Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 presents an unusual combination: a budget-oriented APU from 2021 matched with a flagship 2025 graphics card. In the 2014 third-person shooter Minimum, this pairing produces surprisingly strong frame rates, though the data reveals significant bottlenecks and scaling patterns that merit close examination. The measured results show that this combo ranks 641st out of 3,712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17.3% of all tested systems, a solid position given the CPU's modest specifications.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in this game?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 641st out of 3,712 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the top 17.3% of all tested systems. This is a strong showing given the CPU's position in the broader market, where it sits at the 74th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 places it just 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605 score) and 0.6% ahead of the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396 score). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4% (80,959 score) and sits 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940 score). The GPU holds the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What are the CPU's key specifications and how do they affect performance?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600G features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Built on TSMC's 7 nm process with 10,700 million transistors on a 180 mm² die, it uses the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename) on the AMD Socket AM4 platform. It supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, and its 16 MB of L3 cache is shared across all cores.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of each component?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G has a launch MSRP of $259, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 carries a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD. These figures represent their original pricing at release, with the CPU launching on 2021-04-12 and the GPU on 2025-01-29.

Q: How does the CPU perform in multi-threaded workloads?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600G achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10,551 and a single-core score of 1,409. In Geekbench, it scores 8,428 multi-core and 1,801 single-core. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1,705 (2 threads) to 5,455 (max threads), indicating good multi-threading efficiency. Its average benchmark score of 21,088 places it roughly equal to the Intel Core i3-1220P (21,066, 0.1% ahead) and Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (21,112, 0.1% behind).

Q: What are the measured FPS figures at 1080p Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo achieves an average of 210 FPS, with a minimum of 178 FPS and maximum of 241 FPS. This represents a solid experience for high-refresh-rate displays, though the minimum frame rate shows some variance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why it drives such high frame rates in Minimum. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, while memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GB202 chip, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, contains 92,200 million transistors across a 750 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 122.9 million per mm².

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 170 ray tracing cores, and 680 tensor cores. It delivers 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and an equal 104.8 TFLOPS of FP16 (1:1 ratio). The pixel rate reaches 423.6 GPixel/s, while texture rate hits 1,636.8 GTexel/s. These figures place the RTX 5090 in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842.

In Minimum, the GPU's role varies dramatically by settings and resolution. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 58, indicating the GPU is being pushed hard. However, at 1080p Low, the average reaches 225 FPS, suggesting the GPU has plenty of headroom. The measured data shows that the GPU's massive memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s) and high texture rate are particularly relevant for this game, which likely benefits from fast texture streaming and high polygon counts typical of third-person shooters.

The RTX 5090's benchmark results provide context: it scores 18,355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 334,370 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376,728 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its Passmark G3D score of 39,650 and GPU compute score of 26,756 indicate strong raw performance. The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic tests include the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% behind), Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% behind), and AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% behind), while the Radeon Pro Vega 64X leads by 1.4%.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 641 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the top 17.3% of all tested systems, a result that might surprise given the CPU's relatively modest standing. The CPU itself sits at the 74th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU holds the 92nd percentile, creating an imbalance where the GPU clearly outclasses the processor.

This rank suggests that Minimum is not heavily CPU-bound at most settings. The game, released in 2014, likely has modest CPU requirements, allowing the RTX 5090 to demonstrate its full potential. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 58 FPS average, and at lower resolutions, frame rates exceed 200 FPS at several settings.

The gap between this combo's rank (641st) and what the GPU alone might achieve (92nd percentile) indicates that the CPU does impose some limitations. However, the fact that it cracks the top 641 out of 3,712 combos shows that the pairing is far from wasteful in this particular title. The data implies that for Minimum, the RTX 5090 can overcome much of the CPU's potential bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions where GPU load increases.

Comparatively, the CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks—the Intel Core i3-1220P (0.1% faster), Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (0.1% slower), AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (0.2% slower), and Intel Core Ultra 7 155U (0.4% slower)—all sit within a narrow performance band. This suggests that the 5600G's performance is typical for its class, and the high rank in Minimum stems more from the GPU's dominance than any CPU exceptionalism.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for this combo in Minimum. The most balanced experience appears to be at 1440p Medium, where the average FPS reaches 180, with a minimum of 153 and maximum of 207. This configuration offers a good balance between visual quality and performance, maintaining frame rates well above 144 Hz even at the minimum.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, 1080p Ultra delivers 172 FPS average, which is still highly playable and only slightly below the Medium setting's performance. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 111 FPS, which remains smooth but shows a more significant performance cost. At 4K Ultra, the average falls to 58 FPS, which may be borderline for competitive play but is acceptable for casual enjoyment.

The Low settings preset offers the highest frame rates: 225 FPS at 1080p, 193 FPS at 1440p, and 123 FPS at 4K. These figures suggest that Low settings can push the combo to its absolute performance limits, with 4K Low still maintaining over 120 FPS. For competitive players seeking maximum refresh rates, 1080p Low or Medium provides the best experience, with the latter offering a minimum of 178 FPS.

