Minimum

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti combination ranks 3,655 out of 3,712 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the bottom 1.5% of all configurations. This is a decidedly low-tier result, reflecting the GPU's position in the broader hardware landscape. The GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs, meaning three-quarters of tested graphics cards outperform it. Its average benchmark score of 4,193 places it just 0.6% above the AMD Radeon R5 M330 and 1% above the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M, while sitting 1.1% below the Quadro K3000M and 1.8% below the AMD Radeon Vega 3. These are extremely tight margins — the GTX 1050 Ti is essentially trading blows with entry-level mobile and integrated-class parts rather than competing with modern discrete GPUs.

The CPU side offers a slightly brighter picture. The i5-9400 ranks at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2,254. Its nearest rivals include the Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% faster), the Core i3-10305 (0.4% faster), and the Core i7-10710U (0.3% slower). This puts the processor in a respectable mid-range position, but the combo's overall rank in Minimum is dragged down almost entirely by the graphics card. The data suggests that even a modest GPU upgrade would dramatically improve this system's standing in the game, whereas CPU-bound improvements would yield smaller gains given the 1050 Ti's limitations.

GPU Role

The GTX 1050 Ti brings 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 1,291 MHz with a boost clock of 1,392 MHz. The card's 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs are modest by modern standards, and its 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 compute reflects the Pascal architecture's age. The memory clock operates at 1,752 MHz, translating to 7 Gbps effective, which is adequate for 2016-era titles but strained by Minimum's demands at higher resolutions.

In Minimum's measured results, the GPU's 4 GB VRAM capacity appears sufficient at 1080p, where the card delivers playable frame rates, but the bandwidth and compute limitations become evident as resolution increases. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 11, and even at 4K Low the card only manages 23 FPS. The 25th percentile GPU ranking aligns with these results — the 1050 Ti is positioned at the lower boundary of what can handle modern third-person shooters, and Minimum's engine scales predictably with the card's modest specifications.

The card's pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s and texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s are the limiting factors at higher resolutions, where fill-rate demands outpace the GPU's capability. The 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors indicate this is a low-power part, which explains its performance ceiling but also makes it a viable option for systems with limited power delivery.

FAQ

Q: What is the best frame rate this combo achieves in Minimum?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 66 at 1080p with Low settings. The next best is 50 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 42 FPS at both 1080p High and 1440p Low.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 11 on Ultra to 23 on Low settings. High settings yield 15 FPS, and Medium produces 17 FPS with a minimum of 15 and maximum of 20 FPS.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more limiting in this configuration?

A: The GPU is significantly more limiting. The GTX 1050 Ti ranks at the 25th percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-9400 ranks at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. The combo's overall rank of 3,655 out of 3,712 reflects the GPU's bottleneck.

Q: What settings provide the most consistent frame rates?

A: At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 50 FPS average with a minimum of 43 and maximum of 58 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it averages 32 FPS with a range of 28 to 37 FPS. The Medium preset provides the most stable experience across resolutions.

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The 1050 Ti's average benchmark score of 4,193 is 0.6% higher than the AMD Radeon R5 M330 and 1% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M. It trails the Quadro K3000M by 1.1% and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 by 1.8%.

Q: What is the CPU's single-core performance relative to its multi-core performance?

