Minimum

# Minimum: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a broad range of performance across Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter released in 2014. Benchmark data shows this combination achieves playable frame rates at every tested resolution, from 40 FPS at 4K High up to 180 FPS at 1080p Low. The measured results indicate a system that scales predictably with both resolution and quality settings, with the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and the CPU's 16-core configuration each playing distinct roles depending on the workload.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows reveal a clear hierarchy across settings presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 180 FPS average, Medium provides 138 FPS, High drops to 116 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 88 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 92 FPS swing, which is substantial but leaves even the most demanding preset comfortably above 60 FPS. For competitive play at 1080p, the Low preset's 180 FPS average offers the highest headroom, while High at 116 FPS remains well within high-refresh territory.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low produces 116 FPS average, Medium delivers 89 FPS, High manages 75 FPS, and Ultra falls to 57 FPS. The Ultra preset here dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it less ideal for smooth gameplay. Medium at 89 FPS strikes a strong balance between visual quality and performance, while High at 75 FPS still provides a solid experience. For users prioritizing frame rate consistency, Low at 116 FPS is the recommended preset at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Low yields 62 FPS average, Medium drops to 48 FPS, High manages 40 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31 FPS. Only the Low preset maintains an average above 60 FPS at 4K. Medium, at 48 FPS, is playable but requires accepting a lower frame rate. Given the data, the best experience at 4K is achieved with the Low preset, which preserves smooth motion while allowing the resolution to provide visual clarity. The Medium preset at 4K, with its min FPS of 41 and max of 55, offers a playable but less consistent option.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the most balanced experience when considering both visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1080p, Medium's 138 FPS average with a 117-158 FPS range demonstrates minimal frame time variance. At 1440p, Medium's 89 FPS with a 75-102 FPS range remains fluid. At 4K, Medium's 48 FPS is the middle ground, though Low is preferable for strict 60 FPS adherence.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor from the 8000 series, built on Zen 4 architecture with a 5 nm process. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 5.40 GHz, and it carries 64 MB of L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 42713, while single-core hits 6030. PassMark multi-thread scores 51405, and single-thread scores 3907.

In Minimum, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining frame rates at low settings where GPU load is reduced. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 180 FPS average, suggesting the CPU can feed frames well beyond typical display refresh rates. The 16 cores and 32 threads provide ample headroom for game logic and physics, though Minimum's 2014 release likely does not utilize all cores efficiently. The single-core performance, evidenced by the 6030 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is more relevant for this title's frame pacing.

The CPU's percentile ranking at 95 among all CPUs places it in the top tier. Its average benchmark score of 76212 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX at 76155, a delta of only 0.1%. This near parity suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the Ryzen 9 8945HX performs equivalently to its closest rival. The CPU's 55 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery for a mobile part, though the measured FPS data does not isolate thermal effects.

The 64 MB L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide substantial data throughput for game assets. In Minimum, where scenes may involve multiple enemies and projectile calculations, the CPU's thread count ensures consistent frame delivery. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 180 FPS, which is likely near the engine's limit or the CPU's single-thread ceiling. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s bandwidth. Its boost clock reaches 2460 MHz, and the chip contains 3072 shading units with 96 TMUs and 48 ROPs. The GPU's PassMark G3D score is 19545, with a percentile ranking of 61 among all GPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, scores 17666, a delta of -0.2%, indicating the RTX 4060 slightly outperforms it.

The GPU's VRAM capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 31, which is the lowest measured result. This suggests that the 8 GB frame buffer is stressed at 4K with maximum quality, causing the GPU to struggle with texture memory allocation. At 4K Low, the average rises to 62 FPS, showing that reducing texture quality and effects alleviates VRAM pressure significantly.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is relatively modest for 4K gaming. The measured data shows a 31 FPS difference between 4K Low (62 FPS) and 4K Ultra (31 FPS), a 50% reduction in frame rate purely from settings changes. This indicates that the GPU's compute throughput, not just VRAM, is challenged by Ultra settings at 4K. The RTX 4060's FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS provides adequate shading power for a 2014 title, but the resolution demands are high.

