Minimum

# Minimum — AMD Ryzen 9 5950X + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a broad range of frame rates in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter that scales from highly playable at 4K to extremely high refresh rates at 1080p. With measured data spanning three resolutions and four quality presets, this combo shows a clear pattern: the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases, while the 16-core CPU has ample headroom to feed frames even at the lowest settings. The benchmark results indicate a system that is well-balanced for high-refresh 1440p gaming, though 4K Ultra pushes the graphics card to its limits.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable yet steep decline as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 162 FPS at 1080p to 104 FPS at 1440p, then further to 56 FPS at 4K. That represents a 35.8% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 65.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is consistent with GPU-bound behavior: as pixel count increases, the rasterization workload grows faster than the CPU can compensate.

Looking at Low settings, the pattern intensifies. The combo achieves 252 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 162 FPS at 1440p (a 35.7% drop) and 87 FPS at 4K (a 65.5% drop from 1080p). The near-identical percentage drops across High and Low presets suggest that the GPU is the limiting factor even at Low settings — otherwise, the CPU would cap performance more noticeably at 1080p Low, flattening the scaling curve. The fact that 1080p Low produces 252 FPS while 4K Low produces only 87 FPS indicates the RX 7800 XT's rendering throughput, not the CPU's frame generation capability, is the bottleneck.

Medium settings show similar relative scaling: 193 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p, and 67 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 35.8% and 45.4% respectively, with the 4K-to-1440p drop being slightly less severe than the 1440p-to-1080p drop. This hints that at Medium, the GPU is still the dominant constraint, but the CPU begins to matter more at lower resolutions. Ultra settings tell a clearer story: 123 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset, confirming that the RX 7800 XT is heavily taxed at maximum quality and 4K resolution.

The data implies that for this game, the 5950X's 16 cores and 32 threads are never the primary limiter. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would typically be challenged to keep up with a high frame rate target, the combo still produces 252 FPS — far above typical display refresh rates. The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at 4K, where all presets see frame rates below 90 FPS, and Ultra drops below 45 FPS.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. The card's base clock is 1295 MHz, with a boost clock of 2430 MHz and a game clock of 2124 MHz. These specifications position the GPU as a mid-to-high-end part in the Radeon RX 7000 series, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node. The 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for 1440p gaming, but the measured FPS data shows that 4K Ultra is a stretch.

At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 43, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many gamers consider playable. The GPU's 16 GB VRAM is unlikely to be the limiting factor in a 2014 title like Minimum, as even 4K textures from that era rarely exceed 8 GB. Instead, the compute load from higher resolution and Ultra settings — increased shadow quality, post-processing effects, and draw distances — is what drags the frame rate down. The 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 performance is substantial, but 4K Ultra demands more than the card can deliver at playable rates.

In contrast, at 1440p High, the GPU produces 104 FPS, and at 1080p High it reaches 162 FPS. These numbers suggest the RX 7800 XT is well-suited for high-refresh 1440p gaming in this title. The 16 GB memory capacity provides headroom for future titles or modded versions of Minimum, but in the stock game, the card's compute capabilities are the more relevant factor. The GPU's percentile rank among all GPUs is 51, placing it near the median, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 with a delta of -0.5%, indicating similar overall benchmark scores — though the RX 7800 XT's gaming performance in Minimum far exceeds what a GTX 1660 would achieve.

The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (193 FPS) and 1080p Low (252 FPS) shows that the GPU can handle very high frame rates when not bottlenecked by resolution. The fact that 1080p Ultra still achieves 123 FPS indicates that even at maximum settings, the card has enough headroom for high refresh rates at the lowest resolution tested.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer), with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It has 64 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. With a TDP of 105 W and a launch MSRP of $799, this is a high-end desktop CPU designed for heavy multi-threaded workloads. Its benchmark scores are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017, a Geekbench multi-core score of 15233, and a Passmark multi-thread score of 45424.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game is from 2014, which predates the widespread adoption of multi-core optimization in shooters, so the 5950X's 16 cores may not be fully utilized. The single-thread performance is more relevant here: the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1614 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 944 indicate strong per-core performance, which is crucial for older games that rely on a few threads for main loop processing.

The measured FPS data supports the conclusion that the CPU is not a bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 252 FPS, which is an exceptionally high frame rate that would require very fast single-threaded processing to maintain. The 5950X's boost clock of 4.90 GHz, combined with Zen 3's efficient instruction pipeline, is sufficient to keep up with the GPU's output at this resolution. If the CPU were the limiter, we would expect to see frame rate caps that remain constant across different resolutions — but instead, FPS scales inversely with resolution, confirming GPU-bound performance.

