Minimum

# Minimum: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER

The benchmark data for this combination in Minimum shows a system that is firmly GPU-limited across the tested resolution range, with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K providing ample headroom while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER becomes the primary constraint. The measured frame rates at 1080p and 1440p indicate a playable experience at most settings, but 4K performance drops below the 30 FPS threshold at higher quality presets. The combo ranks 1546th out of 1733 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of systems, which aligns with the GPU's 55th percentile ranking among all graphics cards versus the CPU's 97th percentile standing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a steep performance cliff that is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 82.1 at 1920x1080 to 55.2 at 2560x1440, then plummets to 27.3 at 3840x2160. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a further 51% decline from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative effect is a 67% loss in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings, which strongly indicates the graphics card is the limiting component rather than the processor.

The scaling pattern across all quality presets reinforces this conclusion. At Low settings, the system achieves 130.1 FPS at 1080p, 85.7 FPS at 1440p, and 42.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 34%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 50%. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 66 FPS, 38.6 FPS, and 24.3 FPS respectively, with a 42% reduction between 1080p and 1440p and a 37% reduction between 1440p and 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across different quality settings suggests that pixel throughput, not shading complexity, is the dominant factor.

The 4K results at Medium and Ultra settings (34.2 and 24.3 FPS) fall below comfortable playability thresholds, while High at 4K barely manages 27.3 FPS. This indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, become saturated at higher resolutions. The 1080p results, by contrast, show this combination is well-suited for competitive play, with even Ultra settings maintaining 66 FPS. The data suggests that users targeting 1440p should stick to Low or Medium settings (85.7 and 63.8 FPS) to maintain smooth gameplay, while 4K is only viable at Low settings with 42.6 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture, specifically the TU116 chip fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It features 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz. The memory subsystem comprises 6 GB of GDDR6 running at an effective 14 Gbps across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's pixel rate is 85.68 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 157.1 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 5.027 TFLOPS.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is decisive across all resolutions. The benchmark results show that varying quality settings at the same resolution produces larger frame rate swings than varying resolution at the same quality setting. For example, at 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces performance from 130.1 to 66 FPS, a 49% drop. At 1440p, the same settings change yields 85.7 to 38.6 FPS, a 55% decline. At 4K, Low to Ultra goes from 42.6 to 24.3 FPS, a 43% reduction. This sensitivity to quality presets demonstrates that the GPU's shading throughput and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints.

The GTX 1660 SUPER's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 14286 place it as a mid-range part. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (0.2% lower score), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (0.2% lower), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (0.5% lower), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (0.7% lower). The tight clustering of these scores indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER sits at a competitive performance tier, but the 4K results in this game show its limitations. The GPU's 55th percentile ranking means it outperforms a slight majority of all graphics cards, yet the 4K High result of 27.3 FPS and 4K Ultra result of 24.3 FPS are below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth, along with PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes. Its 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs and average benchmark score of 79102 place it in the top 3% of processors.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is largely supportive, as the frame rate data shows the GPU is the bottleneck. The 265K's performance in synthetic benchmarks illustrates its capability: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 50009 and single-core score of 7060, with PassMark single-thread and multithread scores of 4904 and 58838 respectively. These figures indicate the CPU can easily feed the GTX 1660 SUPER with draw calls and physics calculations at 1080p and 1440p. The fact that frame rates scale so dramatically with resolution and quality settings, rather than holding steady regardless of these changes, confirms the CPU is not the limiting factor.

The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (0.2% lower), Intel Core i9-14900KF (0.2% lower), Intel Core i9-14900K (0.9% lower), and AMD EPYC 7413 (1.2% lower). The 265K's 20 cores and 20 threads, combined with its 5.50 GHz boost clock, provide substantial parallel processing headroom. In a game like Minimum, which is a third-person shooter from 2014, the CPU's single-thread performance is more relevant than its multi-core capability, and the 7060 single-core score in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-thread performance that prevents CPU-induced frame pacing issues. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation, as frame rates at 1080p Low reach 130.1 FPS without the CPU becoming a constraint.

FAQ

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 82.1. This provides a smooth experience for most players, with the system showing no signs of CPU limitation.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this combination?

A: At 3840x2160, only Low settings achieve a playable average of 42.6 FPS. Medium delivers 34.2 FPS, High drops to 27.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 24.3 FPS, making 4K only feasible at the lowest quality preset.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 14286, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics, 0.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Vega 11, and 0.7% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT.

Q: What is the CPU's performance ranking relative to other processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K ranks in the 97th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79102. It is 0.2% behind the Core Ultra 7 265KF and Core i9-14900KF, 0.9% behind the Core i9-14900K, and 1.2% behind the AMD EPYC 7413.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of quality and performance?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system achieves 63.8 FPS, and at High settings it achieves 55.2 FPS. These represent a reasonable balance, though 1080p Ultra at 66 FPS provides better visual fidelity with higher frame rates.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 1546th out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range position relative to the CPU's high-end capability.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1546 out of 1733 tested combinations places this system in the bottom 10.8% of all configurations tested in Minimum. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance tier, as the GTX 1660 SUPER's 55th percentile standing among all GPUs contrasts sharply with the CPU's 97th percentile ranking. The disparity between the two components highlights that the GPU is the binding constraint in this pairing.

The data indicates that the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has substantial headroom remaining, as evidenced by its synthetic benchmark scores. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 50009 and PassMark multithread score of 58838 are far above what a game like Minimum would require, even at the highest settings. The GPU, by contrast, delivers 42.6 FPS at 4K Low and 24.3 FPS at 4K Ultra, demonstrating that the 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for high-resolution, high-quality rendering in this title.

The 1080p results tell a more favorable story for this combo. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 130.1 FPS, and at 1080p High it maintains 82.1 FPS. These figures show that the combination is well-matched for 1080p gaming, where the GPU's capabilities align with the CPU's ability to feed it. The 1440p results are acceptable at Low and Medium settings (85.7 and 63.8 FPS), but High and Ultra (55.2 and 38.6 FPS) begin to show the GPU's limitations.

The rank of 1546 out of 1733 places this system among configurations that are likely better suited for esports or older titles at moderate resolutions rather than demanding modern games at high settings. The GPU's nearest rivals, all within 0.7% of its average score, indicate that this performance tier is tightly contested, meaning users have several options with nearly identical capability. The CPU, however, stands at the top of its class with only 0.2% separating it from the next-best alternative, suggesting that any future GPU upgrade would allow the 265K to fully express its potential in this game.