Ready Or Not

Ready Or Not, a tactical shooter from late 2021, presents an interesting case study in CPU-GPU scaling when paired with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. The benchmark data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet reveals the processor's limitations at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to understand where the bottleneck lies and what settings deliver the optimal experience.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K dramatically reshapes the performance profile. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo produces 260.4 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 Ultra drops this to 164.3 FPS, a 37% reduction. The final step to 3840x2160 Ultra yields 87.2 FPS, which is another 47% decline from the 1440p figure. This steep, compounding drop indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is doing the heavy lifting at higher resolutions, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth being taxed heavily by the pixel count.

However, the scaling pattern at lower settings reveals a different story. At 1080p, the difference between Low (382.9 FPS) and High (356.7 FPS) is a mere 6.8%. This narrow gap suggests the CPU is becoming the limiting factor, as the graphics card has ample headroom to render frames quickly but is waiting on the processor to issue draw calls. The Ryzen 5 3600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, appears to cap the frame rate in these less demanding scenarios.

At 4K, the situation inverts. The spread between Low (151.6 FPS) and High (120.8 FPS) is 20.3%, showing that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being fully utilized, and the 25.5% performance gap between Low and Ultra (87.2 FPS) at this resolution underscores how much graphical fidelity costs in raw throughput. The data indicates that for competitive play at 1080p, the CPU limits the ceiling, while for 4K gaming, the GPU's rendering load defines the experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600, built on the Zen 2 architecture with a 7 nm process, provides a baseline of 3.60 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost clocks. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache is beneficial for gaming workloads, but the processor's age relative to the RTX 4080 SUPER is evident in the 1080p results. In the 3DMark single-thread test, the 3600 scores 696, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2124 indicates moderate single-thread performance by modern standards. This limits how many draw calls the CPU can prepare per second.

The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 382.9 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it only drops to 260.4 FPS. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, the Ultra setting would cause a much larger performance penalty. The relatively small drop (32% from Low to Ultra) suggests the CPU is preventing the GPU from being fully exercised even at high settings. The Ryzen 5 3600's passmark_multithread score of 17700 and its 76th percentile ranking among all CPUs reinforce this position: it is a solid mid-range processor, but not one that can feed a top-tier GPU at extreme frame rates.

In contrast, at 4K, the CPU's role diminishes. The 3600's 3dmark_16_threads score of 4605 is sufficient to keep the RTX 4080 SUPER fed when the GPU is rendering 8.3 million pixels. The 4K Ultra result of 87.2 FPS is more indicative of the GPU's raw power than the CPU's capability. The data shows a clear threshold: below 1440p, the Ryzen 5 3600 is a limiting factor; at 4K, the RTX 4080 SUPER becomes the definitive bottleneck, which is the expected behavior for a high-end graphics card.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve high frame rates?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 356.7 FPS on High and 260.4 FPS on Ultra, making 1080p the only resolution where 240+ FPS is consistently possible. At 2560x1440, Ultra drops to 164.3 FPS, while 3840x2160 Ultra yields 87.2 FPS.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-11400 (18150) and 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (18101). It is effectively tied with these processors in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER's performance close to other high-end GPUs?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score is 53610, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489) and 2.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52086). This places it firmly in the top tier of graphics cards.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 151.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 87.2 FPS. This represents a 42.5% reduction in average FPS when moving from the lowest to the highest preset, indicating a substantial GPU workload increase.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data suggests a CPU bottleneck at 1080p. The gap between Low (382.9 FPS) and High (356.7 FPS) is only 6.8%, which is small compared to the 20.3% gap seen at 4K between the same settings. This implies the Ryzen 5 3600 cannot push frame rates much higher regardless of GPU load.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Ready Or Not?

A: This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 178th out of 1748 tested combos, placing it in the top 10.2% of all systems benchmarked for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 178 out of 1748 tested configurations, the Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 4080 SUPER pairing sits in the 90th percentile of all systems measured in Ready Or Not. This is a strong result, but it is not a top-tier ranking. The position reflects the GPU's excellence: the RTX 4080 SUPER ranks in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, is only 0.2% behind in average score. In contrast, the CPU ranks in the 76th percentile, with its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, being 0.1% faster.

The discrepancy between the GPU's high percentile (88th) and the CPU's lower percentile (76th) explains why the combo does not crack the top 100. The 4K results are excellent, with 120.8 FPS on High, but the 1080p results, while high in absolute terms, are not as exceptional relative to other high-end systems. For example, the 1080p Ultra score of 260.4 FPS is impressive, but a combo with a more powerful CPU, such as a newer Zen 4 or Raptor Lake part, would likely exceed this by a wider margin. The data shows that while this pairing is well above average, the CPU prevents it from reaching the absolute top tier of performance that the GPU alone could achieve.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing high refresh rates on a 1080p or 1440p monitor, the High preset is the optimal balance. At 1080p, High delivers 356.7 FPS, which is only 6.8% lower than Low but provides significantly better visual quality. At 1440p, High produces 237 FPS, which is still well above 144 Hz, while Ultra drops to 164.3 FPS. The High preset at 1440p offers a 44% higher frame rate than Ultra while maintaining a visually rich experience.

For 4K gaming, the choice depends on whether visual fidelity or frame rate is more important. The Ultra preset provides 87.2 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a tactical shooter requiring precise aiming. The High preset at 4K yields 120.8 FPS, a 38.5% improvement over Ultra, and is the recommended setting for a smooth 4K experience. The Low preset at 4K (151.6 FPS) is only 25.5% faster than High, so the jump to High is worthwhile for the graphical gains.

The Medium preset serves as a middle ground at all resolutions. At 1080p, it achieves 365.6 FPS, which is nearly identical to High, suggesting that Medium offers no advantage unless the user wants to reduce GPU load for other tasks. At 1440p, Medium (257.7 FPS) is 8% faster than High, but the visual compromise is likely not worth it for a 20 FPS gain. The data indicates that High is the sweet spot for this combo across all resolutions, offering the best balance of image quality and performance.