that cap simultaneous performance.

The ranking gap between the components' individual percentiles and the combo's percentile indicates that Minimum is not a demanding title for modern high-end mobile parts. The game's 2014 release date means it likely doesn't scale well with the 20-core, 20-thread CPU or the Ada Lovelace GPU's advanced features. For context, the CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13790F (0.1% ahead in average score), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G (0.2% behind), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX (0.7% ahead). The GPU's nearest rivals are similarly close, with the RX 6700 XT matching it exactly.

Despite the mid-pack combo ranking, the measured FPS numbers tell a more favorable story. At 1080p, every preset except Ultra exceeds 130 FPS, and even 1440p High hits 84 FPS. The combo ranking likely reflects the fact that many other tested combos include desktop-class GPUs that obliterate mobile parts at 4K, where this combo's 34 FPS Ultra result drags down its overall standing. If you focus on the 1080p and 1440p results, this combo performs better than its rank suggests.

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Settings Recommendations

For the best experience on this combo, the data points to 1440p Medium as the sweet spot. The measured average of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS and maximum of 115 FPS provides smooth gameplay with a comfortable margin above typical 60 FPS display refresh rates. The frame time variance is also tighter at Medium than at other presets, with only a 30 FPS spread between min and max. This suggests the GPU isn't being pushed to its thermal or power limits at this setting.

If you prioritize maximum visual fidelity, 1080p Ultra at 99 FPS is a strong alternative. It offers the highest quality preset at a playable frame rate, though the lack of min/max data for that row means you can't assess frame time consistency. For competitive play, 1080p Low at 202 FPS is the clear winner, providing more than double the refresh rate of standard 1440p monitors. The 1440p Ultra result of 64 FPS is technically playable but leaves little headroom for drops, and the 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS should be avoided entirely.

The data suggests avoiding 4K altogether on this combo. Even at 4K Low (70 FPS), the experience is marginal, and at High (45 FPS) or Ultra (34 FPS), it becomes choppy. If you own a 4K display, the best approach is to run the game at 1440p with a scaling solution, since the GPU's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is the limiting factor at 4K. The 1080p Medium result of 154 FPS is another strong option if you want a balance of quality and speed, though it skips some of the high-end visual effects.

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Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 202 FPS average, which is the highest measured score in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 154 FPS with a minimum of 131 FPS and maximum of 178 FPS, showing a stable frame time curve. High settings yield 130 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 99 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 51% reduction in frame rate, which is significant but expected given the visual quality jump.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but the gap between presets widens. Low settings hit 130 FPS, matching the 1080p High result. Medium settings average 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS and maximum of 115 FPS. High settings produce 84 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 64 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 51%, identical to the 1080p scaling, indicating the GPU is the consistent limiting factor at both resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles across all presets. Low settings average 70 FPS, which is the only 4K result above 60 FPS. Medium settings drop to 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 62 FPS, showing significant frame time variance at the low end. High settings produce 45 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 34 FPS. The 4K Low to Ultra scaling shows a 51% reduction, again consistent, but the absolute numbers are too low for smooth gameplay at any preset except Low.

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CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's average benchmark score is 63173, placing it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. In Minimum, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough draw calls and physics data to avoid bottlenecking the frame rate.

At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 202 FPS, which indicates the CPU has substantial headroom. The 20-core, 20-thread configuration is overkill for a 2014 game that likely uses only a few threads, but the high single-core boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures that the primary game thread is processed quickly. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13790F, scores within 0.1% of the 265HX in average benchmarks, confirming that this mobile chip is competitive with desktop parts from a previous generation.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 is sufficient to feed the GPU's 256.0 GB/s memory bus, ensuring no starvation at the system level. The 30 MB L3 cache helps with game asset streaming, though it's unlikely to be a limiting factor in a 2014 title. The CPU's percentile ranking (93rd) is higher than the GPU's (73rd), which means the CPU is less likely to be the bottleneck in this combo. At 4K, where the GPU drops to 34 FPS at Ultra, the CPU is clearly idling, waiting for the GPU to catch up. The data supports the conclusion that the RTX 4070 Mobile, not the Core Ultra 7 265HX, dictates the performance ceiling in Minimum.