Minimum

This combo—AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT—lands at rank 661 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all system pairings. That is a solidly above-average result, but the gap between its CPU and GPU performance tiers suggests the pairing is balanced more toward the processor side, with the graphics card acting as the primary constraint at higher resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 661 out of 1733 places it in the upper third of all tested pairings. The CPU itself sits at the 90th percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 76th percentile among all graphics cards. That 14-percentage-point gap is significant: the processor is clearly the stronger component in this pairing, and the data reflects that the GPU becomes the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios, especially as resolution and settings increase.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D scores an average benchmark of 37780, which is essentially tied with the Intel Xeon 6353P (37811, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (37831, delta -0.1%), and slightly behind the Intel Core i9-13900HK (38020, delta -0.6%) and Intel Core i5-13600KF (38028, delta -0.7%). These deltas are all under 1%, meaning the 9800X3D’s compute performance is statistically indistinguishable from those chips in synthetic tests.

On the GPU side, the RX 7800 XT’s average benchmark score of 32619 is nearly identical to the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32540, delta 0.2%), slightly ahead of the NVIDIA P104-100 (32747, delta -0.4%), and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32849, delta -0.7%). The AMD FirePro S10000 (32388, delta 0.7%) trails by a similar margin. All deltas are within 0.7%, so the 7800 XT sits in a tight cluster of similar-performing graphics cards.

The rank of 661 suggests that while both components are strong individually, the combination doesn’t push into the top tier of results. That is likely because the GPU, while capable, doesn’t match the CPU’s elite standing among its peers.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 121.6 FPS. This is the lowest 1080p result among the four settings tested, but still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in this game?

A: The data shows the combo achieves 160.5 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings and 102.6 FPS at the same resolution with High settings. At 4K, the average drops to 59 FPS on High, which is borderline for a 60 Hz display. The 1440p High setting appears to be the sweet spot for visual quality and frame rate.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 159.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 102.6 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 59 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 42% drop from 1440p to 4K.

Q: Is this CPU or GPU bottlenecked?

A: The evidence points to a GPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 248.2 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 42.6 FPS. The massive drop as resolution increases indicates the RX 7800 XT is the limiting component, not the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

Q: How does the CPU’s raw performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 9800X3D scores 37780 on average, which is within 0.7% of the Intel Core i5-13600KF (38028) and Intel Core i9-13900HK (38020). It is effectively tied with the Intel Xeon 6353P and Intel Core Ultra 5 225. The differences are negligible in real-world terms.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration?

A: The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2438 MHz, which translates to 19.5 Gbps effective.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 248.2 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 160.5 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 83.8 FPS, another 48% cut. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario—the CPU is not the bottleneck here.

For High settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. The combo hits 159.6 FPS at 1080p, 102.6 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is notable because it sits right at the 60 FPS mark, meaning the system is just barely able to maintain a smooth experience at that resolution with High settings.

Ultra settings tell a more challenging story. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 121.6 FPS, which is still very playable. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 82.1 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 42.6 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold and would be noticeable to most players as less fluid.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at every setting level is roughly 35-40%, while the scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper, around 45-50%. This non-linear drop indicates that the GPU is running out of fillrate and bandwidth headroom as pixel count increases. The RX 7800 XT’s 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth and 233.3 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply overwhelmed at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 248.2 FPS, Medium hits 188.6 FPS, High reaches 159.6 FPS, and Ultra manages 121.6 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is never CPU-limited—even at Ultra, the frame rate is high enough to suggest the GPU still has headroom.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 160.5 FPS on Low, 123.4 FPS on Medium, 102.6 FPS on High, and 82.1 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, roughly 35-40%. The 1440p Ultra result of 82.1 FPS is still comfortably above 60 FPS, making this resolution viable for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 83.8 FPS on Low, 69.1 FPS on Medium, 59 FPS on High, and 42.6 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is playable, and 4K Medium is close to acceptable, but 4K Ultra is clearly too demanding for this GPU. The 59 FPS at 4K High is borderline—it will be smooth on a 60 Hz display but will not take advantage of higher refresh rates.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 126.6 FPS (248.2 vs 121.6). At 1440p, it is 78.4 FPS (160.5 vs 82.1). At 4K, it narrows to 41.2 FPS (83.8 vs 42.6). This tightening suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU is so heavily loaded that settings changes have less relative impact.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines. The GPU also includes 60 ray tracing cores. The boost clock is rated at 2430 MHz, with a game clock of 2124 MHz and a base clock of 1295 MHz.

Memory is a strong point for this card. It carries 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2438 MHz, which is 19.5 Gbps effective. This large frame buffer is likely why the card still delivers 59 FPS at 4K High—it has enough memory to hold textures without spilling into slower storage.

The GPU’s compute throughput is 37.32 TFLOPS for FP32 and 74.65 TFLOPS for FP16 (at 2:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 233.3 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 583.2 GTexel/s. These figures explain the 4K performance pattern: the card can push pixels at a reasonable rate, but the 42.6 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates the shading and texture workload is too heavy for the 3840 shading units.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 76 among all GPUs places it in the upper quarter. Its nearest rivals, the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 and NVIDIA P104-100, are within 0.4% of its average score, meaning the 7800 XT is a mid-to-upper-tier performer but not a flagship. The 263 W TDP and dual-slot cooler are consistent with this performance class.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a Zen 5 architecture processor on the Granite Ridge codename, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. The TDP is rated at 120 W, which is modest for a desktop chip with this performance level.

The cache hierarchy is where this CPU stands out. It has 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 is likely what makes the CPU excel in gaming workloads, as it reduces the need to access slower system memory. The memory bandwidth is 89.6 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 bus.

The CPU’s benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 10081 in 3DMark 16-thread, 34004 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, and 40009 in Passmark multi-thread. Single-thread scores are also solid: 1212 in 3DMark single-thread, 4800 in Cinebench R23 single-core, and 4430 in Passmark single-thread. The single-thread performance is crucial for Minimum, as the game’s frame rates at 1080p Low (248.2 FPS) suggest the CPU can feed frames quickly when the GPU isn’t the bottleneck.

The 9800X3D’s average benchmark score of 37780 places it at the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals—Intel Xeon 6353P, Core Ultra 5 225, Core i9-13900HK, and Core i5-13600KF—are all within 0.7% of its score, indicating that the 9800X3D is not dramatically faster than these alternatives in synthetic tests. However, its 96 MB of L3 cache may provide a gaming-specific advantage that synthetic benchmarks don’t fully capture.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s role is evident at 1080p Low, where the combo reaches 248.2 FPS. This is a frame rate that many CPUs couldn’t sustain, and it suggests the 9800X3D is doing its job of keeping the GPU fed. At higher resolutions, the CPU becomes less relevant as the GPU takes over as the limiting factor, but the high 1080p numbers demonstrate that the processor is not a weak link in this pairing.