Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that, on paper, should be trivial for a modern high-end pairing like the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. The measured results confirm that assumption, but the data reveals a distinct shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution and settings change. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, delivering frame rates that exceed 250 FPS on low settings, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most displays. As resolution climbs to 1440p and then 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary limiting factor, with average frame rates dropping into more conventional territory. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to explain where the sweet spot lies, how the components interact, and what the numbers mean for practical gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about which component is dictating performance. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces a measured average of 267 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 172 FPS, a reduction of roughly 35%. At 4K Low, the average plummets to 93 FPS, which is a 45% drop from the 1440p figure and a 65% drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth demands increase.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. For High settings, the averages are 171 FPS at 1080p, 110 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K. The scaling between 1440p and 4K is particularly steep here, with a 45% performance loss, which aligns with the 4K resolution having exactly four times the pixels of 1080p and roughly 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p. The Ultra preset shows the most constrained scaling: 131 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and just 45 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured average below 60 FPS, signaling that this setting is too demanding for a smooth experience at that resolution.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary limiter, especially on lower settings where the GPU has headroom to render frames quickly. The 267 FPS Low result is likely close to the maximum frame rate the CPU can feed, given its 20 cores and 5.50 GHz boost clock. At 4K, the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being heavily taxed, causing the frame rate to fall to levels where the CPU's performance advantage becomes irrelevant. The transition zone appears to be around 1440p, where the system still achieves high triple-digit frame rates on Low and Medium, but the GPU load is already significant enough to cause a noticeable step down from 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For a game like Minimum, the measured data points to the Medium preset as the best overall balance between visual quality and frame rate headroom. At 1440p Medium, the system averages 132 FPS with a measured minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 151 FPS. This is a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and even above 100 FPS for high-refresh-rate displays. The Low preset at 1440p pushes the average to 172 FPS, but the visual trade-off is significant for only a 30% gain in frame rate. High at 1440p drops to 110 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

At 1080p, the Medium preset is the standout choice, delivering 204 FPS average with a minimum of 174 FPS. This is well above the refresh rate of most 144Hz or 165Hz monitors, ensuring that the display is the limiting factor rather than the system. The High preset at 1080p still yields 171 FPS, which is also sufficient for high-refresh gaming, but Medium offers a 19% performance increase with likely minor visual differences. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 131 FPS, which is respectable but not worth the frame rate sacrifice unless the visual fidelity is a priority.

For 4K gaming, the recommendations become more constrained. The Medium preset averages 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that maintains a playable minimum frame rate. High at 4K averages exactly 60 FPS, but the lack of a measured minimum suggests it could dip below that threshold in heavy scenes. Low at 4K averages 93 FPS, which is the best 4K result, but the visual downgrade is substantial. Ultra at 4K at 45 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay, as it falls below the 60 FPS target. The practical takeaway is to run Medium at 4K for a locked 60 FPS experience, or Low if frame rate is the absolute priority.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the defining component for this game's performance at higher resolutions. Its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 320-bit bus provide a measured bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s, which is crucial for handling the texture and geometry data at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 1710 MHz and base clock of 1440 MHz are standard for the Ampere architecture, and its 8704 shading units and 96 ROPs handle the pixel workload efficiently. The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K, as evidenced by the 60 FPS average on High and 45 FPS on Ultra, which are typical results for a 2020-era card running a 2014 title at maximum settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its overall capability. Its Passmark G3D score of 25086 places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score is 23172. Interestingly, its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA P106-100, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, AMD Radeon RX 6600M, and AMD Radeon R9 M290X, all with average scores within 0.4% of the RTX 3080. This is surprising given the RTX 3080's higher-end positioning, but it reflects the aggregate benchmark data rather than gaming-specific performance. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 152423 indicate strong compute capability, but for Minimum, the memory bandwidth appears to be the key factor.

