Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER pairing presents a fascinating study in system bottlenecking within the 2014 third-person shooter Minimum. The benchmark data reveals a configuration where a top-tier 12-core processor is consistently held back by a mid-range graphics card, with the performance gap between resolutions and settings painting a clear picture of where the workload truly lies.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and predictable decline as resolution increases, but the rate of that decline is the key indicator of system behavior. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 133.7 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 82.4 FPS, a reduction of 38.4%. The step to 3840x2160 on Low yields 46.2 FPS, which is another 43.9% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep, compounding loss is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced when examining the Ultra preset. The 1080p Ultra score of 62 FPS falls to 41.5 FPS at 1440p (a 33.1% decrease) and then to 21.1 FPS at 4K (a 49.2% decrease from 1440p). The percentage losses are not linear; they accelerate at higher resolutions. This suggests that the GTX 1660 SUPER's processing capabilities are being saturated, and each additional pixel demands a disproportionately larger share of its limited resources. The data implies that the limiting component in this pairing is unequivocally the graphics card, as the CPU is clearly capable of feeding frames at much higher rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER, built on the Turing architecture, is the primary driver of these results. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical resource for texture-heavy scenes. The benchmark scores show this GPU sits at the 55th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 14286. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT, which scores 14389 and is 0.7% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 at 14352, which is 0.5% faster. This places the GTX 1660 SUPER in the lower-middle tier of the performance spectrum, which aligns with its measured FPS figures.

The GPU's clock speeds of 1530 MHz base and 1785 MHz boost are modest by modern standards, and the 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 compute rate is the hard ceiling for this system. The data indicates that the GPU's pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s is the bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the 21.1 FPS result shows the card is overwhelmed, while at 1080p Low, the 133.7 FPS figure shows it can still perform adequately when the load is reduced. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is not directly tested here, but the significant FPS drops between Medium and Ultra settings suggest that the increased memory pressure and shading complexity are taxing the card's resources heavily.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 9 7900X and GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 1553 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the bottom 10% of all tested pairings, which is a surprisingly low position given the CPU's pedigree. The ranking reveals a severe imbalance: the processor is a top-tier part, but the graphics card drags the entire system down.

To contextualize the CPU's potential, its nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmark arena include the Intel Core Ultra 5 235, which is 0.1% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT, which is 0.4% faster. The Ryzen 9 7900X's own percentile rank is 93, meaning it outperforms 93% of all CPUs tested. Yet, when paired with this GPU, the system's overall game rank is 1553 out of 1733. This discrepancy highlights that the combo's rank is almost entirely determined by the GPU's limitations. The data suggests that this pairing is a poor match for Minimum, as the CPU's vast computational headroom is left unused while the GPU struggles to maintain playable framerates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The raw data provides a complete picture of performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the results range from 133.7 FPS on Low settings to 62 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 97.7 FPS, and High lands at 81.4 FPS. This shows a clear hierarchy where each step up in quality costs a significant number of frames.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset still manages a respectable 82.4 FPS, but Medium falls to 64.3 FPS, High to 52.4 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 41.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 40.9 FPS, which is a substantial spread that demonstrates the GPU's sensitivity to graphical complexity.

The 3840x2160 results are the most telling. Only the Low preset achieves a playable-looking 46.2 FPS. Medium drops to 36.3 FPS, High to 26.5 FPS, and Ultra collapses to 21.1 FPS. These 4K figures are all below the 60 FPS threshold and indicate that this combo is not suitable for high-resolution gaming in Minimum. The data shows a clear trend: the GTX 1660 SUPER cannot handle the pixel throughput required at 4K, regardless of the CPU's capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired framerate. For a 60 FPS experience at 1920x1080, the Medium preset at 97.7 FPS is the safest choice, providing a comfortable margin. The High preset at 81.4 FPS is also viable, but Ultra at 62 FPS is right at the edge of the 60 FPS line and may dip below in more demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, achieving 60 FPS is only possible with the Low preset, which delivers 82.4 FPS. The Medium preset at 64.3 FPS is also technically above 60 FPS, but the margin is thinner. The High preset at 52.4 FPS and Ultra at 41.5 FPS are below the ideal threshold and would require a tolerance for lower framerates.

For 3840x2160, the data is clear: no preset achieves 60 FPS. The Low preset at 46.2 FPS is the only playable option, and even that is below the standard target. The Ultra preset at 21.1 FPS is essentially unplayable. The benchmark results indicate that users should stick to 1080p Medium or High for the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, or drop to 1440p Low if they prefer higher resolution over fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its synthetic benchmark scores are exceptional, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 43695 and a single-core score of 6168. It has 64 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

However, in Minimum, the CPU's role is almost entirely passive. The FPS data shows no signs of CPU limitation; the framerates scale directly with resolution and settings, which are GPU-bound variables. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar FPS figures across different resolutions, as the CPU would be maxed out before the GPU could be stressed. This is not the case. The 4K Ultra score of 21.1 FPS versus the 1080p Low score of 133.7 FPS shows a massive 112.6 FPS difference, proving that the CPU is far from being the limiting factor.

The 7900X's 93rd percentile ranking and its average benchmark score of 50556 indicate it has more than enough computational power for this game. The data suggests that the CPU is essentially idle in this pairing, waiting for the GPU to catch up. This is a classic case of a high-end processor being paired with a low-end graphics card, resulting in a system that is heavily GPU-bound.

FAQ

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

A: The 1920x1080 resolution is the only one where the combo consistently achieves high framerates across all settings. The 2560x1440 resolution is playable on Low and Medium, while 3840x2160 is only playable on Low settings with an average of 46.2 FPS.

Q: Why does the 4K Ultra preset perform so poorly?

A: The 4K Ultra preset yields an average of 21.1 FPS. This is because the GTX 1660 SUPER's 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 85.68 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient to handle the massive pixel workload at 3840x2160, especially with maxed-out graphics settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 7900X the bottleneck in this system?

A: No. The data indicates the system is GPU-bound. The FPS scales dramatically with resolution and settings, which is a characteristic of a graphics card limitation. The CPU's high benchmark scores, including a 93rd percentile ranking, show it has ample headroom.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to others?

A: This combo ranks 1553 out of 1733 tested combinations in Minimum. This low rank is primarily due to the GTX 1660 SUPER's performance, which sits at the 55th percentile for all GPUs.

Q: What is a good target framerate for this system?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset achieves 133.7 FPS, Medium achieves 97.7 FPS, and High achieves 81.4 FPS. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the Medium preset at 1080p is the most reliable choice, as it provides a significant margin above the target.

Q: Does the CPU's performance advantage have any effect on the game's framerate?

A: The CPU's power has negligible impact on the measured framerates. The FPS is determined almost entirely by the GPU's workload. The 12-core, 24-thread processor is never the limiting factor in this game, as evidenced by the massive FPS differences between resolutions and settings.