Minimum

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core i5-9400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers extremely high frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 258 FPS, while High settings produce 220 FPS. Medium settings land at 234 FPS on average, with a minimum of 199 FPS and a maximum of 270 FPS. The Ultra preset still holds 193 FPS on average, which is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected scaling cost. Low settings average 223 FPS, while High settings drop to 163 FPS. Medium averages 194 FPS with a recorded minimum of 165 FPS and maximum of 223 FPS. Ultra settings at this resolution still deliver 124 FPS on average, comfortably exceeding the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the demands increase substantially. Low settings average 137 FPS, while Medium averages 105 FPS with a minimum of 89 FPS and maximum of 120 FPS. High settings average 88 FPS, and Ultra drops to 67 FPS on average. Even at the most demanding preset and resolution tested, the combination stays above 60 FPS, though the margin narrows considerably at 4K Ultra.

The data shows a clear progression: each resolution step down from 4K to 1440p to 1080p yields large FPS gains, and each preset step from Ultra down to Low increases frame rates further. The minimum FPS values recorded only exist for Medium settings at each resolution, but those figures indicate stable frame pacing, with 4K Medium never dropping below 89 FPS and 1440p Medium never dropping below 165 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions reveals how the RTX 4090 dominates this pairing. From 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, average FPS falls from 193 to 124, a drop of 69 FPS. From 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra, average FPS falls from 124 to 67, another 57 FPS decline. These are substantial reductions that point to the GPU becoming the primary performance limiter as resolution increases.

At 1080p, the i5-9400 likely constrains the RTX 4090 more heavily. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 65 FPS (258 versus 193), which is a modest spread for such a powerful GPU. At 4K, the same Low-to-Ultra spread expands to 70 FPS (137 versus 67), suggesting the GPU workload scales more predictably with settings at higher resolutions.

The measured data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU has a larger relative influence on frame rates, as the GPU is not fully saturated by the workload. At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, with the CPU's role diminishing. This pattern is consistent with a six-core, six-thread processor from the Coffee Lake era paired with a flagship Ada Lovelace GPU: the CPU feeds frames adequately at lower resolutions, but the GPU's raw throughput is the deciding factor at higher pixel counts.

Benchmark results show that the i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs in the database, while the RTX 4090 ranks at the 88th percentile among all GPUs. This imbalance reinforces the interpretation that the GPU is the stronger component in this pairing, and the frame rate behavior across resolutions reflects that hierarchy.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination run Minimum at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 67 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold. All four tested presets at 4K (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are marked as playable.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p for this hardware?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 124 FPS, and the verdict marks it as the best settings choice. All presets at this resolution are playable, but Ultra delivers the highest visual quality while staying far above 60 FPS.

Q: How much faster is Low compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 258 FPS while Ultra averages 193 FPS. That is a 65 FPS difference, or roughly 34% higher frame rate on Low compared to Ultra.

Q: Does the minimum FPS ever drop below 60 at any tested setting?

A: No. The only recorded minimum FPS values are for Medium settings: 199 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p, and 89 FPS at 4K. All are far above 60 FPS, and the other presets have no recorded minimums below the playable threshold.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Minimum?

A: The combination ranks 358th out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the top 10% of all systems evaluated for this game.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU has more influence at 1080p. The FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (65 FPS) is smaller relative to the GPU's capability, and the i5-9400's 47th percentile CPU ranking indicates it is the weaker link in this pairing at lower resolutions.

The Verdict

This PC can run Minimum at every resolution and preset combination recorded in the database. At 3840x2160, all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable, with Ultra averaging 67 FPS. At 2560x1440, all presets are playable, with Ultra averaging 124 FPS. At 1920x1080, all presets are playable, with Ultra averaging 193 FPS.

The playable threshold is defined as 60 FPS, and every single measurement exceeds that mark. The closest call is 4K Ultra at 67 FPS, which leaves only a 7 FPS margin. For users who prioritize maximum visual quality at 4K, this system delivers playable performance, but the headroom is limited. At 1440p and below, the margin is substantial, with even the most demanding preset more than doubling the 60 FPS threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals in the database are closely matched. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, which is 0.2% below the i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2254. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, 0.3% above. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, 0.4% above. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, 0.4% below. These four processors would behave nearly identically to the i5-9400 in CPU-bound scenarios, meaning any of them paired with an RTX 4090 would produce very similar frame rates in Minimum.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are also tightly clustered. The Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60326, essentially identical to the RTX 4090's average of 60347. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, 0.3% below. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, which is 2.5% higher. The AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, 2.9% lower. These GPUs would deliver performance within a few percentage points of the RTX 4090 in this game, assuming no other bottlenecks.

The practical implication is that swapping the i5-9400 for any of its four nearest CPU rivals would change frame rates by less than 1%, and swapping the RTX 4090 for any of its nearest GPU rivals would change performance by roughly 3% or less. The measured FPS values in this database would hold within a small margin for those alternative configurations.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best settings are Ultra, which averages 193 FPS. This is the most demanding preset available, and it still delivers more than triple the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are Ultra, averaging 124 FPS. This exceeds the playable threshold by 64 FPS, providing a comfortable margin while maintaining maximum visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the best settings are Ultra, averaging 67 FPS. This clears the 60 FPS threshold by only 7 FPS, so while it is technically playable, users seeking more headroom could drop to High (88 FPS) or Medium (105 FPS) for a more stable experience.

In all three resolutions, Ultra is the recommended preset according to the verdict data. The lowest margin is at 4K, where the 67 FPS average leaves little room for demanding scenes. The database does not record minimum FPS for Ultra at any resolution, so the average figures represent the expected performance level rather than worst-case behavior.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Minimum, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 358th out of 3712 total combinations. That places it in the top 9.6% of all systems tested for this game.

Given that the RTX 4090 is a flagship GPU with a 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the i5-9400 sits at only the 47th percentile among CPUs, the overall combo rank reflects the GPU's dominance. Many systems with stronger CPUs and weaker GPUs would rank lower, while systems with equally strong GPUs and faster processors would rank higher. The 358th position indicates that this combination outperforms the vast majority of tested hardware, but it is not at the very top of the rankings due to the CPU's relative weakness.

The rank also suggests that for a game like Minimum, which appears to be GPU-light based on the high frame rates across all settings, the RTX 4090 carries most of the performance burden. The i5-9400 does not prevent the system from reaching playable frame rates at any resolution, but it does cap performance at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes more relevant.