Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Intel Arc B580 combination delivers a highly capable 1080p and 1440p experience for Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released in 2014. Benchmark data indicates that this pairing comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold at most settings, though 4K Ultra remains out of reach. The CPU, with its Zen 5 architecture and 8 cores, ranks in the 86th percentile among all tested processors, while the GPU, based on the Xe2-HPG architecture, sits in the 68th percentile. The measured frame rates show a clear scaling pattern: at 1920x1080, the system averages 165.1 FPS on Low settings and drops to 82.2 FPS on Ultra, while at 2560x1440, it maintains 102.7 FPS on Low but falls to 53.2 FPS on Ultra. This data suggests the combination is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at standard resolutions, with the Arc B580 serving as the primary bottleneck at higher graphical presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest resolution and settings combo that maintains an average FPS above 60?

A: The highest playable configuration is 2560x1440 at High settings, which produces an average of 69.3 FPS. At 1920x1080, all presets including Ultra (82.2 FPS) clear the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B580 compare to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080?

A: The Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021, which is 0.6% higher than the RTX 2080's score of 22895. It also sits close to the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, which scores 23061 (a 0.2% difference).

*Q: Can this system run Minimum at 4K resolution?*

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS recorded is 54.4 on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Ultra settings at 4K yield only 28.8 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1920x1080?

A: The average frame rate drops from 165.1 FPS on Low to 82.2 FPS on Ultra, representing a 50.2% reduction in performance. This confirms that graphical presets have a significant impact on the GPU workload.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700X compare to the Intel Core i9-14901E in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X achieves an average benchmark score of 37943, which is 0.1% higher than the i9-14901E's 37911. The difference is negligible, indicating near-identical CPU performance.

Q: What is the lowest measured frame rate for this combo at 2560x1440?

A: The lowest average is 53.2 FPS, recorded on Ultra settings. Low and Medium settings fare better at 102.7 FPS and 81.5 FPS respectively, while High hits 69.3 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU benchmarks place the Ryzen 7 9700X in a tight cluster of competitors. Its average score of 37943 is virtually indistinguishable from the Intel Core i9-14901E (37911, 0.1% slower), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (37904, 0.1% slower), and the Intel Core 5 211E (37829, 0.3% slower). Any of these processors would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Minimum, provided the GPU remains the limiting factor. The AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 (37804, 0.4% slower) is also within a negligible margin.

On the graphics side, the Intel Arc B580's average score of 23021 places it alongside several familiar options. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, 0.2% faster) offers essentially the same rasterization performance. More notably, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6% slower) and the RTX 3080 (23172, 0.7% faster) are both within a single percentage point of the Arc B580 in aggregate benchmarks. This means a system with an RTX 2080 or RTX 3080 would produce nearly identical average FPS numbers in Minimum at the same settings, assuming no other bottlenecks. The NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, 1% faster) also falls into this performance band, though its older architecture may lack some modern feature support.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a clear progression across presets. Low settings yield the highest average at 165.1 FPS, which is well above any competitive display's refresh rate. Medium settings drop to 123.1 FPS, a 25.4% reduction from Low. High settings produce 102.4 FPS, and Ultra settles at 82.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 50.2% performance loss, which is typical for a game from 2014 with scalable graphical options. All four presets exceed the 60 FPS threshold, meaning users can freely choose based on visual fidelity preferences.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope tightens. Low settings average 102.7 FPS, still comfortably above 60. Medium averages 81.5 FPS, and High averages 69.3 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below the playable threshold at 53.2 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 48.2%, slightly less pronounced than at 1080p, suggesting that resolution scaling interacts with preset settings. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset costs roughly 37.8% of performance on Low (165.1 to 102.7 FPS), 33.8% on Medium (123.1 to 81.5 FPS), 32.3% on High (102.4 to 69.3 FPS), and 35.3% on Ultra (82.2 to 53.2 FPS).

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playability. Low settings average 54.4 FPS, just under the 60 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 45.3 FPS, High to 36.6 FPS, and Ultra to 28.8 FPS. The performance cliff between 1440p and 4K is steep: Low settings lose 47.0% of their frame rate (102.7 to 54.4 FPS), while Ultra loses 45.9% (53.2 to 28.8 FPS). This pattern indicates that the Intel Arc B580's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to sustain high pixel throughput at 4K with this game's engine.

The Verdict

The data clearly shows that this combo can run Minimum at 1920x1080 with every preset, including Ultra, which averages 82.2 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset is the most demanding playable option, averaging 69.3 FPS; Low and Medium also clear the threshold at 102.7 and 81.5 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset at 1440p is not playable, averaging 53.2 FPS. At 3840x2160, no settings achieve 60 FPS, with the best case being Low at 54.4 FPS. Therefore, the system is fully capable of a smooth experience at 1080p and mostly capable at 1440p, but it should not be paired with a 4K monitor for this title unless the user accepts sub-60 FPS gameplay.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals that the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the CPU's single-thread strength (3dmark single-thread score of 1280 and passmark single_thread of 4654) is sufficient to push the Arc B580 to its limits, as evidenced by the 165.1 FPS on Low. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads handle the game's threading efficiently, as shown by the 3dmark 16_threads score of 9824, which is nearly identical to the max_threads score of 9771. This suggests the game does not scale significantly beyond 16 threads.

As resolution increases, the GPU's pixel and texture throughput becomes the limiting factor. The Arc B580's pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s are fixed, so the frame rate drop from 1080p to 1440p (32.3% on High) and from 1440p to 4K (47.0% on Low) reflects the GPU's inability to keep up with the increased fragment work. The CPU's role diminishes at 4K, where the average FPS across all presets (28.8 to 54.4) is far below what the processor could feed. The scaling between presets at each resolution is also telling: at 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 82.9 FPS, while at 4K it is only 25.6 FPS. This compression indicates that the GPU is saturated even on Low settings at 4K, leaving little headroom for preset changes.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested system combinations for Minimum, this pairing ranks 2822 out of 3712, placing it in the 76th percentile of all combos. This rank reflects the balance between a high-end CPU (86th percentile) and a mid-range GPU (68th percentile). The ranking suggests that while the Ryzen 7 9700X is overqualified for the Arc B580 in this title, the overall experience is still above average. The rank of 2822 out of 3712 indicates that roughly 24% of tested systems outperform this combo, likely featuring more powerful GPUs that can push higher frame rates at 1440p and 4K. However, for 1080p gaming, this configuration is in the upper echelon, as the measured 165.1 FPS on Low is near the practical ceiling for most displays.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, delivering an average of 82.2 FPS. This is the most demanding setting that remains above the 60 FPS threshold, and the 22.2 FPS headroom ensures minimal frame drops in intense combat sequences.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the optimal selection, averaging 69.3 FPS. This provides 9.3 FPS of headroom over the playable threshold, which is acceptable for a stable experience. The Medium preset (81.5 FPS) offers more margin but sacrifices visual quality. The Ultra preset at 53.2 FPS is not recommended, as it falls below the threshold.

At 3840x2160, there is no playable preset. The Low preset at 54.4 FPS is the closest, but it still misses the 60 FPS target by 5.6 FPS. Users with a 4K display should either reduce the resolution to 2560x1440 or accept a lower frame rate. The data does not support any settings combination at 4K that would meet the playable threshold.