Minimum

# Minimum with AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a playable experience in Minimum, a 2014 Third-Person Shooter, but the data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions while showing surprising CPU headroom. The measured FPS across 12 configurations spans from a sluggish 22 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 131 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that settings and resolution choices dramatically alter the experience. The combo ranks 3171st out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of tested systems, yet the game itself is old enough that even mid-range hardware can achieve smooth frame rates at reasonable settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the best experience per the tested rows. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the strongest balance: it achieves 100 average FPS with a minimum of 85 and maximum of 115, which is only 31 FPS below the Low preset's 131 average but provides substantially better visual fidelity. The High preset at 1080p drops to 84 average FPS, still comfortably playable, but Medium's frame pacing data (85-115 FPS range) suggests more consistent performance than High's single-point average.

At 1440p, Medium again emerges as the recommended preset, delivering 65 average FPS with a range of 55-74. This is notably better than High at 54 average FPS and far superior to Ultra at 41. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 85 average FPS, but the jump from Low to Medium costs only 20 FPS while presumably offering significantly better visuals. For 4K, the situation becomes more challenging: Medium produces 35 average FPS with a 30-40 range, which is borderline playable, while Low achieves 46 average FPS. At 4K, Low is the only preset that consistently stays above 30 FPS, making it the practical choice for 4K displays.

The data suggests the optimal strategy is to prioritize Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p, as this preset consistently provides the best combination of frame rate and visual quality. The Ultra preset at any resolution shows a dramatic performance penalty—at 1080p it drops to 64 FPS from Medium's 100, a 36% reduction—while offering diminishing returns in visual fidelity for a game from 2014. For users with 4K displays, Low settings at 46 FPS is the only viable option, as the step to Medium costs 11 FPS (a 24% drop) and pushes below the 30 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 SUPER's specifications reveal why it becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 336.0 GB/s bandwidth, the card has modest memory resources by modern standards but sufficient capacity for a 2014 title. Its base clock of 1530 MHz and boost clock of 1785 MHz are relatively high for the architecture, yet the 1408 shading units and 48 ROPs constrain pixel throughput to 85.68 GPixel/s.

The GPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of mid-range performance: a PassMark G3D score of 12699 places it at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.4% faster) and AMD Radeon RX 580 (0.4% faster). The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1278 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 57102 indicate that the card handles modern APIs adequately but lacks the raw compute power for high-resolution gaming.

The FPS data confirms this GPU bottleneck. At 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to reach 131 FPS on Low settings, but as resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become strained. The drop from 1080p Low (131 FPS) to 1440p Low (85 FPS) represents a 35% reduction, and the further drop to 4K Low (46 FPS) shows the card struggling with pixel throughput. The 6 GB VRAM is adequate for this game—even at 4K Ultra the 22 FPS result suggests compute limitations rather than memory capacity issues—but the GDDR6 memory's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth appears insufficient for high-resolution texture streaming.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 60 FPS at 1080p?*

A: Yes, at Medium settings the combo achieves 100 average FPS with a minimum of 85, and at High settings it reaches 84 average FPS. Even Ultra settings produce 64 average FPS, which stays above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this hardware?

A: Medium settings provide the best experience at 1440p, delivering 65 average FPS with a range of 55-74. High settings at 54 FPS are also playable, but Low settings at 85 FPS sacrifice too much visual quality for the performance gain.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with the GTX 1660 SUPER in this title?

A: Only at Low settings, where the combo achieves 46 average FPS. Medium settings drop to 35 average FPS, and High/Ultra fall below 30 FPS (29 and 22 respectively), making them unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 12986 places it within 0.4% of the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and RX 580, and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon 740M. It trails the Tesla M2090 by 0.7%, indicating near-identical performance across this GPU tier.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No, the data suggests the opposite. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 131 FPS, and the Ryzen 7 7700X's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 19088, single-core 1987) indicate substantial headroom. The performance drops at higher resolutions align with GPU limitations, not CPU constraints.

Q: What frame rate range can users expect at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured data shows an average of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 and maximum of 115, providing a consistent experience without major frame dips.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 3171st out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 15% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the GTX 1660 SUPER's age and mid-range positioning rather than the CPU's capabilities—the Ryzen 7 7700X itself ranks at the 85th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35909, just 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H.

