Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter that, on paper, should be easy to run, but the data for the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + Intel Arc B370 combo tells a more complicated story. This pairing sits at rank 2703 out of 2939 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems. The bottleneck is clearly defined across resolutions, with the Intel Arc B370—an integrated GPU with a 25 W TDP—struggling to keep frame rates playable at higher settings. Benchmark results indicate a system that can handle the game at lower presets, but the experience degrades rapidly as visual demands increase.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound system. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers an average of 85 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 55 FPS, a 35% reduction, and at 4K Low the average falls to 30 FPS—a 65% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is not subtle; the frame rate is nearly cut in half at each major resolution step, confirming that the Intel Arc B370's rendering pipeline is the limiting component, not the CPU.

Moving up the settings ladder at each resolution reveals the same trend. At 1080p, the average FPS goes from 85 (Low) to 65 (Medium) to 55 (High) to 42 (Ultra). At 1440p, the same progression yields 55, 42, 35, and 27 FPS respectively. At 4K, the numbers compress further: 30, 23, 19, and 15 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 43 FPS, but at 4K that gap shrinks to just 15 FPS. This compression at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is running out of raw throughput; it cannot scale up its work fast enough to maintain the same relative performance difference between presets.

The 4K Medium row includes a min FPS of 19 and a max of 26, with an average of 23. This narrow band of 7 FPS between minimum and maximum suggests that even when the GPU is heavily loaded, there is no headroom for bursts of higher performance—the silicon is saturated. At 1440p Medium, the min/max spread is wider (36 to 48), showing that at this resolution the GPU still has some ability to spike, but by 4K it is fully constrained. For any user hoping to play at 4K, the data shows that even the lowest preset only achieves 30 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a shooter. The practical takeaway is that this combo is only viable for 1080p or, with compromises, 1440p gaming.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and playable frame rate for this combo is the Medium preset at 1080p. The data shows 65 FPS average at 1080p Medium, with a minimum of 56 FPS. This minimum is still above the 50 FPS mark, which is generally acceptable for a third-person shooter where precise aiming is less critical than in a competitive first-person title. The High preset at 1080p drops to 55 FPS average, and while that number is similar, the lack of a reported minimum makes it harder to recommend over Medium, which explicitly shows a floor of 56 FPS.

If a user prioritizes frame rate over visuals, 1080p Low is the clear winner at 85 FPS average. This is the only setting where the combo approaches the 90 FPS territory that feels responsive. However, the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p only costs 20 FPS (from 85 to 65), which is a reasonable trade for the visual uplift that Medium typically provides over Low. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 42 FPS, is playable but not ideal for a shooter; the 23 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra is not justified by the marginal visual improvement in a game from 2014.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts. The Low preset at 55 FPS is the only playable option, as Medium drops to 42 FPS and High falls to 35 FPS. For 1440p users, the data suggests sticking to Low to maintain a stable experience. The 4K resolution is effectively not recommended for this combo—even Low at 30 FPS is borderline, and the Medium preset at 23 FPS with a 19 FPS minimum will feel stuttery. Benchmark results indicate that the best experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium, where the combo provides a smooth 65 FPS average with a documented minimum that stays above 55 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the defining component in this combo, and its specifications explain the performance ceiling. It features a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, with 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses the system's DDR4 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which means performance will vary based on the CPU's memory speed—in this case, the Ryzen 5 2600's dual-channel DDR4-2933 support provides roughly 46.9 GB/s of bandwidth. This shared memory setup is a significant constraint for a game like Minimum, which relies on texture streaming and frequent memory accesses.

The GPU's compute capabilities are modest: 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s. These numbers, combined with the 25 W TDP, place the Arc B370 in the same performance tier as the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which has an average score of 1190 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12—just 0.5% higher than the Arc B370's 1184 score. The GPU's percentile ranking of 5th out of all GPUs confirms that this is a low-end part, and the measured FPS data reflects that: even at 1080p Low, the combo only reaches 85 FPS, which is far from the high-refresh territory that dedicated gaming GPUs would hit.

