Minimum

# Minimum (Third-Person Shooter) — Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at 4K, yet transitions to a balanced or CPU-leaning profile at 1080p, with the RTX 4090 delivering playable frame rates across all presets but demanding careful settings selection to hit high-refresh targets. The combination of Intel's 24-core Ultra 9 275HX and NVIDIA's flagship RTX 4090 produces a wide performance envelope, ranging from 48 FPS at 4K Ultra to 280 FPS at 1080p Low, with the measured results indicating that the game's engine scales predictably with resolution and preset complexity.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing that pixel throughput is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 280 at 1080p to 180 at 1440p (a 36% reduction), then further to 97 at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). This pattern is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario where the RTX 4090's raw fill rate — backed by its 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth — becomes the limiting factor.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced at higher presets. At Medium settings, the averages are 214 FPS at 1080p, 138 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 76 FPS (36%) and the 1440p-to-4K drop of 64 FPS (46%) mirror the Low settings pattern, confirming that resolution scaling is independent of preset complexity. At High settings, the progression is 180 FPS (1080p), 116 FPS (1440p), and 62 FPS (4K), with the 1440p-to-4K reduction of 54 FPS (47%) again showing a near-identical percentage drop.

Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling. Starting at 137 FPS at 1080p, the average falls to 88 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 48 FPS at 4K (a 45% drop). The consistent 36-47% reduction between each resolution step across all four presets strongly suggests that the game's rendering pipeline is heavily pixel-bound, with the RTX 4090's shading units (16,384) and TMUs (512) working at near-saturation once resolution increases.

The 4K results tell a clear story: the RTX 4090 cannot maintain 60 FPS at Ultra (48 FPS) but does exceed it at High (62 FPS) and Medium (74 FPS), while Low (97 FPS) offers a comfortable margin. At 1440p, all presets exceed 60 FPS, with even Ultra hitting 88 FPS. The 1080p data indicates that the CPU begins to matter, particularly at Low settings where 280 FPS approaches the practical ceiling for many displays, yet the Ultra 9 275HX's high boost clock of 5.40 GHz keeps the system from becoming CPU-bound in most scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this hardware combination?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 280, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is 100 FPS higher than the 1080p High result (180 FPS) and 66 FPS higher than the 1080p Medium result (214 FPS).

Q: Can this system run Minimum at 4K with all settings maxed out?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 48, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth. To achieve 60+ FPS at 4K, settings must be reduced to High (62 FPS) or lower.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: The loss is consistent across presets, ranging from 45% to 47%. For example, at Medium settings, 1440p yields 138 FPS while 4K yields 74 FPS, a 64 FPS reduction. At Ultra, the drop is from 88 FPS to 48 FPS, a 40 FPS reduction.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest minimum frame rate at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 has a reported minimum FPS of 117, with a maximum of 159 and an average of 138. This is the only 1440p preset with recorded min/max values in the data.

Q: Is the system CPU-bound or GPU-bound at 1080p Low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS reaches 280, which is significantly higher than at 1440p Low (180 FPS). The substantial drop when resolution increases indicates that the GPU is still the primary limiter, even at low resolutions, though the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock enables such high frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's performance percentile compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4090 sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347. Its closest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores 60,326 (a 0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61,896, which is 2.5% higher.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this system for Minimum, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling with resolution changes. The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for feeding the 16,384 shading units at high resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck: even at Low settings, the average FPS drops to 97, which is 183 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result.

The GPU's clock behavior — base 2235 MHz and boost 2520 MHz — contributes to its performance ceiling. The boost clock of 2520 MHz, combined with the Ada Lovelace architecture's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, allows the card to maintain high frame rates at 1440p, where even Ultra settings deliver 88 FPS. The texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s are the specifications that directly correlate with the observed resolution scaling; these rates define how quickly the GPU can fill pixels, which is the limiting factor at 4K.

The RTX 4090's benchmark scores place it at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 60,347. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores nearly identically at 60,326 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% higher at 61,896. In the context of Minimum, the GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 and Passmark G3D score of 38,194 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which aligns with the game's measured FPS results showing playable frame rates at all resolutions up to 4K High.

The memory configuration deserves attention: 24 GB of GDDR6X at 21 Gbps effective provides ample capacity and bandwidth for this game. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is particularly relevant at 4K Ultra, where the 48 FPS average suggests that memory bandwidth is not the limiting factor — rather, the sheer pixel load overwhelms the GPU's compute resources. The GPU's end-of-life production status and launch MSRP of 1,599 USD position it as a flagship part, and the measured data confirms that it delivers flagship-level performance in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 280 FPS, which is the single highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings follow at 214 FPS average, with a minimum of 182 FPS and maximum of 246 FPS, demonstrating a tight frame time distribution. High settings yield 180 FPS average, while Ultra settings drop to 137 FPS average. The 1080p results show a clear progression: each step up in preset costs roughly 40-70 FPS, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 143 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are substantially lower but remain well above 60 FPS for all presets. Low settings achieve 180 FPS average, Medium settings 138 FPS average (with min/max of 117/159 FPS), High settings 116 FPS average, and Ultra settings 88 FPS average. The 1440p-to-1080p deltas are consistent: Low drops by 100 FPS, Medium by 76 FPS, High by 64 FPS, and Ultra by 49 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's pixel throughput is the dominant factor, as the percentage reduction (36% for Low, 36% for Medium, 36% for High, 36% for Ultra) is nearly identical across all presets.

