Minimum

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti creates a stark contrast in capabilities. The CPU is a modern flagship, while the GPU is a legacy entry-level part from a prior generation. Benchmark results in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter, show the GPU acting as the overwhelming bottleneck, with frame rates collapsing at higher resolutions and settings despite the CPU’s immense headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 67.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops performance to 45.2 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 3840x2160, the average plunges to 25.1 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p figure. This steep decline with pixel count is characteristic of a graphics card that lacks the raw fill rate and memory bandwidth to feed a high-resolution display.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced when looking at the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the average is 32.6 FPS. At 1440p, it falls to 19.7 FPS, and at 4K it bottoms out at just 9.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution is also telling. At 1080p, the difference between Low (67.2 FPS) and Ultra (32.6 FPS) is a massive 34.6 FPS, or roughly 51%. This indicates that the GTX 1050 Ti’s compute units are saturated by the increased shading and texture work required by higher presets.

The data suggests that the limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, is not the constraint; the frame rate variance tracks almost entirely with the GTX 1050 Ti’s load. For instance, the 4K High result of 13.4 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 25.1 FPS shows that even modest changes in settings can double performance, a sign that the GPU is struggling to keep up with the rendering pipeline. The scaling is severe, but not linear, indicating that the graphics card’s memory subsystem and shader throughput are the primary barriers to higher frame rates.

CPU Role

The CPU’s role in this pairing is largely one of providing untapped potential. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a Zen 5 part with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. It has 96 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 34004 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4800 in single-core, placing it in the 90th percentile against all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 37780 is nearly identical to rivals like the Intel Xeon 6353P (37811, -0.1% delta) and Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (37831, -0.1%), confirming its position as a top-tier processor.

However, none of that power is being exercised in Minimum. The game, released in 2014, is not demanding on modern processors. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 67.2, which is a playable number, but the CPU is likely idling. The 3DMark results show strong scaling from 2 threads (2394) to 16 threads (10081), but the game simply does not need that many threads. The bottleneck is the GTX 1050 Ti, which has a 128-bit memory bus and 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU can feed frames far faster than the GPU can render them.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. At 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 9.7, a figure that would be even lower if the CPU were struggling. Instead, the GTX 1050 Ti's FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS and its 32 ROPs are the constraints. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for this title, and its high single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 3341) ensures that any game logic or draw call processing is handled instantly. In this configuration, the CPU is a silent partner, waiting for a more capable GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 44.3. This is a playable frame rate for a third-person shooter, though it falls short of the 60 FPS target many players prefer.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D or the GTX 1050 Ti the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GTX 1050 Ti is the bottleneck. The CPU has an average benchmark score of 37780 and a 90th percentile ranking, while the GPU’s average score is 5316 and sits in the 30th percentile. The FPS drops heavily with resolution and settings, which is a signature of a GPU limit.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average score of 5316. The NVIDIA GeForce 930A scores 5317 (a 0% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce 940M scores 5297 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon R7 240 scores 5280 (0.7% higher). This shows the 1050 Ti is essentially at parity with these other entry-level parts.

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 1080p?

A: Only with the Low preset, which averages 67.2 FPS. The Medium preset averages 50.7 FPS, and the High preset averages 44.3 FPS. The Ultra preset averages just 32.6 FPS. To hit 60 FPS, users must reduce settings to Low.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 44.3. At 4K High, it drops to 13.4 FPS. This represents a 70% decrease in performance, highlighting the GPU’s inability to handle higher pixel counts.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 1696 out of 1733 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 2% of all tested hardware pairings for Minimum, reflecting the severe GPU limitation.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1696 out of 1733 is a clear indicator of the pairing’s overall performance ceiling. This is a bottom-tier ranking, placing the configuration in the 2nd percentile of all tested combos in Minimum. The primary reason is the GPU’s low relative performance. The GTX 1050 Ti’s percentile rank against all GPUs is 30, meaning it outperforms only 30% of the database. Its average benchmark score of 5316 is just slightly above the NVIDIA GeForce 930A (5317, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon R7 M445 (5361, -0.8% delta), confirming its place among the weakest modern graphics cards.

In contrast, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a top-tier processor. Its 90th percentile ranking and average score of 37780 put it just 0.1% behind the Intel Xeon 6353P and 0.1% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 225. The CPU is capable of driving much higher frame rates. The fact that the combo still ranks near the bottom of the list underscores the fact that the GPU is the sole arbiter of performance here. The data shows that a high-end CPU cannot compensate for a low-end GPU in a graphically intensive scenario. The ranking reflects the holistic performance of the pair, and the weak link is evident. This is a configuration where the CPU is severely underutilized, and the result is a poor overall experience for a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the average FPS at each resolution and setting combination.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

| :--------- | :------- | :---------- |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 9.7 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 13.4 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 18.9 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 25.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 19.7 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 29.9 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 34.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 45.2 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 32.6 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 44.3 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 50.7 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 67.2 |

The data shows a consistent pattern. At 1080p, the Low preset is the only one that averages above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p is only slightly faster than the Low preset at 1440p (32.6 vs. 45.2 FPS). The 4K results are uniformly poor, with even the Low preset failing to reach 30 FPS. The spread between the best and worst results is 57.5 FPS (from 9.7 to 67.2), demonstrating the extreme sensitivity of this GPU to both resolution and quality settings. The GTX 1050 Ti’s 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth are simply insufficient for the demands of 4K gaming, and the FP32 compute rate of 2.138 TFLOPS limits performance at higher settings.