Fivem

# Fivem Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The combination of an Intel Core i5-9400 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a striking performance profile in Fivem, one that reveals a significant bottleneck imbalance. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings show a system that can deliver very high FPS at lower resolutions but becomes increasingly CPU-limited as the workload shifts. This pairing ranks 605th out of 3,707 tested combos in Fivem, placing it in the top 17% of all configurations tested, which is notable given the stark generational gap between the CPU and GPU components.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about which component is driving performance in Fivem. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 213 FPS average, while at 4K Low it drops to 122 FPS — a 42.7% reduction in frame rate. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 is being held back at lower resolutions by the i5-9400's processing limits, while at 4K the GPU begins to take on a more substantial role.

Looking at High settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 181 FPS at 1080p falls to 138 FPS at 1440p (a 23.8% drop), then further to 77 FPS at 4K (a 44.2% drop from 1080p). This steep decline at 4K suggests the RTX 4080's rendering workload becomes the primary constraint at that resolution, whereas at 1080p and 1440p the CPU's six cores and six threads are likely the limiting factor. The 1440p to 4K transition for High settings shows a 61 FPS difference, which is substantially larger than the 43 FPS difference between 1080p and 1440p, indicating the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the dominant cost at higher resolutions.

For Medium settings, the pattern holds: 196 FPS at 1080p, 170 FPS at 1440p (13.3% drop), and 96 FPS at 4K (51.0% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset shows 163 FPS at 1080p, 107 FPS at 1440p (34.4% drop), and 60 FPS at 4K (63.2% drop). The widening percentage gaps at higher settings reveal that Fivem's Ultra preset introduces GPU-intensive effects that scale steeply with resolution, while the CPU overhead per frame remains relatively constant.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound across all settings — the difference between Low and Ultra is only 50 FPS (213 vs 163), which is modest compared to the GPU's capability. At 4K, the spread widens to 62 FPS (122 vs 60), showing the GPU becomes increasingly involved. The RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle 4K textures without capacity issues, but the rendering load at 4K Ultra pushes the card to its limits when paired with this CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 operates with a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, built on the AD103 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 256-bit bus delivers 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for Fivem's asset streaming demands. The card's 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs provide substantial raw compute power, with FP32 performance rated at 48.74 TFLOPS.

In Fivem's measured results, the GPU's role shifts dramatically depending on resolution. At 1080p Low, the RTX 4080 is clearly underutilized — 213 FPS is impressive but represents only a fraction of what this GPU could theoretically deliver if the CPU could feed it faster. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567 and PassMark G3D score of 34,457 place this GPU in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, yet the measured FPS at 1080p suggests the i5-9400 caps performance well below the GPU's potential.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, producing 60 FPS average. This represents a 71.8% reduction from the 1080p Low result, showing that the RTX 4080's pixel throughput and fill rate (280.6 GPixel/s) are being fully exercised. The texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s and 304 tensor cores support Fivem's rendering features, but the game's engine appears to scale heavily with resolution at higher presets, likely due to draw calls and geometry processing rather than simple pixel count.

The GPU's 76 RT cores are present but Fivem does not appear to leverage ray tracing based on the measured data — the frame rates at 4K Ultra (60 FPS) are consistent with traditional rasterization workloads. The card's 16-pin power connector and 320 W TDP indicate it draws substantial power, but the benchmark data cannot confirm power consumption during Fivem sessions. The RTX 4080's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores within 0.1% in average benchmarks, suggesting the 4080's performance class is well-established.

FAQ

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K on High settings?

A: The measured data shows 181 FPS at 1080p High versus 77 FPS at 4K High, a 57.5% reduction. This steep decline indicates the RTX 4080's rendering workload becomes the dominant constraint at 4K, whereas at 1080p the i5-9400's six cores limit performance, masking the GPU's true capability.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 bottlenecking the RTX 4080 in Fivem?

A: Yes, at 1080p and 1440p the evidence strongly suggests CPU limitation. The 1080p Low result of 213 FPS and 1440p Low of 186 FPS show relatively small gaps between resolutions, which is characteristic of CPU-bound scenarios. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6,629 and 47th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirm it is not a high-end processor.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 170 FPS average with a minimum of 145 FPS and maximum of 196 FPS at 2560x1440 Medium. This is one of the more balanced results in the dataset, suggesting the CPU and GPU share the workload more evenly at this setting.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54,247 is within 0.1% of the RTX 4080 SUPER (54,209), and it trails the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828) by 1.1% and the Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698) by 2.6%. These margins are small enough to be considered negligible in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the i5-9400's performance competitive with similar CPUs?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 2,254 places it just 0.2% below the Core i7-1068NG7 (2,259) and 0.3% above the Core i7-10710U (2,248). Its 47th percentile ranking means it outperforms roughly half of all CPUs tested, which is modest for a modern gaming build.

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo for consistent 144+ FPS?

