Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 580 combo produces a wide spread of frame rates in Minimum, ranging from a barely playable 15.4 FPS at 4K Ultra to a smooth 90.7 FPS at 1080p Low. The pattern across resolutions reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher settings, but which still offers a viable path to high refresh rates at lower presets. This analysis breaks down the measured data to explain where the bottleneck lies and what the experience implies for each setting tier.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, signaling that the RX 580 is the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 57.0 at 1920x1080 to 38.4 at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 33%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average plunges to 22.2 FPS, which is a 61% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling curve is typical of a GPU that is running out of fill-rate and shading capacity; the load on the graphics card increases quadratically with resolution, and the Polaris 20 chip simply cannot sustain the demand.

The Low preset tells a similar story, though the absolute numbers are higher. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 90.7 FPS, which drops to 57.1 FPS at 1440p and then to 32.0 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K here is about 65%, which is even more pronounced than at High settings. This suggests that even when the graphical load is reduced, the RX 580’s raw throughput (6.175 TFLOPS FP32) becomes the wall. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the binding constraint, as the frame rate scales almost entirely with pixel count rather than scene complexity.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most brutal scaling. Starting at 46.3 FPS at 1080p, it falls to 28.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 15.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is effectively a slideshow, indicating that the combination of maximum settings and 8.3 million pixels exceeds what the GPU’s 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 32 ROPs can deliver. The data implies that for any resolution above 1080p, the user must make significant compromises in quality to maintain playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo can achieve?

A: The highest measured average is 90.7 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that breaks the 90 FPS threshold, suggesting that Low settings at 1080p is the only way to approach high-refresh-rate territory.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: At 4K, the best result is 32.0 FPS on Low settings. High settings yield 22.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 15.4 FPS. None of these results reach 30 FPS except the Low preset, which is borderline playable but far from smooth. The data indicates 4K is not a practical target.

Q: How much of a performance gap exists between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the difference is significant: 90.7 FPS on Low versus 46.3 FPS on Ultra. This is a 44.3 FPS gap, meaning the Ultra preset nearly halves the frame rate compared to Low.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more in this game?

A: The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent drop in FPS across all settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 2600, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186, appears sufficient for this game, as the frame rate does not plateau at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the most balanced preset for 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce 45.5 FPS, while High yields 38.4 FPS. The Medium preset offers the best compromise between visual quality and frame rate, staying above the 40 FPS mark.

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

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 13559, which is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, deltaPct 0) and the GTX 950 (13549, deltaPct 0.1). This indicates its performance class is well established.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580’s specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card has a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. This is sufficient for 1080p textures, but at 4K, the data demands likely exceed what this bandwidth can feed to the 2304 shading units. The base clock of 1257 MHz and boost clock of 1340 MHz are modest by modern standards, and they cap the raw throughput at 6.175 TFLOPS FP32. This figure is the ceiling for all compute work, and the benchmark results show that ceiling being hit hard at higher resolutions.

The card’s 32 ROPs are a likely culprit for the poor 4K performance. Pixel fill rate is listed at 42.88 GPixel/s, which sounds adequate on paper, but when rendering 3840x2160, the number of pixels to fill quadruples compared to 1080p. The Ultra preset at 4K (15.4 FPS) suggests the ROPs are overwhelmed, as the frame rate collapses below the Low preset’s 32.0 FPS. This is a classic sign of a GPU that is fill-rate limited rather than shader-limited.

Interestingly, the RX 580’s DirectX 12 benchmark score (43) is lower than its DirectX 11 score (60). Since Minimum is a 2014 title, it likely relies on older API paths, which may favor the card’s GCN architecture. The data shows that the GPU’s passmark G3D score of 8813 puts it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is a mid-range part that struggles with modern resolutions but can handle older games at lower settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings spectrum is usable. Low settings deliver 90.7 FPS, which is the only triple-digit result in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 69.6 FPS, still comfortably above 60. High settings yield 57.0 FPS, which is borderline for a 60 Hz monitor, and Ultra falls to 46.3 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. The step from Low to Medium costs 21.1 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 12.6 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 10.7 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers compress. Low settings produce 57.1 FPS, which is the only 1440p result above 50. Medium yields 45.5 FPS, and High drops to 38.4 FPS. Ultra is the weakest at 28.7 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 28.4 FPS, showing that the GPU’s performance ceiling narrows the options.

At 3840x2160, all settings are marginal. Low is the best at 32.0 FPS, followed by Medium at 24.8 FPS, High at 22.2 FPS, and Ultra at 15.4 FPS. The data shows that from Low to Ultra, the frame rate drops by over half, but even the best case is barely playable. The scaling is nearly linear, indicating a pure GPU throughput limit.

Settings Recommendations

For a 1080p display, the data suggests that Medium settings at 69.6 FPS offer the best experience for most users. This preset maintains a frame rate above the 60 FPS refresh rate standard while retaining more visual fidelity than Low. High settings at 57.0 FPS are acceptable for those who prioritize image quality, but the drop below 60 FPS is noticeable. Ultra at 46.3 FPS should be avoided unless the user values maximum detail over smoothness.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts to Low settings, which produce 57.1 FPS. This is the only preset that approaches the 60 FPS mark at this resolution. Medium at 45.5 FPS is a viable alternative for users with adaptive sync displays, but High and Ultra fail to maintain consistent playability. The 28.7 FPS Ultra result is the worst of the bunch and should be skipped.

For 4K, the only honest recommendation is Low settings at 32.0 FPS. This is barely playable and will be subject to noticeable stutter in fast-paced third-person shooter action. All other presets at this resolution are below 25 FPS and are not recommended. The data strongly implies that 4K is not a target for this combo, and users should either lower the resolution or upgrade the GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600’s specifications suggest it is not the limiting factor in Minimum. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the CPU has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and a single-core score of 1579. The base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz are adequate for a 2014 title that was not designed to leverage many cores. The data shows that frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes, which would not happen if the CPU were the bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting performance, we would expect the frame rate to plateau at lower resolutions, but instead it continues to rise from 4K to 1080p.

The CPU’s passmark multi-thread score of 13160 and single-thread score of 2239 place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. This is a strong showing for a desktop part from 2018. In the context of Minimum, the CPU’s 16 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (46.9 GB/s bandwidth) are more than sufficient for the game’s physics and AI workloads. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-10700F, has a similar average score (19485, deltaPct 0.7), indicating that the Ryzen 5 2600 is still competitive.

The data implies that the CPU has headroom to spare. At 1080p Low, the RX 580 is clearly the limiting component, as the frame rate is nearly double what it is at 4K. If the user were to pair this CPU with a faster GPU, the frame rate would likely improve significantly, as the CPU would not be the constraining factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination ranks 1613 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the bottom portion of the database, which is consistent with the measured frame rates. The combo is in the 7th percentile of performance, meaning that 93% of tested systems perform better. This is a direct consequence of the RX 580’s mid-range standing (53rd percentile of all GPUs) and the CPU’s relatively strong but not top-tier position (77th percentile of all CPUs).

The low rank is driven primarily by the GPU’s inability to handle higher resolutions. At 1080p, the combo is competitive, but the rank reflects all tested resolutions, and the 4K results drag the overall standing down. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve playable frame rates, but it is not a high-performance setup by any measure. Users with this combo should accept that they are operating at the lower end of the performance spectrum for this game, and they should prioritize lowering settings to achieve their target frame rate.