Minimum

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Minimum, a 2014 Third-Person Shooter. Across the measured configurations, this combo demonstrates a clear bias toward GPU limitation at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s 16 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for the game’s logic at 1080p. The data shows a consistent scaling pattern where lowering settings yields substantial FPS gains, particularly at 1440p and 4K, indicating that the rendering pipeline, not the processor, is the primary constraint in most tested scenarios.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra X7 368H is a 16-core, 16-thread mobile processor based on the Panther Lake architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. Its base clock of 2.00 GHz can boost up to 5.00 GHz, and it carries an 18 MB shared L3 cache alongside 2.5 MB of L2 per core. For a game released in 2014, this represents an enormous amount of parallel processing capability, but Minimum's workload does not appear to leverage all of it. The benchmark results show that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 293 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset. This suggests that even with the GPU operating at a lighter load, the CPU is capable of feeding frames well beyond typical display refresh rates.

The processor's single-thread performance, as measured by Cinebench R23 single-core at 3984 points, is strong for its generation, and this is likely the more relevant metric for Minimum's game logic. Older titles often rely heavily on a few primary threads for physics, AI, and game state updates. The Core Ultra X7 368H’s 5.00 GHz boost clock provides the necessary speed for these tasks. In contrast, its multi-core score of 28221 in Cinebench R23 confirms its overall throughput, but the measured FPS data does not show a scenario where the game becomes CPU-bound, as frame rates continue to scale significantly with resolution changes.

The CPU's position in the broader market is solid, holding an 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs tested. Its average benchmark score of 40518 places it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H and Intel Xeon 6507P, and just 0.1% behind the Intel Core 7 253PE. This indicates that while the Core Ultra X7 368H is not a class leader, its performance is tightly clustered with other high-end mobile and workstation parts. In the context of Minimum, this level of CPU performance ensures that the processor is rarely the bottleneck, allowing the GPU to dictate the final frame rate based on resolution and settings. The data supports this interpretation: moving from 1080p Ultra (143 FPS) to 4K Ultra (50 FPS) shows a 65% drop in performance, a scaling pattern that points to the GPU's rendering load as the dominant factor.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this CPU-GPU combo in Minimum?*

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 293 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the dataset that exceeds the 280 FPS mark, demonstrating the combo's peak capability when graphical load is minimized.

Q: How does the combo's performance rank compared to all other tested combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 814th out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum. This places it in the top 22% of all tested systems, indicating a strong but not elite overall standing for this specific title.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H and its closest rival, the Intel Core 7 253PE?

A: The Core Ultra X7 368H has an average benchmark score of 40518, while the Intel Core 7 253PE scores 40557. This represents a negligible 0.1% difference, meaning the two processors are effectively identical in overall compute performance.

Q: Does the GPU's benchmark performance align with its in-game frame rates?

A: The RTX 5090 Mobile holds an 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 45152. In Minimum, its performance is strong but not top-tier, as evidenced by the 814th rank out of 3712 combos, suggesting the game may not fully utilize the GPU's capabilities or that other system components influence the final result.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce an average of 189 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 92 FPS. This is a 97 FPS difference, representing a 51% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: Is the CPU's multi-threaded performance a significant factor in this game's results?

A: The CPU's multi-threaded score in Cinebench R23 is 28221, which is robust, but the FPS scaling data shows that resolution changes have a far larger impact on performance than settings changes. This implies the game is primarily GPU-bound, and the CPU's 16 threads are more than sufficient for Minimum's requirements.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern for the RTX 5090 Mobile. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 188 FPS at 1080p to 121 FPS at 1440p, a 36% reduction. Moving further to 4K, the average falls to 65 FPS, which is a 65% drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline as pixel count increases is the signature of a system where the graphics card's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. The GPU's 896.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 31.80 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are substantial, but the sheer pixel workload at 3840x2160 overwhelms them.

The scaling behavior is even more pronounced at lower settings. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 293 FPS at 1080p to 189 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), and then to 102 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). The consistency of this percentage drop across settings is telling. If the CPU were a limiting factor, we would expect the frame rate to plateau or show diminishing returns as settings are lowered at a given resolution. Instead, the data shows that reducing settings from Ultra to Low at 4K yields a 104% increase in average FPS (from 50 to 102), which indicates the GPU has significant headroom that is unlocked by reducing shading and texture work.

