Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a clear and predictable performance profile in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released on 2014-06-25. The data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions, while the processor’s substantial headroom becomes apparent only at lower settings and resolutions. This combination ranks 1436 out of 1733 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower third of all configurations, a position driven almost entirely by the GPU’s mid-range standing (58th percentile among all GPUs) rather than the CPU’s top-tier placement (93rd percentile among all CPUs).

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases across all four settings presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 153.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 97.4 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 53.3 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 65.3% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, a pattern that strongly indicates the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor; the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth (336.0 GB/s) are simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

The scaling behavior intensifies with higher settings. At Ultra, the average FPS falls from 77.1 at 1080p to 51.7 at 1440p, and then to 26.5 at 4K — a 65.6% drop from 1080p to 4K. The fact that the percentage loss is nearly identical between Low and Ultra settings suggests that the bottleneck remains constant: the GPU is saturated regardless of the graphical workload, while the CPU (with 12 cores and 24 threads) has ample spare capacity. This is further supported by the observation that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 153.5 FPS, which is close to what the RTX 2060 can physically output for this title, but nowhere near the CPU’s theoretical limit given its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 43695.

The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, the drop from 65.2 FPS to 33.6 FPS is a 48.5% reduction, while at Medium settings, the drop from 74.9 to 39.0 FPS is 47.9%. These proportions confirm that the GPU’s fill rate and shading capacity (6.451 TFLOPS FP32) are the primary constraints. The RTX 2060’s 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus also likely contribute to the steep decline, as 4K textures and geometry exceed comfortable memory capacity, forcing additional bandwidth pressure.

Settings Recommendations

The data provides a clear hierarchy for optimal playability depending on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 98.0 FPS, which is more than adequate for a smooth experience in a third-person shooter. Moving to Ultra at 1080p yields 77.1 FPS, a 21.3% reduction from High, while the visual gains from Ultra settings are typically marginal in this era of game. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 153.5 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that is not competitive in nature; the Medium preset at 117.7 FPS represents a better balance if higher frame rates are desired, but High is the sweet spot.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 65.2 FPS, which is just above the threshold for comfortable play. The Medium preset at 74.9 FPS offers a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 1440p if a consistent frame rate is the priority. The Ultra preset at 51.7 FPS dips below ideal smoothness and should be avoided, while Low at 97.4 FPS is unnecessarily harsh on visuals. For 3840x2160, the situation is more challenging: even the Low preset only manages 53.3 FPS, and High drops to 33.6 FPS. The Medium preset at 39.0 FPS and Ultra at 26.5 FPS are both below acceptable playability thresholds. The data suggests that 4K is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is borderline.

FAQ

*Q: Does the Ryzen 9 7900X bottleneck the RTX 2060 in Minimum?*

A: No. The CPU has 12 cores and 24 threads with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, and its benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 43695, single-core 6168) place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. The measured FPS drops from 153.5 at 1080p Low to 26.5 at 4K Ultra, which is a GPU-limited pattern, not a CPU-limited one.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all settings except Ultra (77.1 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, with High at 98.0 FPS and Medium at 117.7 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (97.4 FPS) and Medium (74.9 FPS) stay above 60 FPS; High drops to 65.2 FPS. No 4K preset reaches 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, placing it 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Radeon Pro 5700 (both 16351) by 1.7%.

*Q: Is the 6 GB VRAM a limiting factor in Minimum?*

A: The data does not isolate VRAM capacity as a specific bottleneck, but the 6 GB GDDR6 memory with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is consistent with the GPU’s 58th percentile ranking. The steep FPS drops at 4K (e.g., from 97.4 at 1440p Low to 53.3 at 4K Low) suggest memory bandwidth pressure at high resolutions.

Q: What does the combo rank of 1436 out of 1733 indicate?

A: This rank places the Ryzen 9 7900X + RTX 2060 combination in the 17th percentile of all tested combos for Minimum. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking is offset by the GPU’s 58th percentile, resulting in an overall low position due to the graphics card being the performance limiter.

Q: Why does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K follow a similar pattern across all settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 153.5 to 53.3 FPS (a 65.3% reduction), and at Ultra, from 77.1 to 26.5 FPS (a 65.6% reduction). This near-identical percentage loss indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at all settings, as its pixel and texture processing limits scale directly with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 achieves a rank of 1436 out of 1733 tested combinations in Minimum. This places it in the bottom 17% of all configurations, a stark contrast to the CPU’s individual standing. The Ryzen 9 7900X ranks in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 50556, placing it nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (50598, -0.1% delta) and slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (50738, -0.4% delta). The CPU’s performance is not the issue.

The GPU, however, sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16074. This is closely matched with its nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996, 0.5% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (16351, -1.7% delta). The RTX 2060’s mid-range positioning directly drags the combo’s overall rank down. The data shows that swapping the CPU for a weaker model would have minimal impact on Minimum’s frame rates, as the GPU is the limiting factor in virtually every scenario measured. Conversely, upgrading the GPU would yield substantial gains, as the CPU has demonstrated headroom in synthetic benchmarks like Cinebench R23 multi-core (43695) and PassMark multi-thread (51406).

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (codename Raphael), built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide exceptional single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6168. For a game released in 2014, which typically utilizes fewer cores, this CPU is vastly overprovisioned; the game’s engine is unlikely to stress more than a handful of threads, leaving the remaining cores idle.

The CPU’s role in Minimum is to ensure that frame rates are never limited by processing power. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 153.5 FPS, which is likely near the game’s engine limit or the GPU’s maximum output. The CPU’s 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth) also help maintain stable frame pacing, though these factors are not directly measured in the FPS data. The fact that the combo ranks 1436th overall, despite the CPU’s top-tier benchmarks, confirms that the processor is not the constraint. In this specific title, the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM, 1920 shading units, and 6.451 TFLOPS FP32 performance are the decisive factors, and the CPU simply provides a stable foundation that never becomes a weak link.