Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum, running on the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 155 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops the average to 100 FPS, which is a reduction of 35%. Stepping up to 4K at Low settings yields 54 FPS, a further 46% decrease from the 1440p result. This trajectory indicates that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count, which is expected for a game of this era.

The scaling behavior across all settings tells a story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 76 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 49 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 26 FPS. Comparing the Low and Ultra presets at each resolution reveals the magnitude of the settings impact. At 1080p, the gap between Low (155 FPS) and Ultra (76 FPS) is 79 FPS. At 1440p, that gap narrows to 51 FPS (100 vs. 49). At 4K, the gap is just 28 FPS (54 vs. 26). This convergence suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU's headroom matters less.

The data points to a system where the RTX 2060 is the primary constraint at 4K. The 6 GB of VRAM and the 192-bit memory bus are being saturated, causing frame rates to plummet regardless of preset. At 1080p, the CPU has more influence, as the FPS differences between presets are larger, indicating that the processor can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower resolution. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly steep for the Ultra preset, where the 49 FPS result drops to 26 FPS, a 47% reduction. This is a classic sign of pixel-bound rendering, where the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are exhausted.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this CPU and GPU combo in Minimum?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 155, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only measured result that exceeds 150 FPS in the dataset.

Q: How does the 4K Medium setting compare to the 4K High setting?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers an average of 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. The High preset delivers an average of 35 FPS. The Medium setting is 6 FPS faster on average than High.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 capable of maintaining 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 100 FPS and the Medium preset achieves 77 FPS, both above 60 FPS. The High preset reaches 64 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset falls short at 49 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p Medium and 1440p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 119. At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 77. This represents a 42 FPS drop, or approximately a 35% reduction in performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p.

Q: Does the combo rank high among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2292 out of 2939 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the ranking table. This position reflects the GPU's age relative to the CPU's modern architecture.

Q: Which preset at 1080p provides the closest to a 120 FPS experience?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 119 FPS, which is nearly exactly 120 FPS. The minimum for this preset is 101 FPS and the maximum is 137 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the decisive component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is modest by modern standards, and the data shows that it becomes a limiting factor at 4K resolution. The 4K Ultra average of 26 FPS is the lowest in the entire dataset, indicating that the GPU is struggling to manage the texture and buffer demands at that resolution.

The GPU's clock speeds are set at a base of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1680 MHz. The boost clock is relatively modest compared to newer cards, but the Turing architecture's 1920 shading units and 120 texture mapping units provide enough compute for older titles like Minimum. The 48 ROPs handle pixel output, and the pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s aligns with the observed 4K performance. At 4K, the GPU is rendering 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the 26 FPS result for Ultra suggests that the ROPs and memory bandwidth are saturated.

The GPU's direct benchmarks place it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with a deltaPct of 0, which is an unusually close match, and the AMD Radeon 680M with a deltaPct of 0.1. The RTX 3050 OEM and RX 7600 are also within 0.8% of the RTX 2060's average score. This clustering indicates that the RTX 2060 sits in a competitive performance tier, despite being several generations old.

The memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s is a critical figure for this game. At 1080p, the 155 FPS Low result shows that the GPU can keep up with the CPU's output. At 4K, the bandwidth is insufficient to maintain high frame rates, especially at Ultra settings where texture detail and shadow maps consume more memory. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is another constraint; while Minimum from 2014 may not require large allocations, the combination of high resolution and high settings can still exceed this limit, causing the GPU to fall back on slower memory operations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. Starting at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 155 FPS, which is the peak performance for this combo. The Medium preset averages 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS. The High preset drops to 100 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 76 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a steady decline, with each step up in settings costing roughly 20-30 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 100 FPS, which is identical to the 1080p High result. The Medium preset averages 77 FPS, with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS. The High preset averages 64 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 49 FPS. The 1440p results show that the GPU is beginning to feel the resolution increase, as the gap between Low and Ultra narrows compared to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 54 FPS. The Medium preset averages 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 26 FPS. The 4K results are the most telling. The drop from Low to Medium is 13 FPS, from Medium to High is 6 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 9 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is hitting a hard wall at this resolution, where even reducing settings yields diminishing returns.

The minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 101 FPS, indicating a stable experience. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 65 FPS, which is still playable. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 35 FPS, which is approaching the lower bound of smooth gameplay. The absence of min/max data for other presets suggests that the benchmark focused on average performance, but the available minimums show that the Medium preset is the most consistent in terms of frame time stability.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a high-end desktop processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz and its boost clock is 5.50 GHz, which provides substantial single-thread performance. The CPU's benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 4691 and a multithread score of 36470, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 69996, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core i7-14700KF (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (deltaPct 0.7), and Intel Core i7-14700K (deltaPct 0.9).

In Minimum, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p resolution, where the GPU is less stressed. The 155 FPS Low result and the 119 FPS Medium result indicate that the 9700F can feed the GPU sufficiently at lower resolutions. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz is particularly relevant for a game like Minimum, which likely relies on single-thread performance for game logic and physics. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide ample fast storage for active game data.

The CPU's TDP is 65 W, which is efficient for its performance level. The DDR5 memory support with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck for the CPU. In the benchmark results, the CPU outperforms its nearest rivals in most tests. For example, it scores 421988 in data compression, 21488 in data encryption, and 33688 in extended instructions. These scores suggest that the CPU is more than capable of handling the computational demands of Minimum.

The data shows that at 4K resolution, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The 4K results are consistently low across all settings, which points to the GPU as the bottleneck. At 1080p, the CPU's headroom is evident in the larger FPS differences between presets. The 9700F's high boost clock and modern architecture ensure that it does not hold back the RTX 2060 in this older game. The CPU's percentile rank of 94 indicates that it is among the top 6% of all CPUs, which is more than sufficient for Minimum's requirements.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering an average of 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS. This is close to the 120 FPS target and provides a smooth experience. The High preset at 100 FPS is also viable, but the Medium preset's higher minimum makes it more stable. The Ultra preset at 76 FPS is playable but sacrifices too much performance for visual gains that may be minimal in a game from 2014.

For 1440p, the Medium preset is again the recommended choice, with an average of 77 FPS and a minimum of 65 FPS. This keeps the frame rate above 60 FPS for most of the time. The High preset at 64 FPS is borderline, and the Low preset at 100 FPS offers the smoothest experience if visual fidelity is less important. The Ultra preset at 49 FPS should be avoided, as it drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

For 4K, the Low preset at 54 FPS is the only setting that approaches playability. The Medium preset at 41 FPS and the High preset at 35 FPS are below the 60 FPS target and may feel sluggish. The Ultra preset at 26 FPS is not recommended for anything other than static screenshots. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is not ideal for fast-paced third-person shooting.

The Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot across all resolutions. It provides consistent minimum FPS values (101 at 1080p, 65 at 1440p, 35 at 4K) and reasonable averages. The 1080p Medium result of 119 FPS is nearly identical to 120 FPS, making it the best choice for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p, Medium is the only preset that maintains an average above 75 FPS. The recommendation is to start with Medium and adjust downward if frame times become an issue.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2292 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 22nd percentile of all configurations. This rank is low relative to the CPU's individual standing, which is in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. The discrepancy highlights the GPU's role as the performance limiter. The RTX 2060's percentile of 58 means it is slightly above average among all GPUs, but it is outclassed by many modern cards that would pair better with the 9700F's capabilities.

The combo rank of 2292 suggests that while this system can play Minimum, it does not deliver top-tier performance. The measured FPS data confirms this, with the highest average being 155 FPS at 1080p Low. Many other combos in the database likely achieve higher frame rates at higher settings due to more powerful GPUs. The 9700F's high benchmark scores do not translate to a high combo rank because the GPU cannot leverage the CPU's full potential, especially at higher resolutions.

The ranking also reflects the GPU's age. The RTX 2060 was released in January 2019 and is now end-of-life. Its average benchmark score of 15290 is nearly identical to the GTX 580, a card from 2010, with a deltaPct of 0. This suggests that the RTX 2060's performance has been surpassed by newer budget and mid-range options. The RX 7600, which is only 0.8% faster in average score, represents a modern alternative that would likely rank higher in this game.

For users with this specific combo, the ranking indicates that Minimum is playable but not optimal. The data shows that 1080p Medium is the best experience, and 4K should be avoided unless Low settings are acceptable. The CPU's strength is wasted in this pairing at higher resolutions, and the GPU's limitations dominate the overall performance profile. The combo rank of 2292 out of 2939 is a clear indicator that this system is better suited for less demanding games or lower resolutions.