Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that, on this Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination, shows a clear preference for higher refresh rates over maximum visual fidelity. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings indicate that this hardware pairing is exceptionally strong for the game's engine, with the primary performance question being whether the user prioritizes smoothness or visual detail. The data reveals a system that can comfortably exceed standard 60 FPS thresholds at nearly every configuration tested, with the only exception being the most demanding preset at 4K resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combination provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 310 FPS, while the High preset still manages 199 FPS. The Medium preset sits between these at 237 FPS, and Ultra drops to 152 FPS. All of these figures are substantially above the refresh rate of typical high-end displays, meaning that even the Ultra preset at 1080p is not a bottleneck for competitive play.

For users with 1440p displays, the analysis shifts slightly. The Low preset achieves 200 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh monitors, while High produces 128 FPS and Medium produces 153 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 98 FPS, which remains playable but requires a display with at least a 100Hz refresh rate to fully utilize. Benchmark results indicate that the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance between visual quality and performance, as it maintains a 130 FPS minimum while providing a 153 FPS average.

At 4K resolution, the situation becomes more restrictive. The High preset produces 69 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS standard but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 4K achieves 82 FPS with a 70 FPS minimum, which is the recommended configuration for this resolution. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 53 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold and is not ideal for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 4K reaches 108 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial. The data suggests that the Medium preset at 4K is the optimal choice, as it maintains a playable frame rate while offering a significant upgrade over Low settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This memory configuration is a critical factor in Minimum’s performance, as the game’s rendering engine appears to be sensitive to memory bandwidth at higher resolutions. The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1980 MHz drive its 7168 shading units, which deliver a FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS. These specifications place the RTX 4070 SUPER in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, according to benchmark aggregation.

The GPU’s role in this game is demonstrated by the scaling of frame rates as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 310 FPS, but this drops to 200 FPS at 1440p and 108 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, as the frame rate reduction is roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Minimum’s requirements, as even the Ultra preset at 4K does not appear to be constrained by memory allocation, given that the 53 FPS result is more consistent with raw compute limitations than memory pressure.

Comparing the RTX 4070 SUPER to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, it trails the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB by 0.1% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile by 0.1%, while sitting 1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile. These marginal differences in aggregate benchmark scores do not translate into meaningful performance gaps in Minimum, as the measured frame rates demonstrate that the GPU is well above the threshold required for smooth gameplay at most settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Medium preset, which has complete data for all resolutions, the average frame rate drops from 237 FPS at 1080p to 153 FPS at 1440p, and then to 82 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not perfectly linear, indicating that the game becomes increasingly GPU-bound as pixel count rises.

At the High preset, the scaling is similarly steep: 199 FPS at 1080p, 128 FPS at 1440p, and 69 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. The Low preset shows the same relative pattern, with 310 FPS at 1080p, 200 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that the limiting component is the GPU’s rendering throughput rather than any specific setting.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest degradation, falling from 152 FPS at 1080p to 98 FPS at 1440p and 53 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is the only measured configuration that falls below 60 FPS, which indicates that the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution exceeds the GPU’s capability for sustained high frame rates. The data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution, as the frame rates continue to scale with GPU load rather than plateauing at a CPU-bound ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 439 out of 2939 tested combos for Minimum. This places the pairing in the 85th percentile of all combinations tested, indicating that it is a high-performing configuration for this game. The rank reflects the overall capability of the system to deliver high frame rates across all settings and resolutions, with the only weakness being the 4K Ultra preset.

The CPU’s contribution to this ranking is supported by its synthetic benchmark scores, which place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and a single-core score of 7303, indicating strong performance in both threaded and single-threaded workloads. The GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking is lower than the CPU’s, suggesting that the GPU is the more limiting component in this pairing for Minimum’s specific demands.

The combination rank of 439 out of 2939 implies that there are 438 combinations that perform better in this game, which is a small fraction of the total tested. This indicates that while the pairing is not the absolute top performer, it is well within the upper echelon of configurations. The data shows that the system is capable of delivering a high-refresh-rate experience at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K performance requiring settings adjustments to maintain smooth frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming with this combination?

A: The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 delivers 152 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS standard and suitable for high-refresh displays. The High preset provides 199 FPS and Low provides 310 FPS, but Ultra offers the best visual quality while still maintaining excellent performance.

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

A: Yes, but with limitations. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 achieves 82 FPS with a 70 FPS minimum, which is playable. The High preset reaches 69 FPS, but the Ultra preset drops to 53 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4070 SUPER is 0.1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile, and 1% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. Frame rates scale consistently with pixel count, showing no signs of a CPU bottleneck. The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking supports this conclusion.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at 1440p Medium?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 produces a minimum frame rate of 130 FPS and a maximum of 176 FPS, with an average of 153 FPS. This provides a smooth experience with no drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance relate to this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has 24 cores and 24 threads with a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 indicate it is more than capable of feeding the GPU in Minimum, as evidenced by the high frame rates at all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates show a clear progression across settings. The Low preset delivers 310 FPS average, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset achieves 237 FPS with a minimum of 202 FPS and a maximum of 273 FPS. The High preset produces 199 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 152 FPS. All settings at 1080p are well above the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution the most flexible for any display refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. The Low preset reaches 200 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 176 FPS. The High preset delivers 128 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 98 FPS. These results indicate that 1440p is a viable resolution for high-refresh gaming, with even the Ultra preset exceeding 90 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. The Low preset achieves 108 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 95 FPS. The High preset delivers 69 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 53 FPS. The Medium and High presets remain above 60 FPS, but the Ultra preset is the only configuration in the entire dataset that fails to reach this threshold, requiring users to reduce settings for a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, which is critical for game engines like Minimum that rely on a primary rendering thread. The CPU’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, while its 115.2 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth ensures the GPU is fed with data efficiently.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and a single-core score of 7303, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its PassMark single-thread score of 4823 further confirms its strength in lightly-threaded workloads. The CPU’s nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark scores include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which is 0.2% behind, and the AMD EPYC 4584PX, which is 1.1% behind, while the AMD EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% ahead.

The CPU’s role in Minimum is best understood by examining the frame rate scaling across resolutions. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rates would plateau at a certain level regardless of resolution. However, the data shows that frame rates continue to drop as resolution increases, indicating that the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU’s high single-thread performance ensures that it can process the game’s logic and physics without introducing frame time inconsistencies, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential. The combination of 24 cores and a 5.80 GHz boost clock makes this processor overqualified for Minimum, but it provides a stable foundation for the GPU to deliver the high frame rates observed in the measured data.