Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti secures the 705th position out of 2,939 tested combos in Minimum. This places the combination in the top 24% of all configurations evaluated for this title, a strong showing that reflects the high-end nature of both components. The rank is particularly notable because it represents a pairing of a 2025-released processor with a 2021-released graphics card, and the data shows the combination still performs competitively within the broader test pool.

The combo’s percentile standing for the CPU is 91, meaning the Ryzen 9 9900X3D outperforms 91% of all processors in the database. The GPU sits at the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards. These two percentiles suggest the processor has slightly more headroom relative to its peers than the graphics card does, which becomes relevant when interpreting the measured frame rates across different resolutions and settings. The combination’s overall rank of 705 out of 2,939 indicates that while this is a high-performing setup, there are still 704 configurations that achieve better results in Minimum, likely featuring newer or more specialized hardware.

When examining the CPU’s nearest rivals, the data reveals a tight cluster at the top. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF posts an average benchmark score of 55,093, which is 0.6% higher than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s average of 54,762. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K trails by 1.3%, while the Intel Xeon 6505P and Intel Core i7-14700F are 2% and 2.1% behind, respectively. This narrow margin—less than 3% separating the top five processors—indicates that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is competitive with the best alternatives, though not the absolute leader in raw benchmark scores.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a different pattern. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB scores 41,707 on average, which is 1.2% higher than the RTX 3080 Ti’s 41,187. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 is 1.7% ahead, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 0.8% behind, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 trails by 2%. These deltas are small, but the RTX 3080 Ti’s position in the middle of this group suggests it remains a viable option for Minimum, even against more recent releases like the RTX 5070.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti brings 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. This is a substantial amount of bandwidth that directly benefits Minimum’s rendering demands, particularly at higher resolutions where texture streaming and memory access patterns become more intensive. The GPU’s base clock runs at 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and the memory operates at 1188 MHz, translating to 19 Gbps effective. These clock speeds, combined with 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units, produce a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s.

The Ampere architecture’s 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is fully utilized in Minimum, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. At 4K with High settings, the GPU delivers 62 FPS on average, which climbs to 96 FPS at Low settings. The jump from High to Low at 4K—a 34 FPS increase—demonstrates that the GPU has significant headroom when graphical load is reduced. At 1080p Low, the RTX 3080 Ti reaches 277 FPS, indicating that the card is capable of very high refresh rate gaming when the resolution is lowered.

The GPU’s 80 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores are present but their impact on Minimum is not directly measured in the provided data. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, ensuring compatibility with modern rendering paths. With a TDP of 350 W and a suggested PSU of 750 W, this is a power-hungry component, but the benchmark results justify the power draw for users seeking high frame rates in Minimum.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among all tested configurations in Minimum?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 705th out of 2,939 tested combos, placing it in the top 24% of all configurations.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF has an average benchmark score of 55,093, which is 0.6% higher than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s 54,762. This makes the two processors nearly identical in performance.

Q: What is the RTX 3080 Ti’s position relative to the GeForce RTX 5070?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti scores 41,187 on average, which is 2% higher than the RTX 5070’s 40,377. The older card outperforms the newer one in this benchmark.

Q: What frame rate does the combo achieve at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo averages 115 FPS, which is a smooth experience for most displays.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 277 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not heavily taxed. The CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads, along with its 91st percentile ranking, indicate it can keep up with the GPU’s output at this resolution.

Q: Does the combo support real-time ray tracing in Minimum?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti includes 80 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, so ray tracing is supported. However, the measured FPS data does not specify whether ray tracing was enabled during testing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions—3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080—each with four settings presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. Medium presets include minimum and maximum FPS values, while other presets only report averages.

At 4K (3840x2160), the combo starts at 96 FPS on Low settings. Medium settings reduce the average to 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 85. High settings drop further to 62 FPS, and Ultra settings bring the average down to 47 FPS. This progression shows a 49 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K, with each settings tier costing roughly 15-24 FPS. The Medium preset’s 63 FPS minimum is notable because it stays above the 60 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra averages fall below it.

At 1440p (2560x1440), the performance improves substantially. Low settings produce 179 FPS on average. Medium settings average 137 FPS, with a minimum of 116 and a maximum of 157. High settings deliver 115 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 87 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 92 FPS, showing that the GPU has more headroom at this resolution. The Medium preset’s minimum of 116 FPS ensures a consistently smooth experience even during demanding scenes.

