Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Minimum, a third-person shooter released in 2014. The data shows a combination that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the high-refresh-rate potential at 1080p is unlocked by the CPU’s strong single-thread performance. This analysis breaks down the measured frame rates across resolutions and settings, interprets the scaling behavior, and contextualizes the combo’s rank among 1,733 tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 411 FPS, which drops to 260.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 140.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36.6% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and an additional 46.2% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is consistent with a system transitioning from CPU-bound to GPU-bound conditions; at lower resolutions, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s 8 cores and 16 threads can feed frames rapidly, while the RTX 5090’s rendering load becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Looking at Ultra settings, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 198.8 FPS, falling to 131 FPS at 1440p (a 34.1% drop) and then to 71 FPS at 4K (a 45.8% drop from 1440p). The relative scaling between resolutions remains almost identical across settings, indicating that the RTX 5090’s workload scales predictably with pixel throughput. The 4K Ultra result of 71 FPS shows that even this flagship GPU cannot maintain high refresh rates at maximum settings in this title, though the game remains playable.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution decreases. At 4K, the difference between Low (140.2 FPS) and Ultra (71 FPS) is 69.2 FPS, or roughly a 49.3% reduction in performance. At 1080p, the same comparison shows a gap of 212.2 FPS (from 411 to 198.8 FPS), a 51.6% reduction. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU can still push enough frames to make the GPU’s settings-dependent workload the dominant factor, whereas at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that the relative cost of higher settings becomes less proportionally impactful. The data indicates that the RTX 5090 is the primary bottleneck at 4K across all settings, while the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s capabilities are more fully utilized at 1080p, particularly with Low settings where the 411 FPS result approaches the CPU’s practical frame delivery limit.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 4K displays, High settings at 91.7 FPS provide a balanced experience, staying above the 60 FPS threshold while offering better visual quality than Medium’s 109 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 71 FPS, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes; the data suggests High is the sweet spot for 4K, as the jump from High to Ultra costs 20.7 FPS (a 22.6% reduction) for what is typically a marginal visual improvement.

At 1440p, High settings deliver 168.9 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, while Ultra at 131 FPS still supports high-refresh monitors but with less margin. Medium at 200.4 FPS is the best choice for 165 Hz or 240 Hz panels, as it provides a 31.5 FPS advantage over High while the visual difference between Medium and High is often subtle in fast-paced gameplay. For 1080p, the data shows that Low settings produce 411 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor; Medium at 314.4 FPS or High at 263.6 FPS are more practical choices, offering substantial visual improvements while still exceeding 240 Hz thresholds. Ultra at 198.8 FPS remains viable for 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays, but the 65.6 FPS penalty compared to High makes it less attractive for competitive play.

The data suggests that the best experience per measured row is achieved by matching settings to the display’s refresh rate rather than maximizing visual quality. For 60 Hz 4K displays, High is recommended; for 144 Hz 1440p, High or Ultra; for 240 Hz 1080p, Medium or High. The Low preset at any resolution is only advisable for extreme competitive scenarios where frame rate is the sole priority, as the 411 FPS at 1080p Low illustrates the CPU’s headroom but also the unnecessary sacrifice of visual fidelity.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 411, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 71 FPS, which is 127.8 FPS lower than the 198.8 FPS recorded at 1080p Ultra, representing a 64.3% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 the limiting component at 4K?

A: Yes, the data shows that at 3840x2160, frame rates range from 71 FPS (Ultra) to 140.2 FPS (Low), indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, as seen by the 411 FPS result at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce 200.4 FPS, while High settings produce 168.9 FPS, a difference of 31.5 FPS in favor of Medium.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s cache configuration affect gaming performance?

A: The CPU features 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is substantial, but the measured FPS data alone does not isolate cache impact. The high frame rates at 1080p Low (411 FPS) suggest strong per-core performance, consistent with the CPU’s 5.20 GHz boost clock and Zen 5 architecture.

