Minimum

# Minimum — AMD Ryzen 7 5800X + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The data shows a pairing that delivers a consistently playable experience across all tested resolutions in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter. With the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (8 cores, 16 threads, Zen 3) driving an AMD Radeon RX 7700 (16 GB GDDR6, RDNA 3.0), the measured frame rates reveal a system whose performance scales predictably with resolution and settings, though the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K while the CPU's strong single-thread capability keeps 1080p frame rates high.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across the three tested resolutions shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as pixel count increases, with the severity of the drop heavily influenced by the graphics preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 214 FPS at 1920x1080 to 138 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 76 FPS or roughly 35%. Moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) at Low settings sees another drop from 138 FPS to 74 FPS, a further 46% decline. This steep scaling curve at Low settings indicates that even at the lowest graphical load, the RX 7700's rendering throughput is the limiting factor as resolution increases, rather than the CPU.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with slightly shallower percentage drops. The average FPS goes from 164 at 1080p to 106 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 57 at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). The measured minimum and maximum frame rates at Medium settings also scale proportionally: at 1080p, the range is 139–188 FPS; at 1440p it narrows to 90–121 FPS; and at 4K it compresses further to 48–65 FPS. This tightening of the frame time distribution at higher resolutions suggests the GPU is becoming more consistently saturated, leaving less headroom for variance.

High settings exhibit the same trend: 137 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), and 48 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). Ultra settings follow suit with 105 FPS at 1080p, 68 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), and 36 FPS at 4K (a 47% drop). The remarkable consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets — hovering around 35% for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and 46–47% for the 1440p-to-4K transition — strongly indicates that the scaling behavior is dominated by the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities rather than any CPU-side limitation. The Ryzen 7 5800X, with its 4.70 GHz boost clock and strong single-thread score of 943 in 3DMark, clearly has enough headroom to feed the GPU at every resolution tested.

The practical implication is that 4K gaming with this combo requires a settings compromise. The 48 FPS average at High settings is borderline for smooth gameplay, while the 36 FPS at Ultra falls below typical playability thresholds. The transition from 1440p to 4K carries a heavier relative penalty (46–47%) than the 1080p-to-1440p step (35%), which aligns with the doubling of pixel count from 1440p to 4K being more demanding than the 1.78x increase from 1080p to 1440p. This data suggests that the RX 7700's 16 GB frame buffer and 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for the game's data footprint at all resolutions, but raw compute throughput (25.18 TFLOPS FP32) becomes the binding constraint at higher pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings for each resolution depend on whether the priority is maximizing average FPS or maintaining a consistent frame time. At 1920x1080, all four presets deliver playable results, with Low hitting 214 FPS average, Medium at 164 FPS, High at 137 FPS, and Ultra at 105 FPS. The data shows that Medium provides the best balance: the 164 FPS average is 27 FPS higher than High, while the measured range of 139–188 FPS indicates good consistency. Ultra's 105 FPS is still smooth, but the 59 FPS gap between Ultra and Medium suggests diminishing returns on visual quality for a significant frame rate cost. For 1080p gaming, Medium is the recommended preset for the best experience per the measured rows.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to High settings. The High preset delivers an 89 FPS average, which is sufficient for most displays, while Medium offers 106 FPS and Low reaches 138 FPS. The 17 FPS difference between High and Medium is less impactful than the 32 FPS gap between Medium and Low, suggesting that High provides the best visual quality while maintaining a comfortable frame rate margin. Ultra at 68 FPS is still playable but drops 21 FPS below High, making it a less attractive option unless maximum visual fidelity is paramount. The Medium preset's measured range of 90–121 FPS at 1440p shows no frame time spikes that would indicate instability, so users wanting extra headroom could comfortably choose Medium.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. High settings yield a 48 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS target many users prefer but still playable for a slower-paced third-person shooter. Medium drops to 57 FPS, providing an extra 9 FPS of headroom, while Low reaches 74 FPS for a smoother experience. Ultra at 36 FPS is not recommended for 4K gameplay, as the frame rate falls below what most would consider acceptable. The data indicates that Medium is the best 4K preset: it offers a 9 FPS improvement over High, and the measured range of 48–65 FPS shows the frame times are stable with no dips below 48 FPS. Users prioritizing smoothness over visual quality should consider Low, which delivers a 74 FPS average that is 29% higher than Medium.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates across all presets, with averages ranging from 105 FPS at Ultra to 214 FPS at Low. At 2560x1440, all presets except Ultra remain above 68 FPS, while 3840x2160 at High and Ultra falls below 50 FPS, making 1440p the highest resolution that maintains playable frame rates on Ultra settings.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 5800X bottleneck the RX 7700 in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate the CPU is not a limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 5800X scores 943 in 3DMark single-thread and 7,586 in 16-thread tests, while the consistent 35% frame rate drop from 1080p to 1440p across all presets suggests GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p Low, the 214 FPS average shows the CPU can drive very high frame rates without becoming a constraint.

*Q: How much VRAM does Minimum need at 4K?*

A: The RX 7700 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit bus and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. The measured performance at 4K shows frame rates that scale smoothly with preset quality, indicating that memory capacity is not a limiting factor — the 48 FPS at High and 36 FPS at Ultra are more consistent with compute-bound performance than memory capacity exhaustion.

Q: Is the 4K High preset playable?

