Minimum

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a strong 1080p and 1440p experience in Minimum, but the data shows a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 248.5 FPS, suggesting the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed the GPU. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops the average to 163.1 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low the frame rate falls to 85.7 FPS. This scaling pattern—a 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 47% drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings—indicates that the graphics card becomes the primary limiter as pixel count rises. The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth is ample for this title, but the raw compute demand of 4K overwhelms the RDNA 3.0 architecture’s 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 throughput when settings are pushed.

At Ultra settings, the frame rate curve steepens dramatically. The combo manages 121.3 FPS at 1080p, falls to 79.2 FPS at 1440p, and bottoms out at 44.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the RX 7800 XT’s 60 ray accelerators and 96 ROPs are saturated by the combination of high resolution and maximum detail. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 41.5 FPS, while at 1080p that same gap is 127.2 FPS. This compression of performance headroom at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU’s shading units—3840 in total—are the limiting factor when pixel throughput demands increase, rather than the CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable yet important scaling trend. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 248.5 FPS, which is more than double the 4K Low result of 85.7 FPS. This 2.9x difference in frame rate across a 4x increase in pixel count shows that the RX 7800 XT is not fully utilizing its bandwidth at lower resolutions, likely due to CPU overhead from the i5-13400F’s 2.50 GHz base clock. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz helps mitigate this, but the data suggests the CPU is still a factor at 1080p.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more linear: 189.6 FPS at 1080p, 123.2 FPS at 1440p, and 67.3 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, and from 1440p to 4K is 45%. This consistent degradation points to the GPU’s memory subsystem—624.1 GB/s bandwidth—becoming a bottleneck as resolution increases, since the 16 GB frame buffer is not exhausted but the bus width is strained. At High settings, the frame rates are 158.7 FPS (1080p), 105.6 FPS (1440p), and 57 FPS (4K), with the 4K result barely hitting 60 FPS. The Ultra preset, however, exposes the GPU’s limits most clearly: 121.3 FPS at 1080p represents a 35% drop from Low, but the 4K Ultra score of 44.2 FPS is a 48% drop from 4K High, indicating that the extra shading work from Ultra settings disproportionately impacts higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT ranks 655th out of 1733 tested combos for Minimum. This places the setup in the top 38% of all configurations, which is respectable given the mid-range positioning of both components. The CPU itself sits at the 82nd percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 76th percentile among all graphics cards. The i5-13400F’s average benchmark score of 25236 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13620H, which scores 25201 with a deltaPct of 0.1%. This means the desktop i5 offers essentially the same compute performance as that mobile chip, despite the i5’s higher 65 W TDP.

The GPU’s average score of 32619 is also tightly clustered with its rivals. The AMD FirePro S9300 X2 scores 32540 (deltaPct 0.2%), while the NVIDIA P104-100 scores 32747 (deltaPct -0.4%). The RX 7800 XT’s performance is thus within 1% of these competitors, confirming that the card is a solid mid-range option. The combo’s rank of 655 is likely driven by the CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance—its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279 is particularly high—which helps maintain frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. However, the 4K Ultra result of 44.2 FPS suggests that for this specific game, the GPU is the limiting factor, and the combo rank may be lower than what the CPU alone would achieve in less demanding titles.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 4K displays, the High preset at 57 FPS is the only viable option for near-60 FPS gameplay, as Medium drops to 67.3 FPS (which is smoother but still under 60 FPS is not an issue, but the jump to Ultra at 44.2 FPS is too costly). The data shows that High at 4K is the sweet spot, offering a playable experience without the significant performance hit of Ultra. At 1440p, the High preset delivers 105.6 FPS, which is ideal for 100 Hz monitors, while Medium at 123.2 FPS is better for 120 Hz displays. Low at 163.1 FPS is overkill for most 1440p panels but provides headroom for competitive play.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 121.3 FPS is a strong recommendation for high-refresh-rate gaming, as it maintains above 120 FPS while maximizing visual fidelity. The High preset at 158.7 FPS is better suited for 165 Hz monitors, and Low at 248.5 FPS is excessive for any current display. For a balanced experience, the Medium preset at 189.6 FPS is the best all-rounder at 1080p, offering high frame rates with moderate quality. The data indicates that the CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking at 1080p, as the frame rates scale consistently with GPU workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 248.5 FPS on Low, 189.6 FPS on Medium, 158.7 FPS on High, and 121.3 FPS on Ultra. The spread of 127.2 FPS between Low and Ultra shows that the GPU’s 3840 shading units are well-utilized at this resolution, with the 60 ray accelerators adding minimal overhead. The 1080p results all exceed 120 FPS, making this resolution the most flexible for settings adjustments.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 163.1 FPS (Low), 123.2 FPS (Medium), 105.6 FPS (High), and 79.2 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 85.4 FPS, which is a 34% reduction. This is a larger percentage drop than the 35% seen from 1440p to 4K at Low, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s is becoming a constraint. The 1440p Ultra result of 79.2 FPS is still above 60 FPS, making this resolution viable for Ultra settings on standard 60 Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the results are 85.7 FPS (Low), 67.3 FPS (Medium), 57 FPS (High), and 44.2 FPS (Ultra). Only the Low preset exceeds 60 FPS, while Medium is close at 67.3 FPS. The High preset at 57 FPS is playable but not ideal, and Ultra at 44.2 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS result in the entire dataset. The 4K scaling shows that the RX 7800 XT’s 96 ROPs and 583.2 GTexel/s texture rate are insufficient for maximum settings at this resolution, making it a 4K-capable card only at lower presets.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Minimum at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes, but only at Low and Medium settings. The measured data shows 85.7 FPS on Low and 67.3 FPS on Medium at 3840x2160. High settings drop to 57 FPS, and Ultra falls to 44.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the best resolution for high-refresh-rate gaming with this setup?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all four presets exceed 120 FPS. The lowest result at 1080p is 121.3 FPS on Ultra, while Low reaches 248.5 FPS. 1440p Ultra also hits 79.2 FPS, which is suitable for 75 Hz monitors.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25236, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-13620H’s 25201. It is also 0.5% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D’s 25365, but 0.5% lower than the AMD EPYC 9474F’s 25103.

Q: Is the GPU the bottleneck at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the data supports this. The 4K Ultra result of 44.2 FPS is the lowest in the dataset, and the scaling from 1440p Ultra (79.2 FPS) to 4K Ultra (44.2 FPS) shows a 44% drop. The GPU’s 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 performance is insufficient for this workload.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 163.1 FPS, while Ultra produces 79.2 FPS. The difference is 83.9 FPS, meaning Ultra is approximately 48% slower than Low at this resolution.

Q: Does the combo rank in the top half of all tested configurations?

A: Yes, the combo ranks 655th out of 1733 tested combos, placing it in the top 37.8% of all configurations. This rank reflects the balanced performance of the i5-13400F and RX 7800 XT, though the GPU’s 76th percentile ranking is slightly lower than the CPU’s 82nd percentile.