Minimum

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is a 4 GB GDDR5 card built on the GCN 4.0 architecture, with a 256-bit memory bus delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 1168 MHz, boosting to 1244 MHz, and it packs 2048 shading units. For a game released in 2014, this combination of raw throughput and memory bandwidth is the primary driver of the frame rates seen in the measured data, though the card's age shows when the settings climb.

The RX 570's 4 GB frame buffer is the key constraint at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the card can push past 80 FPS on Low settings, but the moment you step up to Ultra, the average drops to 37.4 FPS. This is not a CPU bottleneck; the Ryzen 5 5500 with 6 cores and 12 threads is more than capable of feeding this GPU. Instead, the data points to the RX 570's memory subsystem and shading units being overwhelmed by the increased texture and shader complexity at Ultra presets. The 14 nm Polaris 20 chip, with 5.7 billion transistors, simply runs out of steam when asked to process the game's highest-quality assets.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The boost clock of 1244 MHz is modest by modern standards, and the card's FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS is the ceiling for compute-heavy scenes. In practice, this means the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution tested, but the gap between Low and Ultra widens dramatically as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the card is relatively unburdened, but at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 16.7 FPS. The 4 GB VRAM is also a factor: at 3840x2160, even Medium settings only yield 21.8 FPS, suggesting the card is thrashing against its memory limit rather than being purely compute-bound.

The GPU's position in the broader market is competitive for its era. It holds the 74th percentile among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 30158 places it nearly on par with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which scores 30109 (a delta of just 0.2%). This is surprising given the generational gap, but it underscores that the RX 570's architecture was well-optimized for its time. For this specific game, the data shows that the GPU's 32 ROPs and 128 TMUs are the workhorses, and they are pushed hardest at 1440p and above, where the pixel fill rate of 39.81 GPixel/s becomes a bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a clear and steep drop-off as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system averages 81.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that to 52.1 FPS, a reduction of 29 FPS, or roughly 36%. At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields just 31.1 FPS, which is a 62% decrease from the 1080p figure. This scaling is almost perfectly linear with the pixel count increase, confirming that the RX 570 is doing the heavy lifting and the Ryzen 5 5500 is not holding it back.

The pattern repeats across all settings. For High, 1080p gives 55.3 FPS, 1440p gives 35.8 FPS, and 4K gives 19.5 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly brutal at 35.8 to 19.5 FPS, a 45% loss, which indicates the card is hitting a hard wall when the pixel count quadruples from 1080p. This is consistent with the 4 GB VRAM limit being exceeded at 4K, forcing the card to resort to slower memory handling or texture streaming. The Medium preset shows 64 FPS at 1080p, falling to 41.6 FPS at 1440p, and then 21.8 FPS at 4K.

Ultra settings are the most punishing. At 1080p, the system manages 37.4 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. At 1440p, it drops to 23.9 FPS, and at 4K, it plummets to 16.7 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K on Ultra is a 55% reduction, which is less severe in percentage terms than Low, but the absolute numbers are so low that the experience is compromised at any resolution above 1080p. The data strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GPU, specifically its memory bandwidth and shading capacity, not the CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache or its 3.60 GHz base clock.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run the game at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only on lower presets. The measured data shows 81.1 FPS on Low, 64 FPS on Medium, and 55.3 FPS on High at 1920x1080. Ultra drops to 37.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay on many displays.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 scores 20875 on average, which is 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12500 (20897) and 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE (20900). It is 0.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7J13 (20845) and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i5-12600T (20917).

Q: Is the RX 570's performance competitive with newer GPUs?

A: Surprisingly, yes. The RX 570's average benchmark score of 30158 is 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097). Its percentile rank of 74 places it above the median GPU.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in this game?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently delivers above 55 FPS on Medium or High settings. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (52.1 FPS) remains playable, while 4K is not viable at any preset.

Q: How much does the Ultra preset cost in performance compared to High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra (37.4 FPS) is 32% slower than High (55.3 FPS). At 1440p, the gap widens: Ultra (23.9 FPS) is 33% slower than High (35.8 FPS). The penalty is consistent across resolutions.

Q: Does the 4 GB VRAM cause problems at higher resolutions?

A: The data suggests yes. At 4K, the drop from Low (31.1 FPS) to Medium (21.8 FPS) is steep, and Ultra falls to 16.7 FPS. This indicates the frame buffer is being exhausted, leading to severe performance degradation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of playable presets. For a smooth experience at 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the sweet spot, delivering 64 FPS on average. This is a 27% improvement over High (55.3 FPS) and a 42% improvement over Ultra (37.4 FPS), while only sacrificing some visual fidelity that is unlikely to be noticeable in fast-paced third-person shooter action. Low settings at 81.1 FPS are the best for competitive play, but Medium offers a better balance of image quality and performance without dipping below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the options narrow. Low settings yield 52.1 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 41.6 FPS, and High falls to 35.8 FPS. None of these are ideal for a shooter where frame timing matters, so 1440p is only recommended if you can tolerate the Low preset. The Ultra preset at 23.9 FPS is not a viable choice for any serious gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the data shows no playable presets. The best result is Low at 31.1 FPS, which is below the standard for smooth motion. Medium (21.8 FPS), High (19.5 FPS), and Ultra (16.7 FPS) are all fundamentally broken for this game. The recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this combination.

The overall advice is to stick to 1080p with Medium settings for the best balance, or drop to Low if you need higher frame rates for competitive play. High settings are acceptable for single-player experiences, but the 55.3 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + AMD Radeon RX 570 combination ranks 1637 out of 1733 tested combos in this game. This places it in the bottom 5.5% of all systems tested, which is a poor showing for a modern CPU paired with an older GPU. The rank reflects the GPU's limitations more than the CPU's capabilities, as the Ryzen 5 5500 holds the 79th percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 570 holds the 74th percentile among all GPUs.

The combo's low rank is driven by the GPU's inability to handle high resolutions and presets. The data shows that this system is only competitive at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, which puts it behind many mid-range and even entry-level modern systems. The CPU's strong synthetic scores—such as 16429 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2319 in single-core—do not translate into gameplay performance when paired with a GPU that is four generations old.

For context, the GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, both of which score within 0.2% of the RX 570 in average benchmarks. This suggests the RX 570 is still a capable card for older titles, but for this specific game, the combination of 4 GB VRAM and limited shader throughput holds it back. The combo rank of 1637 indicates that most other tested systems, whether they use newer GPUs or more balanced pairings, will outperform this setup in Minimum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following numbers are taken directly from the measured data, with no interpolation or estimation.

1920x1080:

• Low: 81.1 FPS average
• Medium: 64 FPS average
• High: 55.3 FPS average
• Ultra: 37.4 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 52.1 FPS average
• Medium: 41.6 FPS average
• High: 35.8 FPS average
• Ultra: 23.9 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 31.1 FPS average
• Medium: 21.8 FPS average
• High: 19.5 FPS average
• Ultra: 16.7 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern: performance degrades by roughly 35-40% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then by another 40-50% when moving from 1440p to 4K. The only exception is the Low preset, where the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.8%, and from 1440p to 4K is 40.3%. This consistency confirms that the RX 570's compute units are the limiting factor, not the CPU or memory bandwidth. The Ryzen 5 5500's 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth is more than sufficient, and its 12 threads ensure that the GPU is never starved for data. The bottleneck is purely the RX 570's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and its 4 GB VRAM.