Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H paired with the AMD Radeon 8060S delivers a fascinating performance profile in Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. The measured frame rates reveal a system that scales predictably with resolution but shows distinct behavior at each quality preset. The data indicates a combination that is clearly capable at 1080p, yet the substantial performance drop at 4K raises questions about which component—the 16-core processor or the RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics—is the true limiting factor in this aging title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and consistent decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 120 FPS at 1080p to 78 FPS at 1440p, a 35% reduction, and then further down to 42 FPS at 4K, representing a 65% drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep scaling curve strongly suggests that the AMD Radeon 8060S is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as pixel throughput demands increase geometrically.

The Low preset tells a similar story, with 187 FPS at 1080p dropping to 121 FPS at 1440p and settling at 65 FPS in 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K here is particularly telling—a 46% performance loss—which aligns with the 2.25x increase in pixel count. This near-linear relationship between resolution and frame rate is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound scenario, where the integrated graphics' 2560 shading units are being pushed to their limit.

Interestingly, the Medium preset provides the only complete data set with min and max FPS values. At 1080p, the frame rate ranges from 122 to 165 FPS with an average of 143 FPS. At 1440p, this average drops to 92 FPS with a range of 79 to 106 FPS, and at 4K, the average falls to 50 FPS with a range of 42 to 57 FPS. The consistency of the min-to-max spreads—roughly 30% of the average value at each resolution—suggests that the frame pacing remains stable even as the workload increases, pointing to a well-behaved but ultimately overwhelmed GPU.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe resolution scaling, with 92 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and just 32 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is particularly notable as it falls below the 42 FPS minimum seen at the Medium preset in the same resolution, indicating that the Ultra settings impose additional overhead beyond mere pixel count. This could be related to increased texture detail or post-processing effects that strain the 8060S's 64 ROPs or 160 TMUs.

The data implies that at 1080p, the system has enough headroom that CPU performance—specifically the Ultra X7 368H's 5.00 GHz boost clock—can keep the GPU fed, but once the resolution climbs, the GPU's 14.85 TFLOPS of FP32 compute becomes the ceiling. The 4K results, ranging from 32 to 65 FPS depending on preset, clearly indicate that this integrated graphics solution is not designed for native 4K gaming in this title, despite its strong 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

FAQ

*Q: Is the AMD Radeon 8060S capable of running Minimum at 4K?*

A: The data shows playable frame rates at 4K only on the Low preset, where the average FPS is 65. The Medium preset achieves 50 FPS, but High drops to 42 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32 FPS. For a smooth experience, 4K requires lowering settings to Low or Medium depending on your frame rate target.

Q: How does the Ultra X7 368H's 16-core configuration impact performance in this game?

A: With 16 cores and 16 threads, the CPU provides ample processing power. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 187 FPS, indicating the processor is not a limiting factor. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs supports this, as does its 28,221 score in Cinebench R23 multi-core tests.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: For the highest frame rates, 1920x1080 is the clear choice, with even the Ultra preset achieving 92 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset at 78 FPS offers a good balance. The 3840x2160 resolution should only be considered if you prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, as the Low preset's 65 FPS is the only 4K result above 60.

Q: How does the Radeon 8060S compare to its closest rivals in average benchmark scores?

A: The 8060S has an average benchmark score of 55,757, placing it just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and 0.6% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. It also outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.7% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 by 2.8%.

Q: Does the Medium preset offer a significant advantage over High settings?

A: Yes, the Medium preset provides a notable FPS boost at every resolution. At 1080p, it averages 143 FPS compared to High's 120 FPS, a 19% improvement. At 1440p, the gap widens to 92 FPS versus 78 FPS, and at 4K, it's 50 FPS versus 42 FPS. This suggests Medium is a more efficient setting tier for this hardware.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 1677 out of 2939 tested combinations indicate?

A: The rank places this CPU-GPU pairing in the 43rd percentile of all tested combos in Minimum. This is lower than the individual component percentiles (both at 87), suggesting that while each part is strong individually, their combined performance in this specific game is moderate, likely due to the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers the most compelling experience for this hardware combination. The 143 FPS average, with a minimum of 122 FPS, provides enough headroom to stay well above the refresh rate of most standard displays while maintaining a visual quality step above Low. The min-to-max spread of 122 to 165 FPS also indicates good frame consistency, which is crucial for a third-person shooter where smooth camera movement matters.

For users with 1440p monitors, the High preset at 78 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it delivers a frame rate that is still comfortably playable while offering improved visual fidelity over Medium's 92 FPS. The 14 FPS difference between these two presets at this resolution is a reasonable trade-off for the visual upgrade. If a locked 60 FPS is the priority, dropping to Medium would be advisable, as the 92 FPS average provides a 53% safety margin over that target.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset's 65 FPS is the only option that consistently exceeds 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for 4K displays. The Medium preset's 50 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but may feel less responsive in fast-action sequences. The High and Ultra presets, at 42 and 32 FPS respectively, should be avoided for competitive play, though they could be used for screenshot purposes or cinematic viewing.

