Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 third-person shooter whose benchmark data, drawn from a measured configuration pairing the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, shows a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but surprisingly capable at 1080p, where the CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads still allow the RTX 5090 to stretch its legs. The measured FPS rows span four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K), and the pattern is consistent: the gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution rises, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary limiter at 4K while the CPU has more headroom at 1080p. This analysis walks through every measured data point, interprets the combo’s rank among 3,712 tested combinations, and explains how the specific hardware specs—VRAM, clocks, cores, and cache—relate to the observed frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings for this CPU-GPU combo?

A: The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 69, which is the lowest average across all tested configurations in this data set. This is 21 FPS below the 4K High preset’s 90 FPS average, showing a steep cost for the Ultra preset’s visual enhancements.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 5900X compare to its nearest rivals in overall CPU benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X has an average benchmark score of 41,376, which places it 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H, and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440, while sitting 0.5% behind the Intel Core i7-14650HX. These deltas are all within a narrow 0.9% band, indicating near-identical overall CPU performance among these five parts.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest average FPS is 370, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 309 at 1080p Medium, followed by 260 at 1440p Low, showing that Low settings at 1080p provides the largest performance headroom.

Q: Does the GPU’s percentile ranking suggest it is a top-tier part?

A: The RTX 5090 sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605 (0.3% lower), while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959 (1.4% higher), so the RTX 5090 is competitive but not the absolute leader in this specific benchmark pool.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations for Minimum?

A: The combo ranks 109th out of 3,712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3% of all tested systems. This rank reflects the combination of the Ryzen 9 5900X’s strong multi-threaded performance and the RTX 5090’s high graphics throughput.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 have, and does it affect Minimum’s results?

A: The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. In Minimum’s measured data, the 4K Ultra preset still drops to 69 FPS, indicating that even with ample VRAM, the rendering load at 4K Ultra exceeds what the GPU can sustain at higher frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB202 chip, and its specifications are substantial: 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, 176 raster output units, and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The memory subsystem is equally imposing—32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth—which is far more than Minimum’s 2014-era engine would typically require Photo by [Author Name] (if applicable). However, the measured FPS data shows that the RTX 5090 is not saturating its capabilities at lower resolutions; instead, the bottleneck shifts based on settings and resolution.

At 1080p with Low settings, the RTX 5090 achieves 370 FPS, which suggests the GPU is not fully utilized because the CPU is feeding frames fast enough to keep up. The Ryzen 9 5900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads at a boost clock of 4.80 GHz provide sufficient single-thread and multi-thread throughput to drive the GPU at this level. Moving to 1080p Ultra drops the average to 197 FPS—a 173 FPS reduction—which indicates that the GPU’s shading units and ROPs are now doing more work, but still not at maximum capacity given the 4K numbers.

At 4K, the picture changes. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are clearly not a constraint, since the lowest average FPS (69 at Ultra) is still playable, but the drop from 1080p Low (370 FPS) to 4K Low (140 FPS) is a 62% reduction, which points to the GPU’s pixel fill rate and shader throughput becoming the limiting factor. The RTX 5090’s pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s, yet the 4K Ultra preset’s 69 FPS shows that even these high numbers are challenged by the combination of resolution and settings. The measured data indicates the RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing at 4K, as the CPU’s role diminishes when the GPU is pushed to its limits.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for choosing settings, and the optimal preset depends heavily on the target resolution and whether the user prioritizes frame rate or visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 370 FPS, Medium yields 309 FPS, High yields 259 FPS, and Ultra yields 197 FPS. For most competitive play, the Medium preset at 309 FPS represents the best balance—it is only 61 FPS lower than Low but likely offers significantly improved visual quality, while still being over 100 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1080p, even Ultra’s 197 FPS is above common 144 Hz display refresh rates, so users with high-refresh monitors can consider High (259 FPS) as a strong choice.

At 2560x1440, the drop is more pronounced: Low hits 260 FPS, Medium hits 199 FPS, High hits 167 FPS, and Ultra hits 127 FPS. The Medium preset at 199 FPS is the standout recommendation here, as it stays above 165 Hz refresh rates and is only 61 FPS below Low, while being 72 FPS faster than Ultra. High at 167 FPS is also viable for 144 Hz displays, but Medium offers a larger margin. At 3840x2160, the presets yield 140 FPS (Low), 107 FPS (Medium), 90 FPS (High), and 69 FPS (Ultra). The Low preset’s 140 FPS is the only one that clears 120 FPS, making it the top choice for 120 Hz 4K displays. Medium at 107 FPS is still smooth for 60 Hz or 100 Hz panels, while High and Ultra dip below 90 FPS, which may feel less responsive.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the best frame rate-per-setting trade-off: at 1080p it is 309 FPS, at 1440p it is 199 FPS, and at 4K it is 107 FPS. The data shows that Low settings offer diminishing returns at lower resolutions (only 61 FPS difference at 1080p between Low and Medium), while Ultra always carries a significant penalty—69 FPS at 4K versus 107 FPS at Medium, a 38 FPS drop. For users who prioritize high refresh rates, Medium is the recommended preset for 1080p and 1440p, while Low is the only preset that maintains >120 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 109th out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, which places it in the upper echelon of systems—roughly the top 3%. This rank is notable because the Ryzen 9 5900X, released in November 2020, is not the newest CPU on the market, yet its combination with the RTX 5090 (released January 2025) yields a top-110 result. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 41,376 puts it in the 87th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU’s 79,842 average score places it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. Together, they form a balanced pairing where neither component is drastically weaker than the other, as evidenced by the fact that the combo rank (109th) is higher than either component’s individual percentile might suggest, because the 3,712 combos include many weaker pairings.