At 1080p, the RTX 3080 is not the limiting component, as the CPU can feed it frames faster than it can process them. The 267 FPS Low result suggests the GPU has significant headroom, and the frame rate is likely capped by the CPU's rendering pipeline. At 4K, however, the GPU's 10 GB memory capacity and bandwidth become the constraining factors, leading to the 45-93 FPS range depending on settings. The GPU's TDP of 320 W and dual-slot design are not directly reflected in the FPS data, but they indicate the power envelope required to sustain these performance levels.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Minimum with this hardware?

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p offers the best balance of visual clarity and performance. The Medium preset averages 132 FPS with a minimum of 112 FPS, while High averages 110 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors without the steep performance penalty of 4K.

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

A: Yes, but with limitations. The Medium preset at 4K averages 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS, which is playable. High at 4K averages exactly 60 FPS, but the lack of a measured minimum could mean dips below that threshold. Ultra at 4K averages 45 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is the limiting factor at 1080p on lower settings. The 267 FPS Low result indicates the CPU's 20 cores and 5.50 GHz boost clock are feeding the GPU as fast as possible. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance advantage is less relevant.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using?

A: Only if visual fidelity is more important than frame rate. At 1080p, Ultra averages 131 FPS, which is still high, but at 1440p it drops to 84 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 45 FPS. The Medium preset delivers significantly higher frame rates at all resolutions with likely minor visual differences.

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

A: The measured average is 171 FPS. This is well above the refresh rate of most standard monitors (60Hz or 144Hz), so you will not experience screen tearing or input lag if your display supports high refresh rates. The Low preset pushes this to 267 FPS, but the visual trade-off is substantial.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23172, which is 0.3% lower than the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, and 0.4% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600M and AMD Radeon R9 M290X. This indicates that in aggregate compute tests, the card is closely matched with these lower-tier options, though its gaming performance in Minimum is clearly strong.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for older games like Minimum that may not scale well across many cores. The CPU's measured benchmarks confirm its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a single-core score of 2020, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 23085 and single-core score of 2713. These numbers place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70879.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p. The 267 FPS Low result is likely limited by the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly. The Ultra 7 265K's high boost clock and strong single-core performance (Cinebench R15 single-core score of 708) ensure that even at 1080p, the frame rate remains exceptionally high. The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for maintaining consistent frame times.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence wanes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The frame rate drops from 267 FPS at 1080p Low to 172 FPS at 1440p Low and 93 FPS at 4K Low, indicating that the GPU's workload is scaling with resolution while the CPU's contribution remains relatively constant. The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals—the Intel Xeon 6511P (-0.2% delta), Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (-0.7% delta), Intel Core i7-14700KF (+1% delta), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (+1.3% delta)—suggests it is competitive with other high-end desktop and server parts, but for Minimum, the GPU is the deciding factor at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data is taken directly from the measured FPS table for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average is 267 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 204 FPS, with a minimum of 174 FPS and a maximum of 235 FPS. High settings yield 171 FPS on average. Ultra settings drop to 131 FPS on average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 136 FPS, showing that settings have a significant impact at this resolution, but even the lowest result is well above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. Low settings average 172 FPS. Medium settings average 132 FPS, with a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 151 FPS. High settings average 110 FPS. Ultra settings average 84 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 88 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to limit performance.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop to more conventional levels. Low settings average 93 FPS. Medium settings average 71 FPS, with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS. High settings average exactly 60 FPS. Ultra settings average 45 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 48 FPS, and the Ultra result is the only measured average below the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 4K is the only one with a measured minimum that does not dip below 60 FPS, making it the safest choice for a locked frame rate.

The data also includes the combo rank in the game, which is 1051 out of 3712 combinations, placing this hardware pairing in the top 28% of tested configurations for Minimum. This ranking reflects the overall performance across all resolutions and settings, and the measured FPS values confirm that this system is more than capable of running the game smoothly at most settings, with the exception of 4K Ultra.