Minimum

# Minimum with AMD Ryzen 5 4600G + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The pairing of AMD's Ryzen 5 4600G with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5080 produces a fascinating dataset in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter that remains surprisingly demanding at high settings. The measured frames per second across resolutions and presets reveal a system where the GPU is clearly the dominant force at lower resolutions, while the CPU begins to assert itself only at 4K with the most aggressive settings. This combination ranks 352nd out of 3,712 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 9.5% of all configurations — a strong showing that nevertheless leaves headroom on the table at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not uniform across presets, which tells a clear story about where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, the RTX 5080 delivers 283 FPS at 1080p, 238 FPS at 1440p, and 128 FPS at 4K. That represents a 16% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, but a much larger 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. The pattern repeats at High settings: 237 FPS at 1080p, 153 FPS at 1440p, and 82 FPS at 4K — a 35% drop to 1440p and another 46% drop to 4K.

The scaling behavior changes with preset complexity. At Medium settings, the averages are 257 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p, and 98 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p penalty is 29%, while the 1440p-to-4K penalty is 46%. Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling: 181 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K, with a 35% drop followed by a 46% drop.

The consistent 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K across all presets strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component at 4K, since the pixel count increase alone accounts for roughly that magnitude of workload growth. The variable scaling from 1080p to 1440p — ranging from 16% at Low to 35% at High and Ultra — indicates that at lower resolutions, other factors such as CPU throughput or driver overhead are capping performance. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 283 FPS, which is likely near the practical ceiling for this game engine regardless of hardware.

The data shows that 1440p represents a sweet spot where the GPU is still mostly in control but the CPU is starting to matter. At 4K, the RTX 5080's rendering workload dominates entirely, and the Ryzen 5 4600G's contribution becomes less relevant to the final frame rate.

GPU Role

The RTX 5080 brings substantial hardware to this game: 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2617 MHz, and its 10,752 shading units process geometry and pixels through 336 TMUs and 112 ROPs. The memory clock runs at 1875 MHz, which translates to 30 Gbps effective.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is most visible in the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 63 FPS average — playable but not smooth by modern standards. Dropping to 4K High raises that to 82 FPS, and 4K Medium achieves 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 113 FPS. The 4K Low preset reaches 128 FPS, which is a 103% improvement over Ultra.

The VRAM capacity is not stressed by this game; 16 GB is far more than a 2014 title requires. The memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, however, may contribute to the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, where texture and framebuffer traffic increase dramatically. The GDDR7 memory clock of 1875 MHz with its effective 30 Gbps rate is well beyond what Minimum can utilize, but it ensures the GPU is never bandwidth-limited.

At 1080p, the GPU is clearly not the limiting factor. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 102 FPS (283 vs 181), but even the Ultra result is high enough that the CPU is likely holding the system back from achieving even higher numbers. The RTX 5080's benchmark credentials — a PassMark G3D score of 36,565 and an average benchmark score of 56,083 — place it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon 8060S (0.6% higher) and AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (2.2% lower).

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, codenamed Renoir, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It runs at a base clock of 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, and its 8 MB of shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards. The CPU's benchmark results show a multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 13,593 and a single-core score of 1,919, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 15,992.

In Minimum, the CPU's influence is most apparent when comparing 1080p results across presets. At 1080p Low, the system hits 283 FPS, but increasing to Medium only drops to 257 FPS, and High yields 237 FPS. The relatively small gaps between Low and High at 1080p — 46 FPS total — suggest that the CPU is providing a performance ceiling around 280 FPS. The Ryzen 5 4600G's single-thread performance, measured at 726 in 3DMark single-thread and 2,653 in PassMark single-thread, is adequate for a game from 2014, but the engine's frame generation and draw call processing appear to be CPU-bound at these high frame rates.

The 4K results tell a different story. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 63 FPS, which is likely almost entirely GPU-limited. The CPU's 12 threads are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at that resolution, as evidenced by the fact that the 4K Low preset reaches 128 FPS — still well below the 1080p ceiling but respectable.

The Ryzen 5 4600G's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (0.1% higher average score), Intel Core 7 150U (0.6% higher), and Intel Core i3-14100T (0.8% lower). This places the 4600G in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,507. The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are consistent with its mid-range positioning.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports a clear hierarchy of settings for this combination. At 4K, the Medium preset provides the best balance: 98 FPS average with a minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 113 FPS. This is a 19% improvement over High (82 FPS) and a 56% improvement over Ultra (63 FPS), while the visual difference between Medium and High in a fast-paced third-person shooter is often negligible.