The CPU's percentile rank among all CPUs is 91, placing it in the top 9% of all processors. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (delta -0.2%), the AMD EPYC 8124P (delta -0.3%), and the Intel Core i9-13900F (delta 0.4%). These rival comparisons show that the 5950X remains competitive with newer and more exotic processors, though in a single-threaded game like Minimum, the actual core count matters less than the boost clock and IPC. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 10810 and max-thread score of 11597 are high, but they are less relevant for a game that likely uses fewer than 8 threads effectively.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1440p High (104 FPS) offers a good balance of visual quality and smoothness, while 1080p High (162 FPS) is ideal for high refresh rate displays. 4K is playable at Medium (67 FPS) but drops below 60 FPS at High (56 FPS).

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: Yes, but only at lower presets. The measured data shows 87 FPS at 4K Low and 67 FPS at 4K Medium, both of which are playable. However, 4K High (56 FPS) is borderline, and 4K Ultra (43 FPS) is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p, since frame rates vary significantly by settings (123 FPS at Ultra vs. 252 FPS at Low). If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would be more consistent across presets.

Q: How does the 5950X compare to its closest rivals in overall CPU benchmarks?

A: The 5950X has an average benchmark score of 51947, placing it 0.2% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (52073), 0.3% behind the AMD EPYC 8124P (52121), and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i9-13900F (51730). It trails the Intel Core i7-14700 (52301) by 0.7%.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only preset with a reported minimum FPS is Medium, with 57 FPS at 4K, 106 FPS at 1440p, and 164 FPS at 1080p. Other presets do not report minimum FPS values in the measured data.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 7800 XT matter for this game?

A: Likely not, as Minimum is a 2014 title that would not require more than 8 GB of VRAM at 4K. The GPU compute performance, not memory capacity, is what limits 4K Ultra to 43 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination ranks 1241 out of 3712 tested combos for Minimum, placing it in the 66.6th percentile of all combinations in the database. This means it outperforms roughly two-thirds of tested systems, which is respectable given that the GPU's percentile rank is only 51 (near median) and the CPU's rank is 91 (top 9%). The combination of a top-tier CPU and a mid-to-high-end GPU produces a system that is better than average for this game, but not exceptional.

The ranking suggests that the GPU holds the combo back from higher placement. Since the CPU has significant headroom — evidenced by the high FPS at 1080p and the linear scaling with resolution — a more powerful GPU would likely improve the combo's rank substantially. However, within the context of tested combos, this pairing delivers solid performance, particularly at 1440p where it hits 104 FPS at High settings. The delta between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's median percentile explains why the combo ranks in the upper third rather than the top tier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 252 FPS, Medium produces 193 FPS with a minimum of 164 and maximum of 222, High produces 162 FPS, and Ultra produces 123 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 129 FPS, indicating that settings have a major impact at this resolution. All 1080p presets exceed 120 FPS, making this resolution suitable for 144 Hz or even 240 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, frame rates remain strong. Low settings average 162 FPS, Medium averages 124 FPS with a range of 106 to 143, High averages 104 FPS, and Ultra averages 79 FPS. Every preset at 1440p exceeds 75 FPS, so even Ultra is playable on high-refresh monitors. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 35% across most presets, consistent with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more constrained. Low settings average 87 FPS, Medium averages 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 and maximum of 77, High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. Only Low and Medium maintain playable frame rates above 60 FPS. High settings are borderline, and Ultra falls below 45 FPS, making it difficult to recommend for smooth gameplay. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured preset that drops below 50 FPS in the entire dataset.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data suggests prioritizing 1440p High as the sweet spot: 104 FPS average with strong visual fidelity. This preset balances image quality with smooth playback, and the 104 FPS is well above the 60 FPS standard while remaining achievable without significant compromise. If a higher frame rate is preferred, 1440p Medium (124 FPS) or 1080p High (162 FPS) both offer excellent responsiveness.

For 4K gaming, the measured data shows that Medium is the highest preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS (67 FPS). Choosing Medium at 4K is the recommended approach for those who prioritize resolution over settings, as it avoids the sub-60 FPS results seen at High (56 FPS) and Ultra (43 FPS). Alternatively, 4K Low (87 FPS) provides a very smooth experience with reduced visual effects, which may be acceptable for competitive play.

Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p, where the combo still achieves 123 FPS. At 1440p Ultra (79 FPS) and 4K Ultra (43 FPS), the visual gains from Ultra are offset by significant frame rate losses. The data indicates that High or Medium presets offer the most balanced experience across all resolutions, with Low serving as a fallback for maximum frame rates on high refresh rate displays.