Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT produces a highly playable experience in Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. The benchmark data shows that this combination holds up remarkably well even at the highest settings, though the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck as resolution climbs. The measured frame rates reveal that the RX 6600 XT is the primary limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU delivers enough headroom to prevent any noticeable constraint at lower resolutions. The data shows a clear hierarchy of performance across the three tested resolutions and four quality presets, providing a complete picture of what to expect from this hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

As resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, the average FPS drops substantially, and the pattern is consistent across all four settings presets. At the Low preset, the average frame rate falls from 170 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 1440p and then to 59 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 46% drop from 1440p to 4K for the Low preset. The scaling indicates that the RX 6600 XT is the component that is being pushed harder as pixel count increases.

At the High preset, the average FPS goes from 109 at 1080p to 70 at 1440p, then down to 38 at 4K. The 1440p result still provides a solid 70 FPS average, but the 4K figure of 38 FPS is below the typical 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset is even more demanding, with frame rates of 83 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p, and 29 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 29 FPS underlines that this preset and resolution combination is not viable for smooth gameplay.

The Medium preset provides a middle ground with 130 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. The scaling pattern is similar to the other presets, but the 4K Medium result is still below 60 FPS. It is clear that the 4K resolution is extremely demanding on this GPU, and even the Low preset only manages 59 FPS. The frame rate is heavily dependent on the resolution and preset combination chosen, with the data confirming that the RX 6600 XT is the bottleneck at 4K.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is nearly linear for each preset. For the Low preset, the FPS drops from 170 to 59, a reduction of 111 FPS. The High preset drops by 71 FPS from 109 to 38. The Ultra preset shows a drop from 83 to 29, a 54 FPS reduction. This indicates that the GPU is consistently the limiting component, as the CPU is capable of delivering higher frame rates at lower resolutions, but the GPU cannot maintain those rates as the pixel workload increases. The data suggests that the sweet spot for this pairing is 1080p, where even the Ultra preset exceeds 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a significant factor in the 4K results, because the game at 4K resolution is demanding on memory capacity and bandwidth. The 8 GB VRAM can be a limiting factor at 4K, especially with the High and Medium presets that use more memory. The GPU also has a boost clock of 2589 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a base clock of 1968 MHz. These clock speeds are the reason the GPU can deliver decent performance at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, along with 32 ray tracing cores. These specifications are in line with the performance seen in the benchmark results. The GPU has a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s, which are the performance metrics that determine how quickly it can process pixels and textures. The 10.60 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a measure of the raw compute power, and it is this that allows the GPU to achieve the frame rates in the measured data.

The RX 6600 XT sits at the 70th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score is 24442. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, which has a delta of 0.7% from the AMD card's score. The Intel Arc A350M has a delta of -0.8%, and the GTX 780 Ti is 0.8% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER has a delta of 1.1%. These figures show that the RX 6600 XT is positioned in the lower-mid range of GPUs, which is reflected in its performance in Minimum at 4K. The GPU is the reason the 4K results are below 60 FPS, as the CPU is not the bottleneck.

The memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is a key specification for the 4K results. The game's data sees a significant drop from 1440p to 4K, which is expected as the 4K resolution doubles the pixel count. The GPU's 8 GB memory also becomes a factor at 4K, as the game's assets are larger. The 4K Medium result of 45 FPS is just a few frames below the Low preset of 59, which suggests that the GPU is not just a simple frame rate scale, but is also affected by settings that influence the memory usage. The GPU's performance in this game is directly related to the resolution and settings, making it the primary determinant of the FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience measured by the data, the 1080p Medium preset is the strongest choice, delivering an average of 130 FPS with a minimum of 111 and a maximum of 150. This combination provides a high frame rate that is well above the 60 FPS target, and the minimum FPS of 111 ensures a smooth experience without significant drops. At 1440p, the Medium preset at 84 FPS is the best balance, with a minimum of 71 and a maximum of 97. This is playable, but the 4K Medium preset at 45 FPS is not ideal. The 1080p High preset at 109 FPS is also excellent, but the Medium preset offers a 21 FPS advantage while the visual difference may be less significant.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 70 FPS, which is just about the 60 FPS target, but the 84 FPS of Medium is more comfortable. The 4K resolution is not ideal for this GPU, as even the Low preset only achieves 59 FPS, which is below 60 FPS. The 4K Medium at 45 FPS is borderline, and the 4K High at 38 FPS is not ideal. For the best experience at 4K, the Low preset is the only option that comes close to 60 FPS, but it still does not reach the 60 FPS target.

The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it offers 83 FPS. At 1440p, the Ultra preset drops to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. At 4K, the Ultra preset at 29 FPS is not playable. The data shows that the RX 6600 XT is not capable of maintaining 60 FPS at 4K with any preset, so the recommended settings are to prioritize the Medium preset at 1440p and below for a comfortable experience, with 1080p Medium as the best overall. The 4K resolution is best avoided unless the user is willing to accept a lower frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS of 170. The Medium preset offers 130 FPS with a minimum of 111 and a maximum of 150. The High preset averages 109 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 83 FPS. The data shows that at 1080p, all presets are above the 60 FPS target, with the minimum FPS for the Medium preset at 111. The performance at this resolution is the strongest, and the GPU is not a limiting factor.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 110 FPS. The Medium preset averages 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 and a maximum of 97. The High preset averages 70 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 54 FPS. The 1440p results are still playable, with the Medium preset offering the best balance of the two. The Low preset is the only one that reaches 100 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls below 60.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59 FPS. The Medium preset averages 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 and a maximum of 52. The High preset averages 38 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 29 FPS. The 4K results are the most demanding, and only the Low preset comes close to 60 FPS. The Medium preset is the best 4K option if one is willing to accept a 45 FPS average, but the High and Ultra presets are too low for smooth gameplay.

The data shows that the game scales well with the GPU, but the RX 6600 XT cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K with the Medium and High presets. The 1080p results are all above 83 FPS, which makes it safe to say that the CPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p. The 1440p results are in the 54 to 110 FPS range, with the Medium preset at 84 FPS being the best option. The 4K results are the most demanding, and the GPU is the limiting component.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with the Ultra preset?

A: The average frame rate is 83 FPS.

Q: Is the 4K resolution playable with this hardware?

A: The data shows that only the Low preset at 4K achieves 59 FPS, which is still below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 4K averages 45 FPS, so the 4K resolution is not ideal for 60 FPS.

Q: At 1440p, which preset is the best for a 60 FPS target?

A: The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 84 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 70 FPS is also acceptable, but the Medium preset has a higher frame rate.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS is 111, and the maximum is 150, with an average of 130.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 24442, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 is 0.7% lower, the Intel Arc A350M is 0.8% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER is 1.1% lower. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti is 0.8% lower.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. It has a TDP of 65 W and is built on a 4 nm process. The CPU's performance data shows a single-thread score of 1253 in the 3DMark single-thread test, and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2183.5. These scores indicate strong single-thread performance, which is essential for games like Minimum that may rely on a few cores.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17528.5 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 14438. The Ryzen 5 9600X sits at the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29713. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE, which is 0.2% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H, which is 0.5% lower. This shows that the CPU is well-positioned, and in Minimum, the CPU is not the bottleneck.

The benchmark results show that the CPU is more than capable at 1080p, where the frame rates are high and the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K, the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the GPU is the one that drops to 29-59 FPS. The RX 6600 XT's performance is the reason for the 4K results, not the CPU. The Ryzen 5 9600X's high boost clock and 6 cores, 12 threads provide enough performance to keep up with the RX 6600 XT at all resolutions. The CPU is not the limiting factor in this game.