Minimum

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER in Minimum shows a clear progression of performance across the three tested resolutions. All measurements are average frame rates, with no minimum or maximum values recorded in the database.

At 1920x1080, the system is comfortably ahead of the 60 FPS playability threshold at every preset. The lowest average is 83.3 FPS at Ultra settings, which still leaves a 23.3 FPS margin above the playable line. Dropping to High yields 106.9 FPS, a 28.3% improvement over Ultra. Medium produces 133.2 FPS, and Low reaches 168.9 FPS. The jump from Low to Ultra represents a 50.7% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding on the graphics pipeline.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve steepens. Low settings deliver 111.3 FPS, which is 34.1% lower than the same preset at 1080p. Medium averages 84.9 FPS, High drops to 67.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 51.8 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is 15.9 FPS, the largest single-preset drop in the entire dataset. High remains above the 60 FPS threshold, but Ultra does not.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 SUPER begins to struggle. Low settings produce 56.7 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS playable threshold. Medium drops to 45.7 FPS, High to 37.3 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 47.8% performance loss, and no preset reaches the playable threshold. The delta between 1080p Low (168.9 FPS) and 4K Low (56.7 FPS) is 66.4%, showing that resolution scaling has a profound impact on this hardware combination.

The data shows that the CPU-GPU pair is well matched for 1080p gaming, reasonably capable at 1440p with settings compromises, and inadequate for 4K at any tested preset.

FAQ

*Q: Can the Intel Core i5-9400 and RTX 2060 SUPER run Minimum at 1080p?*

A: Yes, at every preset. The lowest average frame rate recorded at 1920x1080 is 83.3 FPS on Ultra settings, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by 23.3 FPS. Low, Medium, and High all exceed 100 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable settings preset at 1440p?

A: High settings at 2560x1440 produce an average of 67.7 FPS, which is the most demanding preset that stays above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra falls to 51.8 FPS and is not playable by the database's definition.

Q: Is 4K playable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 56.7 FPS, which is 3.3 FPS below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra are progressively lower at 45.7, 37.3, and 29.6 FPS respectively. The verdictByResolution data lists no playable settings for 4K.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 168.9 FPS to 111.3 FPS, a 34.1% reduction. For High settings, the drop is from 106.9 FPS to 67.7 FPS, a 36.7% reduction. The relative penalty is similar across presets.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Ultra and Low at 1080p?

A: Ultra averages 83.3 FPS while Low averages 168.9 FPS. The difference is 85.6 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers only 49.3% of Low's frame rate. This suggests the Ultra preset includes significant rendering features that stress the GPU.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 18093, with a percentile rank of 62 among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3060 Mobile, scores 18159, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is 0.5% higher at 18189, while the AMD Radeon RX 460 and Intel Arc A770M are 1.5% and 1.6% higher respectively.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The database places this CPU-GPU combination at rank 2696 out of 3712 tested combinations in Minimum, which puts it in the 27th percentile of all possible pairings. For users looking at comparable hardware, the nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide useful reference points.

For the Intel Core i5-9400, the closest benchmark neighbor is the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, with an average score of 2259 versus 2254 for the i5-9400, a negligible 0.2% difference. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264 (0.4% higher). All four rivals sit within a 0.8% band, meaning any of these processors would produce nearly identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. However, the i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, while the i7-1068NG7 and i7-10710U are mobile parts that may throttle differently in sustained loads.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, the benchmark landscape is similarly tight. The RTX 3060 Mobile averages 18159, just 0.4% above the 2060 SUPER's 18093. The AMD Radeon Pro 5700 is 0.5% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 460 is 1.5% higher, and the Intel Arc A770M is 1.6% higher. Interestingly, the RX 460, which is generally considered a lower-tier card, posts a higher average score in this database, though the margin is small enough to be within run-to-run variance. The RTX 2060 SUPER sits at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, indicating it outperforms the majority of graphics cards in the database.