At 1080p, the picture is slightly different. The jump from Ultra (143 FPS) to Low (293 FPS) represents a 105% increase, similar to the 4K gain. However, the absolute frame rates are high enough that the CPU's role becomes more relevant. With a 5.00 GHz boost clock and strong single-core performance (3984 in Cinebench R23), the Core Ultra X7 368H is able to keep up with the GPU's output, allowing the 293 FPS figure to be achieved. The data does not show a scenario where the CPU becomes a bottleneck, as even the highest frame rates continue to scale with lower settings. This suggests that for Minimum, the RTX 5090 Mobile is the clear limiting component, and the CPU provides a stable foundation that does not artificially cap performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 293 FPS, which is the peak for the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 224 FPS, with a minimum of 190 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS, showing a stable frame delivery. High settings bring the average down to 188 FPS, and the Ultra preset, which is the most demanding at this resolution, still produces a robust 143 FPS average. The data shows a steady decline of roughly 50 FPS between each successive preset level, indicating a well-balanced scaling of graphical fidelity versus performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low settings still deliver an impressive 189 FPS average. Medium settings offer 144 FPS, with a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 166 FPS. High settings drop to 121 FPS, and Ultra falls to 92 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 97 FPS, or 51%, which is consistent with the GPU handling a heavier pixel load. The minimum FPS data for Medium at this resolution (123 FPS) is notably higher than the average for Ultra (92 FPS), suggesting that even the lowest dips at medium quality exceed the sustained average at the highest quality.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a significant hit, as expected. The Low preset averages 102 FPS, which is still playable but shows a 65% reduction from the 1080p Low figure. Medium settings average 78 FPS, with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS. High settings drop to 65 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50 FPS. The data reveals that at 4K, even the Low preset cannot match the frame rates achieved at 1080p Ultra, highlighting the exponential cost of resolution. The Medium settings at 4K, with its 66 FPS minimum, represents the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, indicating that the GPU’s limits are reached when combining high resolution with moderate quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo of the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile achieves a rank of 814 out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum. This places it in the 78th percentile of all systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 78% of the tested configurations. While this is a strong result, it is not a top-tier ranking, which is notable given the high-end nature of the components. The GPU alone holds an 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, and the CPU sits at the 87th percentile, yet the combined system's rank is lower than either individual component's percentile. This discrepancy suggests that Minimum may not be fully optimized to take advantage of the RTX 5090 Mobile's state-of-the-art features, such as its 82 RT cores or 328 tensor cores, which are likely underutilized in a 2014 title.

The rank of 814 indicates that there are 813 other combinations that deliver higher average frame rates in this specific game. Given that the frame rates measured here are already very high, the systems ranked above this combo likely benefit from even more favorable CPU-GPU pairings or configurations that are better suited to the game's engine. The data shows that the combo's performance is solidly in the upper quartile, but it does not crack the top 500. This is a reasonable outcome for a mobile platform, as desktop systems with higher power envelopes and faster memory configurations may have an edge in a game that is not extremely demanding.

The ranking also reflects the balance of the system. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H and Intel Xeon 6507P, have virtually identical average benchmark scores (within 0.2%). However, the in-game rank is what matters for this analysis. The fact that this combo sits at 814 suggests that while the components are individually powerful, their combined performance in Minimum is not exceptional enough to place them among the top 20% of systems. This is likely due to the game's age, which does not heavily stress modern hardware, meaning that many other combos, even those with less capable parts, can achieve similar or better frame rates if they have higher clock speeds or more efficient memory subsystems.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 224 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate display, while still providing a meaningful improvement in visual fidelity over the Low preset. The minimum FPS of 190 at this setting ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate does not drop below the 144 Hz threshold, making it a reliable choice for competitive play. At 1440p, Medium averages 144 FPS, which exactly matches the refresh rate of many high-end monitors, and its minimum of 123 FPS keeps the experience smooth. At 4K, Medium produces 78 FPS, with a minimum of 66 FPS, which is the highest average among the presets that still maintains playable performance.

The Ultra preset is only recommended for users with a 1080p display who prioritize maximum visual fidelity, as it still achieves a respectable 143 FPS average. However, at 1440p, Ultra drops to 92 FPS, which may be below the refresh rate of some high-end monitors, and at 4K it falls to 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a smooth experience. The High preset is a viable middle ground, offering 188 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K. For 4K users, High is the better choice over Ultra, as it provides a 30% performance increase (from 50 to 65 FPS) at a likely minor visual cost.

In summary, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point for most users. It provides the highest frame rates that still allow for a visually engaging experience, and its minimum FPS values are consistently high enough to avoid noticeable stuttering. For those with 4K displays, the data suggests that High settings are the practical ceiling, as Ultra sacrifices too much performance for the marginal visual gains. The Low preset is only advisable for users seeking the absolute maximum frame rate, such as competitive esports players with 240 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, as it delivers 293 FPS at 1080p and 189 FPS at 1440p.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on a 5 nm process, featuring 10496 shading units, 328 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation units. It is equipped with 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 990 MHz and a boost clock of 1515 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications are far beyond what Minimum, a game from 2014, would require, yet the measured frame rates show that the GPU is still the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM is more than ample for this title, as even at 4K Ultra settings, the game's texture and geometry data would not come close to exhausting this capacity. The 896.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is also excessive for a game of this era, but it contributes to the stable frame times observed in the data. The boost clock of 1515 MHz, while lower than some desktop counterparts, is sufficient to drive the high frame rates seen at 1080p. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 31.80 TFLOPS is a key metric for raw shading throughput, and its 496.9 GTexel/s texture rate ensures that even at 4K, texture sampling is not a bottleneck.

The GPU's benchmark scores reflect its overall capability. Its Passmark G3D score of 30034 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5871 indicate strong performance in modern workloads. In Minimum, the GPU's role is primarily to render the scene at the given resolution and settings. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the GPU is not fully utilized, allowing the CPU to push frame rates to 293 FPS. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's work scales exponentially, leading to the frame rate drops observed. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it is a high-end part, but its performance in Minimum is not exceptional relative to other top-tier GPUs, likely because the game does not utilize its advanced features like ray tracing cores or DLSS, which are present but irrelevant for this title.