A: The i5-9400 scores 935 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 6,629 in multi-core. In Geekbench, it scores 1,389 single-core and 5,141 multi-core. The single-core results are competitive for its class, but the 6-core, 6-thread configuration limits multi-threaded scaling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows its strongest results. Low settings deliver 66 FPS average, making this the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS. Medium settings produce 50 FPS with a narrow band of 43 to 58 FPS, indicating consistent frame pacing. High settings drop to 42 FPS, while Ultra falls to 32 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 16 FPS (24% reduction), while the step from Medium to High costs 8 FPS (16% reduction), and High to Ultra costs 10 FPS (24% reduction). This pattern suggests that the GPU's compute resources are increasingly taxed as visual effects multiply, but the 1080p resolution keeps the card within its fill-rate comfort zone.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops across all settings. Low settings still manage 42 FPS, which is playable for a third-person shooter. Medium produces 32 FPS with a range of 28 to 37 FPS, High drops to 27 FPS, and Ultra falls to 21 FPS. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p represents a 78% increase in pixel count, and the FPS drops reflect this proportionally. Low settings lose 36% of their performance (66 to 42 FPS), while Ultra loses 34% (32 to 21 FPS), indicating that the GPU is bandwidth-limited rather than compute-limited at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results become largely unplayable. Low settings yield 23 FPS, Medium drops to 17 FPS, High falls to 15 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 11 FPS. The 4K resolution quadruples the pixel count of 1080p, and the GPU's 112.1 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain the demand. The Medium setting's minimum of 15 FPS and maximum of 20 FPS show tight variance, but all values sit below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo in Minimum, regardless of settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 66 at 1080p to 42 at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 23 at 4K (a 45% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 50 to 32 to 17 FPS, representing 36% and 47% drops respectively. High settings go from 42 to 27 to 15 FPS, a 36% and 44% decline. Ultra settings drop from 32 to 21 to 11 FPS, a 34% and 48% decline.

The consistency of these percentage drops — all falling between 34% and 36% for the first step and 44% to 48% for the second — reveals that the GPU is the sole limiting factor. A CPU-bound scenario would show diminishing FPS drops at higher resolutions, as the processor would become less relevant when pixel fill rates dominate. Instead, the uniform scaling indicates that the GTX 1050 Ti's pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s and texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s are the hard constraints. The 4K Ultra result of 11 FPS is particularly telling: even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot approach playable frame rates at this resolution.

The bandwidth figure of 112.1 GB/s also correlates with the observed scaling. At 1080p, 66 FPS at Low settings suggests the card operates near its memory bandwidth ceiling. When resolution increases, the additional memory traffic per frame pushes the GPU past its bandwidth capacity, causing the linear FPS degradation. The CPU's dual-channel DDR4 support and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are not the bottleneck here — the GPU's memory subsystem is.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 50 FPS average with a 43 to 58 FPS range provides a reasonably smooth experience for a third-person shooter, and the frame time consistency (15 FPS variance) suggests stable gameplay without major stutters. Low settings at 1080p achieve 66 FPS, which is superior for competitive play, but the visual downgrade may be too severe for some players. High settings at 1080p drop to 42 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less fluid than Medium.

For users willing to accept lower resolution, 1440p Low at 42 FPS is the only viable option above 1080p. The 1440p Medium setting at 32 FPS is marginal, and the 28 FPS minimum approaches the threshold where input lag becomes noticeable. All 4K settings are below 24 FPS and should be avoided entirely — even 4K Low at 23 FPS is not sufficient for a shooter that requires responsive aiming.

The Ultra preset offers no advantages at any resolution. At 1080p Ultra, the 32 FPS average is 36% lower than Medium, and at 1440p Ultra the 21 FPS result is unplayable. The visual improvements from Ultra settings do not justify the performance cost given the GPU's limitations. The data suggests that Medium 1080p is the "sweet spot," with Low 1080p as the fallback for players who prioritize frame rate above all else.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides 6 cores and 6 threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for Minimum's engine. The CPU's Cinebench R20 scores of 392 single-core and 2,784 multi-core, along with Geekbench scores of 1,389 single-core and 5,141 multi-core, place it in the mid-range of desktop processors — the 47th percentile ranking confirms this position.

In Minimum, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS scaling with resolution follows GPU-bound behavior, and the i5-9400's processing capability is unlikely to be the constraint at any resolution. The CPU's 6 threads are sufficient for the game's engine, which likely uses fewer than 4 threads for typical gameplay workloads. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz provides adequate single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 935.

The CPU's nearest rivals — the Core i7-1068NG7, Core i7-10710U, and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 — are all within 0.4% of the i5-9400's average benchmark score, indicating that this processor is well-matched to its performance class. The fact that the combo ranks in the bottom 1.5% of all tested configurations, despite the CPU being in the middle of the pack, confirms that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck. Upgrading the graphics card would yield significantly larger performance gains in Minimum than replacing the CPU, which would likely produce negligible improvements given the current GPU's constraints.