At 1080p, the GPU shows strong performance with 180 FPS at Low and 88 FPS at Ultra. The 92 FPS gap between these presets demonstrates that even at 1080p, Ultra settings impose a significant load. The GPU's 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present but likely unused in Minimum, which predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p Low, the CPU may become the limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Minimum with this hardware?

A: Based on measured data, 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates, with 180 FPS at Low and 116 FPS at High. At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 116 FPS, while 4K only reaches 62 FPS at Low. For a balance of visual clarity and performance, 1440p Medium at 89 FPS is a strong choice.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest GPU rival in Minimum?

A: The RTX 4060's average benchmark score is 17639, while the AMD Radeon HD 7790 scores 17666, a delta of -0.2%. This means the RTX 4060 performs nearly identically to the HD 7790 in synthetic benchmarks, though the measured FPS in Minimum depends on the specific settings and resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 8945HX sufficient for high frame rates in Minimum?

A: Yes, the CPU's single-core score of 6030 in Cinebench R23 and its 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate ample processing power. The system achieves 180 FPS at 1080p Low, suggesting the CPU can handle even the highest frame rates the GPU can produce.

Q: Why does 4K Ultra only reach 31 FPS average?

A: The 8 GB VRAM and the GPU's memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s are strained at 4K with Ultra settings. The measured data shows a significant drop from 4K Low's 62 FPS to 4K Ultra's 31 FPS, indicating that both VRAM capacity and GPU compute are limiting factors at this resolution and settings combination.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combination ranks 1752 out of 2939 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier. This ranking reflects the balance between the high-performing CPU and the mid-range GPU, which together deliver solid but not top-tier performance in Minimum.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 89 FPS average at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 102 FPS. This provides a smooth experience with minimal frame time variance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the system achieves 180 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. This represents a 65.6% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 65.5% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The consistent percentage drops indicate that the GPU is becoming increasingly load-bound as resolution increases, with the CPU's role diminishing.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 138 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 35.5%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 46.1%. The larger drop at higher resolutions suggests that memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity become more critical at 4K. At High settings, the progression is 116 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K, with percentage drops of 35.3% and 46.7% respectively.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling: 88 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop is 45.6%, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K push the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range. The data consistently shows that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p Low to the GPU at 4K Ultra. At 1080p Low, the 180 FPS result suggests the CPU or engine cap is the constraint, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 31 FPS result clearly indicates GPU-bound performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low averages 180 FPS, Medium averages 138 FPS with a range of 117 to 158 FPS, High averages 116 FPS, and Ultra averages 88 FPS. The Medium preset's min-max range shows a 41 FPS spread, indicating moderate frame time variability. The gap between Low and Ultra is 92 FPS, demonstrating that settings have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease but remain playable. Low averages 116 FPS, Medium averages 89 FPS with a range of 75 to 102 FPS, High averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 57 FPS. The Medium preset's range of 27 FPS shows tighter consistency than at 1080p. The Ultra preset's 57 FPS average falls just below the 60 FPS threshold, making it marginal for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more constrained. Low averages 62 FPS, Medium averages 48 FPS with a range of 41 to 55 FPS, High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra averages 31 FPS. The Medium preset's range of 14 FPS is the narrowest across all resolutions and settings, indicating that at 4K, the GPU is consistently load-bound. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 31 FPS, a 50% reduction, showing that settings have a proportionally larger impact at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination ranks 1752 out of 2939 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the 40.4th percentile of all tested configurations. The rank reflects the hardware's overall capability: the CPU is a top-tier mobile processor, ranking in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile among all GPUs. The combination's rank is pulled down by the GPU's mid-range positioning, despite the CPU's high performance.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, has an average score of 76155 compared to the Ryzen 9 8945HX's 76212, a delta of 0.1%. This near-identical performance means that systems with either CPU would likely achieve similar frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, scores 17666 versus the RTX 4060's 17639, a delta of -0.2%, indicating the RTX 4060 slightly trails its closest competitor.

The combo's rank of 1752 suggests that while this system excels in CPU-heavy tasks, its gaming performance in Minimum is limited by the GPU. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 180 FPS, which is respectable, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 31 FPS. The rank among 2939 combos indicates that there are 1187 combinations that perform better, likely featuring higher-tier GPUs. However, the 1752nd rank also means this combo outperforms the majority of tested systems, making it a viable option for Minimum at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings.