Minimum

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum with the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 shows a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 312 FPS average, while at 3840x2160 with Low settings, it drops to 140 FPS average. That represents a 55% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings tier. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is from 312 FPS to 260 FPS, a 17% decline, while the step from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a more severe 46% reduction from 260 FPS to 140 FPS.

The scaling pattern at Medium settings follows a similar trajectory. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 283 FPS average, dropping to 199 FPS at 1440p Medium (30% reduction), and further down to 107 FPS at 4K Medium (46% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Medium row is the only one that includes min and max FPS data: 91 FPS minimum and 123 FPS maximum, indicating a frame time variance that becomes more pronounced as resolution increases.

At High settings, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is from 259 FPS to 167 FPS, a 36% reduction. The jump from 1440p High to 4K High brings the frame rate down from 167 FPS to 90 FPS, a 46% reduction. Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling: 197 FPS at 1080p, 127 FPS at 1440p (36% reduction), and 69 FPS at 4K (46% reduction from 1440p). The consistency of the 46% reduction between 1440p and 4K across all settings tiers suggests that the scaling is primarily driven by pixel count rather than settings complexity.

What this pattern reveals is that the RTX 5090 remains the dominant factor at 1080p and 1440p, where the CPU can still feed enough frames to keep the GPU busy. At 4K, the GPU workload increases substantially, and the frame rates drop accordingly. However, the fact that 4K Ultra still produces 69 FPS average indicates that the combo is not severely CPU-limited even at the highest resolution. The 1080p Ultra result of 197 FPS versus 1080p Low of 312 FPS shows a 37% reduction purely from settings changes, which points to the GPU being the constraint even at 1080p when settings are maxed out.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo more CPU-limited or GPU-limited in Minimum?

A: The data indicates GPU-limited behavior at all resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 312 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra it drops to 197 FPS, a 115 FPS difference from settings changes alone. The 4K Ultra result of 69 FPS versus 4K Low of 140 FPS shows the same GPU-bound pattern. The CPU with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on Zen 3 architecture appears sufficient to keep the RTX 5090 fed, as evidenced by the high frame rates even at 1080p.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if targeting 144 FPS?

A: At 1440p, the combo exceeds 144 FPS at Low (260 FPS), Medium (199 FPS), and High (167 FPS) settings. Only Ultra at 1440p falls below 144 FPS with 127 FPS average. At 4K, no settings tier reaches 144 FPS; the highest 4K result is 140 FPS at Low settings. For 4K gaming at 60 FPS, all settings tiers qualify, with Ultra producing 69 FPS average.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark standing relate to its gaming performance here?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D has an average benchmark score of 37018, placing it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, scores 37093, a 0.2% difference. This mid-to-high percentile ranking aligns with the gaming data, where the CPU does not bottleneck the RTX 5090 at any resolution tested. The 96 MB shared L3 cache from the X3D design likely contributes to maintaining high minimum frame rates.

Q: What framerate can be expected at 4K Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 4K Medium producing an average of 107 FPS, with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS. This makes 4K Medium a viable option for high-refresh-rate 4K displays, as the average exceeds 100 FPS while the minimum stays above 90 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's benchmark performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842, placing it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79605, a 0.3% difference. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, which is 1.1% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, which is 1.4% higher. These small deltas suggest the RTX 5090 sits in a tightly contested performance band despite its large 32 GB GDDR7 memory pool.

Q: Is the combo's ranking in this game strong overall?

A: The combo ranks 132 out of 2939 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the top 4.5% of all combinations. This is a strong showing, particularly given that the game is from 2014, and the combo's high frame rates across all resolutions reflect that ranking.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 132nd out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum. This places the combo in the upper echelon of all tested configurations, within the top 4.5% of results. The ranking reflects the combination's ability to deliver high frame rates across all resolution and settings combinations.

The CPU's individual standing reinforces this ranking. With an average benchmark score of 37018 and an 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs, the Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a solid mid-to-high performer. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, has an average score of 37093, which is 0.2% lower than the 5500X3D. The Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112, which is 0.3% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945, which is 0.2% lower. These tight margins show that the CPU is competitive within its immediate performance tier.

The GPU's ranking is similarly strong. The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842 and sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79605, which is 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, which is 1.1% lower, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, which is 1.4% higher. The RTX 5090's position among these rivals indicates it is performing near the top of its class.

The combo's 132nd rank out of 2939 is consistent with the individual component rankings. The CPU at the 85th percentile and GPU at the 92nd percentile combine to produce a result that outperforms 95.5% of all tested combos. This suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for Minimum, with neither component dragging the overall result down significantly.

Notably, the combo's rank would likely be higher if the game were more demanding on the CPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 312 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for frame generation. However, even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 69 FPS, showing that the GPU can handle the resolution scaling without the CPU becoming a severe bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 312 FPS. Medium settings yield 283 FPS average, with a minimum of 241 FPS and a maximum of 326 FPS. High settings drop to 259 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 197 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 115 FPS, showing the significant impact of settings on frame rate at this resolution.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction from 1080p. Low settings produce 260 FPS average. Medium settings yield 199 FPS average, with a minimum of 169 FPS and a maximum of 229 FPS. High settings drop to 167 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 127 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 133 FPS, which is slightly wider than at 1080p, indicating that settings changes have a larger absolute effect at higher resolution.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the frame rates drop considerably. Low settings produce 140 FPS average. Medium settings yield 107 FPS average, with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS. High settings drop to 90 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 69 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 71 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p or 1440p, suggesting that the GPU becomes more heavily loaded at 4K and settings changes have a relatively smaller impact on total frame rate.

