Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS progression across resolutions for Minimum with the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling curve, but with some notable plateaus that hint at the Pascal card's age. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 124 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 80 FPS, a 35% reduction. The jump to 4K High further collapses performance to 43 FPS, which is 46% lower than the 1440p result and 65% below the 1080p figure. This steep decline from 1440p to 4K is the signature of a graphics card hitting its raw throughput ceiling.

The Low settings tier tells a similar story with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system posts 192 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it manages 124 FPS. At 4K Low, it falls to 67 FPS. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 35% is consistent with the High settings scaling, but the 1440p-to-4K drop at Low settings is 46% — identical to the High settings ratio. This consistency across settings presets indicates that the GTX 1080 Ti's pixel throughput, not the game's shading complexity, is the primary limiter as resolution climbs.

Ultra settings present the most constrained scenario. The combo achieves 94 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 61 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and a barely playable 33 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 1080p-to-1440p Ultra drop is 35%, matching the other presets. The 1440p-to-4K Ultra drop is 46%, again matching. This uniform scaling pattern across all four settings tiers strongly suggests that resolution scaling in Minimum is purely a function of fill rate and memory bandwidth, with no unexpected CPU bottlenecks emerging at lower resolutions.

The Medium settings tier provides the only complete min/max FPS data in the measured results. At 1080p Medium, the average is 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 and maximum of 169. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 and maximum of 109. At 4K Medium, the average is 51 FPS with a minimum of 43 and maximum of 59. The min-to-max spread narrows as resolution increases: 44 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K. This tightening variance indicates that at higher resolutions, the frame pacing becomes more consistent because the GPU is uniformly saturated, whereas at 1080p there is more headroom for transient spikes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the dominant performance driver in this pairing. Its 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus provides 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a 2017-era card. The 4K results — 43 FPS on High, 51 FPS on Medium, and 67 FPS on Low — demonstrate that the memory subsystem is sufficient to feed the GPU's 3584 shading units, but the architecture's 16 nm process and 250 W TDP limit its absolute throughput. The card's 1481 MHz base clock and 1582 MHz boost clock are modest by modern standards, yet the benchmark results show the card still holds its own in a 2014 title.

The GTX 1080 Ti's compute capabilities are reflected in its synthetic scores: 18,600 in Passmark G3D and 11.34 TFLOPS FP32. These figures position the card at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 with an average score of 15,679 (0.8% higher) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 15,290 (1.7% lower). The fact that the GTX 1080 Ti's average benchmark score of 15,548 is nearly identical to these cards suggests that while it lacks modern features like ray tracing cores or tensor cores, its raw rasterization performance remains competitive.

The 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS average is the clearest indication of the GPU's limits. At that setting, the card is delivering less than half the 67 FPS it manages at 4K Low. The 11 GB VRAM capacity is not the constraint here — Minimum is a 2014 title that would not require anywhere near that capacity even at 4K Ultra. Instead, the bottleneck is the GP102 chip's 88 ROPs and 354.4 GTexel/s texture rate, which must process the increased pixel count and texture detail simultaneously. The measured data shows that the GTX 1080 Ti can handle 1440p Ultra at 61 FPS, which is playable, but 4K Ultra at 33 FPS falls below the 40 FPS threshold that most users consider acceptable.

The card's DirectX benchmarks show its API efficiency: 151 in Passmark DirectX 11, 66 in DirectX 12, and 118 in DirectX 10. These scores are lower than the DirectX 9 result of 231, which suggests the Pascal architecture was optimized for older API workloads. This aligns with the game's 2014 release, which would have been designed primarily around DirectX 11. The measured FPS results confirm this: even at 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 94 FPS, which is a strong result for a card that is now two generations old relative to its successors.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti combination ranks 1,615 out of 2,939 tested combos in Minimum. This places the pair in the 45th percentile of all tested system configurations, meaning roughly 55% of tested combos outperform it. Given that the GTX 1080 Ti is an end-of-life product released in 2017 and the Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 2025 release, the ranking reflects the GPU's age as the limiting factor. The CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in this pairing, as its performance metrics are far above what the GPU can utilize in this title.

The combo ranking of 1,615 out of 2,939 is a mid-pack result. It indicates that while this configuration is not at the top of the leaderboard, it is also far from the bottom. The data shows that the combo is capable of delivering 192 FPS at 1080p Low and 124 FPS at 1080p High, which are strong results for competitive play. The 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS, however, drags the overall ranking down when compared to combos with more modern GPUs that can maintain higher minimum frame rates at higher resolutions.

The CPU's own ranking provides context for the combo's placement. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D has a percentile rank of 89 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44,573. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-13950HX with a score of 44,342 (0.5% lower) and the Intel Core i5-14600 with 44,889 (0.7% higher). This places the CPU in the top 11% of all processors, which is a stark contrast to the GPU's 58th percentile. The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's mid-pack ranking reinforces that the GTX 1080 Ti is the performance ceiling.