A: The 48 FPS average at 3840x2160 High is borderline but technically playable for a third-person shooter. However, the Medium preset offers a 57 FPS average, which provides a more comfortable margin above typical stutter thresholds. The data suggests that for 4K, Medium is the safer choice for consistent gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15,852 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15,862), 1% below the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16,014), and 1.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16,129). This puts it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, indicating mid-pack performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 109 FPS (214 at Low vs. 105 at Ultra). At 1440p, the difference is 70 FPS (138 vs. 68). At 4K, the difference is 38 FPS (74 vs. 36). The shrinking absolute gap at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU's compute resources are the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a full range of preset options. Low settings deliver the highest average at 214 FPS, followed by Medium at 164 FPS with a measured range of 139–188 FPS. High settings produce 137 FPS, and Ultra drops to 105 FPS. The gap between consecutive presets is 50 FPS from Low to Medium, 27 FPS from Medium to High, and 32 FPS from High to Ultra. This pattern indicates that the Low-to-Medium transition carries the largest performance cost, likely due to the enabling of additional rendering features that significantly increase GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the averages decrease across the board. Low settings measure 138 FPS, Medium drops to 106 FPS with a range of 90–121 FPS, High reaches 89 FPS, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS. The deltas between presets are 32 FPS (Low to Medium), 17 FPS (Medium to High), and 21 FPS (High to Ultra). The smaller gaps between Medium, High, and Ultra at 1440p compared to 1080p suggest that the GPU is beginning to reach its throughput ceiling, compressing the performance differences between quality tiers.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become the primary concern. Low averages 74 FPS, Medium measures 57 FPS with a range of 48–65 FPS, High drops to 48 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 36 FPS. The deltas are 17 FPS (Low to Medium), 9 FPS (Medium to High), and 12 FPS (High to Ultra). The 4K data shows that the RX 7700 can handle the game at Medium settings with a stable frame rate, but pushing to High or Ultra risks dropping below 50 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 48 FPS is notably higher than High's average of 48 FPS, demonstrating that the Medium preset provides better frame time consistency at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC with 28,100 million transistors and a die size of 346 mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, with memory running at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, produce a peak FP32 throughput of 25.18 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s.

In Minimum, the GPU's role is clearly the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates at 4K (36–74 FPS depending on preset) show that the RX 7700's compute capabilities are fully utilized, while the 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and memory bandwidth are not bottlenecks. The GPU's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with a PassMark G3D score of 20,974, places it in a competitive position for this game, though the nearest rival comparisons show it trailing the RTX 3060 Ti by 1.7% in average benchmark score.

The RX 7700's 40 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are present in the hardware, but the 2014 release date of Minimum means the game does not leverage these modern features. The measured performance therefore reflects pure rasterization throughput, where the GPU's 96 ROPs and 236.1 GPixel/s pixel rate directly influence the frame rates at 4K. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot cooler suggest the card is designed for sustained loads, which aligns with the consistent frame rates observed across the Medium preset measurements.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is a 5000-series processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer), manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC with 4,150 million transistors and a die size of 74 mm². It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, and includes 32 MB of L3 cache. The CPU's 105 W TDP and AMD Socket AM4 compatibility make it a mainstream desktop part, and its 81st percentile ranking among all CPUs reflects strong overall performance.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is not fully saturated. The 3DMark scores are telling: a single-thread score of 943 and a 2-thread score of 1,846 indicate strong per-core performance, while the 16-thread score of 7,586 shows good scaling across all cores. The PassMark single-thread score of 3,445 and multithread score of 27,732 further confirm that the CPU can handle both lightly threaded game logic and background tasks without becoming a bottleneck.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the 214 FPS average suggests the CPU can drive frame rates well above typical display refresh rates. The fact that the frame rate drops by approximately 35% moving from 1080p to 1440p across all presets — regardless of whether the preset is Low (214 to 138 FPS) or Ultra (105 to 68 FPS) — indicates that the performance scaling is governed by GPU load, not CPU capability. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller absolute drops at higher resolutions, as the CPU would have more time per frame to process game logic at lower FPS. Instead, the consistent percentage drops point to a GPU-bound scenario even at 1080p.

The Ryzen 7 5800X's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H (0.1% higher average score), Intel Xeon Phi 7210 (0.4% lower), Intel Core i5-13500HX (0.5% lower), and AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (0.6% higher). These close margins indicate that the 5800X's performance is well within the expected range for its class, and none of these rivals would likely produce significantly different results in Minimum given the GPU-bound nature of the game at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1,298 out of 2,939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 56th percentile of all system configurations. This ranking reflects a mid-pack position that is consistent with the individual component rankings: the CPU sits at the 81st percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 58th percentile among all graphics cards. The combo's ranking being pulled down relative to the CPU's strong position indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing for this specific game.

The rank of 1,298 out of 2,939 means that approximately 1,641 combos rank higher and 1,297 rank lower. Given the game's 2014 release data, many of the higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs that can push 4K Ultra beyond the 36 FPS measured here. The Ryzen 7 5800X's CPU performance is clearly not the constraint — its 81st percentile ranking suggests it outpaces the majority of processors in the database, and its strong single-thread and multithread scores provide ample headroom for the game's requirements.

The data shows that this combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Minimum, where it delivers frame rates from 68 FPS (1440p Ultra) to 214 FPS (1080p Low). At 4K, the combo falls short of 60 FPS on High and Ultra presets, which explains its mid-pack ranking — many competing systems with higher-end GPUs would achieve smoother 4K performance. However, the combo's 1,298 rank out of 2,939 is not a poor showing; it places the system in the upper half of the database, and the measured frame rates at 1440p High (89 FPS) and Medium (106 FPS) are solid for a game of this era.

The nearest GPU rival comparisons provide context for the combo's ranking. The RX 7700's average benchmark score of 15,852 is within 1.7% of the RTX 3060 Ti's 16,129, suggesting that a combo with the RTX 3060 Ti would likely rank similarly. The RX 7700's position at the 58th percentile of GPUs is the primary driver of the combo's overall rank, as the CPU's 81st percentile performance cannot compensate for the GPU's mid-pack standing in a game that becomes GPU-bound at higher resolutions.