Minimum

The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers a dominant performance profile in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter from 2014. The benchmark data shows this combination ranks first out of 2,939 tested combos, establishing it as the top-tier configuration for this title. Across all resolutions and settings, the system produces frame rates that far exceed the requirements of competitive play, with the data revealing a clear shift from GPU-bound behavior at 4K to CPU-bound behavior at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a predictable decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop reveals critical information about system bottlenecks. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 430 FPS average. Moving to 1440p reduces that figure to 277 FPS, a 36% decrease, while 4K drops it further to 149 FPS, representing a 65% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the system is heavily CPU-limited, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly but is constrained by the processor's ability to feed it draw calls.

The High settings preset shows a similar trend but with different absolute values. At 1080p High, the system produces 276 FPS, which falls to 178 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop) and 96 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution scaling is independent of the graphics preset, which is typical for a game where pixel fill rate becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Ultra settings tell a more dramatic story. The frame rate at 1080p is 210 FPS, dropping to 136 FPS at 1440p (35% decrease) and 73 FPS at 4K (65% decrease). The fact that the percentage reduction from 1080p to 4K remains nearly identical at 65% across all four settings presets indicates that the RTX 5090 D's massive 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 32 GB of GDDR7 VRAM are sufficient to handle even the most demanding texture loads without introducing additional bottlenecks.

The most telling data point comes from the Medium preset, which includes minimum and maximum frame rate readings. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 329 with a minimum of 280 and maximum of 379. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 212 FPS with a minimum of 180 and maximum of 244. At 4K Medium, the average is 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 and maximum of 131. The minimum frame rates stay remarkably close to the averages, suggesting stable frame pacing without stuttering, even when the GPU is under maximum load at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame data places this configuration at rank 1 out of 2,939 tested combinations, making it the definitive best-performing setup for Minimum. This top ranking is supported by the fact that the RTX 5090 D sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the Ryzen 7 7700 achieves an 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The combination of two near-top-tier components creates a system that has no meaningful weakness in this title.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its elite status. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 5090 D scores 14,326, while its Geekbench Vulkan score reaches 376,915 and OpenCL score hits 310,674. These numbers place it well ahead of the average GPU, though the nearestRivals data shows some interesting comparisons. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT trails by just 1.1% in average benchmark score, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT leads by 1.6%. This tight grouping around the RTX 5090 D's average score of 77,712 suggests that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture its gaming performance advantage in Minimum.

The CPU's nearest rivals show an even tighter cluster. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 is essentially tied at 0.1% delta, while the Intel Core 5 221E trails by 0.2%, the AMD Ryzen 9 270 by 0.4%, and the Intel Core i9-13905H by 0.6%. The Ryzen 7 7700's average benchmark score of 40,081 places it in a dead heat with these competitors, yet in Minimum specifically, the combination with the RTX 5090 D achieves the top spot, indicating that the game's engine favors this particular pairing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, providing substantial single-thread performance that is critical for older game engines like the one powering Minimum. The processor's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for maintaining high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded capabilities. In Cinebench R23, it scores 18,760 multi-core and 1,930 single-core. The 3DMark tests reveal scaling from 2,043 with 2 threads to 8,484 with 16 threads, demonstrating near-linear scaling up to 8 threads and only modest gains beyond that. This scaling pattern aligns well with Minimum's engine, which likely utilizes a limited number of threads for game logic and physics, making the 8-core configuration ideal.

At 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 430 FPS, a figure that far exceeds what the GPU can render at higher resolutions. This indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the RTX 5090 D with enough data to sustain extremely high frame rates, but the game's engine or the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,063 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,525 both indicate strong per-core performance that is essential for maintaining high minimum frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