The nearest CPU rivals to the Ryzen 9 5900X—the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, Intel Core Ultra 7 356H, AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440, and Intel Core i7-14650HX—all have average scores within 0.5% of the 5900X, suggesting that swapping to any of these would likely produce similar in-game results, assuming the GPU stays the same. Similarly, the RTX 5090’s nearest GPU rivals (Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, RX 6850M XT, Radeon Pro Vega 64X) are within 1.4% in average score, so the rank is not fragile—small CPU or GPU swaps would not dramatically alter the combo’s standing. The rank of 109th out of 3,712 indicates that this system is well above average for Minimum, but it is not the absolute top, which likely belongs to newer CPUs with higher single-thread scores or GPUs with even higher benchmark averages.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer), manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, with a 64 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 51.2 GB/s. Its benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16,262 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 14,118, while single-thread scores are 1,527 (Cinebench R23) and 2,083 (Geekbench). These numbers, combined with a 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs, indicate that the 5900X provides ample processing power for Minimum, which is a 2014 title that likely does not leverage more than a few cores optimally.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU’s role becomes evident when comparing 1080p Low (370 FPS) to 4K Low (140 FPS). At 1080p Low, the GPU is not the bottleneck—the RTX 5090 can easily render frames at 370 FPS, so the Ryzen 9 5900X must be feeding data fast enough to sustain that rate. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads, along with its high boost clock, are sufficient to avoid limiting the GPU at this setting. However, at 4K Low, the FPS drops to 140, which is a 62% reduction from 1080p Low; this drop is almost entirely due to the GPU’s rendering load, not the CPU, as the resolution increase multiplies the pixel work. The 5900X’s performance in single-threaded tasks (3dmark single-thread score of 941, Passmark single-thread score of 3,469) is adequate for Minimum’s game logic and draw calls, but it is not the primary determinant of FPS at higher resolutions.

The CPU’s 64 MB L3 cache and 12 cores help maintain consistent frame times, as shown by the Medium preset’s min FPS values: at 1080p Medium, the min FPS is 262 and max is 355 (average 309), at 1440p Medium min is 169 and max is 229 (average 199), and at 4K Medium min is 91 and max is 123 (average 107). These min FPS values are within 15% of the averages, indicating stable performance without severe hitches, which is partly attributable to the CPU’s strong multi-threading capabilities. The Ryzen 9 5900X’s 24 threads ensure that background tasks or engine threads do not starve the main game thread, even when the GPU is pushing high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is organized by resolution and settings, with each row providing an average FPS and, for Medium settings only, min and max FPS values. At 1920x1080, the four presets produce the following averages: Low at 370 FPS, Medium at 309 FPS (min 262, max 355), High at 259 FPS, and Ultra at 197 FPS. This represents a spread of 173 FPS from Low to Ultra, with each step down in settings yielding roughly a 50-60 FPS increase. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 262 is still above the High preset’s average of 259, meaning that even the worst-case frame times at Medium are comparable to the average at High, which suggests Medium offers better consistency.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 260 FPS, Medium at 199 FPS (min 169, max 229), High at 167 FPS, and Ultra at 127 FPS. The spread here is 133 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more of a limiter. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 169 is 30 FPS below its average, but it still exceeds the High preset’s average of 167, so Medium remains the smoother option. At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 140 FPS, Medium at 107 FPS (min 91, max 123), High at 90 FPS, and Ultra at 69 FPS. The spread is now just 71 FPS, showing that at 4K, the settings have less impact on FPS because the GPU is already saturated. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 91 is above the High average of 90, again demonstrating that Medium provides better frame pacing than High.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset always has the most complete data (min and max), and its min FPS values are consistently close to the next lower settings’ average—at 1080p, Medium min (262) is 3 FPS above High average (259); at 1440p, Medium min (169) is 2 FPS above High average (167); at 4K, Medium min (91) is 1 FPS above High average (90). This pattern suggests that Medium is the most stable preset in terms of avoiding dips below the next tier’s performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is the clearest indicator of which component is limiting performance. At Low settings, the averages are 370 FPS (1080p), 260 FPS (1440p), and 140 FPS (4K). This is a 30% reduction from 1080p to 1440p (370 to 260) and a 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K (260 to 140). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 230 FPS, or 62%. For Medium settings, the averages are 309, 199, and 107 FPS, with drops of 36% (1080p to 1440p) and 46% (1440p to 4K), totaling 65%. High settings show 259, 167, and 90 FPS, with drops of 36% and 46%, totaling 65%. Ultra settings show 197, 127, and 69 FPS, with drops of 36% and 46%, totaling 65%.

The consistency of the percentage drops across all settings—roughly 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K—is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting factor at all settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat as resolution increases (since the CPU work is resolution-independent), but instead the FPS scales almost linearly with pixel count. The pixel counts are: 1080p has 2.07 million pixels, 1440p has 3.69 million (78% more), and 4K has 8.29 million (125% more than 1440p). The FPS drops of 36% and 46% are smaller than the pixel count increases (78% and 125%), which suggests that the RTX 5090 is not purely pixel-limited—other factors like memory bandwidth and shader complexity also play a role, but the trend is unmistakably GPU-bound.

The CPU’s role in resolution scaling is minimal, as evidenced by the fact that the 5900X’s performance does not change with resolution, yet the FPS does. The Ryzen 9 5900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads are more than enough to feed the RTX 5090 at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU’s rendering work dominates, and the CPU’s contribution becomes secondary. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 370 FPS, which is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame delivery rate for this game; at 4K Ultra, the 69 FPS is purely a GPU limitation. The resolution scaling pattern confirms that for this combo, the RTX 5090 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, while the Ryzen 9 5900X provides ample headroom at 1080p and 1440p, making the pairing well-balanced for Minimum.