Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a playable experience at 1080p, but the data reveals a system that is decisively constrained by its graphics card in this 2014 third-person shooter. The measured frames per second (FPS) show a clear pattern: as resolution climbs, performance collapses, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in this configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting component. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 86.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 54 FPS at 2560x1440, a 37% reduction. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields just 27.4 FPS, a 68% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling curve is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the pixel throughput demand outpaces the card's shading and memory capabilities.

The Low preset tells a similar story, albeit with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system produces 130.3 FPS, which drops to 86.4 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 47.8 FPS at 4K. The fact that even Low settings cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K strongly suggests that raw resolution, not graphical complexity, is the primary obstacle. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution also widens as resolution increases, indicating that the GPU's compute resources are being exhausted by pixel count before settings can meaningfully impact the frame rate.

Interestingly, the scaling between Medium and High is relatively small at 1080p (101.4 vs. 86.1 FPS, a 15% difference), but at 4K, the gap narrows to just 7.4 FPS (34.8 vs. 27.4 FPS). This compression of performance differences at higher resolutions is a classic sign that the GPU is saturated, leaving little headroom for setting-based variation.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game from 2014, this memory configuration is more than adequate in terms of capacity, but the bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at 4K where the data demands spike.

The GPU's benchmark profile places it at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14286. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (deltaPct -0.2), meaning the 1660 SUPER is essentially tied with these integrated and entry-level discrete solutions in synthetic tests. This positioning explains why 4K Ultra (20.2 FPS) and 4K High (27.4 FPS) are unplayable — the card's raw compute power, measured at 5.027 TFLOPS FP32, is simply insufficient for the pixel load.

The 6 GB VRAM is not the culprit here. At 1080p Ultra, the card still manages 66.9 FPS, suggesting that texture memory is not overflowing. Instead, the 192-bit memory bus and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are the likely chokepoints at higher resolutions, as the card struggles to feed its 1408 shading units and 48 ROPs with enough data to sustain frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Minimum at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: No. The highest 4K average is 47.8 FPS on Low settings, while High and Ultra produce 27.4 and 20.2 FPS respectively. These figures fall well below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 60+ FPS experience?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets except Ultra (66.9 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, with Medium hitting 101.4 FPS and Low reaching 130.3 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (86.4 FPS) and Medium (67.2 FPS) achieve this target.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The card scores 14286 on average, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314) and 0.2% lower than the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315). It is also 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14352).

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5900X holding back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33150 and single-core score of 4680 indicate it has ample headroom. The FPS scaling with resolution points to the GPU as the bottleneck, not the processor.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low averages 86.4 FPS while Ultra averages 42.2 FPS, a difference of 44.2 FPS. This represents a 51% performance penalty for the Ultra preset.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This CPU/GPU combination ranks 1503rd out of 1733 tested combos, placing it in the lower 13% of all systems tested for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings produce 130.3 FPS, Medium achieves 101.4 FPS, High reaches 86.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 66.9 FPS. Every preset at this resolution is above 60 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where the Ultra preset remains playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the impact of resolution becomes clear. Low settings yield 86.4 FPS, which is still smooth, while Medium produces 67.2 FPS. High drops to 54 FPS, and Ultra falls to 42.2 FPS. The 1440p High and Ultra presets are below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that users must compromise on quality to maintain fluidity.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across the board. Low settings average 47.8 FPS, Medium achieves 34.8 FPS, High produces 27.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 20.2 FPS. None of these results are suitable for competitive play, and even casual gaming at 4K would feel sluggish. The data suggests that 4K is not a viable option for this combo, regardless of settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, with 64 MB of L3 cache. Its synthetic benchmark scores are robust: Cinebench R23 multi-core hits 33150, single-core reaches 4680, and Geekbench multi-core scores 11877.

Given the game's 2014 release date, the CPU's performance is far beyond what Minimum requires. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 9075 and max-thread score of 10075 indicate that even heavily threaded workloads are handled with ease. The processor sits at the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39453.

The data supports the conclusion that the CPU is not a limiting factor. If the processor were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar FPS across different resolutions. Instead, the substantial FPS drops at higher resolutions point directly to the GPU. The Ryzen 9 5900X's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4245P (deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i7-13700F (deltaPct 0.9), showing it is competitive with modern server and desktop parts, leaving no doubt about its capability in this title.

Settings Recommendations

For users targeting 60 FPS, the 1920x1080 High preset is the optimal choice. It delivers 86.1 FPS, which is comfortably above the target while providing improved visual fidelity over Medium (101.4 FPS) and Low (130.3 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1080p (66.9 FPS) is also viable but offers diminishing returns for the 19.2 FPS loss compared to High.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (67.2 FPS) is the recommended balance, as it is the highest quality setting that maintains a 60+ FPS average. Low (86.4 FPS) provides a smoother experience but sacrifices visual quality, while High (54 FPS) and Ultra (42.2 FPS) fall below the target. For users with 1440p displays who prioritize frame rate, Medium is the clear winner.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS. The Low setting (47.8 FPS) is the most playable, but even this may not satisfy users accustomed to high refresh rates. Given the data, the best experience is to avoid 4K entirely and instead use 1440p Medium or 1080p High, depending on the display's native resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 1503rd out of 1733 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 13% of systems tested for Minimum. This low ranking is primarily due to the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, as the CPU is a top-tier part.

The GTX 1660 SUPER's 55th percentile GPU ranking and its proximity to integrated graphics solutions like the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (deltaPct -0.2) and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (deltaPct -0.2) highlight its entry-level status. In contrast, the Ryzen 9 5900X's 90th percentile CPU ranking and competitive position against the AMD EPYC 4245P (deltaPct 0.2) and Intel Core i7-13700F (deltaPct 0.9) show a processor that is overqualified for this pairing.

The rank suggests that most other tested systems either have more capable GPUs or are better balanced. The data implies that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where the GPU can leverage the CPU's strengths. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes a severe bottleneck, dragging the overall ranking down. Users with this combination should prioritize resolution over settings to achieve the best playable experience.