Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the Intel Arc B390 lands at rank 2602 out of 2939 tested combinations in Minimum. That places this pairing in the bottom 11.5% of all tested combos, which is a clear signal that this is not a performance-oriented setup for this title. The Arc B390’s own benchmark percentile tells a similar story — it sits at just the 9th percentile among all GPUs, meaning roughly nine out of ten graphics cards tested outperform it in general compute workloads.

Looking at the specific measured frames per second, this combo struggles to deliver smooth gameplay at higher resolutions. The data shows that the only consistently playable territory is 1080p with Low or Medium settings, where average FPS reaches 95 and 72 respectively. Once you push to High at 1080p, the average drops to 61 FPS, which is borderline for a third-person shooter. At 1440p, only Low settings crack the 60 FPS threshold at 61 average. At 4K, every preset falls well below acceptable playability, with the best case being Low at 33 FPS average.

What is notable here is the massive gap between this GPU's raw benchmark score and its nearest rivals. The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is only 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and 2.7% ahead of the GeForce GT 710. Those are ancient, entry-level cards from a different era. This contextualizes the FPS numbers: the B390 is fundamentally a low-end integrated-class GPU in terms of raw performance, despite being built on a modern 3nm process with Xe3-LPG architecture.

The CPU, by contrast, is a much stronger component in this pairing. The Ryzen 5 2600 sits at the 75th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21484. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% ahead) and the Intel Core i9-11900H (0.5% ahead), which are both significantly newer and more capable processors in absolute terms. The fact that this 2018-era CPU trades blows with those chips in average benchmark scores suggests the Ryzen 5 2600 is not the bottleneck in this combination — the GPU clearly is.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running Minimum at 60 FPS on a 1080p monitor?*

A: Yes, but only at Low or Medium settings. The measured data shows 95 FPS average at 1080p Low and 72 FPS average at 1080p Medium. At High settings, the average drops to 61 FPS, which is right at the threshold but with no headroom for dips.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. That is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), and 2.7% higher than the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446). These are all very old, low-end cards, which indicates the B390 is performing in that same tier.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gameplay?

A: Low is the only preset that delivers a playable average at 1440p, with 61 FPS average. Medium drops to 47 FPS average, High to 39, and Ultra to 30. If you prioritize smoothness over visuals, Low is the only viable choice at this resolution.

*Q: Does the Ryzen 5 2600 hold this combo back in Minimum?*

A: The CPU data suggests it is not the limiting factor. The Ryzen 5 2600 has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its 75th percentile ranking among all CPUs and average benchmark score of 21484 places it far above the GPU's 9th percentile ranking. The GPU is clearly the bottleneck.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K resolution at any setting?

A: No. The best 4K result is Low settings at 33 FPS average. Medium averages 25 FPS, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages just 16 FPS. None of these are playable for a third-person shooter that requires responsive aiming.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between Medium and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 83. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 46 FPS. That is a 26 FPS difference, or roughly 36% lower performance, for the visual fidelity gain of Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific CPU-GPU combination, the data points to a clear sweet spot at 1080p Medium. The measured average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 83 FPS gives the most consistent experience across all tested presets. The minimum frame time is high enough to avoid noticeable stutter, and the average is comfortably above the 60 FPS target. Low settings at 1080p deliver 95 FPS average, which is smoother, but the frame time consistency at Medium — evidenced by the tight 62-83 FPS range — suggests Medium is the better balance of visual quality and performance.

At 1440p, Low settings at 61 FPS average is the only option that maintains playability. Medium at 47 FPS average will feel sluggish in a shooter, and High at 39 FPS is worse still. The 1440p Medium data shows a minimum of 40 FPS and maximum of 54 FPS, which means you will experience frame drops below 45 FPS during intense scenes. That is not acceptable for a third-person shooter where consistent aiming matters.

For 4K, the data shows no viable preset. Even Low at 33 FPS average is far below playable. The Ultra preset at 16 FPS average is essentially a slideshow. If you have a 4K display, this combo is not suitable for Minimum at any settings level.

