Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 pairing delivers a highly capable experience in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. The measured data shows this combination hitting the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming while remaining playable at higher resolutions, though not without compromise. The benchmark results reveal a system that is clearly balanced, with the GPU emerging as the primary constraint as resolution and settings climb.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all three resolutions and four quality presets provides a clear picture of what this combo can achieve. For players seeking the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset is the standout choice. It delivers a 120 FPS average at 1920x1080, which is ideal for the fast-paced action of a third-person shooter. At 2560x1440, High still maintains a smooth 78 FPS average, and even at 3840x2160, it remains playable at 42 FPS.

The Ultra preset, while visually superior, exacts a heavy toll. At 1080p, it drops the average to 92 FPS, and at 1440p it falls to 59 FPS. At 4K, Ultra becomes nearly unplayable with a 32 FPS average. The performance cost from High to Ultra is substantial, with the 4K resolution showing a 10 FPS drop (from 42 to 32) and the 1440p resolution showing a 19 FPS drop (from 78 to 59). This suggests the Ultra preset includes effects that heavily tax the GPU.

Conversely, the Low preset provides the highest frame rates, reaching 187 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K. While these numbers are impressive, the visual compromise is likely too significant for most players. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with a 143 FPS average at 1080p and 92 FPS at 1440p. However, it lacks the visual polish of High while only providing a marginal performance advantage (e.g., 143 vs 120 FPS at 1080p). Therefore, High is the recommended preset, offering a 60% performance headroom over Ultra at 1080p while maintaining strong visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this specific CPU-GPU combination at rank 2179 out of 3712 tested combos in Minimum. This ranking, within the 58th percentile of all tested systems, indicates a mid-pack performance tier. It suggests that while this combo is far from the top of the charts, it outperforms a significant majority of other configurations tested in this game.

The ranking reflects a balanced pairing. The CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F, sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, showing it is a strong processor. The GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 9060, is at the 59th percentile among all GPUs. The combo's overall rank is lower than the CPU's individual percentile but higher than the GPU's, which implies that the game's performance is being held back slightly by the GPU, preventing the combo from reaching the upper echelons of the ranking. This is a typical outcome for a system where the graphics card is the primary bottleneck, especially in a title that scales well with graphical settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the defining component for this game's performance. Equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, it offers a memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This configuration proves sufficient for Minimum, but the data suggests it is the limiting factor at higher settings.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. These high frequencies allow for significant processing power, but the RDNA 4.0 architecture with 1792 shading units must work hard to maintain frame rates at 4K.

The benchmark scores for the GPU, such as its 17631 Passmark G3D score, place it in the 59th percentile. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has an average score of 16129, which is 0.7% higher than the RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014. This indicates the RX 9060 is a capable mid-range performer. However, the measured FPS data in Minimum reveals that it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K with higher settings. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is severe, from 65 FPS to 32 FPS, showing that the GPU's compute and memory resources are quickly overwhelmed by the game's higher-fidelity effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's capabilities. At 1920x1080, the system excels. The Low preset achieves an average of 187 FPS, while Medium yields 143 FPS (with a minimum of 122 and maximum of 165). High is still very smooth at 120 FPS. Even the demanding Ultra preset maintains a respectable 92 FPS average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low produces 121 FPS, Medium drops to 92 FPS (with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 106), and High provides a playable 78 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, averaging 59 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The Low preset is the only one that maintains playability, with a 65 FPS average. Medium drops to 50 FPS (with a minimum of 42 and maximum of 57), High falls to 42 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 32 FPS. These 4K numbers show that the RX 9060 is not designed for high-fidelity 4K gaming in this title, requiring significant settings reductions to achieve a smooth experience.

The data also shows a consistent pattern in the difference between average and minimum FPS for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the minimum is 122 FPS against a 143 FPS average (an 85% ratio). At 1440p, the minimum is 79 FPS against a 92 FPS average (an 86% ratio). At 4K, the minimum is 42 FPS against a 50 FPS average (an 84% ratio). This consistency suggests a stable frame pacing experience without sudden, severe drops.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the system's scaling behavior. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 120 at 1080p to 78 at 1440p (a 35% decrease), and then to 42 at 4K (a further 46% decrease from 1440p, or a 65% total decrease from 1080p). This aggressive drop indicates a GPU-bound scenario.

At the Low preset, the scaling is less severe but still significant. The average FPS drops from 187 at 1080p to 121 at 1440p (a 35% decrease), and then to 65 at 4K (a 46% decrease from 1440p, or a 65% total decrease from 1080p). The fact that the percentage drops are almost identical between Low and High presets strongly suggests the limiting factor is the GPU's rendering capabilities rather than any specific setting.

This behavior points to the GPU being the definitive bottleneck. The number of pixels at 4K (3840x2160) is four times that of 1080p (1920x1080), and the RX 9060 simply cannot maintain its 1080p performance levels. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the limiting factor here. Its high boost clock of 4.70 GHz and strong single-thread performance (as evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 951) are more than adequate for a game from 2014. The data shows that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at lower resolutions, but the GPU's raw pixel-pushing power runs out as resolution increases.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings preset for this combo in Minimum?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with the High preset provides an excellent experience, yielding a 120 FPS average. This is a significant improvement over the 92 FPS on Ultra, while still maintaining high visual quality. At 2560x1440, High is still playable at 78 FPS.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. The only playable preset at 3840x2160 is Low, which achieves a 65 FPS average. Medium (50 FPS), High (42 FPS), and Ultra (32 FPS) all fall below the 60 FPS threshold, making them less ideal for a smooth experience.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 9060 compare to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?

A: The average benchmark score for the RX 9060 is 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the RTX 3060 Ti's score of 16129. This indicates the two GPUs are very closely matched in overall compute performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The benchmark data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The FPS drops almost proportionally with resolution increases, from 187 FPS at 1080p Low to 65 FPS at 4K Low. The CPU's performance percentile (77th) is higher than the GPU's (59th), suggesting the CPU is not the primary constraint.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The average FPS drops from 121 on Low to 59 on Ultra at 2560x1440. This is a 62 FPS difference, representing a 51% reduction in performance. This shows the Ultra preset is very demanding on the GPU.

Q: What are the clock speeds of the AMD Radeon RX 9060?

A: The GPU has a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. It also has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective).

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F plays a supporting, yet essential, role in this combo. Its specifications—6 cores, 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz—are more than sufficient for a game released in 2014. The CPU's Zen 4 architecture, built on a 4 nm process, provides strong single-threaded performance, which is often critical for game logic and frame pacing.

The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce this. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 20851 and a single-core score of 2943 are robust numbers. More importantly, its 3dmark single-thread score of 951 and 2-thread score of 1874 indicate it can handle the game's main thread without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs is significantly higher than the GPU's 59th percentile, confirming that the CPU has ample headroom.

In practice, this means that at 1080p, the CPU is likely not the limiting factor, allowing the GPU to reach its full potential (187 FPS on Low). However, as the resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows exponentially, and the frame rate drops. This is not a sign of CPU weakness but rather a clear indication that the GPU is the component determining the final performance ceiling. The CPU is effectively "waiting" for the GPU to finish its work at higher resolutions. The data implies that a weaker CPU might cause a performance drop at 1080p, but with this Ryzen 5 8400F, the system's performance is purely dictated by the Radeon RX 9060's capabilities.