Minimum

# Minimum: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 — Benchmark Analysis

This pairing of Intel's 20-core Core Ultra 7 265K with NVIDIA's Pascal-era GTX 1070 produces a heavily GPU-limited experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The data shows the combo ranks 1458th out of 1733 tested configurations, placing it in the lower 16% of all combos. The GTX 1070, sitting at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, is the clear bottleneck across every resolution and settings preset, while the 265K's 97th-percentile CPU performance goes largely underutilized.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 139.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 90.4 FPS at High and 66.5 FPS at Ultra for the same resolution.

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 2560x1440?

A: Yes, but only at Low and Medium settings, which produce 89 FPS and 67.4 FPS respectively. High settings hit 55.7 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra falls to 43.1 FPS.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: Not at playable frame rates for most presets. At 3840x2160, Low settings yield 50.8 FPS, Medium drops to 36.7 FPS, High to 31.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26.7 FPS. No 4K preset achieves 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265K scores 79,102 on average across benchmarks. It trails the Intel Core i9-14900K by 0.9% and the AMD EPYC 7413 by 1.2%, while essentially matching the 265KF (0.2% behind) and the i9-14900KF (0.2% behind).

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to other graphics cards?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 12,331, placing it at the 51st percentile. It sits close to the GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% behind), the Quadro K4200 (0.7% ahead), and the GTX 880M (1.3% ahead).

Q: What frame rate can players expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 108.8 FPS, which represents a solid middle ground. This is 30.3 FPS higher than High settings (90.4 FPS) but 30.3 FPS lower than Low settings (139.1 FPS).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the dominant performance limiter in this configuration. With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has enough memory capacity for Minimum's demands, but its raw compute power constrains results. The GPU's 1,506 MHz base clock boosts to 1,683 MHz, driving 1,920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. This translates to 107.7 GPixel/s pixel fill rate and 202.0 GTexel/s texture rate, with FP32 performance of 6.463 TFLOPS.

The benchmark data confirms GPU dominance: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 139.1 FPS, but moving to Ultra drops that to 66.5 FPS — a 52.2% reduction. At 4K, the spread is even more pronounced, with Low hitting 50.8 FPS and Ultra falling to 26.7 FPS. The GTX 1070's DirectX 12 score of 48 in Passmark (compared to 100 for DirectX 11) suggests the card is better optimized for older APIs, which aligns with Minimum's 2014 release. The GPU's 51st percentile ranking among all GPUs places it firmly in the mid-range, and its nearest rivals — the Quadro K4200 (0.7% ahead) and GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% behind) — underscore its aging but still functional status.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provides far more processing headroom than this game can utilize. With 20 cores and 20 threads, a 3.90 GHz base clock, and 5.50 GHz boost capability, the CPU is a 97th-percentile performer. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 50,009 and single-core score of 7,060 demonstrate exceptional capability, while Passmark multi-thread results show 58,838 and single-thread 4,904. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth further enhance its capabilities.

However, in Minimum, the CPU's role is largely passive. The measured FPS differences between settings presets at any given resolution are almost entirely attributable to GPU workload changes. At 1080p, going from Low to Ultra reduces FPS from 139.1 to 66.5, a pattern consistent with GPU-bound rendering rather than CPU bottlenecks. The CPU's nearest rivals — the 265KF (0.2% behind), i9-14900KF (0.2% behind), and i9-14900K (0.9% ahead) — all show negligible performance gaps, confirming that CPU choice among top-tier processors has minimal impact on this game. The 265K's 3 nm process and 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die provide efficiency, but that efficiency is wasted when the GPU cannot feed frames fast enough.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce 139.1 FPS average, Medium 108.8 FPS, High 90.4 FPS, and Ultra 66.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 72.6 FPS, indicating significant GPU scaling with settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops across all presets. Low averages 89 FPS, Medium 67.4 FPS, High 55.7 FPS, and Ultra 43.1 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 50.1 FPS (36% reduction), while at Ultra the drop is 23.4 FPS (35.2% reduction), showing consistent scaling.

At 3840x2160, the results become marginal. Low settings yield 50.8 FPS, Medium 36.7 FPS, High 31.9 FPS, and Ultra 26.7 FPS. The 4K Low result is the only preset above 30 FPS at this resolution. From 1440p to 4K at Low settings, FPS drops from 89 to 50.8 — a 42.9% reduction. The pattern across all resolutions shows that the GTX 1070's pixel throughput (107.7 GPixel/s) and memory bandwidth (256.3 GB/s) are insufficient for higher resolutions at demanding settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 1458th out of 1,733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the bottom 16% of all systems. The ranking reflects the GPU's limitations rather than CPU performance. The Core Ultra 7 265K's 97th-percentile CPU score contrasts sharply with the GTX 1070's 51st-percentile GPU score, creating a substantial imbalance.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the 265K essentially ties with the 265KF and i9-14900KF (both 0.2% ahead) and trails the i9-14900K by 0.9%. For the GPU, the GTX 1070's nearest competitors — the Quadro K4200 (0.7% ahead), GTX 880M (1.3% ahead), and GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% behind) — all represent similar performance tiers. The combo's low ranking is consistent with the GPU's mid-range standing; pairing a top-tier CPU with a mid-tier GPU from 2016 results in a system that cannot fully exploit modern processor capabilities in this title.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, Medium settings at 108.8 FPS offer the best balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra at 66.5 FPS remains playable, but the 42.3 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra suggests diminishing returns. Low at 139.1 FPS is ideal for competitive play where maximum frame rates matter.

At 1440p, Low settings (89 FPS) are the only preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. Medium (67.4 FPS) is playable but approaches the threshold, while High (55.7 FPS) and Ultra (43.1 FPS) fall short. Players prioritizing smooth gameplay should stick with Low or Medium.

At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS. Low settings (50.8 FPS) are the only viable option for near-playable performance, while Medium (36.7 FPS) and High (31.9 FPS) dip into slideshow territory. Ultra at 26.7 FPS is effectively unplayable. The data suggests 4K is not a realistic target for this GPU in Minimum, regardless of settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, 1080p produces 139.1 FPS, falling to 89 FPS at 1440p (36% reduction) and 50.8 FPS at 4K (an additional 42.9% reduction). At Ultra, the progression is 66.5 FPS at 1080p, 43.1 FPS at 1440p (35.2% reduction), and 26.7 FPS at 4K (38.1% reduction). These consistent percentage drops across settings indicate the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution.

The pixel count from 1080p to 4K quadruples, but FPS does not drop by the expected 75% — it falls by roughly 63-64% at Low settings. This suggests some CPU involvement or memory bandwidth caching helps mitigate the load. However, the absolute numbers confirm that the GTX 1070's 256.3 GB/s bandwidth and 107.7 GPixel/s fill rate are the primary constraints. The Core Ultra 7 265K, with its 5.50 GHz boost and 20 cores, remains underutilized throughout, as evidenced by the consistent FPS patterns that track GPU settings rather than CPU capabilities.