Q: How does this combo’s rank compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 6th out of 1,733 tested combinations in Minimum, placing it in the top 0.3% of all tested systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo’s performance scales predictably with settings. Low settings yield an average of 411 FPS, which drops to 314.4 FPS at Medium, 263.6 FPS at High, and 198.8 FPS at Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 96.6 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 50.8 FPS, and the step from High to Ultra costs 64.8 FPS. This indicates that the Low to Medium transition has the largest relative impact, likely due to increased geometry and texture loads that stress the GPU more significantly than the CPU.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 260.7 FPS (Low), 200.4 FPS (Medium), 168.9 FPS (High), and 131 FPS (Ultra). The differences between consecutive settings are 60.3 FPS (Low to Medium), 31.5 FPS (Medium to High), and 37.9 FPS (High to Ultra). The proportional cost of each setting step is more consistent at this resolution, suggesting the GPU is becoming the limiting factor more uniformly across settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 140.2 FPS (Low), 109 FPS (Medium), 91.7 FPS (High), and 71 FPS (Ultra). The setting steps cost 31.2 FPS (Low to Medium), 17.3 FPS (Medium to High), and 20.7 FPS (High to Ultra). The absolute differences are smaller than at lower resolutions, but the percentage reductions are similar, confirming that the RTX 5090’s rendering workload scales consistently with settings regardless of resolution. The 4K Low result of 140.2 FPS shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot match the frame rates achieved at 1080p Low (411 FPS), a 270.8 FPS gap that underscores the resolution’s dominant influence.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 6th out of 1,733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 99.7th percentile of all systems tested. This top-tier ranking is consistent with the component-level data, where the CPU holds a 90th percentile position among all CPUs and the GPU holds a 94th percentile position among all GPUs. The combo’s rank suggests that both components are near the top of their respective performance hierarchies, and their pairing yields one of the highest-performing systems in the database for this title.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6353P (deltaPct -0.1), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (deltaPct -0.1), Intel Core i9-13900HK (deltaPct -0.6), and Intel Core i5-13600KF (deltaPct -0.7). These deltas indicate that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s average benchmark score of 37,780 is statistically indistinguishable from the Xeon and Ultra 5, while trailing the i9-13900HK and i5-13600KF by less than 1%. This suggests that in synthetic CPU benchmarks, the 9800X3D is competitive with, but not decisively ahead of, these rivals. However, the measured FPS data in Minimum shows that this CPU can drive the RTX 5090 to 411 FPS at 1080p Low, implying that its real-world gaming performance is exceptionally strong.

The GPU’s nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (deltaPct 0.1), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (deltaPct 0.2), AMD Radeon PRO W6600 (deltaPct 1.3), and NVIDIA CMP 40HX (deltaPct -1.6). The RTX 5090’s average benchmark score of 84,306 is nearly identical to the RTX 5090 D and RTX 5050 Mobile, with only a 0.2% difference, while it outperforms the Radeon PRO W6600 by 1.3% and the CMP 40HX by 1.6%. These narrow deltas in synthetic benchmarks do not reflect the GPU’s measured gaming performance, where the 4K Ultra result of 71 FPS demonstrates its capability in this title.

The combo’s 6th-place finish out of 1,733 indicates that only five other pairings achieve higher average FPS in Minimum. Given the component-level rankings (90th percentile CPU, 94th percentile GPU), the combo’s overall rank is slightly lower than the GPU’s percentile, which may be due to the game’s age and its potential sensitivity to CPU single-thread performance rather than raw thread count. The data shows that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s 8 cores and 16 threads, combined with a 4.70 GHz base clock and 5.20 GHz boost clock, are more than sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the 411 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for the game’s textures, but the 4K Ultra result of 71 FPS indicates that even this GPU’s 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute is challenged by the title’s rendering demands at maximum settings. Overall, this combo represents a top-tier configuration where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU enables extreme frame rates at 1080p.