Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination presents a clear picture for running Minimum, a third-person shooter released in June 2014. The recorded data, based on measured gameplay rather than estimates, shows that this pairing is highly resolution-dependent. At 1080p, the system delivers comfortable frame rates, but it struggles significantly at higher resolutions. The following analysis breaks down the measured performance across all tested settings and resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database contains measured average frame rates for four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions. Minimum and maximum frame rates are available only for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the system performs well across the board. The Low preset averages 91 FPS. Medium averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. High drops to 58 FPS on average. Ultra is the most demanding, averaging 45 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, a 46 FPS difference, indicating that the RX 580 has significant headroom at this resolution but that Ultra settings push the GPU beyond its comfort zone.

At 2560x1440, performance declines noticeably. Low averages 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium averages 45 FPS, with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS. High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 29 FPS. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 30% to 35% of the average frame rate across all presets. For example, Low drops from 91 FPS to 59 FPS, and High drops from 58 FPS to 38 FPS. No preset at 1440p clears the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the system is largely overwhelmed. Low averages 32 FPS. Medium averages 24 FPS, with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 28 FPS. High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe. Low drops from 59 FPS to 32 FPS, a 46% reduction. Medium drops from 45 FPS to 24 FPS. Even the lowest preset at 4K cannot maintain playable frame rates, and the Ultra preset at 15 FPS is essentially a slideshow.

The Medium preset data provides the only complete min/max breakdown. At 1080p, the frame time variance is tight, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum falls to 38 FPS and the maximum to 52 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 21 FPS and the maximum is 28 FPS. This pattern shows that as resolution increases, both the average and the consistency of frame delivery degrade. The variance between minimum and maximum grows from 21 FPS at 1080p to 14 FPS at 1440p and 7 FPS at 4K, though the absolute values are far lower at 4K.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck for this game. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, has a strong benchmark profile. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 15045, and its single-core score is 2124. The GPU, an AMD Radeon RX 580 with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit bus, has a Passmark G3D score of 8813 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005. The CPU's average benchmark score of 17035 places it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. The GPU's average benchmark score of 12928 places it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs.

The measured FPS scaling across resolutions confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. When moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by roughly one-third across all presets. This is a classic symptom of GPU-bound rendering, where the number of pixels to process increases with resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively constant across resolutions, or the drop would be less pronounced. The drop pattern here is steep and consistent, indicating that the RX 580's compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 91. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to reach high frame rates. The Ryzen 5 3600's 12 threads and 32 MB of shared L3 cache are sufficient for this game, which is a third-person shooter from 2014. The game's release date suggests it does not have extreme multi-core demands, and the Ryzen 5 3600 handles them easily.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. The average FPS at 4K Low is 32, which is less than half of the 1080p Low result. The GPU's pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are not enough to fill 3840x2160 pixels at high frame rates. The CPU's performance is not the issue here; even a much stronger GPU would struggle to push this resolution without lowering settings.

The settings presets also reveal the GPU's role. Increasing from Low to Medium at 1080p reduces the average FPS from 91 to 70. From Medium to High, it drops to 58. From High to Ultra, it drops to 45. This scaling is typical of GPU-bound workloads, where higher settings increase shading complexity, texture detail, and post-processing effects. The CPU's load does not scale as dramatically with settings, so the frame rate drop is attributable to the GPU.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Minimum at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 91 FPS and the Medium preset averages 70 FPS. Both are above the 60 FPS playable threshold. High averages 58 FPS, which is slightly below the threshold, and Ultra averages 45 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p that stays at or above 60 FPS?

A: The Medium preset is the most demanding that clears the threshold, averaging 70 FPS. The recorded minimum for Medium is 59 FPS, which is just below 60, but the average is comfortably above.

Q: Is 1440p playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 2560x1440, the best average FPS is 59 on the Low preset, which is 1 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold. All other presets (Medium, High, Ultra) average 45, 38, and 29 FPS respectively. None of these clear the playable threshold.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score is 12928, which is 0.1% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and 0.4% below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12986). It is 0.5% above the AMD Radeon 740M (12870) and 0.6% above the AMD FirePro W5100 (12847). These differences are negligible in real-world terms.

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K with the Medium preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 24, with a minimum of 21 FPS and a maximum of 28 FPS. This is far below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 91 FPS, which indicates the CPU can push high frame rates. The steep FPS drops at higher resolutions are consistent with GPU-bound rendering.

