Minimum

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and AMD Radeon RX 580 shows a steep performance drop as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 91 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 on Low drops that to 59 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 3840x2160 on Low, the average falls to 32 FPS, which is roughly half the 1440p result and about a third of the 1080p figure.

This scaling pattern points squarely at the GPU as the limiting component. The RX 580 is a 2017-era Polaris 20 part with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are simply not enough to feed a 4K frame buffer at playable rates in this title. The Ryzen 7 9700X, by contrast, is a modern Zen 5 desktop part with 8 cores and 16 threads boosting to 5.50 GHz; it is not the bottleneck here.

The delta between settings at each resolution reinforces the GPU-bound nature. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra cuts performance from 91 FPS to 45 FPS — a halving of frame rate. At 4K, the same settings swing yields 32 FPS down to 15 FPS, again roughly a 53% drop. The fact that the relative penalty of raising settings is consistent across resolutions indicates the RX 580's shading units (2304) and ROPs (32) are saturated regardless of resolution, with the pixel fill rate becoming more critical at higher pixel counts.

Notably, the data includes only average FPS for most settings; the Medium preset at each resolution includes min and max values. At 1080p Medium, the spread is 59 to 80 FPS, a 21 FPS range. At 1440p Medium, it narrows to 38 to 52 FPS. At 4K Medium, it tightens further to 21 to 28 FPS. This compression of frame time variance as resolution climbs is typical of a GPU that is becoming fully utilized — there is less headroom for frame pacing fluctuations when every pixel is expensive to shade.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9700X and Radeon RX 580 holds a combo rank of 3383 out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum. That places it in the bottom 9% of all tested combos, a low position driven almost entirely by the GPU side of the pairing.

To contextualize the CPU's contribution: the Ryzen 7 9700X sits at the 86th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37943. Its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks are the Intel Core i9-14901E (avg score 37911, delta 0.1%), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (avg score 37904, delta 0.1%), and the Intel Core 5 211E (avg score 37829, delta 0.3%). The 9700X is effectively at parity with these parts, differing by less than half a percent in aggregate CPU performance. In compute-heavy tasks like Cinebench R23, it scores 20485 multi-core and 2211 single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core of 17906 and single-core of 3023.

The GPU, however, is a different story. The RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12928. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940, delta -0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12986, delta -0.4%), AMD Radeon 740M (12870, delta 0.5%), and AMD FirePro W5100 (12847, delta 0.6%). The RX 580 is essentially in the middle of the GPU pack, yet it is paired with a top-14% CPU. This mismatch explains the low combo rank: the CPU is capable of far more, but the GPU caps frame rates in Minimum.

The rank of 3383 of 3712 means that 329 other combinations performed worse in this game. Those would presumably include pairings with weaker CPUs and similarly modest GPUs, or older integrated graphics. But the fundamental conclusion is that this pairing is not optimized for Minimum — the 9700X's strengths in multi-threaded workloads (PassMark multi-thread score of 37161, 3DMark 16-thread score of 9824) are largely irrelevant to a 2014 third-person shooter running on a GPU from 2017.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS data, the recommended preset for this combo depends on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 58 FPS is close to the 60 FPS threshold, but the Low preset at 91 FPS offers significant headroom. The Medium preset at 70 FPS with a min of 59 FPS provides a good balance — it maintains an average above 60 while keeping minimums at a playable level. Ultra at 45 FPS is playable but not smooth for fast-paced third-person action.

At 2560x1440, the options narrow. Low at 59 FPS is the only preset that approaches 60, while Medium at 45 FPS (min 38, max 52) is acceptable for slower moments but may dip during combat. High at 38 FPS and Ultra at 29 FPS are both below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that 1440p users should stick to Low or Medium, accepting a lower visual fidelity for frame rate stability.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve playable frame rates. Low at 32 FPS, Medium at 24 FPS (min 21, max 28), High at 20 FPS, and Ultra at 15 FPS are all well below 30 FPS. This combo is not suitable for 4K gaming in Minimum, regardless of settings. The pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth of the RX 580 are insufficient for this resolution in this title.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium or High. The Medium preset's min FPS of 59 at 1080p indicates that the 1% lows are solidly within playable range, and the 70 FPS average provides smooth motion. If visual quality is prioritized, High at 58 FPS is nearly identical in average but lacks the min/max data; the Medium row's recorded minimum of 59 suggests it is the safer choice for consistent frame delivery.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS table for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + AMD Radeon RX 580 in Minimum is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 91 FPS average
• Medium: 70 FPS average (min 59, max 80)
• High: 58 FPS average
• Ultra: 45 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 59 FPS average
• Medium: 45 FPS average (min 38, max 52)
• High: 38 FPS average
• Ultra: 29 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 32 FPS average
• Medium: 24 FPS average (min 21, max 28)
• High: 20 FPS average
• Ultra: 15 FPS average