The data shows diminishing returns when moving from Medium to High settings. At 1440p, High (148 FPS) is only 32 FPS slower than Medium (180 FPS), while at 1080p, High (191 FPS) trails Medium (210 FPS) by 19 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra is more substantial, with 1440p Ultra (111 FPS) falling 37 FPS behind High, and 4K Ultra (58 FPS) dropping 20 FPS below 4K High (78 FPS). This suggests that Medium or High settings offer the best balance for most users, with Ultra reserved for those who prioritize visuals over frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), providing a comprehensive view of performance.

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates. Low settings deliver 225 FPS average, Medium reaches 210 FPS (minimum 178, maximum 241), High hits 191 FPS, and Ultra maintains 172 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 53 FPS, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom even at the highest settings. The minimum FPS at Medium (178) is notably lower than the average, suggesting some frame time variance, but the maximum of 241 FPS shows the hardware can push well beyond 200 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected resolution penalty. Low settings achieve 193 FPS, Medium reaches 180 FPS (minimum 153, maximum 207), High delivers 148 FPS, and Ultra drops to 111 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra expands to 82 FPS, reflecting the increased GPU load at higher resolutions. The Medium settings still maintain a minimum of 153 FPS, which is excellent for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the resolution tax becomes more apparent. Low settings still manage 123 FPS, Medium reaches 101 FPS (minimum 86, maximum 116), High drops to 78 FPS, and Ultra falls to 58 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 65 FPS, and the minimum FPS at Medium (86) shows that even this powerful GPU begins to struggle at 4K with higher settings. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS average, indicating that 4K Ultra may require compromises.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset shows the most consistent behavior, with recorded minimum and maximum values. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 178 FPS (85% of average), at 1440p Medium the minimum is 153 FPS (85% of average), and at 4K Medium the minimum is 86 FPS (85% of average). This consistency suggests that Medium settings provide predictable performance regardless of resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G serves as a potential bottleneck in this configuration, and its specifications explain the performance patterns seen in Minimum. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture with a 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.90 GHz can boost to 4.40 GHz, and it contains 16 MB of L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is modest by modern standards.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5600G shows its capabilities: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10,551 and single-core of 1,409, Geekbench multi-core of 8,428 and single-core of 1,801. The 3DMark results demonstrate scaling from 1,705 (2 threads) to 5,455 (max threads), with 4-thread and 8-thread scores of 3,258 and 4,694 respectively. Passmark tests show a multi-thread score of 19,717 and single-thread of 3,177, with specialized tests like integer math (67,344) and floating-point math (37,830) providing additional context.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 21,088 places it at the 74th percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i3-1220P (21,066, 0.1% behind) and Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (21,112, 0.1% ahead). This narrow performance band suggests the 5600G is a mid-tier processor by today's standards, which makes the high frame rates in Minimum particularly interesting.

In Minimum, the CPU's role appears limited by the game's age. The 2014 release likely does not utilize many threads, meaning the 5600G's 6 cores and 12 threads may be more than sufficient. The single-core performance, as measured by Cinebench R15 (228) and R23 (1,409), is adequate for older game engines that often rely on one or two threads. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides decent single-thread performance, though the base clock of 3.90 GHz suggests sustained loads may run slower.

The measured FPS data reveals that the CPU does not severely limit performance in this game. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 225 FPS, which is near the upper range of what most displays support. Even at 4K Ultra, the 58 FPS average suggests the GPU is the primary constraint, not the CPU. However, the ranking of 641st out of 3,712 combos indicates that some CPU limitation exists, likely at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU has more headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling patterns in Minimum reveal important insights about the limiting component in this combo. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by varying amounts depending on settings: Low falls from 225 to 193 (14.2% decrease), Medium from 210 to 180 (14.3% decrease), High from 191 to 148 (22.5% decrease), and Ultra from 172 to 111 (35.5% decrease). Moving from 1440p to 4K, the decreases are more pronounced: Low drops from 193 to 123 (36.3% decrease), Medium from 180 to 101 (43.9% decrease), High from 148 to 78 (47.3% decrease), and Ultra from 111 to 58 (47.7% decrease).

The scaling pattern shows that higher settings incur steeper FPS penalties when resolution increases. At Low settings, the 1080p to 4K drop is 45.3% (225 to 123 FPS), while at Ultra settings, the drop is 66.3% (172 to 58 FPS). This indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly strained at higher resolutions, especially with demanding settings. The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth should provide ample memory bandwidth, yet the 4K Ultra result of 58 FPS suggests the GPU's compute capabilities are the limiting factor.

The resolution scaling also points to the CPU's influence at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 225 FPS average may be approaching the CPU's limit, as the GPU could theoretically render even more frames. The fact that 4K Low (123 FPS) is only 45.3% lower than 1080p Low suggests that the GPU is not fully utilized at 1080p, with the CPU likely constraining performance. However, at 4K Ultra, the 58 FPS result indicates the GPU is fully engaged, and the CPU's role diminishes.

The data implies that this combo is GPU-bound at higher resolutions and settings, but potentially CPU-bound at 1080p with Low or Medium settings. The 1080p Medium result of 210 FPS average with a minimum of 178 FPS suggests the CPU can maintain high frame rates, but the gap between Low (225) and Medium (210) is smaller than the gap between Medium and High (191), indicating diminishing returns. For users with high-refresh-rate displays, 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium offers the best balance, while 4K gaming is best served by Low or Medium settings to maintain playable frame rates.