The TDP of 65 watts and 5 nm process node from TSMC make this an efficient processor, but the more relevant data for Minimum is the 3DMark 2-thread score of 2,043 and 4-thread score of 3,931. These figures suggest that even if the game only utilizes two to four threads, the Ryzen 7 7700 can deliver the performance needed to avoid becoming a bottleneck at 1440p and 4K resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 430 FPS, Medium yields 329 FPS with a minimum of 280 and maximum of 379, High achieves 276 FPS, and Ultra maintains 210 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 220 FPS, representing a 51% reduction in performance when enabling the highest quality settings. The Medium preset's frame time consistency, with a minimum only 15% below the average, indicates stable performance even in demanding scenes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but show the expected decrease. Low settings average 277 FPS, Medium averages 212 FPS with a minimum of 180 and maximum of 244, High averages 178 FPS, and Ultra averages 136 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 141 FPS, a 51% reduction that mirrors the 1080p pattern. The Medium preset's minimum of 180 FPS ensures that even the most demanding moments remain well above standard 144Hz monitor refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the system finally begins to show some strain at the highest settings. Low settings still produce a very playable 149 FPS, while Medium averages 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 and maximum of 131. High settings drop to 96 FPS, and Ultra falls to 73 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that dips below the 100 FPS threshold, though 73 FPS remains smooth for a third-person shooter. The Medium preset at 4K, with its minimum of 97 FPS, provides a solid experience for players using high-refresh-rate 4K monitors.

The data shows that the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are more than sufficient for Minimum at 4K, with the 73 FPS Ultra result being the only figure that might prompt players to consider lowering settings for competitive play.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides an average of 212 FPS with a minimum of 180 FPS, making it the optimal balance of visual quality and performance. At 4K, even Low settings deliver 149 FPS, which is playable, but Ultra settings drop to 73 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D overkill for this game?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 430 FPS, which far exceeds display capabilities. The GPU becomes more relevant at 4K Ultra where it produces 73 FPS, indicating that the card is fully utilized only at the highest resolution and settings combination.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 7700 hold up in this game?

A: The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads with a 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample performance. At 1080p, the system reaches 430 FPS on Low settings, suggesting the CPU can handle even the most demanding frame rate scenarios without becoming a bottleneck.

Q: What causes the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: The data shows a consistent 51% reduction from Low to Ultra at both 1080p and 1440p, while at 4K the reduction is 51% as well. This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU's shading units and texture units are the primary factors, with the RTX 5090 D's 21,760 shading units and 680 texture mapping units handling the increased workload.

Q: Can this system maintain high refresh rates at 4K?

A: At 4K Medium settings, the average FPS is 114 with a minimum of 97, which supports 144Hz monitors. At 4K High, the average drops to 96 FPS, which still supports 90Hz displays but falls short of 120Hz and above.

Q: How does this combo compare to other configurations in the database?

A: This combination ranks first out of 2,939 tested combos. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, trails by 1.1% in average benchmark score, while the CPU's closest competitor, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, is just 0.1% behind in average score.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the highest competitive advantage, the 1080p Low preset delivers an average of 430 FPS, which ensures the lowest possible input latency and the smoothest motion. This configuration maximizes the CPU's ability to process game logic at the highest rate, with the GPU easily keeping pace. The 1440p Low preset at 277 FPS offers a good middle ground for players with high-refresh-rate QHD monitors who want to maintain extremely high frame rates while gaining additional resolution.

The Medium preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 329 FPS with a minimum of 280, ensuring no drops below 240Hz display capabilities. At 1440p, the 212 FPS average with a 180 FPS minimum supports 180Hz monitors without compromise. At 4K, the Medium preset's 114 FPS average and 97 FPS minimum provide a smooth experience on 120Hz displays, with only rare dips below triple-digit frame rates.

The High preset is suitable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over maximum frame rates. At 1440p High, the 178 FPS average remains well above 144Hz thresholds, while 4K High's 96 FPS average is acceptable for 90Hz displays. The Ultra preset is reserved for those who want the absolute best visual quality, with 4K Ultra producing 73 FPS — playable but below the 100 FPS mark that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay in fast-paced shooters.

For a 4K gaming experience, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it delivers 114 FPS average with a 97 FPS minimum, providing the best combination of visual quality and performance headroom. At 1440p, the High preset at 178 FPS is ideal for 144Hz monitors, while competitive players can opt for Low at 277 FPS. At 1080p, the Medium preset at 329 FPS is the sweet spot, offering enhanced visuals without sacrificing the extreme frame rates that give players a competitive edge.