Minimum

FAQ

Q: Can the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination achieve 60 FPS in Minimum at 1080p?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080, the combo exceeds 60 FPS at every preset. The lowest average is 76 FPS at Ultra settings, while Low reaches 155 FPS, Medium hits 119 FPS, and High lands at 100 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1440p for this system?

A: The recorded data shows High is the best preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 2560x1440, producing an average of 64 FPS. Medium averages 77 FPS, and Low averages 100 FPS, but High is the most demanding preset that remains playable.

Q: Is 4K playable with this CPU and GPU combination?

A: No. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest average is 54 FPS at Low settings, with Medium at 41 FPS, High at 35 FPS, and Ultra at 26 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, scores 15283 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270 (0.1% delta), the RTX 3050 OEM scores 15199 (0.6% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15171 (0.8% delta).

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7700 rank among all tested CPUs?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700 sits in the 87th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40081. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, scores 40048 (0.1% delta), while the Intel Core 5 221E scores 40144 (-0.2% delta), the AMD Ryzen 9 270 scores 40246 (-0.4% delta), and the Intel Core i9-13905H scores 40313 (-0.6% delta).

Q: What frame time variance is recorded at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 119 with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 137. At 1440p Medium, the average is 77 with a minimum of 65 and maximum of 88. At 4K Medium, the average is 41 with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data for Minimum reveals a clear pattern: the GPU is the dominant constraint at every resolution, but the CPU's headroom becomes more apparent as resolution drops. At 3840x2160, the difference between Low and Ultra presets is substantial: 54 FPS at Low versus 26 FPS at Ultra, a spread of 28 FPS. This gap indicates that the RTX 2060's rendering workload scales heavily with settings, and the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages rise to 100 FPS at Low, 77 FPS at Medium, 64 FPS at High, and 49 FPS at Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline, but the magnitude of the drop (51 FPS) is proportionally similar to 4K. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces 155 FPS, which is 55 FPS higher than the 4K Low result. This scaling suggests that the GPU still governs performance, as the CPU would need to be the bottleneck for the frame rate to plateau across resolutions.

The Ryzen 7 7700's single-threaded and multi-threaded capabilities are far beyond what this game requires at 1080p: its 3DMark single-thread score is 1049, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 18760. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 155 FPS, which approaches the refresh ceiling of many displays but does not indicate CPU saturation. The GPU's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are the more likely constraints, particularly at 4K where the 35 FPS High result shows the GPU struggling with the pixel count.

The delta between 1080p and 1440p at the same preset is informative. At High settings, 1080p yields 100 FPS while 1440p yields 64 FPS, a 36% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 155 FPS to 100 FPS, a 35% reduction. This consistent scaling confirms that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary determinants. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, and given the Ryzen 7 7700's 8 cores and 16 threads, it does so without introducing a bottleneck even at the highest frame rates recorded.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset ladder is playable. Low averages 155 FPS, Medium averages 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 137, High averages 100 FPS, and Ultra averages 76 FPS. The Ultra preset remains 16 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this resolution is the sweet spot for the combination.

At 2560x1440, the results show a clear split. Low averages 100 FPS, Medium averages 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 and maximum of 88, and High averages 64 FPS. Ultra drops to 49 FPS, which falls below the playable threshold. The High preset is the most demanding option that maintains 60 FPS, but it leaves only 4 FPS of headroom, so frame time spikes could push it below the threshold in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. Low averages 54 FPS, Medium averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 and maximum of 47, High averages 35 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 28 FPS, and even the lowest settings fail to hit the playable mark. The 4K results are consistently below the threshold, with the Medium preset showing a minimum of 35 FPS that indicates significant frame pacing issues.

The recorded data includes min/max values only for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p, the range from 101 to 137 FPS represents a 36 FPS spread, which is a 30% variance around the 119 FPS average. At 1440p, the range from 65 to 88 FPS is a 23 FPS spread, a 30% variance around the 77 FPS average. At 4K, the range from 35 to 47 FPS is a 12 FPS spread, a 29% variance around the 41 FPS average. This consistent relative variance suggests that the game's frame pacing is stable regardless of resolution, with the absolute variance shrinking as the average drops.

