Minimum

# Minimum — AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination delivers strong performance in Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. Benchmark results show this combo handles 1080p and 1440p with high frame rates, while 4K Ultra remains playable but demanding. The data indicates a system that is GPU-bound at higher resolutions and settings, with the CPU's 3D V-Cache providing ample headroom for this title's engine.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: as resolution increases, frame rates drop proportionally, indicating the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 312 FPS, which drops to 228 FPS at 1440p Low — a 27% reduction. Moving to 4K Low yields 123 FPS, another 46% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior, where the RTX 4080 SUPER's rendering workload scales directly with pixel count.

The Ultra settings tell a steeper story. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 173 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, that falls to 112 FPS (35% lower), and at 4K Ultra, it reaches just 60 FPS (46% lower than 1440p). The consistent ~35-46% drops per resolution step suggest the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient even at 4K, as the frame rate drops are uniform rather than sudden collapses.

Comparing High settings across resolutions reinforces this: 228 FPS at 1080p, 147 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p (36%) and 1440p to 4K (46%) are similar, indicating no memory capacity or bandwidth cliff. The Medium settings show the same pattern with 271 FPS, 175 FPS, and 94 FPS respectively.

The data suggests that for competitive play at high refresh rates, 1080p is the sweet spot, while 1440p remains very playable for most settings. 4K is viable but requires dropping to Low or Medium settings to exceed 100 FPS. The resolution scaling indicates this is a GPU-limited scenario at all resolutions above 1080p Low, where the CPU's 12 threads and 96 MB L3 cache are not the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. With 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, the GPU has substantial raw compute power. The 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 816.0 GTexel/s texture rate provide the throughput needed for Minimum's third-person shooter visuals.

The GPU's memory subsystem is particularly relevant. The 16 GB GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus delivers 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, which is ample for this game. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (60 FPS) suggests the game is not bandwidth-limited, as the frame rate doesn't collapse. The clocks are also notable: base 2295 MHz and boost 2550 MHz, with memory at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective). These clocks are consistent across the benchmark, indicating stable boost behavior under load.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's benchmark scores place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54209. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, scores 54247 — a delta of -0.1%, meaning the SUPER is essentially tied with its predecessor. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and AMD Radeon 8060S are 2.7% and 2.8% behind respectively. These small deltas suggest the RTX 4080 SUPER is well-positioned in the GPU hierarchy.

In Minimum specifically, the GPU's role becomes clear when comparing 4K Low (123 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (173 FPS). The 50 FPS difference is driven by resolution and settings, but the GPU's compute and memory resources handle both scenarios without issue. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 and PassMark G3D score of 34245 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which aligns with the game's 2014 release supporting modern APIs. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 260075 suggests the GPU is well-optimized for low-level APIs that this game's engine may leverage.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D plays a supporting role in this combination, but its specifications matter for frame pacing and minimum FPS. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.00 GHz. The 96 MB shared L3 cache is the standout feature — this large cache helps with game data locality, reducing memory latency. The 7 nm Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer) on the AM4 socket is a mature design, and the 105 W TDP indicates it can sustain boost clocks under load.

Benchmark results show the CPU's multithreaded score of 20363 in PassMark, with a single-thread score of 2941. The data compression score of 230392 and encryption score of 13967 indicate strong integer performance. The floating-point math score of 34511 and extended instructions score of 15925 round out the compute profile. These numbers place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37018.

The nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945 (0.2% behind), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (0.2% ahead), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36938 (0.2% behind). The Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112, just 0.3% ahead. This means the 5500X3D is competitive with modern mid-range CPUs, and its 3D V-Cache gives it an edge in gaming workloads that benefit from large caches.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the GPU is less stressed. The 312 FPS result at 1080p Low is a high ceiling, and the CPU's 12 threads handle the game's logic without bottlenecking. The 96 MB L3 cache likely helps with the game's asset streaming and physics calculations. At higher resolutions, the CPU becomes less relevant, as the GPU's rendering workload dominates. The fact that 4K Ultra still achieves 60 FPS suggests the CPU is not holding back the GPU at any setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers excellent performance: Low settings average 312 FPS, Medium averages 271 FPS (with a minimum of 230 and maximum of 312), High averages 228 FPS, and Ultra averages 173 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 139 FPS, showing that settings have a significant impact even at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the numbers remain strong: Low averages 228 FPS, Medium averages 175 FPS (with minimum 149 and maximum 201), High averages 147 FPS, and Ultra averages 112 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings — roughly 27-35% — indicating the GPU scales predictably with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more demanding: Low averages 123 FPS, Medium averages 94 FPS (with minimum 80 and maximum 108), High averages 79 FPS, and Ultra averages 60 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 60 FPS is exactly at the threshold for smooth 60 Hz displays, while 4K Medium at 94 FPS is more comfortable for 90 Hz+ monitors.

The Medium settings are the only ones with min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the min is 230 and max 312; at 1440p, min 149 and max 201; at 4K, min 80 and max 108. These ranges suggest the game has some frame time variance, but the minimums are never below 60 FPS even at 4K, indicating consistent performance. The average FPS for each resolution/settings combination is the headline number, and the data shows no anomalous dips that would indicate driver or thermal issues.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Minimum, this pairing ranks 237th out of 2939 combos. This places it in the top 8% of all tested systems, which is a strong result given the game's 2014 release date. The combo's rank reflects both the GPU's high percentile (86th) and the CPU's solid performance (85th percentile), but the GPU is clearly the dominant factor in achieving this position.

The ranking suggests that while the RTX 4080 SUPER is a high-end GPU, there are 236 combos that perform better in this game. These are likely systems with even more powerful GPUs (such as the RTX 4090 or newer generations) or combinations with higher-end CPUs that push frame rates higher at 1080p. However, the 237th rank out of 2939 is an excellent result, placing this combo ahead of the vast majority of tested systems.

The CPU's 85th percentile and GPU's 86th percentile align well with the combo's top-8% ranking, confirming that both components are well-matched for this game. The 3D V-Cache on the CPU provides a gaming-specific advantage that helps at lower resolutions where CPU performance matters more. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM and high bandwidth ensure no memory-related bottlenecks at any resolution.

FAQ

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

A: 1440p provides the best balance of performance and visual quality, with High settings averaging 147 FPS and Medium averaging 175 FPS. At 1080p, frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Low settings, while 4K Ultra drops to 60 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Minimum?

A: Yes, 4K is playable. Low settings average 123 FPS, Medium averages 94 FPS, and High averages 79 FPS. Ultra settings hit exactly 60 FPS, which is smooth for standard 60 Hz displays.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. The CPU's 12 threads and 96 MB L3 cache provide sufficient performance, as shown by the uniform frame rate drops when resolution increases.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4080?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has a benchmark average score of 54209, while the RTX 4080 scores 54247 — a delta of -0.1%, meaning they perform virtually identically in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the CPU's passmark single-thread score?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 2941 in PassMark single-thread tests, with a multithread score of 20363, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM on the GPU cause any issues at 4K?

A: No. The 4K results show consistent scaling without sudden frame rate drops, indicating the 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for Minimum at all settings.