Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti combination ranks 682nd out of 1,733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This position reflects a pairing of a high-end 2024 processor with a 2021 graphics card that is now end-of-life. The data suggests the system is well-balanced for this title, though the GPU is the more likely constraint at higher resolutions and settings. The combination sits above the 60th percentile of all tested systems, indicating that while it is not a top-tier enthusiast build, it delivers a consistently playable experience across the board.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 682 out of 1,733 places this system in the 61st percentile overall. This is a solid mid-to-upper tier result, driven primarily by the CPU's strong benchmark standing. The Ryzen 9 9900X has a percentile of 94 against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 94% of processors in the database. This is a significant advantage, as the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU effectively in most scenarios. However, the GPU's percentile of 74 against all GPUs tempers the overall ranking, as the RTX 3070 Ti is not a top-tier card by current standards. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's more moderate percentile suggests that in CPU-light scenes, the graphics card will be the limiting factor, especially at 4K.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 9900X scores 54,450 in the average benchmark, which is 0.4% lower than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54,681) and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700F (54,097). The 9900X also trails the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K by 1.5% and the 245KF by 1.8%. These are negligible differences, indicating the 9900X is competitive with the latest mid-range and high-end desktop chips. For Minimum, this means the CPU will rarely be the bottleneck, and the measured FPS will depend almost entirely on the GPU's capabilities and the selected settings.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070 Ti features 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1575 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). For a game released in 2014, this memory configuration is more than sufficient, as Minimum does not require the massive bandwidth of modern AAA titles. The 8 GB frame buffer is also adequate, as the measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 43, suggesting the card is not exceeding its memory capacity even at the highest settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a strong compute capability, with a PassMark G3D score of 23,356 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 137,518. However, its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (0.3% slower), AMD Radeon RX 6700 (0.8% faster), NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (0.9% faster), and NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (1.2% faster). This places the RTX 3070 Ti in a peculiar position: it is performance-equivalent to a 2019 budget GPU and a 2016 workstation card. This is likely due to the benchmark suite's weighting, but for Minimum, the data shows the GPU is the primary driver of FPS differences between settings, not the CPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Low preset offers the best combination of high frame rates and smoothness across all resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 243.1 FPS, which is nearly double the High preset’s 155 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 154.8 FPS, still far above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. Even at 4K Low, the system maintains 84.9 FPS, which is playable on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset provides a massive performance headroom, making it ideal for competitive play or for users with 144Hz or 240Hz displays.

The High preset is a reasonable middle ground for users prioritizing visual quality over raw speed. It delivers 155 FPS at 1080p, 100.8 FPS at 1440p, and 54.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is below 60 FPS, which may be noticeable on some displays. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p users, as it hits 120.8 FPS there, but drops to 76 FPS at 1440p and 43 FPS at 4K. For a 2014 title, the Medium preset is a solid choice, offering 183 FPS at 1080p and 120.2 FPS at 1440p, with a 63 FPS result at 4K. Overall, Low is the best for maximizing frame rates, while Medium provides a balanced experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a clear performance hierarchy across settings and resolutions. At 1080p, the system ranges from 243.1 FPS on Low to 120.8 FPS on Ultra, with Medium at 183 FPS and High at 155 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra is a significant 34.2 FPS drop, indicating that the Ultra preset includes effects that heavily tax the GPU. At 1440p, the results are 154.8 FPS (Low), 120.2 FPS (Medium), 100.8 FPS (High), and 76 FPS (Ultra). The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 36-38% lower FPS across all settings, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario.

At 4K, the system produces 84.9 FPS on Low, 63 FPS on Medium, 54.4 FPS on High, and 43 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is still playable, but the Ultra setting drops below 45 FPS. The data indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti is the limiting component at 4K, as the CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread scores cannot compensate for the GPU's inability to fill pixels at high settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 41.9 FPS, which is a 49% reduction, showing that the game's visual settings have a substantial impact on this hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing a GPU-bound workload. At 1080p Low, the system hits 243.1 FPS, which drops to 154.8 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and 84.9 FPS at 4K (a 65% reduction from 1080p). For Ultra, the drop is from 120.8 FPS at 1080p to 76 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction) and 43 FPS at 4K (64% reduction). This scaling pattern is typical of a graphics card that is nearing its limits, rather than a CPU bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 9900X has 12 cores and 24 threads with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, which is more than enough to handle the game's logic at any resolution.

The consistent ~36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~65% drop from 1080p to 4K suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. The RTX 3070 Ti's 608.3 GB/s bandwidth and 169.9 GPixel/s pixel rate are high for a 2021 card, but they are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with maxed settings. This is expected for a 2014 title that was designed for older hardware, but the data shows that the GPU is still the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 64 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. In benchmark tests, the CPU scores 46,438 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6,555 in single-core, with a Geekbench single-core score of 3,341. These numbers are exceptionally high, and the CPU's percentile of 94 versus all CPUs confirms its top-tier status.

For Minimum, the CPU's role is to maintain a consistent frame delivery, and the data shows it does so admirably. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 243.1 FPS, which is close to the CPU's potential limit for this game. The fact that FPS scales almost linearly with resolution suggests the CPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, as the GPU is still able to render frames faster than the CPU can issue draw calls. However, at 4K Ultra, the CPU's high single-thread performance ensures that it does not further degrade the 43 FPS result. The 9900X's 24 threads are largely unused in this title, but its strong single-core performance is what matters, and it delivers a smooth experience without frame drops.