The VRAM situation is critical. With no dedicated VRAM, the GPU relies on system memory, which is shared with the CPU. In a game like Minimum, which was released in 2014 and likely has moderate texture requirements, this shared memory approach can work at lower presets, but it becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings where more texture data needs to be resident. The 4K High average of 19 FPS versus the 4K Low average of 30 FPS shows that the GPU's memory subsystem and shading units are overwhelmed when tasked with higher-resolution rendering. The RT cores (10) and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are present, but they do not help in a game from 2014 that likely uses older rendering paths. The data suggests that the Arc B370's performance is adequate for 1080p gaming at low-to-medium settings, but it is not a capable 1440p or 4K solution.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 4K?

A: The data shows 4K Low averages 30 FPS, 4K Medium averages 23 FPS, and 4K High averages 19 FPS. These frame rates are below the playable threshold for a shooter, so 4K is not recommended.

Q: What is the best setting for smooth gameplay?

A: 1080p Medium provides a 65 FPS average with a minimum of 56 FPS, which is the highest preset that maintains a playable floor. 1080p Low achieves 85 FPS if you prefer maximum smoothness.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 0.2% lower than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186) and 0.5% lower than the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190). It is 1.4% faster than the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 85 FPS, but dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 55 FPS. This steep drop indicates the GPU cannot sustain higher resolutions, while the CPU has enough headroom to support these frame rates.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured data shows a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS at 1440p Medium, with an average of 42 FPS. This is below the ideal for a shooter.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 2600 hold back the GPU?

A: No. The Ryzen 5 2600 has 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, which is sufficient for a game from 2014. The frame rate drops are consistent with GPU limitations, not CPU bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 2703 out of 2939 tested systems in Minimum, placing it in the 8th percentile of all combos. This is a low ranking that reflects the GPU's position in the market; the Intel Arc B370 sits at the 5th percentile among all GPUs, so the combo's performance is largely dictated by the weakest link. The CPU, by contrast, is a mid-range part that ranks in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21484. This disparity means the system is severely unbalanced for this game—the CPU is capable of far more than the GPU can deliver.

The ranking implies that most other tested combos—2702 of them—achieve higher average frame rates in Minimum. This is not surprising given the Arc B370's nearest rivals are all legacy parts from the early 2010s (the HD 5770, HD 5570, etc.). In practical terms, this combo will struggle to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p on higher presets, which most dedicated gaming GPUs from the last decade could handle with ease. For a benchmark database, this rank serves as a warning that the Arc B370 is not a gaming-focused part, even for a lightweight title like Minimum.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen+ architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 1248 in Cinebench R15 multicore and 157.3 in single-core, and 5648 in Geekbench multicore with 1154 single-core. These numbers place it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, showing that it is a competent mid-range processor even by modern standards. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% faster) and the Intel Core i9-11900H (0.5% faster), confirming that the 2600 is not a bottleneck in this system.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, but the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is never the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 85 FPS, which is a frame rate that the Ryzen 5 2600 can easily support given its 12 threads and 3.90 GHz boost. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the GPU drops to 42 FPS, the CPU has plenty of headroom. The fact that the FPS scales almost linearly with resolution (85 at 1080p, 55 at 1440p, 30 at 4K at Low settings) is a textbook GPU-bound pattern. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the frame rate to stay relatively flat across resolutions.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s (dual-channel DDR4) is a relevant factor because the Arc B370 uses system shared memory. This means the CPU's memory controller directly impacts GPU performance. The Ryzen 5 2600's dual-channel configuration provides adequate bandwidth for the GPU's needs at 1080p, but at higher resolutions, the shared memory bus becomes a secondary constraint. However, the primary issue remains the GPU's raw compute power. The data supports the conclusion that the Ryzen 5 2600 is a capable partner for this GPU, and any attempts to improve gaming performance in Minimum would require a stronger GPU, not a stronger CPU.