Assetto Corsa

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a highly capable Assetto Corsa experience, dominated by the GPU's substantial memory bandwidth and raw throughput. The data shows that this combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings adjustments to maintain playable frame rates. This analysis breaks down the measured performance metrics, contextualizes them against the combo's rank, and examines the specific roles of the CPU and GPU in generating these results.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: For 1920x1080, the Low preset produces an average of 205 FPS, while the High preset yields 109 FPS. The Ultra preset still delivers a smooth 89 FPS average, making it viable for high-refresh-rate monitors, though Medium offers 144 FPS for a balance of quality and speed.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p gaming comfortably?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 143 FPS, and the High preset maintains 76 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 62 FPS, which is still playable, but the Medium preset at 101 FPS is the sweet spot for a smooth experience with better visual fidelity.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, performance becomes more demanding. The Low preset averages 87 FPS, which is playable, but the High preset falls to 46 FPS, and Ultra drops to 38 FPS. The Medium preset provides 61 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K.

Q: Where does this specific CPU-GPU combination rank among all tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 2791 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the 75th percentile of all systems tested. This indicates that while it is not a top-tier enthusiast setup, it outperforms a significant majority of other pairings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B580 compare to its closest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: In average benchmark scores, the B580 is within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. It is 0.6% faster than the RTX 2080 and 1% faster than the NVIDIA P106-100, showing it competes at a high level despite its position in the market.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the Arc B580 in this game?

A: The CPU's performance is moderate, ranking in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. However, benchmark results show that at lower resolutions and settings, FPS scales dramatically (e.g., 205 FPS at 1080p Low), indicating the GPU is the primary driver of performance in Assetto Corsa, with the CPU being sufficient to feed it.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the undisputed performance leader in this pairing. Its specifications dictate the frame rates achievable across all resolutions and settings. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a substantial 456.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is a critical asset for a racing simulation like Assetto Corsa, which requires rapid streaming of textures and geometry. The high bandwidth ensures that the GPU can handle large amounts of data without stalling, directly contributing to the high average FPS observed in the 1080p and 1440p benchmarks.

The B580's core architecture, based on the Xe2-HPG design and manufactured on a 5 nm process, includes 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. These processing units deliver a theoretical FP32 performance of 13.67 TFLOPS. Clock speeds are fixed at 2670 MHz for both base and boost, which is a high sustained rate. This raw compute power, combined with the memory bandwidth, allows the GPU to maintain high frame rates even at 1440p High settings, achieving 76 FPS. The GPU's performance percentile of 68% against all GPUs confirms its position as a strong mid-to-high-range performer.

In Assetto Corsa specifically, the GPU's role is evident in the scaling of performance with settings. At 1080p Low, the system hits 205 FPS, a number that showcases the GPU's raw capability when pixel shading demands are minimal. Moving to 1080p Ultra drops the average to 89 FPS, a decrease of over 50%, demonstrating the significant computational cost of the game's advanced visual effects. The GPU's 80 ROPs handle the final pixel output, and the 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate is a key factor in maintaining high fill rates at demanding resolutions like 4K, where the GPU still manages 46 FPS on High settings. The performance is clearly GPU-bound, as the frame rate scales inversely with resolution and visual complexity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined system achieves a rank of 2791 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the 75th percentile of all systems. This is a strong result, indicating that the i5-9400 and Arc B580 pairing delivers performance that is superior to a large majority of other hardware configurations tested by the database. The rank reflects a balanced system that can handle modern titles effectively, though it is not at the extreme high-end.

When looking at the individual components, the Arc B580 is the primary driver of this ranking. The GPU's average benchmark score is 23021, placing it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. This is a significantly stronger showing than the CPU's 47th percentile ranking. The data suggests that the system's overall rank is heavily weighted by the GPU's capabilities. The CPU, while not a weak link, does not boost the system's position as much as the GPU does.

Comparing the GPU to its nearest rivals in the database shows how competitive the B580 is. Its average score of 23021 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, -0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172, -0.7% delta). It is also slightly ahead of the RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6% delta) and the P106-100 (23249, -1% delta). This indicates that in general computational tasks, the B580 performs on par with these established cards, many of which are high-end products from previous generations. The combo's rank of 2791 reflects this high level of GPU performance, ensuring that the system can compete with builds featuring these rival cards.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates exceptional capability. On Low settings, the average FPS is 205, which is ideal for competitive or high-refresh-rate play. Medium settings still deliver a very high 144 FPS, with a minimum of 122 FPS and a maximum of 166 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay. High settings produce 109 FPS, while Ultra remains playable at 89 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong. The Low preset averages 143 FPS, which is excellent for 1440p. Medium settings provide a solid 101 FPS (min 86, max 116), making it the recommended preset for a high-refresh-rate 1440p experience. High settings yield 76 FPS, which is smooth for most players, and Ultra drops to 62 FPS, which is still within the playable range for many.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is pushed harder. Low settings average 87 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K. Medium settings provide a playable 61 FPS (min 52, max 70), making it the only 4K preset that offers a consistently smooth experience. High settings fall to 46 FPS, and Ultra drops to 38 FPS, both of which may feel less fluid, especially in a fast-paced racing simulator where consistent frame pacing is crucial. The data clearly shows a performance hierarchy that scales predictably with resolution and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a system that is clearly GPU-limited. The most dramatic evidence is the 1080p Low result of 205 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to achieve a very high output. If the CPU were a significant bottleneck, we would expect to see a ceiling on FPS regardless of resolution or settings.

Comparing 1080p to 4K at High settings, the average FPS drops from 109 to 46, a reduction of 58%. This is a substantial decrease that aligns with the 4x increase in pixel count. The scaling suggests that the GPU is the limiting component, as its fill rate and shading capacity are being saturated by the higher resolution. The 1440p High result of 76 FPS sits squarely between these two points, further confirming this trend.

The scaling from Low to Ultra settings at each resolution also points to the GPU as the bottleneck. At 1080p, the drop from Low (205 FPS) to Ultra (89 FPS) is a 57% reduction, driven entirely by the increased graphical workload. At 4K, the same comparison shows a drop from 87 FPS to 38 FPS, a 56% reduction. This consistent percentage decrease across resolutions indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as its workload does not change significantly with settings. The GPU is responsible for pixel processing, and its performance degrades proportionally as the visual load increases. The system's behavior is a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 plays a supporting role in this configuration. It features 6 cores and 6 threads, a configuration that is sufficient for a game like Assetto Corsa, which is not heavily multi-threaded. The CPU's base clock is 2.90 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. These clock speeds are adequate for maintaining a high single-thread performance, which is often more critical in racing simulations for physics and game logic calculations.

The CPU's benchmark scores show its mid-range standing. In Cinebench R23, it scores 6629 points in multi-core and 935 points in single-core. Its Geekbench scores are 5141 (multi-core) and 1389 (single-core). These scores place the processor in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score is 2254. The nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-10305 (2264, -0.4% delta) and the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta), have nearly identical average scores, confirming that the i5-9400 is firmly in the mid-range tier of processors.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the performance bottleneck in this system. The fact that the system can reach 205 FPS at 1080p Low demonstrates that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's demands at lower resolutions. The bottleneck shifts to the GPU as resolution and settings increase, where the CPU's workload remains relatively constant while the GPU's does not. The 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the six cores. While the CPU is older and end-of-life, its performance is still adequate to avoid limiting the Arc B580 in Assetto Corsa, ensuring that the GPU's capabilities are fully utilized.