Minimum

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a robust 1080p experience in Minimum, but the data reveals a predictable shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo posts 230 FPS average, which drops to 150.2 FPS on High and 115.7 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 49.7% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU is already the primary limiting factor even at this resolution, though the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the Radeon card at these frame rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall to 148.2 FPS on Low, 113.7 FPS on Medium, 95.2 FPS on High, and 74.9 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p Low (230 FPS) to 1440p Low (148.2 FPS) is a 35.6% decrease, which is substantial but consistent with the GPU’s rendering load increasing by roughly 1.78 times the pixel count. At 4K (3840x2160), the same preset yields 80.7 FPS, a further 45.5% decline from 1440p. This steep trajectory confirms that the RX 7700 XT’s 12 GB frame buffer and 432.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being taxed heavily, while the CPU’s role diminishes as resolution rises.

The most telling comparison is between the 1080p and 4K results at High settings: 150.2 FPS versus 52.4 FPS, a 65.1% reduction. This massive drop is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the rasterization workload outpaces the card’s 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs. The data shows that the limiting component shifts almost entirely to the graphics card beyond 1440p, as the CPU’s 4.30 GHz boost clock and 12 MB of L3 cache are not being saturated at lower pixel counts. The 4K Ultra result of 38.3 FPS is the only sub-40 FPS figure in the entire dataset, underscoring that this combo is not designed for maximum fidelity at that resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the dominant force in this pairing, and its specifications align closely with the measured frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1435 MHz and a boost clock of 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz. This clock headroom allows the card to sustain high throughput, but the 4K results show its limits. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1440p but becomes a constraint at 4K Ultra, where the 38.3 FPS average suggests the memory subsystem and the 3456 shading units are overwhelmed by the pixel shader workload.

The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316 and its Passmark G3D score of 22547 place it in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, which is a solid mid-upper tier standing. However, the benchmark results indicate that the card’s performance in Minimum is more modest than that percentile suggests. At 1080p Low, the 230 FPS average is excellent, but the gap to 4K Ultra (38.3 FPS) is a 83.3% reduction, which is steeper than what a top-tier card would exhibit. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, has an average benchmark score of 30109 versus the RX 7700 XT’s 30097, a delta of 0%, meaning they are effectively tied in synthetic tests, yet the RX 7700 XT’s real-world performance here is heavily influenced by its 96 ROPs and 244.2 GPixel/s pixel rate.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is never explicitly maxed out in the measured rows, but the 4K High result of 52.4 FPS versus 4K Medium at 63.8 FPS suggests that texture and shader complexity are the primary drivers of the performance drop, not memory exhaustion. The card’s FP32 throughput of 35.17 TFLOPS is substantial, yet the 4K Ultra result shows that the architecture’s raw compute is insufficient for the highest preset at that resolution. The data indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck from 1440p upward, and its 73rd percentile ranking does not translate to 4K playability in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides the foundation for this combo, and its contribution is most visible at 1080p where frame rates exceed 150 FPS. The processor features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297 and single-core score of 1453 indicate a balanced performer that can handle modern game engines. In Minimum, the CPU’s role is to maintain a high enough frame pacing to avoid limiting the GPU, which is evident in the 1080p Low result of 230 FPS—a figure that requires strong single-thread performance.

The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Passmark single-thread score of 2541 are modest by current standards, yet they prove sufficient for this title. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are not overtaxed at 1080p, as the frame rates scale almost linearly with GPU load. However, the CPU’s percentile ranking at 73rd among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168, places it just above the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, +0.4%) and below the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332, -1.1%). This tight clustering suggests that the i5-10400F is a competent but not exceptional gaming processor.

The data shows that the CPU’s influence wanes as resolution increases. At 4K, the difference between Low (80.7 FPS) and High (52.4 FPS) is driven almost entirely by the GPU, as the CPU’s 6 cores are not the limiting factor at those pixel counts. The Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 4324 and Geekbench multi-core score of 5783 indicate that the processor has enough headroom for background tasks, but in this game, its role is to avoid bottlenecking the RX 7700 XT at 1080p, which it does successfully. The 4K Ultra result of 38.3 FPS is not a CPU limitation; it is purely a GPU constraint.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance is achieved at 1440p with High settings, which yields 95.2 FPS average. This preset provides a smooth experience above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining acceptable image quality. At 1080p, the High preset at 150.2 FPS is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays, as it offers a 29.8% improvement over Ultra (115.7 FPS) with only a modest reduction in visual quality. The Low preset at 1080p (230 FPS) is excessive for most monitors, and the jump from Low to Medium (177.1 FPS) is a 23% drop, indicating diminishing returns at the lower end.

For 4K, the data suggests that High settings (52.4 FPS) are barely playable, while Medium (63.8 FPS) provides a more stable experience at the cost of some visual fidelity. The 4K Ultra result of 38.3 FPS is not recommended for competitive play, as it falls below the 40 FPS threshold. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 52.5% reduction in frame rate, which is the largest across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component. The Medium preset at 1440p (113.7 FPS) is a strong alternative for users who prioritize frame rate over detail, as it is 19.4% faster than High while maintaining a playable frame rate.

The data indicates that the Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where 115.7 FPS is still respectable. At higher resolutions, the Ultra preset’s demands on the GPU’s 54 ray accelerators and 3456 shading units result in sub-60 FPS performance at 1440p (74.9 FPS) and below 40 FPS at 4K. The recommendation is to use High at 1440p for the best overall experience, as it balances the GPU’s 12 GB memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth against the title’s visual requirements. For users with 1080p panels, High is the most efficient choice, delivering 150.2 FPS without the unnecessary overhead of Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combination ranks 766th out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the 44.2 percentile of all systems evaluated. This mid-pack positioning is notable given the individual components’ 73rd percentile rankings for both CPU and GPU. The discrepancy suggests that the pairing is not perfectly optimized for this specific title, as the CPU’s performance is adequate but not exceptional, and the GPU’s 4K limitations drag the overall rank down.

Compared to other combos, the data shows that the RX 7700 XT’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, has an identical average benchmark score (30109 vs 30097, delta 0%), yet the Intel CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7552, scores 14115 versus the i5-10400F’s 14168, a delta of 0.4%. These small synthetic deltas do not translate to a high combo rank, as the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (38.3 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (74.9 FPS) are below what a top-tier pairing would achieve. The combo’s rank of 766 suggests that there are 967 other combinations that deliver better average performance, likely due to stronger GPUs or CPUs that can sustain higher frame rates at 4K.

The combo’s strength lies in its 1080p performance, where it achieves 230 FPS on Low, but the rank is weighed down by the 4K results. The data indicates that this pairing is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers 150.2 FPS and 95.2 FPS on High, respectively. The 4K results, however, are below the 60 FPS target at all presets except Low (80.7 FPS), which limits its overall standing. The combo’s 766th rank out of 1733 is a fair reflection of its versatility, as it excels at lower resolutions but struggles at 4K, making it a mid-tier option for gamers who prioritize high refresh rates over maximum resolution.