Minimum

# Minimum — AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

This combo pairs AMD's 12-core Zen 5 flagship with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace-based RTX 4080, producing a system that ranks 246th out of 3,712 tested combinations in Minimum. The measured frame rates span from 61 FPS at 4K Ultra to 356 FPS at 1080p Low, showing a wide performance envelope that shifts between CPU and GPU limitation depending on resolution and settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D brings 12 cores and 24 threads from the Zen 5 architecture, built on TSMC's 4 nm process. Base clock sits at 4.40 GHz with a boost up to 5.50 GHz, and the chip carries 128 MB of L3 cache alongside 80 KB L1 and 1 MB L2 per core. This is a Granite Ridge part on AMD Socket AM5, supporting DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth.

For a third-person shooter like Minimum, the CPU's single-thread strength matters most at high frame rates. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and Cinebench R23 single-core result of 6,739 indicate excellent per-core performance, which directly supports the 356 FPS achieved at 1080p Low. At that setting, the GPU is barely stressed, and the CPU's ability to feed frames becomes the bottleneck — the data shows the 9900X3D is up to the task.

Multi-threaded performance is equally robust, with Cinebench R23 multicore at 47,737 and Geekbench multicore at 22,884. These scores matter less in Minimum's actual gameplay, but they confirm the CPU won't struggle with background tasks or streaming overhead while gaming. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12,490 and max-thread score of 13,795 show scaling that holds up well beyond 8 threads, though the 8-thread score of 9,002 suggests diminishing returns for this title's workload.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 91 among all tested processors places it firmly in the top tier. Compared to its nearest rivals, the 9900X3D's average benchmark score of 54,762 sits just 0.6% below the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093), while edging out the Core Ultra 5 245K by 1.3% (54,053), the Xeon 6505P by 2% (53,701), and the Core i7-14700F by 2.1% (53,620). These margins are small, meaning the 9900X3D trades blows with mid-range Intel parts in synthetic tests, but its real advantage shows in gaming scenarios where the large L3 cache helps.

At 1080p Medium, the combo hits 273 FPS average, and at 1080p High it maintains 229 FPS — both figures far above what most displays can show. The CPU's role here is to keep frame pacing consistent; the measured min FPS of 232 at 1080p Medium (against a 273 average) shows only a 15% drop, indicating stable delivery. The 9900X3D's 4 nm process and 120 W TDP also mean it runs cool enough for sustained boosts, though the data doesn't include thermal throttling metrics.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 uses the AD103 chip on TSMC's 5 nm process, with 45,900 million transistors across a 379 mm² die. It offers 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2,205 MHz with a boost of 2,505 MHz, and memory runs at 1,400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). Compute resources include 9,728 shading units, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 76 RT cores, and 304 tensor cores.

In Minimum, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient even at 4K Ultra, where the combo manages 61 FPS. The game is not VRAM-hungry enough to stress this capacity, so the limiting factor at high resolutions becomes raw rasterization throughput. The RTX 4080's FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s provide ample headroom for the game's visuals.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 86 among all tested graphics cards puts it slightly below the CPU's 91, suggesting the RTX 4080 is relatively less dominant in the current landscape. Its average benchmark score of 54,247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER (54,209, 0.1% delta), while trailing the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1% (54,828), the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% (55,698), and the Radeon 8060S by 2.7% (55,757). These rival deltas are small, but they indicate the RTX 4080 is not the absolute fastest GPU available — it's merely very fast.

The performance scaling across settings at 4K tells a clear story. At 4K Low, the combo hits 124 FPS; at Medium, 95 FPS; at High, 79 FPS; and at Ultra, 61 FPS. The step from Low to Ultra represents a 51% drop in frame rate, which is a typical cost for maximum quality settings. The GPU's 320 W TDP and triple-slot cooler design are appropriate for this workload, and the 700 W suggested PSU provides adequate headroom.

At 1440p, the GPU still carries most of the load. Low settings produce 230 FPS, Medium 176 FPS, High 148 FPS, and Ultra 112 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 51% again, mirroring the 4K pattern. Interestingly, the 1440p Medium min FPS of 149 against a 176 average shows a 15% variance, similar to the 1080p Medium figure — the GPU's frame pacing stays consistent across resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: Is the RTX 4080 sufficient for 4K gaming in Minimum?*

A: Yes. The measured 4K Ultra average of 61 FPS is playable, and dropping to High raises it to 79 FPS. At 4K Medium, the combo delivers 95 FPS with a min of 80 FPS, providing a smooth experience for most displays.

Q: How does the 9900X3D compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 9900X3D's average benchmark score of 54,762 is 0.6% below the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093) and 1.3% above the Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053). It leads the Xeon 6505P by 2% and the Core i7-14700F by 2.1%. These are small margins, so real-world gaming differences are minimal.

Q: What frame rate can this combo achieve at 1080p with competitive settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the average is 356 FPS. Medium drops to 273 FPS, and High still holds 229 FPS. Even at Ultra, 174 FPS is achievable, meaning this combo never struggles at 1080p regardless of settings.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p Low, the 356 FPS result suggests the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU could likely render more if fed faster. At 1440p and above, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, evidenced by the consistent frame rate drops when increasing resolution.