The Verdict

This system can run Minimum, but the playable experience depends entirely on resolution. At 1920x1080, the verdict is unambiguous: all four presets clear 60 FPS, with Ultra at 76 FPS being the best playable setting. The 1080p Ultra result provides a comfortable margin above the threshold, making this resolution the recommended target for the full visual experience.

At 2560x1440, the system remains playable at High, Low, and Medium, with High at 64 FPS as the best setting. However, the margin is slim: only 4 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium at 77 FPS offers more headroom, and Low at 100 FPS is the safest choice for consistent frame rates. Ultra at 49 FPS is not playable, so users must choose between visual fidelity and smoothness at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system cannot run the game at a playable level. The highest average is 54 FPS at Low, which is 6 FPS below the threshold. The verdict for 4K is that no preset is playable, and users should avoid this resolution with this hardware combination. The data shows that the RTX 2060's 6 GB memory and 192-bit bus are insufficient for 4K rendering in this title, even at the lowest settings.

The overall verdict is conditional: the system is fully capable at 1080p, marginally capable at 1440p with settings capped at High, and incapable at 4K. The playable threshold of 60 FPS is met at 1080p for all presets, at 1440p for three presets, and at 4K for none.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Ryzen 7 7700's nearest rivals in the database, based on average benchmark scores, are all within a narrow band. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 scores 40048, which is 0.1% lower than the 7700's 40081. The Intel Core 5 221E scores 40144, 0.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen 9 270 scores 40246, 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i9-13905H scores 40313, 0.6% higher. In practical terms, any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Minimum, as the differences are well below the margin of measurement error.

The RTX 2060's nearest rivals show a similar clustering. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 scores 15283, effectively identical to the RTX 2060's 15290 with a 0% delta. The AMD Radeon 680M scores 15270, 0.1% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM scores 15199, 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 15171, 0.8% lower. These deltas are all within 1%, meaning that swapping the RTX 2060 for any of these alternatives would produce nearly indistinguishable performance in Minimum.

For users considering a similar system, the combination of a Ryzen 7 7700-class CPU with an RTX 2060-class GPU would behave comparably. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking and the GPU's 58th percentile ranking indicate that the CPU has ample headroom, so the GPU is the limiting factor. Upgrading to a GPU with a higher benchmark score would yield more immediate gains, while CPU upgrades beyond this class would show minimal improvement in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2929 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. This places the system in the 21st percentile of all tested combinations, meaning approximately 79% of tested combos perform better. The rank reflects the GPU's relatively modest position: the RTX 2060 sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, and the game is GPU-bound at all resolutions.

The rank is not a verdict on the system's playability, as the 1080p results are solidly above the 60 FPS threshold. Rather, it indicates that many other hardware combinations deliver higher frame rates, particularly at 1440p and 4K. The gap between this combo's rank and its 1080p performance is explained by the CPU's high percentile (87th) versus the GPU's lower percentile (58th): the system is held back by the GPU, and the rank reflects that imbalance.

For context, the combo rank of 2929 out of 3712 means that 783 tested combinations perform worse. This places the system in the lower half of the database, but the game itself is from 2014, and the hardware is more than adequate for the most common resolution. The rank would improve substantially if the GPU were paired with a weaker CPU, but the database records this specific pairing, and the data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 76 FPS. This is the recommended setting for 1080p, as it provides the highest visual quality while maintaining a 16 FPS margin above the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best playable preset is High, with an average of 64 FPS. This setting is only 4 FPS above the threshold, so users who prioritize frame rate stability over visual fidelity may prefer Medium at 77 FPS. The database's best settings field designates High as the optimal choice, but the narrow margin should be noted.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS, so there is no best setting. The highest average is 54 FPS at Low, which is below the playable threshold. Users should not attempt 4K with this hardware, as even the lowest settings cannot maintain a playable frame rate.

The recommended configurations are therefore: 1080p Ultra at 76 FPS, 1440p High at 64 FPS (with Medium at 77 FPS as a more stable alternative), and no 4K option. These settings extract the maximum performance from the Ryzen 7 7700 and RTX 2060 combination while respecting the 60 FPS playable threshold defined by the database.