Comparing across resolutions at the same settings tier reveals consistent patterns. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 312 FPS at 1080p to 260 FPS at 1440p (17% reduction) and then to 140 FPS at 4K (46% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 283 FPS to 199 FPS (30% reduction) and then to 107 FPS (46% reduction). At High settings, it goes from 259 FPS to 167 FPS (36% reduction) and then to 90 FPS (46% reduction). At Ultra settings, the progression is 197 FPS to 127 FPS (36% reduction) and then to 69 FPS (46% reduction).

The 4K Medium row is the only one with complete min/max data: 91 FPS minimum and 123 FPS maximum. The 1440p Medium row also has min/max data: 169 FPS minimum and 229 FPS maximum. The 1080p Medium row shows 241 FPS minimum and 326 FPS maximum. These variance figures indicate that the frame time consistency is maintained across resolutions, with the minimum always staying within 15% of the average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 plays a central role in this combo's performance in Minimum. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This large memory pool and high bandwidth are relevant for a game from 2014, where even the most demanding settings are unlikely to stress the memory capacity. The measured data confirms that the GPU is not memory-limited in this title, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings changes.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost. The boost clock of 2407 MHz is what the GPU will sustain under load, and the benchmark results reflect this. The RTX 5090 has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, which are the core resources that determine rasterization performance. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are present but are not directly relevant to Minimum, which is a 2014 title without ray tracing requirements.

The GPU's FP32 performance is 104.8 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s. These specifications translate to the high frame rates observed in the measured data. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 312 FPS, which means it is processing over 600 million pixels per second at that setting. At 4K Ultra, the 69 FPS result means it is processing approximately 570 million pixels per second, showing that the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The RTX 5090's benchmark scores further contextualize its performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 18355, the Geekbench OpenCL score is 334370, and the Geekbench Vulkan score is 376728. The Passmark G3D score is 39650, and the Passmark GPU Compute score is 26756. These synthetic benchmarks align with the gaming results, showing strong overall GPU performance.

The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79842, places it just above the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79605, 0.3% lower) and RX 6850M XT (78940, 1.1% lower), but just below the Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80959, 1.4% higher). This tight grouping indicates that the RTX 5090 is performing at the expected level for its class.

The GPU's TDP is 575 W, and it uses a 1x 16-pin power connector with a suggested PSU of 950 W. The dual-slot design with 304 mm length means it requires substantial case clearance. These physical characteristics are consistent with the GPU's high performance level.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of which settings preset delivers the best experience for different priorities. For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, Low settings at 1080p delivers 312 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. However, this sacrifices visual quality for speed, and the game's 2014 visuals at Low settings may not be ideal on modern displays.

For a balanced experience at 1080p, Medium settings produce 283 FPS average with a minimum of 241 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The maximum of 326 FPS shows the combo can push significantly higher when the scene allows. High settings at 1080p drop to 259 FPS average, which is still very high, but the 24 FPS difference between Medium and High may not justify the visual improvement for competitive play.

At 1440p, Medium settings deliver 199 FPS average with a minimum of 169 FPS, which is an excellent result for high-refresh-rate 1440p displays. High settings at 1440p produce 167 FPS average, which remains above 144 Hz and is suitable for most 1440p gaming monitors. Ultra settings at 1440p drop to 127 FPS average, which is still playable but falls short of the 144 FPS target.

At 4K, the recommendation depends on the display's refresh rate. For 60 Hz 4K displays, Ultra settings produce 69 FPS average, which exceeds 60 FPS and delivers the best visual quality. For 120 Hz or higher refresh rate 4K displays, Medium settings produce 107 FPS average with a minimum of 91 FPS, which is the best option for maintaining high frame rates without dropping below 90 FPS. Low settings at 4K produce 140 FPS average, but the visual quality at Low may be too compromised for 4K displays.

The data shows that Medium settings provide the best overall balance across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 283 FPS with a tight frame time variance (241-326 FPS). At 1440p Medium, it produces 199 FPS with a 169-229 FPS range. At 4K Medium, it produces 107 FPS with a 91-123 FPS range. The Medium preset consistently delivers frame rates that are within 15% of the Low preset results while providing significantly better visual quality.

For players with 144 Hz displays, the recommended settings are Medium at 1080p (283 FPS) or Medium at 1440p (199 FPS). For players with 240 Hz displays, Low at 1080p (312 FPS) or Low at 1440p (260 FPS) are the only options that exceed 240 FPS. For 4K displays, Medium settings (107 FPS) are recommended for high-refresh-rate panels, while Ultra settings (69 FPS) are acceptable for 60 Hz panels.

The Ultra preset, while delivering the best visual quality, shows the largest frame rate penalties. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 69 FPS average, which is the lowest measured result. At 1080p Ultra, it produces 197 FPS, which is still high but represents a 37% reduction from Low settings. Given that the game is from 2014, the visual difference between High and Ultra may be minimal on modern displays, making the High preset a better choice for most users.