*Q: How much VRAM does Minimum actually need?*

A: The RTX 4080 has 16 GB of GDDR6X, and the measured results show no performance anomalies that would indicate VRAM exhaustion. Even at 4K Ultra, the 61 FPS average is consistent with compute limits rather than memory capacity issues.

Q: Is this combo's ranking of 246 out of 3,712 considered good?

A: Yes. Being in the top 6.6% of all tested combinations indicates this pairing is well above average. The rank reflects both components' strengths, with the CPU's high percentile (91) and the GPU's solid percentile (86) contributing to a balanced system.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 246 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum. This places it in the top 6.6% of all configurations, which is strong but not elite. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking is higher than the GPU's 86th, suggesting the processor is relatively more impressive than the graphics card in this pairing.

The gap between the two components' percentile positions is worth noting. A CPU that ranks in the 91st percentile paired with a GPU in the 86th means the system is slightly CPU-heavy in terms of relative strength. In Minimum, this manifests at low resolutions where the CPU can push very high frame rates, but at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

Compared to the nearest rival GPUs, the RTX 4080's position is precarious. It sits just 0.1% above the RTX 4080 SUPER in average score (54,247 vs 54,209), meaning the two are effectively interchangeable. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, and Radeon 8060S all score slightly higher, though the deltas of 1.1% to 2.7% are within normal variance for benchmark runs.

The combo rank of 246 suggests that many other pairings — likely those with faster GPUs like the RTX 4090 or newer 50-series cards — push this system down the list. However, for a 12-core CPU and 16 GB GPU, the performance is respectable. The data shows this combo handles Minimum with ease at all tested settings, and the rank reflects a balanced system rather than an extreme one.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the bottleneck shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 356 FPS — a figure that is almost certainly CPU-limited, as the GPU has ample headroom to render far more frames if the CPU could supply them. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 230 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 124 FPS, another 46% drop from 1440p.

These reductions follow the expected pattern of GPU workload scaling with pixel count. The transition from 1080p to 1440p (2.25x pixels) should theoretically halve frame rates if GPU-bound, but the observed 35% drop suggests the CPU still contributes at 1440p Low. From 1440p to 4K (2.25x pixels again), the 46% drop indicates the GPU is now the primary constraint.

At High settings, the scaling is more uniform. 1080p High delivers 229 FPS, 1440p High drops to 148 FPS (35% reduction), and 4K High falls to 79 FPS (47% reduction from 1440p). The consistency of these percentages across Low and High settings suggests that Minimum's graphics options don't drastically alter the resolution scaling behavior — the GPU load scales predictably with pixel count.

The Ultra settings tell a similar story but with lower absolute numbers. 1080p Ultra hits 174 FPS, 1440p Ultra drops to 112 FPS (36% reduction), and 4K Ultra falls to 61 FPS (46% reduction). The 4K Ultra result of 61 FPS is the only measured average below 60 FPS in the entire dataset, indicating that this combo's floor is just above playable at maximum settings and maximum resolution.

The limiting component analysis is clear: at 1080p, the CPU caps performance; at 1440p, both components contribute; at 4K, the GPU is fully saturated. The 1080p to 4K drop for Low settings is from 356 to 124 FPS (65% reduction), while for Ultra it's from 174 to 61 FPS (65% reduction). This identical percentage across settings reinforces that resolution, not quality level, drives the bottleneck shift.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 356 FPS average — the highest result in the entire dataset, showing the CPU's ability to feed frames when the GPU is unconstrained.
• Medium: 273 FPS average, with a min of 232 FPS and max of 313 FPS. The 41 FPS spread between min and max indicates slight variance, but the min is still far above display refresh rates.
• High: 229 FPS average — a 36% drop from Low, reflecting the increased GPU workload from better textures and effects.
• Ultra: 174 FPS average — the lowest 1080p result, but still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that most high-end monitors offer.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 230 FPS average — a 35% reduction from 1080p Low, consistent with the 2.25x pixel count increase.
• Medium: 176 FPS average, with a min of 149 FPS and max of 202 FPS. The min-to-max spread of 53 FPS is larger than at 1080p, indicating more frame time variance at this resolution.
• High: 148 FPS average — still comfortably above 144 Hz, making this a viable setting for high-refresh 1440p monitors.
• Ultra: 112 FPS average — the first result that approaches the 60-120 FPS range typical for demanding titles at this resolution.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 124 FPS average — surprisingly high for 4K, showing that Minimum is not particularly demanding at lower settings.
• Medium: 95 FPS average, with a min of 80 FPS and max of 109 FPS. The 29 FPS spread is the tightest of all Medium settings, suggesting stable performance at this resolution.
• High: 79 FPS average — a solid result for 4K High, suitable for 60 Hz displays with headroom.
• Ultra: 61 FPS average — the minimum playable threshold, appropriate for 60 Hz monitors but not ideal for high-refresh 4K panels.

Across all resolutions and settings, the data shows this combo never dips below 61 FPS average, and at lower resolutions it delivers frame rates that far exceed typical display capabilities. The RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM proves sufficient, and the 9900X3D's 12 cores provide no bottleneck except at the very lowest settings where the GPU is underutilized. This is a well-balanced pairing for Minimum, with the only caveat being that 4K Ultra users should expect near-60 FPS performance rather than high-refresh capabilities.