A: At 1080p, all settings except Ultra maintain above 180 FPS average, and even Ultra delivers 163 FPS. At 1440p, Low (186 FPS) and Medium (170 FPS) stay above 144 FPS, while High (138 FPS) and Ultra (107 FPS) fall below that threshold. For 4K, only Low (122 FPS) comes close to 120 FPS, with Medium at 96 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 605 out of 3,707 tested combos in Fivem, placing it in the 83.7th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong showing, but it masks the significant imbalance between components. The GPU alone sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is only in the 47th percentile — the combined rank benefits from the GPU's raw power but is dragged down by the CPU's modest standing.

Comparing to other combos, the RTX 4080's nearest rivals include the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% higher avg score), AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% higher), and AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.6% higher). If those GPUs were paired with stronger CPUs, their Fivem rankings would likely be substantially higher than 605th, suggesting this specific combo's rank is limited more by the CPU than the GPU.

The 3,707 total combos tested means this pairing outperforms 3,102 other configurations in Fivem. However, the measured FPS data reveals that the system's potential is constrained: at 1080p Low, the 213 FPS result is respectable, but a higher-end CPU paired with the same RTX 4080 would likely push FPS significantly higher. The CPU's Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 668 and R20 score of 2,784 indicate a mid-range processor that struggles to keep pace with a flagship GPU in CPU-bound scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 213 FPS average, Medium yields 196 FPS with a minimum of 166 FPS and maximum of 225 FPS, High achieves 181 FPS, and Ultra reaches 163 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 50 FPS, indicating that even at the highest settings, the CPU maintains reasonably high frame delivery.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are noticeable but manageable. Low settings sustain 186 FPS, Medium produces 170 FPS (minimum 145, maximum 196), High delivers 138 FPS, and Ultra falls to 107 FPS. The 1440p results show a wider gap between Low and Ultra (79 FPS) compared to 1080p, suggesting the GPU begins to influence performance more significantly at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop substantially across the board. Low settings maintain 122 FPS, Medium achieves 96 FPS (minimum 82, maximum 110), High drops to 77 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 60 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of exactly 60 FPS is indicative of a hard vsync-like cap or a frame pacing limit, as it aligns with common display refresh rates. The 4K spread between Low and Ultra is 62 FPS, showing that even at this resolution, the CPU still contributes to performance differences.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K increases with higher settings. Low settings drop 42.7% (213 to 122 FPS), Medium drops 51.0% (196 to 96 FPS), High drops 57.5% (181 to 77 FPS), and Ultra drops 63.2% (163 to 60 FPS). This trend confirms that the GPU's workload scales faster than the CPU's at higher presets, making 4K Ultra the most GPU-intensive scenario.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 144 FPS or higher, the 1080p resolution with any preset except Ultra is achievable — Low (213 FPS), Medium (196 FPS), and High (181 FPS) all exceed this threshold, while Ultra (163 FPS) also clears it. At 1440p, only Low (186 FPS) and Medium (170 FPS) maintain 144+ FPS; High (138 FPS) and Ultra (107 FPS) fall short, making Medium the highest playable preset at this resolution for high-refresh monitors.

For 4K gaming, the options narrow considerably. Low settings at 122 FPS average provide a playable experience on 120 Hz displays, while Medium at 96 FPS is suitable for 90 Hz or lower refresh rates. High at 77 FPS and Ultra at 60 FPS are adequate for 60 Hz displays but will feel less responsive on higher refresh panels. The Medium preset at 4K offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with a minimum of 82 FPS ensuring relatively stable frame delivery.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combination across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the 196 FPS average with a 166 FPS minimum provides smooth gameplay with margin for frame drops. At 1440p Medium, 170 FPS average with a 145 FPS minimum keeps frames above the 144 Hz threshold in most scenarios. At 4K Medium, 96 FPS average represents a 22.6% improvement over High (77 FPS) while sacrificing some visual fidelity.

For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, 1080p Low at 213 FPS or 1440p Low at 186 FPS are the strongest choices. The difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is only 17 FPS (213 vs 196), suggesting that Medium provides a better visual experience with minimal performance cost. At 1440p, the gap between Low and Medium is 16 FPS (186 vs 170), again favoring Medium for its visual benefits.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support delivering 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU's 65 W TDP and LGA 1151 socket make it a mainstream desktop part, but its specifications are dated relative to the RTX 4080's generation.

In Fivem, the CPU's impact is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the limiting factor. The 1080p results show that even at Low settings, the system achieves 213 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability given its processing power. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6,629 and single-core score of 935 place this CPU in the 47th percentile, indicating it handles moderately demanding workloads but is far from top-tier.

The CPU's six threads are a limitation in Fivem, which is a multiplayer game that may benefit from additional thread capacity for handling network code, world simulation, and player interactions simultaneously. The L3 cache of 9 MB is modest for a gaming CPU, and the 14 nm process node is two generations behind the RTX 4080's 5 nm process, contributing to the performance disparity between the two components.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% lower avg score), Core i7-10710U (0.3% higher), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% higher), and Core i3-10305 (0.4% lower). These margins are all within 0.5%, indicating that the i5-9400 performs competitively with similar-generation processors, but none of these rivals are particularly powerful by modern standards. The Geekbench multi-core score of 5,141 and single-core score of 1,389 reinforce that this CPU is a mid-range part that will limit a flagship GPU in CPU-bound scenarios.