Minimum

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X compare to its closest rival in average benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X posts an average benchmark score of 54450. Its nearest listed rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores 54681, a delta of -0.4%, meaning the 9900X is essentially tied with the 3D-stacked variant. The Intel Core i7-14700F trails by 0.7%, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K and 245KF are ahead by 1.5% and 1.8% respectively.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 41687. The closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, scores 41610 (0.2% behind), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 scores 41441 (0.6% behind). The RTX 5070 edges out the RTX 3090 by a narrow margin.

Q: What is the CPU's multithreaded performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555. These results place the CPU in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, reflecting strong multi-threaded throughput for its 12 cores and 24 threads.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. Memory operates at 1750 MHz base with 28 Gbps effective speed. This bandwidth supports the measured frame rates across resolutions, particularly at 4K where memory throughput becomes more critical.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations in this game?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X + RTX 5070 combination ranks 351st out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the top 20% of all tested pairings, indicating a well-balanced setup for this title.

Q: What is the highest measured average FPS for this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 301.2 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest measured average is 50.6 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This spread demonstrates the scaling range of the combo across resolution and quality configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, containing 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die. Its base clock is 2325 MHz with a boost clock of 2512 MHz. The GPU's memory subsystem consists of 12 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit interface, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration directly influences frame rates in Minimum, particularly at higher resolutions where bandwidth demand rises.

The RTX 5070's role in this combo becomes evident when examining the measured FPS data. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 301.2 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 50.6 FPS. This 6x reduction in frame rate across the resolution-quality spectrum indicates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor. The GPU's 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs process pixel and texture data respectively, with a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s. These throughput figures correlate with the observed FPS deltas between quality presets.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 30.87 TFLOPS suggests ample compute headroom for this 2014 title, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards. However, the data shows that even with this compute capability, the Ultra preset at 4K still limits average FPS to 50.6. The RTX 5070's ray tracing cores (48) and tensor cores (192) are present but likely underutilized in Minimum, as the game predates widespread RT adoption.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 High, the combo achieves 194.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High reduces this to 125.7 FPS, a drop of approximately 35%. At 3840x2160 High, the average falls to 64.4 FPS, representing another 49% reduction from 1440p. This halving pattern at each resolution step indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K while FPS does not scale proportionally.

The Low preset shows similar scaling behavior. From 301.2 FPS at 1080p to 190.5 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction), then to 106.9 FPS at 4K (a 44% reduction from 1440p). The Medium preset follows: 230.6 FPS at 1080p, 148.5 FPS at 1440p, and 81.1 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, drops from 147.1 FPS at 1080p to 94.1 FPS at 1440p, then to 50.6 FPS at 4K.

This scaling pattern suggests that the Ryzen 9 9900X provides sufficient CPU headroom even at 1080p, where CPU bottlenecks typically manifest. The 12-core processor with a 5.60 GHz boost clock maintains high frame rates across all presets at 1080p, with the lowest being 147.1 FPS at Ultra. The GPU becomes progressively more dominant as resolution increases, with the 4K Ultra result of 50.6 FPS representing the most GPU-bound configuration in the dataset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 301.2 FPS average, Medium yields 230.6 FPS, High achieves 194.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 147.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is approximately 51%, indicating that quality settings have a substantial impact even at this resolution. All four presets remain above 144 FPS, making the combo suitable for high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show the expected decline. Low settings average 190.5 FPS, Medium reaches 148.5 FPS, High posts 125.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 94.1 FPS. The transition from Low to Ultra at 1440p represents a 51% reduction, mirroring the 1080p scaling. This consistency suggests the GPU's performance scaling is predictable across quality presets at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo's performance becomes more constrained. Low settings still manage 106.9 FPS, which is playable for most users. Medium achieves 81.1 FPS, High drops to 64.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K represents the most demanding configuration tested, and the 50.6 FPS average indicates that users targeting 60 FPS would need to select High or lower settings at this resolution.

The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 154.1 FPS; at 1440p, it is 96.4 FPS; at 4K, it is 56.3 FPS. This narrowing indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's fixed throughput limits all presets more uniformly, whereas at 1080p the CPU can more fully express the quality settings' differences.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 9 9900X + RTX 5070 combination ranks 351st out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 79.7th percentile of all tested pairings. This rank reflects the combo's strong overall performance, particularly given that Minimum is a 2014 title that may not fully utilize the modern hardware's capabilities.

The CPU's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs contributes significantly to this result. With a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 and a Geekbench multicore score of 19827, the Ryzen 9 9900X provides ample processing power. The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687, complements the CPU well. The combination of a top-decile CPU and a solidly above-average GPU yields a balanced pairing that ranks in the top 20% of all tested combos.

The rank of 351 out of 1733 suggests that while many combos outperform this pairing, the vast majority of tested configurations perform worse. The GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 3090, Radeon Pro 5300, and Radeon Pro 580X, all have similar average benchmark scores, indicating that the RTX 5070 sits in a competitive performance tier. The CPU's nearest rivals, particularly the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, show that the 9900X is well-positioned within its own performance class.

This ranking reflects the measured FPS data, which shows the combo delivering playable frame rates across all tested configurations, from 50.6 FPS at 4K Ultra to 301.2 FPS at 1080p Low. The combination's ability to maintain above 60 FPS at 4K with High settings, and above 144 FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings, validates its top-20% ranking among all tested combos in this game.