Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination delivers a robust experience in Minimum, a third-person shooter from 2014. The data shows a system capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions, with performance scaling predictably as resolution increases. The measured frames per second across four settings presets and three resolutions reveal a configuration where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts, while the 12-core CPU provides ample headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 illustrates a classic GPU-bound curve. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 251.8 FPS, a figure that drops to 159.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 84.2 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66.5% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel count.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story, though absolute numbers are lower. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 122 FPS, which falls to 78.6 FPS at 1440p and bottoms out at 40.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is notably below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that this combination struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at maximum settings in 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is 81.5 FPS, a larger absolute drop than at Low, which points to the increased demand on the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth as settings scale.

At Medium settings, the pattern continues: 190.2 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result hits exactly 64 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh displays. The High preset shows 162.9 FPS at 1080p, 105.6 FPS at 1440p, and 55.5 FPS at 4K. Notably, the 1080p High result is 40.8 FPS lower than 1080p Low, demonstrating that even moderate settings increases impose a significant load on the RX 7800 XT.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The 9900X, with its 24 threads and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, easily feeds the GPU, as evidenced by the 251.8 FPS Low result. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent drop of roughly 36-37% across all settings, which is typical for a GPU-limited scenario. The further drop from 1440p to 4K is even steeper, with the Low preset falling from 159.4 to 84.2 FPS (47.2% reduction), confirming that the RX 7800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and frame rate depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 122 FPS is the clear choice. This frame rate exceeds the refresh rate of most standard monitors and provides the full visual experience without sacrificing smoothness. The 9900X's single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6555, ensures that the CPU does not introduce stutter at these high frame rates.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 105.6 FPS, which is a strong result for a 144Hz panel. However, the Ultra preset at 78.6 FPS is still playable and offers the best image quality for slower-paced exploration. The data suggests that Medium at 122 FPS is the sweet spot for competitive play, as it maintains a high refresh rate while improving over Low settings. The jump from Low to Medium at 1440p costs 37.4 FPS (from 159.4 to 122), which is a substantial penalty, but the visual upgrade is often worth it in a third-person shooter where environmental detail matters.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset at 64 FPS is the only setting that reliably stays above 60 FPS. High drops to 55.5 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra falls to 40.5 FPS, which is not recommended for action sequences. Low at 84.2 FPS is the best option for high refresh 4K monitors, but it sacrifices significant visual quality. The recommendation is to use Medium at 4K for a balanced experience, as it offers a 23.5 FPS improvement over High while retaining most of the game's visual effects. The data indicates that the RX 7800 XT, with its 60 ray accelerators and 96 ROPs, is not sufficient for maxed-out 4K in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo to achieve over 100 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 100 FPS, with Low at 251.8 FPS, Medium at 190.2 FPS, High at 162.9 FPS, and Ultra at 122 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (159.4 FPS) and Medium (122 FPS) break the 100 FPS barrier.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: The 4K Ultra average of 40.5 FPS is 81.5 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 122 FPS. This represents a 66.8% reduction, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: The 251.8 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor, as the Ryzen 9 9900X's multithreaded performance (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438) is more than sufficient for this workload. The CPU does not appear to cap performance at this resolution.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average for 1440p High is 105.6 FPS. This is a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and suitable for high refresh rate monitors, though it is 57.3 FPS lower than the 1080p High result.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 7800 XT help at 4K?

A: The 16 GB memory capacity is likely sufficient for this 2014 title, but the 4K Ultra result of 40.5 FPS indicates that raw compute throughput, not VRAM capacity, is the limiting factor. The memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s is taxed, but the core clocks are the primary bottleneck.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination ranks 670th out of 1733 tested combos, placing it in the 61st percentile of all systems tested.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 670 out of 1733 places this configuration in the upper-middle tier of tested systems. This ranking reflects a balanced pairing where the CPU's high multithreaded capabilities (PassMark multithread score of 54643) and the GPU's solid 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 4157 combine to produce competitive frame rates. The rank suggests that while this setup is not at the top of the leaderboard, it outperforms the majority of tested combos, particularly in CPU-intensive scenarios.

The CPU's nearest rivals show a tight cluster of performance. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is 0.4% faster in average benchmark score, while the Intel Core i7-14700F is 0.7% slower. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K and 245KF are 1.5% and 1.8% faster, respectively. This indicates that the 9900X is well-positioned within its performance class, and the in-game ranking reflects that the GPU pairing is the more significant factor in this game's results.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are less relevant to gaming. The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 is 0.2% faster, and the AMD FirePro S10000 is 0.7% faster, but these are workstation parts. The NVIDIA P104-100 is 0.4% slower, and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile is 0.7% slower. The RX 7800 XT's 76th percentile ranking among all GPUs is a strong indicator of its capability, and the in-game rank of 670 suggests that other combos with higher-end GPUs are the ones occupying the top spots.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the decisive component in this game's performance at 4K, while the CPU takes a backseat at lower resolutions. The GPU's base clock of 1295 MHz and boost clock of 2430 MHz provide the raw speed needed for high frame rates, but the 4K results show that even this clock speed is insufficient for Ultra settings. The game clock of 2124 MHz represents the typical sustained frequency, which is close to the boost maximum, indicating that the card is running at its thermal limits.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This is a substantial amount of bandwidth, but the 4K Ultra average of 40.5 FPS suggests that the GPU's compute units, not the memory subsystem, are the primary constraint. The 3840 shading units and 240 texture mapping units are being pushed hard at 4K, as evidenced by the 23.5 FPS difference between Medium and High at that resolution.

The GPU's pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s are high figures, but they are insufficient to maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra. The FP32 performance of 37.32 TFLOPS is respectable, yet the game's geometry and shading requirements at 4K overwhelm the card. In contrast, at 1080p, the GPU's capabilities are more than adequate, with the 251.8 FPS Low result showing that the card can handle extreme frame rates when the resolution is low. The GPU's 76th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms that it is a mid-to-high tier part, but the 4K data shows its limitations in this specific title.