In practical terms, a system with any of the CPU rivals paired with any of the GPU rivals would deliver frame rates within a few percent of the measured results. The differences are small enough that settings choices and driver state would likely have a larger impact than swapping between these components.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. *This PC can run Minimum at 1920x1080 with all presets playable*, including Ultra at 83.3 FPS average. For 2560x1440, the system can run Low, Medium, and High settings above 60 FPS, with High being the most demanding playable preset at 67.7 FPS. Ultra at 1440p falls short at 51.8 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves the 60 FPS threshold, with Low being the closest at 56.7 FPS.

The verdictByResolution data confirms this: 1080p has four playable settings, 1440p has three, and 4K has none. The best settings at 1080p is Ultra with 83.3 FPS, and the best at 1440p is High with 67.7 FPS. For 4K, the database records no best settings because no preset clears the threshold.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling patterns in the measured data reveal how the CPU and GPU divide the workload in Minimum at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the GPU is the primary bottleneck, but the CPU still has headroom. The frame rate drops from 168.9 FPS at Low to 83.3 FPS at Ultra, a 50.7% reduction that scales almost entirely with GPU load. The i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is clearly capable of feeding the RTX 2060 SUPER at this resolution, as evidenced by the high Low-preset result. The CPU's percentile rank of 47 among all CPUs is middling, but for this game it is sufficient.

At 2560x1440, the balance shifts further toward the GPU. The frame rate at Low drops to 111.3 FPS, which is still high enough to suggest the CPU is not fully saturated. However, the gap between High (67.7 FPS) and Ultra (51.8 FPS) is 15.9 FPS, the largest preset-to-preset drop in the dataset. This indicates that the Ultra preset at 1440p introduces GPU-heavy effects that the RTX 2060 SUPER cannot handle while maintaining 60 FPS. The CPU is still delivering frames at a rate the GPU can process, but the GPU's compute limits are becoming evident.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is overwhelmingly the limiting factor. Even Low settings produce only 56.7 FPS, and the frame rate falls to 29.6 FPS at Ultra. The 4K pixel count demands far more fill rate and memory bandwidth than the GPU can provide; the RTX 2060 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, but the 4K resolution's 8.3 million pixels per frame exceeds what the card can render at playable speeds. The CPU is essentially irrelevant at this resolution, as the GPU cannot generate enough frames to stress the i5-9400.

The data suggests that Minimum is a GPU-bound title at all resolutions for this hardware. The CPU's role is to maintain a high enough frame delivery rate, which it does even at 1080p Low where the GPU is producing nearly 170 FPS. The i5-9400's 4.10 GHz boost clock and 9 MB of shared L3 cache are sufficient for the game's logic and physics load.

Best Settings per Resolution

Based on the recorded average FPS and the 60 FPS playable threshold, the most demanding preset that remains playable at each resolution is as follows:

• 1920x1080: Ultra settings, averaging 83.3 FPS. This is the highest preset available, and it clears the threshold by 23.3 FPS. The margin is comfortable, so users could expect consistent performance without drops below 60 FPS, though the database does not record minimum frame rates.
• 2560x1440: High settings, averaging 67.7 FPS. This clears the threshold by 7.7 FPS, which is a narrower margin. Users with sensitive frame pacing might prefer Medium at 84.9 FPS for extra headroom, but High is the most demanding playable option.
• 3840x2160: No playable preset exists. Low settings average 56.7 FPS, which is 3.3 FPS below the threshold. The database records no best settings for this resolution.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity, the 1080p Ultra preset is the clear recommendation, as it delivers both the highest settings and a solid frame rate. At 1440p, High provides a good balance, but the 7.7 FPS headroom means that demanding scenes could potentially cause dips below 60 FPS, though no minimum frame data is available to confirm this. At 4K, the system is simply not viable for playable frame rates, and users would need to consider lower resolutions or more powerful hardware.