Minimum

# Minimum — AMD Ryzen 9 5950X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti delivers a revealing set of benchmark numbers in Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter that scales from 26.5 FPS at 4K Ultra to 172.5 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination ranks 1179th out of 1733 tested combos in the database, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all possible pairings. The data shows a system that is fundamentally GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads provide enough headroom that even at 1080p Low, the frame rate more than doubles compared to 4K Ultra — a pattern worth unpacking.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across every settings tier, indicating the RTX 3060 Ti becomes the dominant bottleneck as pixel count rises. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 172.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 58.5 FPS at 3840x2160 — a reduction of roughly 66% — while at Ultra settings, the drop is from 84.1 FPS to 26.5 FPS, a 68% decline. This near-uniform scaling across settings strongly suggests the GPU's rendering throughput, not the CPU, is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The pattern holds when moving from 1440p to 4K. At Medium settings, 2560x1440 yields 86.6 FPS, but 3840x2160 drops to 46.9 FPS — a 46% decrease. At High settings, the same resolution step cuts performance from 69.8 FPS to 41.2 FPS, a 41% reduction. These percentages are remarkably similar across all four settings presets, which implies the game's rendering pipeline at 4K is saturating the GPU's memory bandwidth and shader throughput in a way that scales almost linearly with pixel count.

What the data does not show is any evidence of CPU limitation at 1080p. The 172.5 FPS at Low settings represents a frame time of roughly 5.8 milliseconds, and the Ryzen 9 5950X's single-threaded performance — a 3dmark single-thread score of 944 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5450 — appears sufficient to feed the GPU at this level. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect the 1080p-to-1440p scaling to be flatter than the 1440p-to-4K scaling, but instead, the drops are comparable across all resolution transitions.

GPU Role

The RTX 3060 Ti's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a central factor in these results. At 4K Ultra, the 26.5 FPS average suggests the GPU is overwhelmed by the combination of high pixel count and intensive settings, likely exhausting both its 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and its memory subsystem. The 8 GB capacity may also be a constraint at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, though the measured data alone cannot confirm whether capacity or bandwidth is the primary limiter.

The GPU's clock behavior is equally telling. With a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, the RTX 3060 Ti operates within a narrow frequency range, yet the performance deltas between settings tiers are substantial. From Low to Ultra at 1080p, the average FPS drops from 172.5 to 84.1 — a 51% reduction — which far exceeds what one would expect from clock scaling alone. This indicates that the game's Ultra preset introduces rendering features (likely shadows, post-processing, or texture detail) that disproportionately tax the GPU's 4864 shading units and 152 texture mapping units.

At 1440p, the GPU's role as the limiting component becomes even clearer. The gap between Low (112.7 FPS) and High (69.8 FPS) is 38%, while the gap between High and Ultra (54.4 FPS) is another 22%. This progressive degradation suggests the GPU is running out of headroom as the settings demand more from its 80 ROPs and 38 ray-tracing cores, the latter of which may be underutilized in this 2014 title but still contribute to the thermal and power envelope.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to Medium settings at 1440p as the sweet spot for this combination, offering 86.6 FPS — comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold — while maintaining visual fidelity above Low. At 1080p, High settings at 108.9 FPS provide an excellent experience, and even Ultra at 84.1 FPS stays well within playable territory. For 4K users, the data suggests that only Low settings (58.5 FPS) approach playability, while Medium drops to 46.9 FPS and High falls to 41.2 FPS.

The recommendation hierarchy is clear: if the target is 4K, accept Low settings or consider lowering resolution. At 1440p, Medium represents the best balance between performance and quality, as the jump from Medium to High costs 16.8 FPS (from 86.6 to 69.8) — a 19% penalty that may not justify the visual gains. At 1080p, the choice between High and Ultra is more forgiving, with a 24.8 FPS difference (108.9 vs 84.1) that still leaves both options above 80 FPS.

For competitive play, the 1080p Low setting at 172.5 FPS offers the highest refresh rate headroom, which could benefit fast-paced third-person shooter gameplay. Conversely, for visual fidelity in single-player contexts, 1440p Medium at 86.6 FPS is the most defensible choice given the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings ladder spans from 172.5 FPS at Low to 84.1 FPS at Ultra, with Medium at 130.2 FPS and High at 108.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 24.5% drop (172.5 to 130.2), from Medium to High a 16.4% drop (130.2 to 108.9), and from High to Ultra a 22.8% drop (108.9 to 84.1). This non-linear pattern indicates that the Ultra preset adds disproportionately heavy rendering effects.

