Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER pairing delivers exceptional performance in Minimum, with the data showing a combination that scales predictably across resolutions. The measured frame rates indicate a system capable of high-refresh 1440p gaming and solid 4K performance, though the CPU begins to show its limits at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant, but the pattern reveals where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 347.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 229.9 FPS, a 33.9% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 119.9 FPS, which represents a 65.5% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as resolution rises, which is expected behavior for a demanding title.

The scaling pattern shifts when looking at Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system hits 175.4 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 111 FPS (a 36.7% reduction), and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 60.7 FPS (a 65.4% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings presets suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom at 4K.

However, the 1080p results tell a different story. The gap between Low (347.7 FPS) and Ultra (175.4 FPS) at 1080p is substantial, but the absolute numbers are so high that the CPU is likely becoming a constraint. The Ryzen 5 5600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, can push very high frame rates, but the data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is nearing its ceiling while the GPU still has capacity to spare. This is a classic sign of a CPU-limited scenario at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 131 out of 1733 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the top 7.6% of all systems benchmarked. This is a strong position that reflects the raw horsepower of the RTX 4080 SUPER, which sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. The Ryzen 5 5600, meanwhile, ranks in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, making this a pairing of two above-average components.

The ranking is particularly impressive given the CPU's position in the broader market. The Ryzen 5 5600's average benchmark score of 21765 places it within 0.6% of the Intel Xeon D-1746TER and 0.6% behind the AMD EPYC 9554P. This tight grouping suggests that the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class, and the high combo rank reflects the GPU's ability to carry the system in this particular title.

Given that Minimum is a 2014 title, the fact that this modern mid-range CPU and high-end GPU combination ranks so highly indicates that the game is well-optimized for contemporary hardware. The data shows that the combination outperforms 86.9% of all tested systems, which is remarkable for a game that predates both components by nearly a decade.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU delivers 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for Minimum at any resolution, even at 4K Ultra where the game demands the most from the memory subsystem.

The GPU's clock speeds play a significant role in the frame rates observed. The base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2550 MHz allow the card to maintain high utilization across all settings presets. The FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS provides ample compute headroom, which is evident in the 4K results where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 60.7 FPS, which is exactly the kind of result one would expect from a GPU operating near its maximum capacity.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's position in the GPU hierarchy is confirmed by its benchmark scores. Its average benchmark score of 53610 places it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M. This narrow margin over the RX 6900 XT is reflected in the gaming results, where the card's raw performance translates directly into the high frame rates seen in Minimum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset shows a clear progression of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the system achieves 347.7 FPS on Low, 272.2 FPS on Medium, 229.4 FPS on High, and 175.4 FPS on Ultra. These numbers indicate that even at Ultra settings, the system is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, making 1080p gaming a non-issue.

At 1440p, the results remain impressive but show the expected drop. Low settings produce 229.9 FPS, Medium delivers 171.6 FPS, High achieves 145.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 111 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is particularly noteworthy because it remains above the 100 FPS threshold that many users consider the minimum for smooth competitive play. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 48.4%, which is a steeper curve than at 1080p where the drop is 49.5%.

The 4K results reveal the GPU's limits. Low settings yield 119.9 FPS, Medium produces 96.7 FPS, High achieves 77.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 60.7 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measurement below 60 FPS in the entire dataset, indicating that this is the only configuration where the system struggles to maintain smooth gameplay. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 49.4% reduction, consistent with the other resolutions.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5600 provides a solid foundation for the RTX 4080 SUPER, but its limitations become apparent in the lower resolution results. With 6 cores and 12 threads running at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, the CPU delivers strong single-threaded performance that is crucial for a third-person shooter like Minimum. The single-thread benchmark score of 882 in 3DMark and 3256 in Passmark indicate that the CPU can handle the game's primary thread without issue.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is sufficient for this title, though it lags behind the GPU's 736.3 GB/s by a wide margin. This disparity explains why the CPU becomes the bottleneck at 1080p where the GPU is underutilized. At 1080p Low, the system produces 347.7 FPS, but the CPU's multithread score of 21541 in Passmark suggests that it is working near its maximum capacity to feed the GPU.

The Ryzen 5 5600's position among its rivals is tight. Its average benchmark score of 21765 is within 0.9% of the Intel Core i7-11700F, which scores 21957. This close grouping means that swapping the CPU for a comparable alternative would yield minimal changes in Minimum performance. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache provides adequate data storage for the game's assets, and the 7nm process node ensures efficient power delivery at 65W TDP.

Settings Recommendations

The data supports a clear recommendation for the best experience in Minimum. At 1440p, the High preset with 145.4 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. This setting provides a 30.9% improvement over Ultra while maintaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of typical 1440p monitors. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p costs 34.4 FPS, which is a significant price to pay for marginal visual gains.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 119.9 FPS is the only configuration that clears the 100 FPS threshold, but the Medium preset at 96.7 FPS offers a better visual experience while remaining comfortably above 60 FPS. The High preset at 77.3 FPS is still playable, but the Ultra preset at 60.7 FPS is right at the edge of what most users would consider smooth. Given that Minimum is a third-person shooter where responsiveness matters, the Medium preset at 4K provides the best compromise between clarity and fluidity.

At 1080p, the choice is less critical because even Ultra at 175.4 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. The Low preset at 347.7 FPS is only relevant for users with 360Hz displays, but for the vast majority of players, the High preset at 229.4 FPS offers the best visual quality without sacrificing performance. The data suggests that the system is so powerful at 1080p that users should prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rates.