Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination delivers a highly variable experience in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released in 2014. The benchmark data shows that this pairing is heavily influenced by resolution and quality settings, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions while the CPU holds its own at lower ones. The measured frame rates reveal a system that can achieve smooth triple-digit performance at 1080p but struggles to maintain 4K fluency at maximum quality.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and clearly exposes the GPU as the limiting component at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 111.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 69.4 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 37.6 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66.4% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets, with the most dramatic drop occurring between 1440p and 4K.

At Low settings, the system produces 171.2 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 106.9 FPS at 1440p and 60.4 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at Low settings the 4K frame rate barely exceeds 60 FPS indicates that the RX 6600 XT's pixel throughput is the dominant constraint. The GPU's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 128-bit bus width are likely contributing factors, as the data shows a consistent halving of performance as pixel count doubles.

The Medium preset follows the same trajectory: 133.1 FPS at 1080p, 82.5 FPS at 1440p, and 43.8 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce the most challenging scenario, with frame rates of 85.3 FPS at 1080p, 57.1 FPS at 1440p, and just 30.1 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 30.3 FPS, which suggests that the game's quality settings have a substantial impact on the GPU workload, but the overall resolution scaling remains the dominant factor.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, built on the Zen architecture with a 12 nm process node. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the benchmark data indicates it is sufficient for this game at most resolutions. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11186 and single-core score of 1579 place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, which suggests it has adequate headroom for a 2014 title.

The processor's 16 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 46.9 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game's demands. At 1080p, the frame rates of 171.2 FPS at Low settings suggest the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at lower resolutions. However, the data shows that the CPU's influence diminishes as resolution increases, since the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

The Ryzen 5 2600's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-1345U (0.4% faster), AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (0.6% slower), Intel Core i5-11600KF (0.6% faster), and Intel Core i7-10700F (0.7% slower). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the Ryzen 5 2600 performs on par with these processors in synthetic benchmarks. For a game from 2014, the 6-core/12-thread configuration provides ample parallel processing capability, and the data shows no evidence of CPU-induced frame rate limits at any tested resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the clear performance driver in this combination. Built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a 7 nm process node, it features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's base clock of 1968 MHz and boost clock of 2589 MHz, combined with 2048 shading units, deliver a peak FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS. Its Passmark G3D score of 16461 places it in the 71st percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's memory configuration is noteworthy. The 8 GB capacity is sufficient for this game's requirements, but the 128-bit bus width and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth may explain the significant performance drops at 4K. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 30.1 FPS, which is only 35.3% of the 1080p Ultra result of 85.3 FPS. This is a more severe drop than would be expected from pixel count alone, suggesting memory bandwidth constraints.

In comparison to its nearest rivals, the RX 6600 XT is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (0.1% faster) and AMD Radeon R9 M395X (0.4% faster), while trailing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 by 0.9% and the AMD FirePro S7150 by 1.5%. These small deltas indicate that the RX 6600 XT sits in a competitive performance tier, though the 4K results suggest its memory subsystem is a limiting factor for high-resolution gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 1193 out of 1733 tested combos for this game. This places the pairing in the 31st percentile of all tested combinations, which is below average but not alarming given the game's age and the component specifications. The rank reflects a system that can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming well but falls short at 4K.

The ranking suggests that this combo is outperformed by a significant majority of tested systems. However, the measured FPS data tells a more nuanced story. At 1080p High, the system achieves 111.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at 1440p High, the 69.4 FPS result remains playable. The combo's rank is likely dragged down by its poor 4K performance, where even at Medium settings it only manages 43.8 FPS.

The percentile rankings of the individual components provide context. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking is respectable, while the GPU's 71st percentile is slightly lower. The combined rank of 1193 out of 1733 suggests that the pairing is less than the sum of its parts, likely due to the GPU's memory bandwidth limitations at high resolutions. The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers frame rates well above playable thresholds.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: At 1920x1080 High settings, the system achieves 111.8 FPS, which is smooth. At 2560x1440 High, it drops to 69.4 FPS, still playable. For 4K, even Low settings only yield 60.4 FPS, making 1440p High the optimal balance of quality and performance.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 19616, which is 0.4% lower than the Intel Core i5-1345U, 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i5-11600KF, and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i7-10700F.

Q: Is the GPU's memory bandwidth sufficient for 4K gaming?

A: The data shows significant frame rate drops at 3840x2160. At Ultra settings, the frame rate falls to 30.1 FPS, and even at Low settings it only reaches 60.4 FPS, indicating that the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth and 128-bit bus are limiting factors at 4K.

Q: What is the GPU's performance relative to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 27985, which is 0.9% lower than the RTX 3070's score of 28238. The performance difference is minimal in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1193 out of 1733 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of all tested systems for this game. The ranking reflects its strong 1080p performance but weak 4K capability.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 achieves a single-core score of 663 in Cinebench R20 and 1579 in Cinebench R23, with a Passmark single-thread score of 2239. These results place it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs.