Minimum

Minimum, the 2014 third-person shooter, remains a demanding title for modern hardware when pushed to its limits. This analysis pairs the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, a combination that delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations. The benchmark data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while showing surprising CPU headroom at 1080p. With a measured combo rank of 40 out of 2,939 tested combinations, this pairing sits comfortably in the top percentile of all systems tested for this title, indicating near-flagship performance for the game's engine.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, using TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The processor features a 32 MB L3 cache, with 64 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a 3DMark 16-thread score of 7,586 and a single-thread score of 943, while its Cinebench R23 results are 15,476 multi-core and 1,574.5 single-core. Its PassMark multithread score is 27,732, with a single-thread score of 3,445.

Within the context of Minimum's results, the CPU's role becomes clear when examining the 1080p frame rates. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 368 FPS average. This high frame rate suggests the engine is still able to feed the GPU adequately, though the CPU is likely the primary limiter at this resolution and settings level. The processor's 16 threads are well-utilized by the game's engine, which was designed to scale across multiple cores even at its 2014 release. The 81st percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates that while not the absolute fastest, the 5800X provides sufficient processing power for this title.

Comparing the 5800X to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database, it sits within a tight margin of performance. The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H scores 29,093 on average, a mere 0.1 percent behind the AMD chip's average score of 29,123. Similarly, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT trails by 0.6 percent with a score of 28,940. On the other side, the Intel Xeon Phi 7210 and Intel Core i5-13500HX are 0.4 and 0.5 percent ahead, respectively. This clustering suggests that the 5800X provides a level of CPU performance that is near-optimal for gaming workloads where frame rates are in the hundreds.

The data indicates that the CPU's 3DMark 8-thread score of 6,035 is particularly relevant, as it represents the typical workload in gaming scenarios. The 5800X's ability to maintain high single-thread throughput, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 943 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,032, prevents it from becoming a bottleneck in most situations. For Minimum, the processor's performance is sufficient to push the RTX 5090 D to its limits at resolutions above 1080p, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a formidable graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and the GB202 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process. It boasts 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. The card's clock speeds are 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). Its compute capabilities include 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores, leading to 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking against all GPUs underscores its position near the top of the performance hierarchy.

In Minimum, the GPU's dominance is clear. At 1440p and 4K resolutions, the frame rates scale directly with the graphics card's capabilities. The RTX 5090 D's enormous memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is particularly advantageous for this title, which can be texture-heavy at higher settings. The 32 GB VRAM ensures that even at 4K Ultra, memory capacity is never a constraint, allowing the GPU to focus entirely on shading and rasterization.

The GPU's benchmark scores confirm its flagship status. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 14,326, and its Geekbench Vulkan score reaches 376,915, with an OpenCL score of 310,674. The PassMark G3D score of 44,065 further validates its performance. When compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 5090 D holds a slight edge. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 on average, which is 1.1 percent behind the NVIDIA card's 77,712 average. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.6 percent ahead, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants are 2.1 and 2.4 percent ahead, though those are compute-oriented cards.

For Minimum, the GPU's role as the primary performance driver is evident in the data. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 73 FPS average, while at 1080p Ultra, it reaches 210 FPS. The scaling shows that as resolution drops, the GPU has more headroom, but the CPU begins to limit performance. The RTX 5090 D's high pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s ensure that it can handle the game's visual effects at maximum settings without issue.

Resolution Scaling

Examining how frame rates scale across resolutions reveals the system's balance. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 210 at 1080p to 136 at 1440p, a 35.2 percent decrease, and further to 73 at 4K, a 46.3 percent decrease from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at these resolutions, as the workload increases with pixel count.

At Low settings, the scaling is more revealing. The system achieves 368 FPS at 1080p, 277 FPS at 1440p, and 149 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 24.7 percent, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 46.2 percent. The fact that 1080p Low only reaches 368 FPS, rather than higher, suggests the CPU is the bottleneck at this resolution. The 5800X cannot feed the RTX 5090 D fast enough to exceed this threshold.

Medium settings tell a similar story. At 1080p, the system averages 329 FPS, dropping to 212 FPS at 1440p and 114 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop is 46.2 percent, consistent with the pattern seen at other settings. This consistency across settings confirms that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, with the CPU becoming more relevant only at 1080p.

High settings show the same trend: 276 FPS at 1080p, 178 FPS at 1440p, and 96 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 35.5 percent, and the 1440p to 4K drop is 46.1 percent. The data clearly indicates that for resolutions above 1080p, the RTX 5090 D is the limiting factor, as the CPU has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates. At 1080p, however, particularly with Low settings, the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the constraint, capping performance at 368 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, all settings produce playable frame rates, but Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance. The Medium preset yields 329 FPS average with minimum FPS of 280 and maximum of 379. This is a substantial improvement over High settings, which average 276 FPS, while the visual difference between Medium and High is often minimal in this title. Ultra settings at 1080p drop to 210 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 36 percent reduction from Medium.

For 2560x1440, High settings are the recommended choice. The system averages 178 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on many monitors. Medium settings at 1440p deliver 212 FPS, but the jump to High only reduces performance by 16 percent while providing better visual fidelity. Ultra at 1440p drops to 136 FPS, which is still playable but begins to approach the limits of 120 Hz displays. Low settings at 1440p reach 277 FPS, but the visual compromise is significant for a game that benefits from higher detail.

At 3840x2160, Medium settings provide the best experience. The system averages 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 and maximum of 131, ensuring smooth gameplay on 4K displays. High settings at 4K drop to 96 FPS, which is borderline for 100 Hz panels, while Ultra falls to 73 FPS, which may cause noticeable stuttering on fast-paced scenes. Low settings at 4K reach 149 FPS, but the reduction in visual quality is substantial. The 4K Medium preset offers a strong balance, with the minimum FPS of 97 ensuring no drops below 60 FPS.

The data suggests that for most players, Medium or High settings are optimal, depending on resolution. The RTX 5090 D's power is best utilized at 4K Medium, where it can maintain frame rates above 100 FPS while delivering good image quality. At lower resolutions, higher settings are viable, but the CPU's bottleneck at 1080p means that Ultra settings provide diminishing returns compared to Medium or High.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 40th out of 2,939 tested combos in Minimum. This places the system in the top 1.4 percent of all tested configurations, a remarkable achievement given the breadth of hardware combinations in the database. The rank reflects the overall performance across all resolutions and settings, weighted by the game's typical usage patterns.

This high ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's exceptional performance. The RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the 5800X's 81st percentile CPU ranking, creates a system that excels in this title. The 40th overall rank suggests that only a handful of combinations with even more powerful CPUs (such as newer Intel Core i9 or AMD Ryzen 9 parts) can outperform this pairing, and then only marginally.

The rank also indicates that the system is well-balanced for Minimum. The CPU's performance is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most resolutions, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across settings. The 5800X's 3DMark max-thread score of 7,578 and 16-thread score of 7,586 show that it can handle the game's multithreaded workload efficiently. While a stronger CPU might push the 1080p Low frame rate above 368 FPS, the overall gaming experience is not significantly improved by such an upgrade.

For context, the 40th rank out of 2,939 combos means this system outperforms 98.6 percent of all tested configurations. The nearest rival combos in the database would likely pair the RTX 5090 D with newer CPUs that have higher single-thread performance, but the difference in Minimum's frame rates would be minimal at higher resolutions where the GPU is the bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo achieves in Minimum?

A: The highest average FPS is 368, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the CPU bottleneck limit for this pairing.

Q: At which resolution and settings does the combo maintain 100+ FPS at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the system averages 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS. High settings at 4K drop to 96 FPS average.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest rival GPU in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712, which is 1.1 percent higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT's 76,904. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT is 1.6 percent ahead, while the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB are 2.1 and 2.4 percent ahead, respectively.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile relative to all CPUs?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X ranks in the 81st percentile among all CPUs, indicating that it outperforms 81 percent of all tested processors.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 277 FPS, while Ultra settings average 136 FPS. This represents a 51 percent reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra.

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

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 280, with a maximum of 379 FPS and an average of 329 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data provides the exact measured frame rates for each resolution and settings combination.

1920x1080:

• Low: 368 FPS average
• Medium: 329 FPS average, 280 FPS minimum, 379 FPS maximum
• High: 276 FPS average
• Ultra: 210 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 277 FPS average
• Medium: 212 FPS average, 180 FPS minimum, 244 FPS maximum
• High: 178 FPS average
• Ultra: 136 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 149 FPS average
• Medium: 114 FPS average, 97 FPS minimum, 131 FPS maximum
• High: 96 FPS average
• Ultra: 73 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Medium settings provide the most balanced experience with the lowest minimum FPS values, ensuring smoother performance during intense scenes. The lack of minimum FPS data for Low, High, and Ultra settings in the benchmark results limits the analysis to average values for those presets. The 4K Medium preset's minimum FPS of 97 is notably close to its average of 114, indicating consistent performance without major dips. In contrast, the 1440p Medium preset has a wider gap between its 180 FPS minimum and 212 FPS average, suggesting more variance in frame times at that resolution.