The rank of 3171 suggests that most tested combos outperform this pairing, which is expected given the GPU's 2019 release date and 53rd percentile standing. However, the ranking is context-dependent: for a 2014 game like Minimum, this combo still delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, meaning the rank reflects hardware hierarchy rather than playability. The GPU's nearest rivals (RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, RX 580) would likely produce similar rankings, as their benchmark scores are within 0.4% of the GTX 1660 SUPER.

Interestingly, the combo's rank is likely dragged down by the GPU's end-of-life status and the prevalence of newer, more powerful graphics cards in the test database. The CPU's strong performance (85th percentile) suggests that if paired with a more capable GPU, this system could rank significantly higher, but as configured, the GPU becomes the limiting factor in overall system performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a steep performance degradation as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound system. From 1080p to 1440p, average FPS drops by approximately 35-38% across all settings: Low falls from 131 to 85 (35% reduction), Medium from 100 to 65 (35%), High from 84 to 54 (36%), and Ultra from 64 to 41 (36%). This consistent scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's pixel processing capability is the primary constraint.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows an even more dramatic decline. At Low settings, FPS drops from 85 to 46 (46% reduction), and at Medium from 65 to 35 (46% reduction). High settings fall from 54 to 29 (46% reduction), and Ultra from 41 to 22 (46% reduction). This acceleration in performance loss suggests that at 4K, the GPU's memory bandwidth (336.0 GB/s) and fill rate (85.68 GPixel/s) become severely insufficient, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p while the GPU's capabilities remain constant.

The resolution scaling data also reveals information about the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to plateau above a certain resolution as the GPU becomes less stressed. Instead, FPS continues to decline proportionally with pixel count, confirming that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting factor. The CPU's strong single-threaded performance (Geekbench single-core 2289, 3DMark single-thread 1090) ensures that even at 1080p Low with 131 FPS, the processor is not holding back the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a clear progression across settings. Low settings deliver the highest average FPS at 131, followed by Medium at 100 (with a range of 85-115), High at 84, and Ultra at 64. The gap between Low and Ultra is 67 FPS, representing a 51% reduction in performance when maxing out settings. This suggests that Ultra settings impose a significant rendering burden on the GPU, likely through increased shadow quality, texture filtering, and post-processing effects.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges with reduced absolute numbers. Low achieves 85 average FPS, Medium drops to 65 (range 55-74), High reaches 54, and Ultra falls to 41. The relative gap between Low and Ultra remains similar at 44 FPS (52% reduction), indicating that the settings scaling is consistent regardless of resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 55 FPS at 1440p is noteworthy—it stays above the 50 FPS threshold, making it a viable option for users who prioritize smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings produce 46 average FPS, Medium 35 (range 30-40), High 29, and Ultra 22. The Medium preset's minimum of 30 FPS is exactly at the playability threshold, meaning some users may notice stuttering. High and Ultra fall below 30 FPS, making them unsuitable for anything but static screenshots. The 4K results clearly demonstrate that this combo is not designed for native 4K gaming, even in a 2014 title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael codename), manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 4.50 GHz and boosts to 5.40 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. The CPU's 32 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide substantial data throughput for gaming workloads.

Benchmark results show this is a high-performance CPU: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19088 and single-core of 1987, Geekbench multi-core 12451 and single-core 2289, and a 3DMark max-threads score of 8852. The PassMark multi-thread score of 35686 and single-thread of 4190 further cement its position at the 85th percentile of all CPUs. These scores indicate that the 7700X is overkill for a 2014 game like Minimum, which likely cannot utilize more than a few cores effectively.

The data confirms this CPU headroom. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 131 FPS, but the CPU's single-threaded performance suggests it could push far higher if the GPU were not the constraint. The 3DMark 2-threads score of 2112 and single-thread score of 1090 indicate strong per-core performance, while the 16-thread score of 8859 shows the CPU scales well across cores. However, Minimum from 2014 is unlikely to leverage more than 4-8 threads, as evidenced by the 3DMark 4-threads score of 4074 being over 46% of the 16-thread score.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (0.3% slower), Intel Core 7 250H (0.5% slower), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (0.5% slower). These marginal differences in average benchmark score (35909 vs 35802-35719) suggest that the 7700X is well-positioned among its peers, but the GPU pairing ultimately determines gaming performance. The CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock and 5 nm process node give it a theoretical advantage in latency-sensitive workloads, yet in Minimum, the measured FPS across all resolutions is firmly GPU-bound, meaning CPU upgrades would yield negligible improvements.