Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Minimum shows a clear and predictable progression as resolution climbs, but the shape of that curve reveals where the performance bottleneck sits. At 1080p with Low settings, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti combination delivers 239.4 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p Low drops that to 158.1 FPS, a reduction of roughly one-third. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 81.7 FPS. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets: 1080p to 1440p typically cuts frame rates by about 35-40%, while 1440p to 4K cuts another 45-50%.

This scaling curve indicates that at 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU is doing substantial heavy lifting, particularly at Low settings where the GPU has less work. The 1080p Low result of 239.4 FPS versus the 1440p Low result of 158.1 FPS shows that the GPU is still capable of large gains when pixel count drops, but the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads are clearly able to feed frames well past 200 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average collapses to 41.7 FPS, which is only about 17% of the 1080p Low figure. That massive drop points squarely at the GPU becoming the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth get saturated by the 3840x2160 pixel workload.

The data suggests that this combo is balanced for high-refresh 1080p gaming, acceptable for 1440p, and only marginal for 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution is also telling: at 1080p, the spread from Low (239.4 FPS) to Ultra (120.6 FPS) is about 118.8 FPS, while at 4K the same spread is only 40 FPS (81.7 to 41.7). The compression of that spread at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor once pixel count rises.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, built on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, which matters for Minimum's frame pacing. The CPU's benchmark data shows a 3DMark single-thread score of 944 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5450, indicating robust per-core throughput. This is critical because Minimum is a 2014-era third-person shooter that does not scale perfectly across 32 threads.

Looking at the multithreaded results, the 5950X posts a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 38607 and a Geekbench multicore score of 12084. In PassMark, the multithread score is 45424, with floating-point math at 100280 and integer math at 185520. These figures show enormous parallel capability, but the game's actual frame rates tell a different story. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 239.4 FPS, which is close to the practical ceiling for many game engines. The 1440p Low result of 158.1 FPS and the 4K Low result of 81.7 FPS show that even with a 16-core CPU, the game's engine does not push frame rates higher once the GPU has fewer pixels to render.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Core i5-14600K with an average score of 49166 (deltaPct of -0.2%) and the Intel Core i5-14600KF at 49367 (deltaPct of -0.6%). The 5950X's average benchmark score of 49062 places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors. However, for Minimum specifically, the CPU's role is to prevent bottlenecks at lower resolutions. The 1080p results—ranging from 120.6 FPS at Ultra to 239.4 FPS at Low—indicate that the CPU is not holding back the GPU at 1080p, since even the highest frame rates are well within the CPU's capability. At 4K, the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor; the GPU's rendering workload dominates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance across the three resolutions. For players targeting 1080p, the High preset at 153 FPS offers an excellent balance—significantly smoother than Ultra's 120.6 FPS while still providing enhanced visuals over Medium's 185.1 FPS. Low at 239.4 FPS is only useful for competitive play where maximum frame rates trump image quality, but the jump from Low to Medium costs 54.3 FPS (239.4 to 185.1), while the jump from Medium to High costs 32.1 FPS (185.1 to 153). The step from High to Ultra costs another 32.4 FPS (153 to 120.6), making Ultra the least efficient preset at 1080p.

At 1440p, the situation shifts. High delivers 98.6 FPS, which is just shy of the 100 FPS mark and suitable for high-refresh monitors. Medium at 118.6 FPS is also viable, but the visual difference between Medium and High in a third-person shooter often justifies the 20 FPS drop. Ultra at 73.6 FPS is playable but approaches the threshold where fast motion can appear less fluid. Low at 158.1 FPS is excessively fast for most displays and sacrifices too much visual fidelity.

For 4K, the recommendations narrow considerably. High at 55.2 FPS is the only preset that stays above the 50 FPS line, making it the default choice for 4K gaming. Medium at 65.6 FPS is smoother but still under 70 FPS, while Low at 81.7 FPS offers the best frame rate but with reduced detail. Ultra at 41.7 FPS falls below the 60 FPS standard and is not recommended for general play. The data shows that High is the optimal preset at 1080p and 1440p, while at 4K, players must choose between High (55.2 FPS) and Medium (65.6 FPS) based on their tolerance for visual downgrades.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 699th out of 1733 tested combinations in Minimum. This places it in the 60th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly 40% of tested systems perform better in this specific game. Given the CPU's strong benchmark position—93rd percentile among all CPUs—and the GPU's 74th percentile among all GPUs, the mid-pack ranking suggests that Minimum places more weight on GPU throughput than raw CPU power. The RTX 3070 Ti's average benchmark score of 30849 puts it near the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (31112, deltaPct of -0.8%) and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31142, deltaPct of -0.9%), but the game's results show the combo underperforms relative to what those component scores might predict.

