Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a highly capable experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. Analysis of the measured frame rates reveals a configuration that scales predictably with resolution, though the performance ceiling and floor are dictated by very different components depending on the settings and pixel count. The data indicates that this combination is positioned for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p play, with 4K remaining a viable but more demanding prospect.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking characteristic of this combo is how frame rates collapse as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system produces an average of 215 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 139 FPS, a 35% reduction. The jump to 4K Low results in 75 FPS, which represents another 46% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep and consistent decline across low settings is a clear indicator that the rendering pipeline is becoming increasingly GPU-bound as the pixel workload multiplies.

However, the scaling pattern changes dramatically when examining higher quality presets. At High settings, the frame rate progression is 138 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 35% and 46% respectively, which perfectly mirrors the Low settings scaling. This uniform scaling ratio across all presets suggests that the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit memory bus are not hitting a capacity wall at 4K, but rather the sheer pixel throughput is the limiting factor.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 105 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 68 FPS (a 35% drop), and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 37 FPS (a 46% drop). While the relative percentages remain consistent, the absolute values are notably lower. The 4K Ultra result of 37 FPS is barely playable, while 4K High at 48 FPS is only marginally better. This indicates that the game's Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive at high pixel counts, pushing the GPU to its absolute limits.

The data strongly suggests that the RTX 5060 is the primary bottleneck at 4K across all settings. The 1080p to 1440p transition also shows GPU dominance, but the 1080p results, particularly at Low and Medium, hint at a CPU that is still keeping pace. The 215 FPS at 1080p Low is high enough that the processor's 24 threads are likely not the constraint, but the 35% drop to 1440p indicates the GPU is now the limiting component. In contrast, the 4K results are so low that the CPU's role is diminished to near irrelevance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz provide substantial single-thread headroom, which is critical for a third-person shooter that likely has a primary game thread. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 215 FPS, a figure that demonstrates the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game state updates to maintain very high frame rates.

The processor's benchmark scores corroborate its strength. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. In multi-threaded workloads, it is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX, according to average benchmark scores. This level of performance ensures that the CPU will not be the limiting factor in Minimum, even at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom.

However, the CPU's influence wanes as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is so overwhelmed that the CPU's 5.80 GHz boost clock becomes irrelevant. The FPS differences between presets at 4K are entirely attributable to GPU load. The CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame delivery, and the lack of recorded minimum FPS values for most settings (except Medium) suggests that there are no catastrophic frame-time spikes, which would typically indicate a CPU bottleneck. The 24 threads also ensure that background tasks and game logic do not starve the rendering pipeline.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the definitive performance driver in this pairing. Its 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a card in this class. The GPU's boost clock of 2497 MHz and its Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 3840 shading units deliver 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These specifications are directly reflected in the scaling data, where the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck at 4K.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 26331 places it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Interestingly, its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M (0.3% slower) and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (0.3% slower), which are integrated or entry-level parts. This is a peculiar grouping, but it highlights that the RTX 5060's raw compute is competitive with those parts, while its dedicated GDDR7 memory gives it a significant advantage in actual gaming scenarios, as seen in the Minimum results.

The 4K Ultra result of 37 FPS is a clear indication that the 8 GB memory buffer, while sufficient, is not the limiting factor. The 4K High result of 48 FPS and 4K Medium of 57 FPS show a linear progression that correlates with the GPU's shading load. The RTX 5060's 48 ROPs and 120 TMUs are being pushed to their limits at this resolution. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure that it can handle the game's rendering features, but the data shows that Minimum's Ultra preset is too demanding for 4K on this card.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining a 60 FPS average?

A: At 1440p High, the system averages 89 FPS, and at 1440p Medium, it averages 106 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS experience, 4K Medium is the highest resolution that achieves it, with an average of 57 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83807) and 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83090).

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: The data indicates yes, as the 4K results are not limited by memory capacity but by the GPU's compute throughput. The 4K Medium preset averages 57 FPS, showing the memory buffer can handle the textures at that resolution.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the average is 215 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra, it is 105 FPS. This represents a 110 FPS reduction, or a 51% drop, when moving from the lowest to the highest settings.

Q: Which component is the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K. The frame rates do not improve with lower CPU load, and the consistent scaling across presets points to the RTX 5060's rendering capacity as the limiting factor.

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

A: This specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 1253 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the upper half of all configurations.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 106 FPS with a minimum of 90 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. The 90 FPS minimum is above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a comfortable margin for action-heavy scenes.

At 1080p, the High preset is recommended, as it averages 138 FPS. This provides a high-refresh-rate experience that takes advantage of the CPU's strength. The Ultra preset at 1080p, while averaging 105 FPS, is also viable, but the 33 FPS difference between High and Ultra may not justify the visual gains for competitive play.

For 4K, the Medium preset is the only sensible choice, with an average of 57 FPS and a minimum of 49 FPS. While the minimum dips below 60, the overall experience is playable. The High preset at 4K (48 FPS) and Ultra preset (37 FPS) are too inconsistent for a smooth experience. Players prioritizing frame rate over visuals should consider 1440p High or Medium instead of 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset from the benchmark runs provides a clear picture of performance across all resolution and preset combinations.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Ultra preset yields an average of 37 FPS. The High preset improves this to 48 FPS. The Medium preset is the most balanced, with an average of 57 FPS, a minimum of 49 FPS, and a maximum of 66 FPS. The Low preset is the fastest at this resolution, with an average of 75 FPS, but it does not record minimum or maximum values.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the Ultra preset averages 68 FPS. The High preset delivers 89 FPS. The Medium preset averages 106 FPS with a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 122 FPS. The Low preset is the highest performer, with an average of 139 FPS.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the Ultra preset averages 105 FPS. The High preset achieves 138 FPS. The Medium preset provides an average of 165 FPS, with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 190 FPS. The Low preset is the fastest, delivering an average of 215 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global ranking of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Minimum, this configuration holds the 1253rd position out of 2939 total combos. This places it in the 57th percentile, meaning it outperforms more than half of all tested systems. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing that excels at 1080p and 1440p, but is held back by the GPU's limitations at 4K.

The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors (84003 average benchmark score) is significantly higher than the GPU's 72nd percentile ranking (26331 average benchmark score). This disparity suggests that the system is not perfectly balanced; the CPU has more headroom than the GPU can utilize, particularly at higher resolutions. While the combo rank is respectable, it is likely that a more powerful GPU would yield a higher ranking, as the CPU is demonstrably capable of supporting faster frame rates, as evidenced by the 215 FPS result at 1080p Low. The data clearly shows that the RTX 5060 is the limiting factor in this pairing, and any upgrade path should focus on the graphics card first.