Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released in 2014. The dataset reveals a configuration that scales predictably with workload, where the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s six-core, twelve-thread architecture provides a stable foundation. The measured FPS across three resolutions and four quality presets shows a wide performance envelope, from a highly fluid 167.3 FPS at 1080p Low to a demanding 27.6 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating that users must carefully balance visual fidelity against frame rate targets.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, pointing to the RTX 2060 SUPER as the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 107.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 72.1 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 35.6 FPS, and then plummets further to 37.3 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 65.4% performance loss from 1080p to 4K, a dramatic decline that underscores the GPU’s struggle to maintain frame rates when pixel throughput quadruples. The pattern is even more pronounced at Ultra settings, where the 86.2 FPS at 1080p collapses to 56.3 FPS at 1440p and finally to a marginal 27.6 FPS at 4K—a 68% drop from the baseline.

The scaling behavior suggests that Minimum is heavily GPU-bound at 4K, as the frame rate decline far exceeds what a CPU limitation would produce. At 1080p, the CPU appears to have more headroom, as the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 81.1 FPS (167.3 vs. 86.2), indicating that the GPU is still the dominant factor but with less pressure. However, at 1440p and 4K, the GPU’s fixed compute resources—2176 shading units and 64 ROPs—become the hard ceiling. The RTX 2060 SUPER’s 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are simply insufficient to feed the 3840x2160 pixel grid at high quality settings, resulting in sub-60 FPS averages even at Medium (45.6 FPS).

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides adequate single-thread and multi-thread performance for this title, but its influence on frame rates diminishes as resolution increases. The CPU’s base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz, combined with a 16 MB shared L3 cache, deliver strong per-core throughput for a 2018 processor. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 1127 points in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 159 points in single-core, while its Passmark multi-thread score of 13160 and single-thread score of 2239 place it in the 77th percentile among all CPUs. These figures suggest the 2600 is well-suited to handle the game’s physics and AI workloads without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU’s role is more pronounced, as the high frame rates (up to 167.3 FPS at Low) require rapid draw-call processing. The 2600’s 12 threads help maintain consistent frame pacing, but the data shows that the GPU still dominates performance scaling. Comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 5 2600 averages 19616 points, sitting just 0.4% behind the Intel Core i5-1345U (19691) and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19508). This narrow performance band indicates that the 2600 is competitive with modern mid-range parts, but its architectural age (Zen+ on 12 nm) means it lacks the per-clock efficiency of newer designs. At 4K, the CPU’s workload becomes trivial relative to the GPU’s pixel-pushing burden, so the 2600’s impact on average FPS is negligible; the frame rate is entirely dictated by the RTX 2060 SUPER’s rendering capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the decisive component in this configuration, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus (448.0 GB/s bandwidth) is sufficient for Minimum’s textures but not its compute demands at high resolutions. The GPU’s base clock of 1470 MHz and boost clock of 1650 MHz, along with 2176 shading units and 136 TMUs, deliver a texture fill rate of 224.4 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s. These figures explain the performance cliff at 4K: the pixel rate is simply too low to fill 8.3 million pixels per frame at acceptable speeds. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 16462 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2011 place it in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19774.

The nearest rivals illustrate the RTX 2060 SUPER’s position: it is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (19706) and 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070 (19680), but 0.8% behind the Quadro K5200 (19623) and 1.3% behind the Tesla K40m (19519). This tight cluster suggests that the 2060 SUPER is a mid-range performer, and the measured FPS in Minimum confirms this. At 1440p High, the card achieves 72.1 FPS, which is playable, but at 4K, even Low settings only reach 59 FPS—a marginal result that requires compromises. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is never the limiting factor, as Minimum’s 2014-era assets likely fit within 4 GB, but the compute throughput (7.181 TFLOPS) and memory bandwidth are insufficient for 4K Ultra (27.6 FPS). The data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, where it can leverage its 272 tensor cores and 34 RT cores—though these features are largely unused in a title from 2014—to maintain high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers strong performance across all settings. The Low preset yields an average of 167.3 FPS, which is 34.4 FPS higher than Medium (132.9 FPS) and 59.6 FPS higher than High (107.7 FPS). The Ultra preset drops to 86.2 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS, but the gap between Low and Ultra is 81.1 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s fill rate is the primary constraint even at this resolution. The scaling from Low to High is nearly linear (167.3 → 132.9 → 107.7), but Ultra introduces a steeper drop (86.2), suggesting that Ultra-specific effects (likely shadows and post-processing) disproportionately tax the 2060 SUPER.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain playable but with clear pressure on the GPU. The Low preset averages 109.5 FPS, which is a 57.8 FPS reduction from 1080p Low, while Medium (86.8 FPS) and High (72.1 FPS) both remain above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 56.3 FPS, just below the 60 FPS threshold, marking the first point where the configuration cannot sustain smooth gameplay at maximum quality. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 53.2 FPS, a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p but a larger percentage drop (48.6%), confirming that the GPU is becoming the dominant limiter.

At 3840x2160, the configuration struggles. The Low preset averages 59 FPS, which is exactly at the playable threshold, but Medium (45.6 FPS) and High (37.3 FPS) fall well below it. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at 27.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is severe: a 31.4 FPS drop (53.2%), and the absolute frame rates are too low for competitive play. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings (72.1 → 37.3 FPS) represents a 48.3% performance loss, highlighting the GPU’s inability to handle the pixel count. Across all resolutions, the data shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 2060 SUPER is capable of high frame rates at 1080p, adequate at 1440p with reduced settings, and marginal at 4K with only the lowest preset.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Minimum?*

A: The data indicates 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, as all settings from Low (167.3 FPS) to Ultra (86.2 FPS) exceed 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (109.5 FPS), Medium (86.8 FPS), and High (72.1 FPS) are playable, while Ultra (56.3 FPS) dips below 60.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gameplay in Minimum?*

A: Only at the Low preset, which averages 59 FPS. Medium (45.6 FPS), High (37.3 FPS), and Ultra (27.6 FPS) all fall below playable thresholds, making 4K impractical for this configuration.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 2070?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER averages 19774 in benchmarks, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070’s 19680. In Minimum, this translates to a negligible performance difference, as both cards would be GPU-limited at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests no. The 2600’s Passmark multi-thread score of 13160 and 12 threads allow it to feed the GPU effectively, as evidenced by the 167.3 FPS result at 1080p Low. The CPU only becomes a factor if frame rates exceed 200 FPS, which is not the case here.

Q: What is the FPS penalty for using Ultra settings instead of High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 56.3 FPS, which is 15.8 FPS lower than High (72.1 FPS), a 21.9% reduction. This penalty makes Ultra unsuitable for smooth gameplay at this resolution.

Q: How does the GPU’s memory bandwidth affect 4K performance?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for 4K Ultra (27.6 FPS), but the 8 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue. The compute throughput (7.181 TFLOPS) and pixel rate (105.6 GPixel/s) are the limiting factors, as the game’s 2014-era textures do not require more than 8 GB of memory.