Downfall

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in Downfall presents a striking imbalance. The data shows a system where the GPU is overwhelmingly dominant, but the aging six-core processor creates a measurable ceiling at lower resolutions. This combination ranks 169th out of 1,741 tested combos, placing it in the top 10% of all configurations, a position driven almost entirely by the graphics card's raw power. The benchmark results indicate that while the RTX 4090 delivers exceptional frame rates, the Core i5-9400 prevents the system from fully realizing its potential at 1080p, a dynamic that reverses as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a clear trend: performance scales inversely with resolution, but the rate of decline is far from uniform. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 235.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 212.7 FPS, a reduction of 22.4 FPS. The jump to 4K brings a more significant fall to 129.8 FPS, a 105.3 FPS drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern indicates that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound; the RTX 4090 is capable of rendering far more frames than the i5-9400 can feed it. The evidence for this is the relatively small penalty from 1080p to 1440p, suggesting the GPU has headroom to spare.

The scaling story changes dramatically at 4K. The 4K High result of 129.8 FPS is 54.9% lower than the 1080p High result of 235.1 FPS. This substantial drop demonstrates that at 4K, the workload shifts to the GPU, and the RTX 4090's immense processing power becomes the primary limiter. The data suggests that the i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is a bottleneck at lower resolutions, but its impact diminishes as the pixel count increases. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows the steepest relative decline, confirming that the GPU's rendering capabilities are the deciding factor in 4K performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the driving force behind this combo's high placement. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides a 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Downfall's demands. The data shows that the GPU's performance is consistent with its top-tier positioning, as evidenced by its 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs. This is a card with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and its 16,384 shading units are clearly capable of handling the game's horror visuals with ease.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 81 FPS, a figure that is still very playable but represents a significant 59.5% reduction from the 4K Low result of 199.7 FPS. This demonstrates that the RTX 4090's VRAM and compute resources are being taxed by the Ultra preset. The card's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are likely engaged at this setting, though the data does not specify their individual utilization. The fact that the GPU maintains over 80 FPS at the most demanding preset reflects its architectural efficiency, built on the 5 nm process and Ada Lovelace architecture.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 169 out of 1,741 tested combinations, this system sits in the 90.3rd percentile, a strong showing. This ranking is a direct result of the RTX 4090's dominance, as the CPU's own benchmark scores are modest. The i5-9400 holds a 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305. This score places it in close competition with the Intel Core i3-10305, which scores 2300 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, also at 2299 (0.2% higher). The i5-9400 is also just 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134, which scores 2295.

The contrast between the CPU's mid-pack standing and the GPU's top-tier position is stark. The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 66473 places it slightly behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66733, -0.4%) and ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66127, 0.5%). This high GPU score is what propels the combo to its 169th rank. The data suggests that the system's ranking is almost entirely attributable to the graphics card, and that a more modern CPU would likely push this combination significantly higher in the standings. The 169th rank is impressive, but the benchmark results indicate it is a GPU-driven achievement.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system's capabilities across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 271.8 FPS on Low, 253.7 FPS on Medium, 235.1 FPS on High, and 184.9 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 86.9 FPS, indicating the CPU is the limiting factor even at the highest settings. At 2560x1440, the results are 243.7 FPS (Low), 227.3 FPS (Medium), 212.7 FPS (High), and 130.4 FPS (Ultra). The Ultra setting at 1440p shows a much larger drop-off, suggesting the GPU is starting to feel the load.

At 3840x2160, the data shows 199.7 FPS on Low, 159.9 FPS on Medium, 129.8 FPS on High, and 81 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 118.7 FPS difference, the largest spread of any resolution. This indicates that at 4K, both the CPU and GPU are being stressed, but the GPU's workload is the dominant factor. The 4K Ultra result of 81 FPS is the lowest in the entire dataset, but it remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The progression of scores shows a system that is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, and solid 4K performance.

FAQ

*Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in Downfall?*

A: Yes, particularly at lower resolutions. The data shows a 36.7 FPS gap between 1080p Low (271.8 FPS) and 1440p Low (243.7 FPS), which is a smaller drop than expected if the GPU were the sole limiter. The CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads, with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, appear to cap performance around the 270 FPS mark.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to avoid CPU limitations?

A: The 4K results show the least CPU influence. At 4K High, the system produces 129.8 FPS, which is 105.3 FPS lower than 1080p High. This larger drop indicates the GPU is taking over as the primary bottleneck, making 4K the resolution where the RTX 4090's power is fully utilized.

*Q: How does the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth affect Downfall performance?*

A: The GPU's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, paired with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, ensures the card never runs out of memory or bandwidth. This is evidenced by the strong 4K performance, where the 199.7 FPS Low result is the highest of any 4K setting, showing the memory subsystem is not a limiting factor.

Q: What does the combo's 169th rank out of 1,741 mean?

A: It places the system in the top 10% of all tested combinations. This high rank is driven by the RTX 4090, which has a 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the i5-9400 only has a 50th percentile CPU ranking.

Q: Which setting provides the most significant performance drop for this combo?

A: The transition from High to Ultra at 4K yields the largest single-setting drop. The 4K High result is 129.8 FPS, which falls to 81 FPS at Ultra, a 48.8 FPS reduction. This suggests the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU.

Q: Is the system's performance consistent across all settings?

A: No. The data shows a wide variance. At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 86.9 FPS, while at 4K, the spread is 118.7 FPS. This inconsistency indicates the system's performance is highly dependent on the workload, with the CPU limiting at lower resolutions and the GPU limiting at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1151 platform. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1125 in single-core. These scores are modest, placing the CPU in the 50th percentile. The data suggests this processor is a limiting factor in Downfall, particularly when the frame rate exceeds 200 FPS.

The CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the RTX 4090 can push frame rates beyond 270 FPS on Low settings. The i5-9400, with its 65 W TDP and 14 nm process, simply cannot keep up with the GPU's output. The L3 cache of 9 MB is shared across all cores, which may contribute to the bottleneck in a game that relies on consistent frame pacing. The memory support for DDR4 with a dual-channel bus and 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is another potential constraint. The benchmark results indicate that while the CPU is capable of delivering playable frame rates, it is the component that prevents this combo from achieving the ultra-high refresh rates that the RTX 4090 is capable of.

Settings Recommendations

The data suggests that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1440p High, the system produces 212.7 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most gaming monitors. At 4K High, the 129.8 FPS result is excellent, providing a smooth experience on high refresh rate 4K displays. The High preset appears to be the sweet spot, as it avoids the steep performance penalties of Ultra while providing a significant visual upgrade over Medium.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p yields 271.8 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play. However, the Medium preset at 1440p (227.3 FPS) offers a better visual experience with only a 16.4 FPS penalty compared to Low. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo, as the 4K Ultra result of 81 FPS, while playable, represents a 37.5% drop from the High preset. The data indicates that the Ultra settings are too demanding for this CPU-GPU pairing, and the visual gains do not justify the performance loss. The best experience per the measured rows is High at 1440p or 4K, depending on the user's display and preference for fidelity over raw speed.