At 2560x1440, the same settings produce 112.7 FPS (Low), 86.6 FPS (Medium), 69.8 FPS (High), and 54.4 FPS (Ultra). The percentage drops between tiers are 23.2%, 19.4%, and 22.1% respectively — more uniform than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming the consistent limiter across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the results are 58.5 FPS (Low), 46.9 FPS (Medium), 41.2 FPS (High), and 26.5 FPS (Ultra). The Low-to-Medium drop is 19.8%, Medium-to-High is 12.2%, and High-to-Ultra is a dramatic 35.7%. The final plunge from High to Ultra at 4K is the largest single-tier penalty in the entire dataset, reinforcing that Ultra settings at 4K are beyond this GPU's practical capabilities.

FAQ

Q: Is this system capable of 60 FPS at 1440p in Minimum?

A: Yes, at Low (112.7 FPS) and Medium (86.6 FPS) settings, the combination exceeds 60 FPS. At High (69.8 FPS), it still passes, but Ultra (54.4 FPS) falls short.

Q: What is the best 4K setting for this hardware?

A: Only Low (58.5 FPS) approaches playable territory. Medium (46.9 FPS), High (41.2 FPS), and Ultra (26.5 FPS) all fall below 60 FPS, making 4K a marginal proposition.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 25120 is 0.2% below the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180) and 0.5% below both the Radeon RX 6600 (25235) and Radeon 890M (25246), placing it statistically tied with these peers.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5950X a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests no. The 3dmark single-thread score of 944 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5450 indicate strong single-thread performance, and the 172.5 FPS at 1080p Low shows no evidence of CPU limitation.

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

A: The average FPS drops from 69.8 at High to 54.4 at Ultra, a difference of 15.4 FPS or 22.1%, which is substantial enough to recommend High over Ultra for smoother gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's multithreaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 5950X's average benchmark score of 49062 is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i5-14600K (49166) and 0.6% lower than the i5-14600KF (49367), while being 0.7% higher than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698).

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 5950X's 16 cores and 32 threads on the Zen 3 architecture present an interesting paradox for a 2014 game like Minimum. With a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost up to 4.90 GHz, the CPU's single-thread performance is strong — the 3dmark single-thread score of 944 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5450 place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Yet the game's measured FPS at 1080p Low (172.5 FPS) suggests that even this level of single-thread capability is sufficient, if not overkill, for the title.

The multithreaded results reinforce this. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 38607 and Passmark multithread score of 45424 show a CPU with enormous parallel capability, but Minimum likely cannot utilize more than a few threads effectively. The 3dmark scores tell a similar story: 10810 for 16 threads versus 11597 for max threads — a mere 7.3% gain from adding more threads beyond 16, indicating diminishing returns even in synthetic workloads.

What the data does show is that the CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are not limiting factors in this game. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 1440p to 4K follows a GPU-bound pattern, with no sudden plateau that would indicate a CPU ceiling. The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Core i5-14600K (49166 average score, 0.2% higher) and i5-14600KF (49367, 0.6% higher) — would likely produce identical Minimum results, as the game is clearly not CPU-bound in any of the measured configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1179th out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 68th percentile from the bottom — or roughly the 32nd percentile from the top. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier status (69th percentile among all GPUs) combined with the CPU's high-end standing (93rd percentile among all CPUs), suggesting the pairing is unbalanced for this particular game.

The low rank is almost certainly attributable to the GPU. While the RTX 3060 Ti's average benchmark score of 25120 places it just 0.2% below the AMD Radeon RX 6700M and 0.5% below the Radeon RX 6600, these are all mid-range performers. In Minimum, the GPU's 4K Ultra result of 26.5 FPS is the weakest data point in the entire measured set, and this single configuration likely drags down the combo's overall ranking.

The CPU's contribution to the rank is more nuanced. With the 5950X's 93rd percentile standing, it is unlikely to be the source of any performance deficit in Minimum. However, the combo's ranking among 1733 tested pairs suggests that many other systems with similar or better GPUs — even paired with weaker CPUs — outperform this configuration in this game. The data indicates that for Minimum, the GPU selection matters far more than CPU choice, and the RTX 3060 Ti's mid-range position limits the entire system's standing regardless of the 5950X's strength.