At 1080p (1920x1080), the combo excels. Low settings achieve 277 FPS on average. Medium settings average 212 FPS, with a minimum of 180 and a maximum of 244. High settings reach 178 FPS, and Ultra settings still average 136 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 141 FPS, which is the largest spread across all resolutions. The Medium preset’s minimum of 180 FPS means the combo never drops below high refresh rate territory at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The data shows that the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality across all resolutions. At 4K, Medium averages 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS, which keeps gameplay above the 60 FPS threshold. The minimum FPS value is crucial here because it represents the worst-case scenario, and 63 FPS ensures no significant stuttering. High settings at 4K average 62 FPS but lack a reported minimum, suggesting potential dips below 60 FPS that could be noticeable.

At 1440p, Medium delivers 137 FPS on average with a minimum of 116 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS target and provides a comfortable margin for high refresh rate displays up to 144 Hz. High settings at 1440p average 115 FPS, which is still smooth, but the Medium preset’s higher minimum makes it the safer choice for competitive play. Ultra settings at 1440p average 87 FPS, which is playable but less consistent.

At 1080p, Medium settings produce 212 FPS on average with a minimum of 180 FPS. This is ideal for 240 Hz monitors, as the minimum FPS stays above the 180 Hz refresh rate threshold. High settings average 178 FPS, which is close to but slightly below the 180 FPS minimum of Medium. Ultra settings at 1080p average 136 FPS, which is still high but represents a significant drop from Medium. For players with high refresh rate displays, Medium is the recommended preset at all resolutions. For those prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, High at 1440p or 1080p offers a good middle ground, while Ultra should be reserved for 1080p where the 136 FPS average remains playable.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture using a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache. This large L3 cache is critical for gaming performance, as it reduces memory latency and improves data access patterns in scenarios where the same data is accessed repeatedly.

The CPU’s benchmark results underscore its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 47,737 in multi-core and 6,739 in single-core tests. Geekbench shows 22,884 multi-core and 3,041 single-core scores. PassMark multi-thread tests yield 56,154, while single-thread tests produce 4,646. The 3DMark 16-thread test scores 12,490, and the max-thread test reaches 13,795. These scores place the CPU at the 91st percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54,762.

In Minimum, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 277 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate. This suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough data to reach very high frame rates. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as indicated by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6,739, is particularly relevant for games like Minimum that may rely on a few heavily loaded threads. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures that these threads run at maximum speed when needed.

The CPU’s memory support includes DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. This memory bandwidth, combined with the 128 MB L3 cache, helps maintain smooth frame times even in complex scenes. The CPU also supports ECC memory and uses PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes, providing ample bandwidth for the GPU and other peripherals.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the combo scales from 1080p to 4K, and this scaling pattern indicates which component becomes the limiting factor at each resolution. Starting at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 277 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 179 FPS, a reduction of 98 FPS or 35.4%. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls to 96 FPS, another drop of 83 FPS or 46.4% from the 1440p figure. This scaling shows that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck as resolution increases, because the CPU’s workload does not change significantly with resolution while the GPU’s pixel processing load grows exponentially.

The Medium settings tell a similar story. At 1080p, the average is 212 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 137 FPS, a 35.4% reduction. At 4K, it falls to 74 FPS, a 46% reduction from 1440p. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings indicates that the GPU’s performance is scaling predictably with resolution. The CPU’s role is constant, so the frame rate differences are almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s rendering capabilities.

High settings show the same pattern: 178 FPS at 1080p, 115 FPS at 1440p (35.4% drop), and 62 FPS at 4K (46.1% drop). Ultra settings follow suit with 136 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p (36% drop), and 47 FPS at 4K (46% drop). The consistent percentage drops across all settings presets—roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K—strongly indicate that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU’s influence becomes more apparent. The 277 FPS at Low settings suggests the CPU can handle high frame rates, but the drop to 136 FPS at Ultra settings (a 50.9% reduction) is larger than the resolution-based scaling would predict. This suggests that at 1080p, both the CPU and GPU are near their limits, with the CPU potentially constraining maximum frame rates in less demanding scenes. The 12-core, 24-thread configuration provides enough parallelism for the game’s workload, but the single-thread performance of 6,739 in Cinebench R23 may be a limiting factor at extremely high frame rates. Overall, the data indicates that this combo is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where the CPU and GPU contributions are more evenly matched, while 4K gaming is clearly GPU-bound.