Minimum

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a robust 1080p experience in Minimum, but the data reveals a steep performance cliff at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combination is capable of exceeding 200 FPS only at Low settings, while the Ultra preset still provides a very playable 98.1 FPS average. The picture changes dramatically at 3840x2160, where even the High preset dips to 47.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35.6 FPS, indicating that this configuration is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming rather than 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all resolutions and presets shows a clear hierarchy where the Low settings preset offers the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, High, and finally Ultra. For players targeting the smoothest possible experience at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 204.1 FPS, which is more than double the Ultra preset's 98.1 FPS at the same resolution. The Medium preset at 1080p provides a strong middle ground with 156.3 FPS, representing a 59.4% improvement over High settings while still maintaining visual quality improvements over Low.

At 2560x1440, the situation remains favorable, with the Low preset achieving 128.4 FPS and Medium reaching 101.3 FPS. The High preset at this resolution still offers a smooth 84.3 FPS, making it a viable option for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors. However, Ultra at 1440p drops to 62.9 FPS, which is noticeably lower but still above the 60 FPS threshold. The data suggests that for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the sweet spot, as it maintains playable frame rates while offering better graphics than Medium.

For 4K gaming at 3840x2160, the benchmark results indicate that this combo struggles to maintain high frame rates. The Low preset achieves 69 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that reaches a comfortable level of smoothness. Medium drops to 54.7 FPS, High falls to 47.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35.6 FPS. Given these numbers, players using a 4K display should stick to Low settings for acceptable performance, or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p to unlock the higher settings presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, operating with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide a solid foundation for gaming workloads. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs tested in the database.

When compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-9400 shows very tight clustering in average benchmark scores. It sits just 0.2% above the Intel Core i3-10305 and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, and only 0.4% above the Intel Xeon E-2134. The closest competitor above it is the Intel Core i7-8809G, which outperforms the i5-9400 by 0.6%. This indicates that the CPU's performance is well within the expected range for its class, and it does not appear to be a bottleneck in the measured FPS results, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is more heavily utilized.

The relationship between the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads and the game's results is evident in the scaling across resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 204.1 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at lower graphical loads. As resolution increases to 3840x2160, the frame rate drops significantly across all settings, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor rather than the CPU. The i5-9400's single-core performance, as reflected in its Cinebench R23 score of 1125, appears sufficient for the game's logic and physics calculations, allowing the RX 6700 XT to operate near its full potential in most scenarios.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2321 MHz, with a boost clock of 2581 MHz and a game clock of 2424 MHz. This hardware configuration places the GPU at the 77th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 33721.

In the benchmark suite, the RX 6700 XT shows strong performance in various tests. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2435, and it achieves a Geekbench Vulkan score of 108032. The PassMark G3D score of 19786 further confirms its capabilities. When compared to nearest rivals, the RX 6700 XT is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A5000. Interestingly, it trails the AMD Radeon HD 7950 and the AMD Radeon RX 480 by 1% each, though these older cards likely benefit from different driver optimizations or test conditions.

The GPU's VRAM capacity of 12 GB proves adequate for Minimum across all tested settings and resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 3840x2160, the frame rates scale linearly with settings presets, from 35.6 FPS at Ultra to 69 FPS at Low. This suggests that the GPU's compute power, rather than memory capacity, is the primary constraint at 4K. The boost clock of 2581 MHz helps maintain performance under load, but the data indicates that the RX 6700 XT is better matched to 1440p gaming, where it delivers over 80 FPS on High settings and over 100 FPS on Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 967th out of 1733 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing, where neither component severely bottlenecks the other in most scenarios. The percentile ranking of the CPU at 50 and the GPU at 77 suggests that the graphics card is relatively stronger than the processor, which is a common configuration for gaming-focused systems.

Comparing the combo's rank to its individual components' performance, the GPU's higher percentile (77) compared to the CPU's (50) indicates that the frame rates are more influenced by the RX 6700 XT's capabilities. This is consistent with the observed FPS scaling across resolutions, where the GPU-bound scenarios at 4K show the largest performance drops. The combo's position at 967 out of 1733 means it outperforms roughly 44% of all tested configurations, which is a reasonable result given the hardware's age and market positioning.

The data also shows that this combo performs best relative to other configurations at 1080p, where the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output. At 1440p, the performance remains competitive, but at 4K, the combo falls behind many others that feature more powerful GPUs. This suggests that users looking to maximize the combo's potential should prioritize 1080p or 1440p gaming over 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve over 100 FPS?

A: According to the measured data, the combo achieves over 100 FPS at 1920x1080 on Low (204.1 FPS), Medium (156.3 FPS), and High (133.4 FPS) settings. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (128.4 FPS) and Medium preset (101.3 FPS) exceed 100 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299). It is also 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295) but 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319).

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming at playable frame rates?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo only achieves playable frame rates on the Low preset with an average of 69 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 54.7 FPS, High to 47.7 FPS, and Ultra to 35.6 FPS, making higher settings unsuitable for smooth 4K gameplay.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT has a memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s across a 192-bit bus with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory. This bandwidth is sufficient for Minimum at all tested settings, as frame rate differences across resolutions are more attributable to GPU compute limits than memory constraints.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 967th out of 1733 tested combos in this game, placing it in the 44th percentile of all configurations. This ranking is influenced by the CPU's 50th percentile and the GPU's 77th percentile performance.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts, and does it bottleneck the GPU?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Based on the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K, the CPU does not appear to bottleneck the GPU significantly, as frame rates drop predictably with increasing resolution, indicating GPU-bound performance at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. The Low settings preset achieves an average of 204.1 FPS, which is the best result in the entire dataset. Medium follows with 156.3 FPS, High with 133.4 FPS, and Ultra with 98.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 106 FPS, representing a 108% improvement when choosing Low over Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease proportionally. Low settings produce 128.4 FPS, Medium achieves 101.3 FPS, High reaches 84.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 62.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 65.5 FPS, which is a 104% improvement. Notably, the High preset at 1440p still maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS, making it a viable option for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a significant hit across all settings. Low settings yield 69 FPS, Medium drops to 54.7 FPS, High falls to 47.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35.6 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 33.4 FPS difference, which is a 94% reduction in performance. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming is only feasible at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is noticeably lower than what the combo achieves at lower resolutions.