Minimum

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a lopsided pairing, where a last-generation six-core processor meets a current flagship-tier graphics card. In Minimum, a 2014 third-person shooter, this combination produces remarkably high frame rates across the board, though the CPU often acts as the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The recorded data shows that this combo ranks in the 88th percentile of all tested configurations, placing it well above the median for playability.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains an average of 60 FPS or higher is Ultra, which delivers an average of 61 FPS. This is the absolute ceiling for this pairing at 4K, and the margin over the playability threshold is minimal. Dropping to High raises the average to 79 FPS, while Medium sits at 95 FPS. Low settings push the average to 124 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset is again the best choice, and it clears the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin with an average of 112 FPS. High settings average 148 FPS, Medium averages 176 FPS, and Low reaches 223 FPS. The data indicates that this resolution is the sweet spot for the combination, offering the full visual experience without any concerns about frame rate stability.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset runs at an average of 174 FPS, making it the recommended setting for the smoothest experience. High averages 220 FPS, Medium averages 234 FPS, and Low peaks at 258 FPS. Since even the most demanding preset at 1080p is far above 60 FPS, there is no reason to compromise on visual quality here.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals how the workload shifts between the two components. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops by 62 FPS, from 174 to 112. Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 on Ultra, the average drops by another 51 FPS to 61. This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more important as resolution increases, with the 4K result sitting right at the edge of the playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are extremely high, but the CPU is more likely to be the constraining factor. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 84 FPS (258 vs. 174), which shows that the game still scales with GPU load, but the overall ceiling is high enough that the processor's six cores are handling the game logic without issue. The Intel Core i5-9400 has a 47th percentile ranking among all CPUs, while the RTX 4080 sits in the 86th percentile among GPUs, a gap that suggests the CPU is the weaker link in this pairing.

The pattern across presets reinforces this. At 4K, the jump from Low to Medium costs 29 FPS, from Medium to High costs 16 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 18 FPS. At 1440p, those same steps cost 47, 28, and 36 FPS respectively. At 1080p, the steps cost 24, 14, and 46 FPS. The larger absolute drops at lower resolutions, especially between High and Ultra, point to the CPU struggling to feed the GPU at very high frame rates, though the impact is only visible when the frame rate is already far beyond the playable threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the recorded averages are as follows: Low settings produce 124 FPS, Medium produces 95 FPS with a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 109, High produces 79 FPS, and Ultra produces 61 FPS. Only the Medium preset has min and max data recorded, and its minimum of 80 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, Low settings average 223 FPS, Medium averages 176 FPS with a minimum of 149 and a maximum of 202, High averages 148 FPS, and Ultra averages 112 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 149 FPS demonstrates that even the most demanding moments stay comfortably above the playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, Low settings average 258 FPS, Medium averages 234 FPS with a minimum of 199 and a maximum of 270, High averages 220 FPS, and Ultra averages 174 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 199 FPS shows that the system never comes close to dropping below 60 FPS at this resolution, regardless of the settings chosen.

The data for the Ultra and High presets at various resolutions does not include min or max values, so the analysis relies on averages for those configurations. The available min/max data for Medium presets indicates that frame time consistency is strong, with the gap between minimum and maximum staying within a reasonable range at each resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 436th out of 3712 tested combinations in the database. This places it in the top 12% of all configurations, a strong result that reflects the GPU's high-end class. The ranking is driven almost entirely by the RTX 4080, which is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. The resulting frame rates in Minimum are high enough that the imbalance between the two components is not a practical concern for this title.

The rank of 436 out of 3712 is a broad measure across many games and workloads, but in Minimum specifically, the combo produces playable results at every resolution and preset combination tested. The weakest result, 61 FPS at 4K Ultra, is still above the playable threshold, which is a notable achievement for a system with a mid-range processor.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals based on average benchmark score are a cluster of processors with nearly identical performance. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, which is 0.2% higher than the i5-9400's 2254 average. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, 0.3% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, 0.4% lower. Any of these processors would behave similarly to the i5-9400 in Minimum, meaning the frame rates would be nearly identical in CPU-bound scenarios.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are also tightly grouped. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, just 0.1% above the RTX 4080's 54247 average. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, 1.1% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, 2.6% higher, and the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55757, 2.7% higher. The performance differences among these GPUs are small enough that swapping any of them into this system would produce nearly the same frame rates in Minimum, with the RX 6750 GRE and the Radeon 8060S being slightly faster on paper.

The practical takeaway from these rival comparisons is that the i5-9400 is the limiting factor in this pairing. Upgrading the GPU to any of its nearest rivals would yield almost no measurable change in Minimum, while upgrading the CPU to a faster model would provide more headroom in CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum at 60 FPS or higher across every resolution and preset combination tested. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 61 FPS, which is the only configuration that comes close to the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 112 FPS, providing a substantial margin. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 174 FPS, offering a very smooth experience.

The verdict by resolution is clear: all four settings at 4K are playable, all four settings at 1440p are playable, and all four settings at 1080p are playable. The best settings for each resolution are Ultra, with the caveat that 4K Ultra is right at the edge of the playable threshold. For a more consistent experience at 4K, High settings at 79 FPS or Medium at 95 FPS provide more headroom.

The main concern for this system is not raw performance in Minimum, but the balance of the components. The RTX 4080 is a high-end GPU that is being paired with a mid-range CPU from an older generation. In this game, the results are excellent, but the recorded data shows that the CPU is the weaker link in the pairing. At 1080p and 1440p, the frame rates are high enough that this imbalance does not matter. At 4K, the GPU takes over as the dominant factor, and the results remain strong. The Intel Core i5-9400 plus RTX 4080 combination is more than capable of running Minimum at maximum settings on any resolution up to 4K, with only a single preset at 4K falling below a 60 FPS average.