The Verdict

Based on the recorded data, this system can run Minimum at 1920x1080 with playable frame rates, but only on the Low and Medium presets. The verdict by resolution is clear: at 3840x2160, there are no playable settings; at 2560x1440, there are no playable settings; at 1920x1080, the playable settings are Low and Medium, with Medium being the best setting at an average of 70 FPS.

The 1080p results are solid. Low at 91 FPS gives plenty of headroom for competitive play or recording. Medium at 70 FPS offers a good balance of visual quality and performance, though the minimum of 59 FPS suggests occasional dips below the threshold. High at 58 FPS is nearly playable but misses the mark. Ultra at 45 FPS is not recommended.

For 1440p, the answer is no. The best case, Low at 59 FPS, is technically 1 FPS below the threshold. In practice, this means the system cannot consistently maintain 60 FPS at this resolution, and any visual quality upgrade makes the situation worse. Medium at 45 FPS, High at 38 FPS, and Ultra at 29 FPS are all below acceptable levels for a smooth experience.

For 4K, the answer is a definitive no. The highest average FPS is 32 on Low, and the Ultra preset averages 15 FPS. This hardware is not suited for 4K gaming with this title. The GPU's bandwidth and compute capabilities are insufficient for the pixel load.

The combination ranks 3383 out of 3712 combos in the database for this game, indicating that most other CPU/GPU pairings perform better. However, the ranking is likely dragged down by the poor high-resolution results. At 1080p, the system is serviceable and can deliver a smooth experience on medium settings.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 provide context for its CPU performance. The Intel Core i7-1260P has an average score of 17007, which is 0.2% above the Ryzen 5 3600. The Intel Core i5-11400 scores 17067, which is 0.2% below. The AMD EPYC 7573X scores 17070, also 0.2% below. The AMD EPYC 7742 scores 16998, 0.2% above. These deltas are all within 0.2%, meaning the Ryzen 5 3600 will behave nearly identically to these CPUs in this game. Users with any of these processors should expect the same FPS results when paired with the same GPU.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are similarly close. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile has an average score of 12940, which is 0.1% above the RX 580. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12986, 0.4% above. The AMD Radeon 740M scores 12870, 0.5% below. The AMD FirePro W5100 scores 12847, 0.6% below. These differences are small enough that in-game performance will be effectively identical. A GTX 1660 SUPER would produce nearly the same frame rates as the RX 580 at all resolutions and settings.

It is important to note that these rival scores are aggregate benchmarks, not game-specific measurements. However, the close benchmark scores suggest that the measured FPS for the Ryzen 5 3600 + RX 580 combination would be representative of any of these pairings. For example, swapping the RX 580 for a GTX 1660 SUPER would likely change the average FPS by only 1 or 2 frames at most. Similarly, swapping the Ryzen 5 3600 for a Core i5-11400 would have a negligible impact.

The practical implication is that this system's performance profile is not unique. Many mid-range desktop and mobile components from the same era will produce similar results. The 1080p Medium result of 70 FPS is a reasonable expectation for this class of hardware.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at each resolution is determined by the measured averages.

At 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the best choice. It averages 70 FPS, which is 10 FPS above the threshold. The Low preset averages 91 FPS, but it reduces visual quality. Medium provides a meaningful upgrade in detail while maintaining a comfortable average. The recorded minimum for Medium is 59 FPS, which is close to the threshold, but the average is solid. High at 58 FPS and Ultra at 45 FPS are not viable options for a consistent 60 FPS experience.

At 2560x1440, no preset achieves 60 FPS on average. The closest is Low at 59 FPS, but this is still below the threshold. Therefore, there is no recommended setting at this resolution for a playable experience. Users who must play at 1440p would have to accept frame rates in the 38-59 FPS range, which is below the standard for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the situation is worse. The best average is 32 FPS on Low, which is far below the threshold. Medium averages 24 FPS, High averages 20 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. None of these are acceptable for playable frame rates.

The verdict is clear: this system is a 1080p machine for Minimum. The Medium preset at 70 FPS is the optimal balance of performance and visual quality. For users who prioritize frame rate above all else, the Low preset at 91 FPS offers a significant margin. The data does not support playable performance at 1440p or 4K, so those resolutions should be avoided unless the user is willing to play at sub-60 FPS frame rates.