The general recommendation is to run 1080p Medium for the best overall experience. If you need higher frame rates for competitive play, 1080p Low at 95 FPS average is your fallback. For single-player exploration where visual fidelity matters more, 1080p High at 61 FPS average is acceptable, though it lacks the headroom of Medium. Avoid Ultra at all resolutions — the performance cost is not justified by the visual gains in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 95 FPS. Medium settings average 72 FPS with a minimum of 62 and maximum of 83. High settings average 61 FPS. Ultra settings drop to an average of 46 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline of roughly 23-26 FPS per settings tier, which is a typical scaling pattern for a GPU-bound scenario.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly across all presets. Low settings average 61 FPS, which is a 34 FPS drop from 1080p Low. Medium averages 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54. High averages 39 FPS. Ultra averages 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 31 FPS at this resolution, compared to 49 FPS at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates at any setting. Low averages 33 FPS. Medium averages 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 and maximum of 29. High averages 21 FPS. Ultra averages 16 FPS. The range between Low and Ultra is just 17 FPS, which shows that the GPU is completely saturated at this resolution — no amount of settings reduction can bring it into playable territory.

The 1080p Medium preset is the only configuration that provides both a high average and a tight frame time range. The 62 FPS minimum ensures that even in demanding scenes, the game stays above the 60 FPS threshold most of the time. The 1440p Medium preset, by contrast, has a minimum of 40 FPS, which means you will feel the dips during combat. The 4K Medium preset is even worse, with a minimum of 21 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p is substantial across all settings. At Low, the average drops from 95 to 61 FPS, a 36% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 72 to 47 FPS, a 35% reduction. At High, it drops from 61 to 39 FPS, a 36% reduction. At Ultra, it drops from 46 to 30 FPS, a 35% reduction. The consistency of this ~35% drop across all presets indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck — the workload scales directly with pixel count.

The drop from 1440p to 4K is even more severe. At Low, the average drops from 61 to 33 FPS, a 46% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 47 to 25 FPS, a 47% reduction. At High, it drops from 39 to 21 FPS, a 46% reduction. At Ultra, it drops from 30 to 16 FPS, a 47% reduction. Again, the uniform scaling points to a GPU that is fully saturated at 4K.

The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across all settings tiers at each resolution step is a strong indicator that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, you would expect the FPS to remain more constant at lower settings (where the GPU has less work to do) and only drop when settings increase the CPU load. The data does not show this pattern — the FPS scales almost linearly with resolution regardless of settings.

The Arc B390's memory configuration reinforces this analysis. It uses "System Shared" memory with "System Dependent" bandwidth, which means it relies on the system's DDR4 memory through the Ryzen 5 2600's dual-channel controller. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s is shared between the CPU and GPU, and at 4K the GPU's demand for memory bandwidth likely exceeds what the system can provide. This explains why the 4K results are disproportionately poor compared to the GPU's already-low benchmark score.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen architecture (specifically Zen+ Pinnacle Ridge), manufactured on a 12nm process at GlobalFoundries. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. Its 65W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it a flexible desktop part, but its age — released in April 2018 — shows in its single-thread performance.

The CPU's benchmark scores tell a nuanced story. Its multicore performance is respectable: Cinebench R15 multicore scores 1248, Geekbench multicore scores 5648, and Passmark multithread scores 13160. Its single-thread scores are weaker: Cinebench R15 singlecore scores 157.3, Geekbench singlecore scores 1154, and Passmark single-thread scores 2239. For Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014, single-thread performance often matters more than multicore for game logic and physics.

However, the measured FPS data suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking versus the CPU's 75th percentile ranking creates a massive imbalance. The Arc B390's nearest rivals are all ancient NVIDIA cards (GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, GT 710), while the Ryzen 5 2600's nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V and Core i9-11900H — much newer and faster processors. If the CPU were the bottleneck, you would expect to see FPS numbers that plateau regardless of resolution, but the data shows FPS dropping consistently as resolution increases.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient for a 2014 title like Minimum, which was designed for the dual-core and quad-core era. The boost clock of 3.90 GHz is adequate for the game's single-threaded workloads. The 16 MB L3 cache helps with data locality, reducing memory latency for frequently accessed game assets. The real constraint is the GPU's inability to render frames fast enough, especially at higher resolutions.

In practical terms, this CPU has significant headroom in this pairing. If you were to upgrade the GPU, the Ryzen 5 2600 could likely support a much faster graphics card before becoming the bottleneck. The data shows that the combo's performance is almost entirely dictated by the Arc B390's capabilities, and the CPU is effectively waiting on the GPU at every resolution and settings combination tested.