The pattern is consistent across resolutions: Low is always fastest, Ultra is always slowest, and Medium sits between them. The gap between Low and Ultra widens with resolution — at 1080p it is 46 FPS (91 vs 45), at 1440p it is 30 FPS (59 vs 29), and at 4K it is 17 FPS (32 vs 15). This is expected: as pixel count grows, the absolute cost of each settings tier increases, but the relative difference between tiers shrinks because the GPU is already saturated.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data, as shown in the FACT PACK. At 1080p, the range is 59 to 80 FPS (21 FPS spread). At 1440p, it is 38 to 52 FPS (14 FPS spread). At 4K, it is 21 to 28 FPS (7 FPS spread). The narrowing range indicates that as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, frame times become more consistent — there is less variation because the GPU is always working at maximum capacity.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the dominant factor in this combo's Minimum performance. Its specifications — 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, 32 ROPs, base clock of 1257 MHz, boost clock of 1340 MHz, and 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth — determine the frame rates at every resolution and setting.

The GPU's 14 nm Polaris 20 chip has a die size of 232 mm² and contains 5,700 million transistors. It supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. Its FP32 performance is 6.175 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards but adequate for a 2014 title at lower resolutions.

The RX 580's memory configuration is 8 GB GDDR5 at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). This is sufficient for Minimum's textures at 1080p and 1440p, but the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at 4K. The pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are also constraints at high resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a mid-pack profile: PassMark G3D score of 8813, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005, Geekbench Vulkan score of 45173, and Geekbench OpenCL score of 37453. Its percentile rank of 53 among all GPUs places it at the median. The nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks — RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, GTX 1660 SUPER, Radeon 740M, and FirePro W5100 — all score within 0.6% of the RX 580, confirming it is squarely in the mid-range tier.

The power draw of 185 W TDP with a suggested 450 W PSU and a single 8-pin connector is reasonable for the performance delivered, though the 9.5-inch dual-slot cooler takes up space. The display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a support 4K output, but the GPU cannot drive it at playable frame rates in this game.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 4K at any settings?

A: No. The best 4K result is 32 FPS average at Low settings. Medium achieves 24 FPS (min 21, max 28), High 20 FPS, and Ultra 15 FPS. All are below playable thresholds.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all presets exceed 45 FPS. Low hits 91 FPS, Medium 70 FPS, High 58 FPS, and Ultra 45 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score is 12928. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile scores 12940 (0.1% higher), GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12986 (0.4% higher), AMD Radeon 740M scores 12870 (0.5% lower), and AMD FirePro W5100 scores 12847 (0.6% lower). The RX 580 is effectively at parity with all four.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700X the bottleneck in this combo?

A: No. The 9700X is at the 86th CPU percentile with an average score of 37943, while the RX 580 is at the 53rd GPU percentile. The GPU limits frame rates, especially at 1440p and 4K.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the range is 59 to 80 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it is 38 to 52 FPS. At 4K Medium, it is 21 to 28 FPS. The spread narrows as resolution increases.

Q: What is this combo's rank among tested combinations?

A: It ranks 3383 out of 3712 combos in Minimum, placing it in the bottom 9% of all tested pairings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a Zen 5 (Granite Ridge) part built on TSMC's 4 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its TDP is 65 W, and it has 80 KB L1 cache per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3. It supports DDR5 dual-channel memory with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth and uses the AMD Socket AM5, with PCIe Gen 5 and 24 lanes from the CPU.

The CPU's benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 multi-core 20485 and single-core 2211, Geekbench multi-core 17906 and single-core 3023, 3DMark 16-thread 9824 and single-thread 1280, and PassMark multi-thread 37161 with single-thread 4654. These figures place it at the 86th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37943.

In Minimum, the 9700X's role is to feed the RX 580 with draw calls and game logic. The game is from 2014, and its threading model is unlikely to fully utilize 16 threads. The CPU's single-thread performance — evidenced by Cinebench R15 single-core of 346 and PassMark single-thread of 4654 — is more than adequate for this title. The data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 91 FPS, which is well above what a weaker CPU could deliver, but below what the 9700X could achieve with a stronger GPU.

The nearest CPU rivals — Intel Core i9-14901E (37911, +0.1%), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (37904, +0.1%), Intel Core 5 211E (37829, +0.3%), and AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P132 (37804, +0.4%) — all score within 0.4% of the 9700X. This means that swapping the 9700X for any of these would produce nearly identical results in Minimum, since the GPU is the limiting factor.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die are efficient for the performance delivered. Its integrated Radeon Graphics are present but not used in this discrete GPU configuration. The 9700X's launch MSRP is $359, and it has an unlocked multiplier for overclocking, though the data does not include overclocked results.

In summary, the Ryzen 7 9700X is a high-end CPU that is vastly underutilized in this pairing for Minimum. Its performance headroom is irrelevant at 4K, where the RX 580 caps out at 32 FPS even on Low settings. The combo rank of 3383/3712 reflects this mismatch: a top-tier CPU paired with a mid-tier GPU results in bottom-tier game performance for this title.