The gap between this combo's component-level strength and its in-game rank indicates a potential driver overhead or engine limitation. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 10810 and max-thread score of 11597 show massive parallel capability, yet the game's 1080p Low result of 239.4 FPS is the ceiling, suggesting the engine cannot fully utilize the CPU's resources. The combo's rank of 699 out of 1733 is respectable but not elite, which aligns with the measured FPS data showing strong 1080p performance and moderate 1440p performance, but only passable 4K results. For a game released in 2014, this older title likely favors higher clock speeds over core counts, and the 5950X's 4.90 GHz boost clock helps, but the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM may limit 4K texture handling.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The GPU's base clock of 1575 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz drive its FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS. Memory capacity is 8 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, delivering 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are substantial for a card in this class.

In Minimum, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully taxed at Low settings (239.4 FPS), but at Ultra it drops to 120.6 FPS, indicating the extra shading work is significant. The 1440p results show a narrower range—from 158.1 FPS at Low to 73.6 FPS at Ultra—which reflects the GPU's memory bandwidth being tested more heavily. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck: even Low settings only achieve 81.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 41.7 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely a factor at 4K Ultra, where texture memory requirements can exceed 8 GB, though the measured data does not include VRAM usage figures.

The GPU's benchmark scores support these observations. The PassMark G3D score of 23356 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3478 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance, which matters for Minimum's modern API support. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 137518 and Vulkan score of 130778 show compute capability that may help with post-processing effects. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms 74% of the database, but its nearest rivals—the RX 590 GME (0.3% higher), RX 6700 (-0.8%), Quadro M5000 (-0.9%), and GRID M60-1Q (-1.2%)—are all within a narrow band, indicating the RTX 3070 Ti sits at a competitive performance tier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for this combo is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 239.4 FPS
• Medium: 185.1 FPS
• High: 153 FPS
• Ultra: 120.6 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 158.1 FPS
• Medium: 118.6 FPS
• High: 98.6 FPS
• Ultra: 73.6 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 81.7 FPS
• Medium: 65.6 FPS
• High: 55.2 FPS
• Ultra: 41.7 FPS

The data reveals several key relationships. At each resolution, the drop from Low to Medium is the largest single-step decline: 54.3 FPS at 1080p, 39.5 FPS at 1440p, and 16.1 FPS at 4K. The step from Medium to High is smaller: 32.1 FPS, 20 FPS, and 10.4 FPS respectively. The step from High to Ultra is the smallest at 1080p (32.4 FPS) but similar to the Medium-to-High step at 1440p (25 FPS) and 4K (13.5 FPS). This pattern suggests that the Low-to-Medium transition adds the most GPU workload, likely from enabling additional shading effects or texture filtering.

Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Low result of 239.4 FPS is 3.9 times faster than the 4K Ultra result of 41.7 FPS. The 1440p High result of 98.6 FPS is 1.8 times faster than the 4K High result of 55.2 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is roughly linear with pixel count—4K has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, and the FPS drops by approximately 44% across all settings, matching the expected fill-rate limitation. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less severe, with FPS dropping by about 35%, indicating that the GPU still has headroom at 1080p before memory bandwidth becomes the primary constraint.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1080p High at 153 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. The 1440p High result of 98.6 FPS is also viable for high-refresh monitors, while 4K High at 55.2 FPS is playable but below 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the drop is from 153 FPS at 1080p to 55.2 FPS at 4K, representing a 64% reduction. At Low settings, the drop is from 239.4 FPS to 81.7 FPS, a 66% reduction.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting component at 4K. The 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X can easily feed frames, but the RTX 3070 Ti's rendering workload at 3840x2160 caps performance at 81.7 FPS even on Low settings.

*Q: How does this combo rank against all tested systems in Minimum?*

A: The combo ranks 699th out of 1733 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier. This is lower than the CPU's 93rd percentile and GPU's 74th percentile rankings would suggest, indicating the game does not fully utilize the CPU's multithreaded capability.

Q: Should I use Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Ultra at 1440p delivers 73.6 FPS, which is playable but noticeably slower than High's 98.6 FPS. The 25 FPS cost for the Ultra preset is substantial, so High is generally preferred unless visual fidelity is the top priority.

*Q: What is the highest FPS this combo can achieve in Minimum?*

A: The maximum measured FPS is 239.4 at 1080p Low settings. At 1080p Ultra, the maximum is 120.6 FPS. The lowest measured result is 41.7 FPS at 4K Ultra.