The Ultra preset, while achieving 92 FPS at 1080p, represents diminishing returns. The jump from High to Ultra costs 28 FPS at 1080p (from 120 to 92 FPS), which is a 23% performance hit. Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra in most 2014-era titles is subtle, the data suggests that High is the better choice for 1080p gaming, preserving frame rate headroom for demanding scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows a clear hierarchy. The Low preset delivers the highest average at 187 FPS, followed by Medium at 143 FPS (with a range of 122 to 165 FPS), High at 120 FPS, and Ultra at 92 FPS. The step from Low to Medium results in a 44 FPS drop, while the step from Medium to High costs 23 FPS, and the step from High to Ultra costs 28 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that certain settings within the Medium to High range have a disproportionate impact on performance.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 121 for Low, 92 for Medium (range: 79 to 106), 78 for High, and 59 for Ultra. The percentage drops from 1080p are consistent across presets: 35% for Low, 36% for Medium, 35% for High, and 36% for Ultra. This uniformity indicates that the resolution scaling is independent of the quality preset, reinforcing the GPU-bound nature of the workload at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 65 for Low, 50 for Medium (range: 42 to 57), 42 for High, and 32 for Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is steeper than from 1080p to 1440p: 46% for Low, 46% for Medium, 46% for High, and 46% for Ultra. This consistent 46% reduction across all presets suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth or fill rate becomes the limiting factor at 4K, as the system-shared memory configuration cannot keep up with the increased pixel throughput.

The Medium preset's complete data set provides insight into frame pacing. At 1080p, the spread between min and max is 43 FPS; at 1440p, it's 27 FPS; and at 4K, it's 15 FPS. As the absolute frame rate drops, the absolute spread also narrows, but the relative spread remains around 30% of the average. This consistency implies that the frame time variance scales proportionally with the average, indicating stable performance without stuttering or spikes.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this configuration at 1677 out of 2939 tested combinations, which translates to roughly the 57th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking is notably lower than the individual component percentiles—the CPU sits at the 87th percentile among all CPUs, and the GPU also sits at the 87th percentile among all GPUs. This discrepancy suggests that while each component is strong in isolation, their combination in Minimum does not achieve the same relative standing.

The data indicates that the GPU is likely the constraint in this pairing. The Radeon 8060S, despite its high percentile ranking, is an integrated graphics solution (IGP) with a 55 W TDP. In a game from 2014, the CPU overhead is minimal, so the 16-core processor is rarely taxed. The result is that the combo's performance is dictated almost entirely by the GPU's ability to render frames, which at higher resolutions falls short of what a discrete GPU with a similar percentile ranking might achieve.

Comparatively, the CPU's nearest rivals—the Intel Core 7 253PE, Intel Core 5 223PE, AMD Ryzen 9 7940H, and Intel Xeon 6507P—all have average benchmark scores within 0.2% of the Ultra X7 368H's 40,518. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals, including the RX 6750 GRE and RTX 5080, are within 2.8% of the 8060S's average score of 55,757. Yet in-game, the combo ranks much lower than these percentile positions would suggest, implying that Minimum's specific workload does not favor this hardware pairing as much as synthetic benchmarks would indicate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor based on the Panther Lake architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. Its base clock is 2.00 GHz, boosting up to 5.00 GHz, which provides substantial single-thread performance. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 28,221 in multi-core and 3,984 in single-core tests, placing it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 40,518.

In Minimum, the CPU's role appears to be largely supportive rather than performance-limiting. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 187 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would stress most processors. The fact that the Ultra X7 368H can sustain this without bottlenecking indicates that its 16 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for this title. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps with game asset streaming, while the dual-channel LPDDR5X memory with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth provides adequate data throughput.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 32,956 and the Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 11,852 further reinforce the CPU's capability. However, in a game from 2014, modern multi-core processors often see underutilization, as the game engine may not be optimized for 16 threads. The data suggests that even if the CPU were weaker, the frame rates at higher resolutions would remain unchanged, as the GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU's percentile rank of 87, while impressive, does not translate directly to in-game performance gains in this scenario.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8060S is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, with a base clock of 1295 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz. The GPU's FP32 compute is rated at 14.85 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 464.0 GTexel/s, with a pixel rate of 185.6 GPixel/s. The 40 RT cores suggest some ray tracing capability, though this is unlikely to be utilized in a 2014 title.

The GPU's benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,162, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 84,626, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 80,483. Its average benchmark score is 55,757, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, the RX 6750 GRE, is only 0.1% behind, while the RTX 5080 is 0.6% ahead, indicating that the 8060S performs well in synthetic tests.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is dominant. The frame rates scale almost perfectly with resolution, dropping by 35% from 1080p to 1440p and another 46% from 1440p to 4K across all presets. This consistent scaling is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. The system-shared memory configuration means that the GPU relies on the CPU's LPDDR5X memory, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This could be a limiting factor at 4K, where high-resolution textures require significant memory bandwidth.

The 8060S's TDP of 55 W, combined with its IGP slot width, indicates a power-efficient design. However, the 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS shows that the GPU is not equipped for maximum settings at the highest resolution. The 64 ROPs, while adequate for 1080p, become a bottleneck at 4K where pixel fill rate demands are quadrupled. The data suggests that for this game, the GPU's performance ceiling is around 187 FPS at 1080p Low, and it degrades predictably from there.