At 3840x2160, the system crosses below the 60 FPS threshold at Ultra settings, with an average of 48 FPS. High settings achieve 62 FPS, just above the threshold, while Medium settings reach 74 FPS (with min/max of 63/86 FPS) and Low settings hit 97 FPS. The 4K-to-1440p drops are: Low from 180 to 97 (46% reduction), Medium from 138 to 74 (46%), High from 116 to 62 (47%), and Ultra from 88 to 48 (45%). The consistency of these percentages reinforces that resolution scaling is the primary performance driver, not preset complexity.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all three resolutions: 1080p (182/246), 1440p (117/159), and 4K (63/86). These ranges reveal that the frame time variance remains proportional to the average, with the 4K Medium minimum of 63 FPS still exceeding the 4K Ultra average of 48 FPS. This indicates that even the most demanding scenario with playable frame rates (4K Medium) maintains acceptable frame pacing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX plays a supporting role in Minimum, as evidenced by the frame rate data showing GPU dominance at higher resolutions. However, the CPU's capabilities ensure that the system never becomes CPU-bound, even at 1080p Low where 280 FPS is achieved. The 24 cores and 24 threads, running at a base clock of 2.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz, provide ample single-threaded performance for the game's logic, with the 5.40 GHz boost being particularly relevant for high-FPS scenarios.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average score of 67,469. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon w5-3525, scores 67,673 (a -0.3% delta), while the AMD EPYC 4484PX scores 67,822 (-0.5%) and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX scores 67,868 (-0.6%). The Intel Xeon 6515P trails at 67,006 (0.7% delta). These scores, particularly the Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 35,589 and single-core result of 2,204, indicate that the CPU can handle the game's thread scheduling without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide fast access to game data, which is critical when frame rates exceed 200 FPS at 1080p. The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 ensures that the CPU can feed the GPU without stalling, though the RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is an order of magnitude higher, confirming that the GPU memory subsystem is the more critical path.

At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further, as the GPU's pixel processing dominates the frame time. The fact that 4K Ultra (48 FPS) is exactly 50% of 1080p Ultra (137 FPS) — while 4K Low (97 FPS) is 35% of 1080p Low (280 FPS) — suggests that at higher presets, the CPU's work per frame increases slightly, but the GPU remains the limiting factor. The Ultra 9 275HX's Passmark single-thread score of 4,713 and multi-thread score of 55,759 confirm that it has sufficient headroom to avoid constraining the RTX 4090 in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most scenarios. At 1080p, Medium delivers 214 FPS average with a minimum of 182 FPS, which is 34 FPS higher than High (180 FPS) and only 66 FPS lower than Low (280 FPS). The Medium preset's frame time consistency (182-246 FPS range) is tighter than the gap between presets suggests, making it the most predictable option for high-refresh displays.

At 1440p, Medium again stands out with 138 FPS average and a minimum of 117 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 60 FPS and provides headroom for 120 Hz displays. High settings at 1440p (116 FPS) are also viable, but Medium's additional 22 FPS comes at a modest visual cost, and the min/max data (117-159 FPS) shows better frame pacing than the High preset's unspecified range. For users prioritizing frame rate stability, Medium at 1440p is the recommended choice.

At 4K, the decision is more nuanced. Ultra settings fall below 60 FPS with 48 FPS average, making them unsuitable for smooth gameplay. High settings achieve 62 FPS average, just above the 60 FPS threshold, but offer no min/max data to assess frame pacing. Medium settings provide 74 FPS average with a minimum of 63 FPS and maximum of 86 FPS, which is the safest option for 4K gaming. Low settings (97 FPS) are also viable but sacrifice significant visual quality. Given the min/max data for Medium, it is the recommended 4K preset, as it maintains a minimum above 60 FPS while delivering higher visual fidelity than Low.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is the Medium preset. It provides the best combination of average frame rate and frame time consistency, with the 1080p and 1440p results both exceeding 120 FPS averages and the 4K result staying above 60 FPS with a comfortable margin. High settings are acceptable at 1080p and 1440p but marginal at 4K, while Ultra is only viable at 1080p. The data suggests that the game's Medium preset was designed as the optimal balance point for high-end hardware, and this system's measured results confirm that assessment.