Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Minimum across three resolutions and four presets tell a clear story about where this system's bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination delivers 132.9 FPS. Crank the resolution to 1440p at Low, and that figure drops to 84.9 FPS — a reduction of 48 FPS (36.1%). Moving to 4K at Low yields 45.9 FPS, which is 65.5% below the 1080p Low result.

The scaling pattern is revealing. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops by 48 FPS, but from 1440p Low to 4K Low, the drop is 39 FPS. This is not a linear decline; the percentage losses accelerate as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the GPU has headroom, pushing 132.9 FPS at Low settings. At 4K Low, it manages only 45.9 FPS — a 65.5% reduction from the 1080p figure. This indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER's pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint at higher resolutions.

The High preset tells a similar story but with a steeper overall cliff. At 1080p High, the system achieves 82.7 FPS. At 1440p High, that drops to 54.2 FPS (34.5% lower). At 4K High, the average collapses to 29.4 FPS — a 64.5% drop from 1080p High. The 4K High result falls below 30 FPS, which is generally considered the minimum for playable frame rates in a third-person shooter.

Ultra settings are the most demanding. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 67.2 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 41.6 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average is just 21 FPS — a 68.8% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result. This is the only preset where 1080p fails to clear 70 FPS, and 4K becomes nearly unplayable.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU has enough single-thread performance to feed the GPU adequately across all presets, as even Ultra maintains 67.2 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly consistent across presets (34-36% drops for Low and High, 38% for Ultra, and 37.4% for Medium), which points to a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. The 4K results, ranging from 21 FPS at Ultra to 45.9 FPS at Low, confirm that the 6 GB frame buffer and 192-bit memory interface are insufficient for this game at 4K with higher quality presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting factor in this configuration for Minimum. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz, with 1408 shading units. The pixel rate is 85.68 GPixel/s and texture rate is 157.1 GTexel/s.

The benchmark data shows that the GPU's performance percentile is 55, placing it in the lower half of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (deltaPct of -0.2), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (-0.2), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (-0.7). These deltas are all within 1% of the GTX 1660 SUPER's average benchmark score of 14286, indicating that this GPU is closely matched with those competitors.

In Minimum, the 4K results demonstrate the GPU's memory and bandwidth limitations. At 4K High, the average FPS is 29.4, which is below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K Ultra result of 21 FPS is even more telling — the GPU simply cannot sustain the fill rate required at this resolution. The 1080p results, by contrast, show the GPU has enough headroom: 82.7 FPS at High and 100.2 FPS at Medium.

The GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12699 in Passmark G3D and 5076 in Passmark GPU Compute. Its DirectX 12 score of 50 and DirectX 11 score of 104 suggest that the card's API performance is modest, which aligns with its mid-range positioning. The 55th percentile ranking means that 45% of GPUs perform better, which explains why 4K Ultra is so demanding.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p in this game, as the High preset at 1440p still reaches 54.2 FPS. However, at 4K, the combination of higher resolution textures and increased pixel count likely exceeds what 6 GB can efficiently handle, contributing to the sub-30 FPS results at High and Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) using a 5 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, and it supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s.

Its benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 22992, single-core reaches 3246, and 3DMark single-thread scores 999. The Passmark single-thread score is 3910, and multi-thread is 27058. The CPU sits in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26617. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i9-12900HK (-0.2), and Intel Core i9-11900K (0.3). All deltas are within 0.3%, meaning the Ryzen 5 7600 performs nearly identically to those processors in aggregate benchmarks.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, its single-thread performance matters. The 1080p Low result of 132.9 FPS shows that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to saturate the GTX 1660 SUPER's capabilities. Even at 1080p Ultra, the CPU maintains 67.2 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target but below the 100+ FPS seen at Medium.

The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1938 and 4-thread score of 3686 indicate strong multi-thread scaling for a 6-core part. For a third-person shooter like Minimum, which typically relies on a few primary threads, the Ryzen 5 7600's single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core of 3246) is more than sufficient. The CPU is not the bottleneck in any measured configuration, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates at 1080p across presets (132.9 to 67.2 FPS), which are primarily determined by GPU load.

The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking means it outperforms 83% of all CPUs, making it a high-end processor that is unlikely to constrain the GTX 1660 SUPER in any scenario. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the system is GPU-bound, as the CPU could likely push higher frame rates if the GPU allowed.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal preset depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p displays, the Medium preset delivers 100.2 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and only 32.7 FPS lower than Low. The High preset at 1080p yields 82.7 FPS, still comfortable for competitive play. Ultra at 1080p drops to 67.2 FPS, which is playable but offers diminishing returns over High.

For 1440p, the Medium preset provides 62.7 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 1440p delivers 54.2 FPS, which is acceptable for single-player but may feel less responsive in competitive scenarios. Low at 1440p gives 84.9 FPS, offering the best performance headroom. Ultra at 1440p falls to 41.6 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold.

At 4K, the data is stark: Low settings produce 45.9 FPS, Medium 37.3 FPS, High 29.4 FPS, and Ultra 21 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS target, and only Low exceeds 30 FPS. For a playable experience at 4K, Low is the only viable option, and even then, frame rates are below what most players would consider smooth.

The best balance between visual quality and performance is the Medium preset at 1080p, achieving 100.2 FPS, or Medium at 1440p at 62.7 FPS. These settings offer a substantial improvement over Low (132.9 FPS at 1080p) while maintaining frame rates above 60 FPS. High at 1080p (82.7 FPS) is also a strong choice for players who prioritize visual fidelity over maximum frame rates. For 4K, the data suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER is not adequately equipped for this game at any preset above Low, with even Low falling short of 60 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this hardware in Minimum?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 132.9, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, at Low settings (84.9 FPS) and Medium settings (62.7 FPS), but not at High (54.2 FPS) or Ultra (41.6 FPS).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The GTX 1660 SUPER produces between 21 FPS (Ultra) and 45.9 FPS (Low) at 3840x2160, while the Ryzen 5 7600's 83rd percentile CPU score indicates it is not a constraint.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 14286, which is 0.7% lower than the RX 5500 XT's score of 14389, indicating essentially identical performance.

Q: What is the recommended preset for 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 100.2 FPS, offering a good balance between visual quality and performance. High is also viable at 82.7 FPS.

Q: Does the 6 GB VRAM cause issues at any resolution?

A: The 4K results (29.4 FPS at High, 21 FPS at Ultra) suggest that 6 GB VRAM and the associated memory bandwidth are insufficient for high-quality settings at 4K, though 1080p and 1440p results are more favorable.