Don't Starve Together

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Don't Starve Together, with the data indicating that the graphics card is the primary scaling component as resolution increases, though the CPU's six cores and twelve threads provide ample headroom even at 1080p. The measured frames per second (FPS) across all tested configurations show that this combination is never bottlenecked to a problematic degree, but the pattern of performance drops from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in workload distribution that is worth examining in detail.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates how the RTX 4070 becomes increasingly dominant as the pixel count rises. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 170.4 at 1080p to 129.2 at 1440p, then further to 76.2 at 4K. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to the highest resolution, which is a substantial but expected decline for a game that is not particularly demanding on modern hardware. The reduction from 1440p to 4K alone accounts for a 41% drop, indicating that the GPU is being pushed much harder at 4K while the CPU's contribution remains relatively constant.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling pattern changes noticeably. At 1080p, the average FPS reaches 209.6, which drops to 184.9 at 1440p and then to 129.5 at 4K. The smaller percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p (12%) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (30%) suggests that at lower settings, the CPU is playing a more significant role in limiting performance at 1080p, but the GPU workload still dominates at higher resolutions. This is a classic sign of a balanced system where neither component is severely underpowered for the task.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with FPS falling from 147.8 at 1080p to 101.6 at 1440p and then to 62.6 at 4K. The 4K figure is notably lower than the 76.2 FPS seen at High settings, indicating that the additional graphical effects in Ultra create a heavy load on the RTX 4070. The data suggests that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is the clear limiting factor, while at 1080p Ultra, the CPU's six cores and 4.30 GHz boost clock are sufficient to keep feeding the graphics card without creating a significant bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if aiming for 60 FPS or higher?

A: All tested resolutions deliver average FPS above 60, with the lowest recorded average being 62.6 FPS at 4K Ultra. At 4K High, the average rises to 76.2 FPS, making 4K a viable option even with higher settings.

Q: How does the i5-10400F's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded score?

A: The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 is roughly seven times its single-core score of 1453, reflecting the benefit of 6 cores and 12 threads. The 3DMark max threads score of 4735 is also close to the 16-thread score of 4748, indicating good scaling across available threads.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's performance consistent with its benchmark ranking?

A: The GPU ranks in the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37283. This places it slightly behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507, 0.6% higher) and ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A (38008, 1.9% higher), showing that its real-world game performance aligns with its synthetic test results.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 599 out of 1667 indicate?

A: This ranking places the i5-10400F + RTX 4070 combination in the top 36% of all tested combos for Don't Starve Together, which is a strong showing given that many other configurations feature newer or higher-end components.

Q: How does the CPU's memory bandwidth affect game performance?

A: The CPU supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel bus and 42.7 GB/s bandwidth, which is adequate for this game. The data shows no obvious memory-related bottleneck, as FPS scales predictably with resolution and settings changes.

Q: Does the RTX 4070's ray tracing capability impact performance here?

A: The GPU includes 46 RT cores, but Don't Starve Together does not appear to use ray tracing based on the measured results. The FPS differences between settings presets are more likely tied to traditional shading and texture workloads, given the game's stylized art style.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, High produces 170.4 FPS, which is only 19% lower than Low (209.6 FPS) but provides significantly better visuals. At 1440p, High delivers 129.2 FPS, comfortably above the 100 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while at 4K it maintains 76.2 FPS, which is still playable on most displays. The Medium preset falls between High and Low in performance, with 181.4 FPS at 1080p, 148.9 FPS at 1440p, and 89.7 FPS at 4K, but the incremental gain over High is marginal.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p offers 209.6 FPS, which is useful for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual compromise is substantial. The Ultra preset, while providing the best image quality, drops to 62.6 FPS at 4K, which may be too low for some users despite being above 60 FPS. The data indicates that High is the sweet spot, as it avoids the steep performance penalty of Ultra while still delivering a polished visual experience. At 4K, users should strongly consider High over Ultra, as the 13.6 FPS difference (76.2 vs 62.6) represents a 22% improvement in frame rate for what is likely a minor visual downgrade.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 599 out of 1667 tested combinations, the i5-10400F and RTX 4070 sit in the upper third of all configurations evaluated for Don't Starve Together. This ranking is particularly strong given that the CPU is a 10th-generation Intel part from 2020, while the GPU is a current-generation Ada Lovelace card. The CPU's percentile rank of 73 among all processors confirms that it remains competitive despite its age, with its average benchmark score of 14168 placing it within 0.4% of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and just 1.1% behind the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332). This means the CPU is not holding the combo back significantly in this game.

The GPU's percentile rank of 81 is even more impressive, with its average benchmark score of 37283 falling only 0.6% short of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) and 2.2% short of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135). The fact that the combo ranks 599th overall suggests that the RTX 4070 is doing most of the heavy lifting in this pairing, while the i5-10400F provides sufficient support without becoming a limiting factor. The delta between the CPU's nearest rivals is small (all within 1.2%), indicating that any of these processors would yield similar results in this game, but the combination as tested performs admirably.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz can boost to 4.30 GHz, and it features 12 MB of shared L3 cache. In Don't Starve Together, the CPU's role is primarily to handle game logic, entity updates, and world simulation, which tend to be single-threaded or lightly threaded tasks. The single-thread benchmark scores are relatively modest, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453, but these prove sufficient for this game's demands.

The multi-threaded performance is more robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and a PassMark multithread score of 12115. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the FPS reaches 209.6, which suggests the CPU can push frame rates well above 200 when the GPU is not heavily loaded. However, the fact that 1080p Low (209.6 FPS) is only 15% faster than 1080p High (170.4 FPS) indicates that the CPU is not a significant bottleneck even at lower settings. The TDP of 65 W and PCIe Gen 3 interface are modest, but they do not appear to constrain performance in this title, as the measured FPS scales predictably with resolution changes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 147.8 at Ultra to 209.6 at Low, with High at 170.4 and Medium at 181.4. The spread of 61.8 FPS between the lowest and highest settings shows that the RTX 4070 has ample headroom at this resolution, and even Ultra remains well above the 144 Hz refresh rate commonly found on gaming monitors. The 1080p results indicate that this combo is overkill for 60 Hz displays, as even the most demanding preset delivers nearly 2.5 times the required frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the FPS drops to a range of 101.6 (Ultra) to 184.9 (Low), with High at 129.2 and Medium at 148.9. The 1440p results show a more pronounced impact from settings changes, with Ultra being 45% slower than Low, but all presets still exceed 100 FPS. This resolution represents the sweet spot for this combination, as it balances visual fidelity with high frame rates, and the High preset's 129.2 FPS is well-suited for 120 Hz or 144 Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the FPS range narrows to 62.6 (Ultra) to 129.5 (Low), with High at 76.2 and Medium at 89.7. The 4K results reveal that the GPU is now the dominant factor, as the difference between Low and Ultra is 66.9 FPS, which is greater than the 1080p spread. The High preset at 4K (76.2 FPS) is borderline for 60 Hz displays but becomes marginal for 120 Hz panels, while the Ultra preset (62.6 FPS) is only suitable for 60 Hz screens. Overall, the measured data shows a well-rounded combo that excels at 1080p and 1440p, while remaining playable at 4K with appropriate settings adjustments.