At 1440p, the High preset at 153 FPS is the strongest recommendation. It offers a 31% improvement over Ultra (117 FPS) while maintaining visual quality that is substantially better than Medium's 182 FPS — though the Medium preset's minimum of 155 FPS is also very smooth. For players prioritizing frame rate consistency, Medium at 1440p delivers a minimum of 155 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most 144 Hz monitors.

At 1080p, the High preset at 237 FPS is the sweet spot. The Ultra preset yields 181 FPS, which is a 24% reduction for marginal visual gains. The Medium preset at 257 FPS offers higher frame rates but with a minimum of 218 FPS, which is still excellent. Given that the CPU appears to cap performance around 280 FPS at this resolution, the High preset is the most efficient use of the hardware's capabilities.

The Low preset is only advisable for competitive play at 1440p or 4K, where the 238 FPS and 128 FPS averages respectively provide maximum responsiveness. However, the visual compromises are significant, and the data does not indicate any stability issues at higher presets.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Minimum at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 98 with a minimum of 83 FPS. At 4K High, the average drops to 82 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 63 FPS. The 4K Low preset reaches 128 FPS.

*Q: What is the highest frame rate this combination can achieve in Minimum?*

A: The maximum measured average is 283 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. At 1080p Medium, the average is 257 FPS, and at 1080p High it is 237 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. Moving from Low to High settings only reduces the average FPS from 283 to 237, suggesting a performance ceiling around 280 FPS that the Ryzen 5 4600G cannot exceed regardless of GPU capability.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K?

A: The reduction is consistent across presets at approximately 46%. For example, at High settings, the average drops from 153 FPS at 1440p to 82 FPS at 4K, and at Medium it drops from 182 FPS to 98 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for competitive play?

A: For maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1440p provides 238 FPS, while at 1080p it provides 283 FPS. At 4K, the Low preset delivers 128 FPS, which may be sufficient for less demanding competitive scenarios.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 352nd out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the top 9.5% of all configurations tested for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured averages are as follows: Low settings produce 283 FPS, Medium produces 257 FPS with a minimum of 218 FPS and maximum of 295 FPS, High produces 237 FPS, and Ultra produces 181 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 102 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra at 56 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 238 FPS, Medium at 182 FPS with a minimum of 155 FPS and maximum of 210 FPS, High at 153 FPS, and Ultra at 117 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 121 FPS, with the largest drop between Medium and High at 29 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 128 FPS, Medium at 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 113 FPS, High at 82 FPS, and Ultra at 63 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 65 FPS, with the largest drop between Low and Medium at 30 FPS.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values across all three resolutions, providing the most complete picture of frame time consistency. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 83 FPS and maximum of 113 FPS indicate a frame pacing window of 30 FPS, while at 1440p Medium the range is 55 FPS (155 to 210), and at 1080p Medium it is 77 FPS (218 to 295). This widening range at lower resolutions further supports the CPU bottleneck theory, as the GPU is capable of producing much higher peaks but is constrained by the processor's ability to feed it consistently.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 352 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, which places it in the 90.5th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong result, though not exceptional given the GPU's capabilities.

The ranking reflects the fact that the RTX 5080 is a high-end GPU — its average benchmark score of 56,083 places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs — while the Ryzen 5 4600G is a mid-range processor from 2020, sitting in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. The combination's overall rank of 352 suggests that while the GPU does most of the heavy lifting, the CPU prevents the system from reaching the very top tier of results.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores — the AMD Radeon 8060S at 0.6% higher and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 0.7% higher — would likely produce similar results in Minimum when paired with the same CPU, since the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p and only becomes dominant at 4K. The CPU's nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE and Intel Core 7 150U, have average benchmark scores within 0.6% of the 4600G, suggesting that swapping in one of those processors would yield negligible differences in this game.

The rank of 352 out of 3,712 means there are 351 combinations that perform better in Minimum, likely featuring newer high-end CPUs paired with GPUs of this class. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems is primarily attributable to CPU performance at lower resolutions, where the 4600G's single-thread score of 726 in 3DMark and 1,919 in Cinebench R23 single-core limit the maximum achievable frame rates. At 4K, however, the GPU's dominance means the CPU choice matters less, and this combination delivers respectable 4K performance across all presets.