The GPU's percentile of 58 among all GPUs means it sits just above the median, with 42% of GPUs outperforming it. The combo's 45th percentile ranking is lower than the GPU's individual percentile, which suggests that the specific pairing with this CPU does not extract the maximum possible performance from the GPU in Minimum. A faster GPU would likely push the combo ranking significantly higher, as the CPU has ample headroom — its Passmark single-thread score of 3,494 and multithread score of 25,047 are far beyond what a 2014 title would demand.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves 192 FPS average, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows at 147 FPS average, with a minimum of 125 and maximum of 169. The High preset drops to 124 FPS average, and the Ultra preset bottoms out at 94 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 51% reduction in frame rate, from 192 FPS to 94 FPS. This is a substantial penalty for the increased visual fidelity, but even the Ultra result remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. The Low preset achieves 124 FPS average, which is identical to the 1080p High result — a coincidence that suggests the resolution increase at Low settings is equivalent to the settings increase at 1080p. The Medium preset delivers 95 FPS average, with a minimum of 81 and maximum of 109. The High preset drops to 80 FPS average, and the Ultra preset falls to 61 FPS average. The 1440p Ultra result of 61 FPS is notable because it is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the highest settings preset that remains comfortably playable at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal for demanding settings. The Low preset achieves 67 FPS average, which is playable but no longer smooth by competitive standards. The Medium preset delivers 51 FPS average, with a minimum of 43 and maximum of 59. The High preset drops to 43 FPS average, and the Ultra preset falls to 33 FPS average. The 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, and it represents a 83% reduction from the 1080p Low result of 192 FPS. The min FPS of 43 at 4K Medium is particularly telling — even the minimum frame rate at Medium settings is below the 60 FPS target.

The Medium settings tier across all three resolutions provides the most complete picture of frame pacing. At 1080p, the min of 125 and max of 169 show a 44 FPS spread. At 1440p, the min of 81 and max of 109 show a 28 FPS spread. At 4K, the min of 43 and max of 59 show a 16 FPS spread. This narrowing of the frame time variance at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's utilization becomes more consistent under heavier load. The data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates across all settings, while 4K is only viable at Low settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D plays a supporting role in this pairing, and the measured FPS data suggests it is never the limiting factor in Minimum. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are far more than a 2014 third-person shooter would require, and its 4.00 GHz base clock with 4.50 GHz boost clock provides ample single-thread performance. The Passmark single-thread score of 3,494 places the CPU in the top tier for legacy game workloads, which are typically single-thread bound. The multithread score of 25,047 further confirms that the CPU has substantial parallel processing headroom.

The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature of the X3D series, and it likely benefits Minimum's game logic and asset streaming. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core and 1 MB of L2 per core, which provides low-latency access to frequently used data. The 5 nm process node and 11,270 million transistors on a 71 mm² die indicate a modern, efficient design that draws only 65 W TDP. This efficiency means the CPU will not thermally throttle during extended gaming sessions, allowing the 4.50 GHz boost clock to be sustained.

The CPU's benchmark results show strength in data-intensive tasks: 271,649 in Passmark data compression and 20,455 in extended instructions. The Passmark physics score of 2,779 and floating-point math score of 43,594 are relevant for game physics calculations. These scores indicate the CPU can handle complex game simulations without bottlenecking the GPU. The data shows that the CPU's average benchmark score of 44,573 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i9-13950HX, making it a competitive mid-range processor.

The fact that the combo's FPS scales almost linearly with resolution and settings changes — rather than plateauing at lower resolutions — is direct evidence that the CPU is not a bottleneck. If the CPU were limiting, the 1080p Low result would not reach 192 FPS, and the 1080p-to-1440p drop would be less pronounced. Instead, the data shows consistent 35% drops from 1080p to 1440p and 46% drops from 1440p to 4K across all settings, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound system. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D's 12 threads and high clock speeds ensure that even the most demanding game logic scenarios in Minimum are handled with headroom to spare.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system?

A: The data shows that 1440p Ultra is the highest settings preset that maintains at least 60 FPS average, achieving 61 FPS. At 1080p, all settings presets exceed 94 FPS, with Low reaching 192 FPS. For 4K, only Low settings are playable at 67 FPS average.

Q: How does the GTX 1080 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 15,548. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15,679, which is 0.8% higher. The AMD Radeon R9 M380 scores 15,521, which is 0.2% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 scores 15,290, which is 1.7% lower.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7500X3D a bottleneck for the GTX 1080 Ti in this game?

A: No. The measured FPS scaling across resolutions shows consistent GPU-bound behavior. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 3,494 and multithread score of 25,047 are far above what a 2014 title requires, and the FPS drops from 1080p to 4K follow the expected curve for a GPU-limited system.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and how does it compare to rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7500X3D ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 44,573. It is 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (44,466), 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i9-13950HX (44,342), and 0.7% behind the Intel Core i5-14600 (44,889).

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At High settings, the drop is from 124 FPS to 43 FPS, a 65% reduction. At Medium settings, the drop is from 147 FPS to 51 FPS, a 65% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 192 FPS to 67 FPS, a 65% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 94 FPS to 33 FPS, also a 65% reduction.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and how does it affect 4K performance?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti has 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus with 484.4 GB/s bandwidth. The memory clocks run at 1376 MHz with 11 Gbps effective speed. The 4K results — 33 to 67 FPS depending on settings — indicate that memory bandwidth is sufficient, but the GP102 chip's compute throughput limits high-resolution performance.