Minimum

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-9400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 in Minimum reveal a steep performance curve as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 156.2 FPS, but dropping to 1440p reduces that to 99.1 FPS, and 4K further cuts it to 56.9 FPS. This pattern—a roughly 36% loss from 1080p to 1440p and another 43% loss from 1440p to 4K at Low settings—indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as pixel count rises. The data clearly shows a rendering-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is even more punishing. The system delivers 76.8 FPS at 1080p, 49.4 FPS at 1440p, and only 27.8 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs 35.7% of the frame rate, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs 43.7%. These drops are consistent with a GPU that is being increasingly saturated by the workload, rather than a CPU bottleneck. If the processor were the limiting factor, the scaling from 1440p to 4K would typically show a smaller percentage decline, as the CPU's work per frame remains relatively constant while the GPU's pixel workload expands.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, the difference is 79.4 FPS (156.2 vs 76.8), but at 4K it narrows to 29.1 FPS (56.9 vs 27.8). This compression of the settings range at 4K is a classic sign that the GPU is hitting its compute ceiling; even dropping to Low cannot fully compensate for the sheer pixel throughput required. The benchmark results indicate that players targeting 4K on this hardware will face a hard performance wall, while 1080p and 1440p offer much more headroom.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060's specifications directly explain the observed frame rates. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory subsystem is adequate for 1080p and 1440p in this title, but the 4K results suggest that both bandwidth and raw compute are stretched. The GPU's boost clock of 1680 MHz, combined with 1920 shading units, delivers 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This level of throughput corresponds to the mid-range positioning of the card, which sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs in the database.

The card's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark scores include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, which scores 15996 (0.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700, which scores 16351 (1.7% higher). The RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 16074 places it slightly ahead of the RX 7600S but behind the Pro 5700. This tight grouping explains why the measured FPS in Minimum are respectable but not class-leading. The GPU's 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present on the die, but this game, released in 2014, does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS, so those units remain idle. The effective memory speed of 14 Gbps is a key contributor to the texture-heavy scenes, yet the 4K Ultra result of 27.8 FPS demonstrates that the card's 48 ROPs are insufficient for extreme pixel fill rates.

The PassMark DirectX 11 score of 110 and DirectX 12 score of 53 indicate that the card performs better under older API workloads, which aligns with a 2014 title. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 is modest, further confirming that this GPU is a mid-tier part. The data suggests that the RTX 2060 is the primary limiter at 4K, while at 1080p the CPU may start to play a more significant role, as evidenced by the smaller FPS gap between Medium and High settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in Minimum?*

A: The highest measured average is 156.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 150 FPS.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable on this hardware?

A: The data indicates marginal viability. At 4K Low, the combo produces 56.9 FPS, which is playable, but 4K High drops to 37.6 FPS, and 4K Ultra falls to 27.8 FPS. Only Low settings at 4K approach a smooth 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, which is 0.5% higher than the RX 7600S's score of 15996. This places the two cards within a negligible margin of each other in aggregate performance.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile relative to all processors?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, indicating it is exactly mid-pack in the database's aggregate rankings. Its average benchmark score is 2305.

Q: Which settings preset provides the most balanced experience at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings yield 77.1 FPS, which is a strong balance between visual quality and smoothness. High settings drop to 63.2 FPS, while Low jumps to 99.1 FPS but with reduced visual fidelity.

Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested combinations for this game?

A: No. The combo ranks 1391 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum, placing it in the bottom 20% of all configurations tested for this specific title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 116.7 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over High's 99.8 FPS while still providing a noticeable visual upgrade over Low's 156.2 FPS. For players with 60 Hz displays, High at 1080p is sufficient and offers better image quality, but for high-refresh monitors, Medium is the sweet spot—it nearly doubles the 60 FPS threshold without the steep cost of dropping to Low.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. Medium produces 77.1 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS and represents the best balance for this resolution. High at 63.2 FPS is still playable, but it leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Low at 99.1 FPS is an option for competitive play, but the visual compromise is significant. Ultra at 49.4 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay, as it falls below the 60 FPS target.

For 3840x2160, the options are limited. Low settings at 56.9 FPS is the only preset that approaches a playable 60 FPS, albeit barely. Medium and High drop to 39.6 FPS and 37.6 FPS respectively, which are suited only for slower-paced exploration or screenshots. Ultra at 27.8 FPS is effectively unplayable for a third-person shooter. The data strongly suggests that 4K should be avoided unless the player is willing to accept Low settings and a slightly sub-60 FPS experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete matrix across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 156.2 FPS, Medium yields 116.7 FPS, High delivers 99.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 76.8 FPS. This represents a spread of 79.4 FPS between the lowest and highest presets, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decline noticeably: Low achieves 99.1 FPS, Medium reaches 77.1 FPS, High manages 63.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49.4 FPS. The spread here is 49.7 FPS, showing that the settings choices have a slightly smaller impact as resolution increases. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset costs between 36.5% (Low) and 35.7% (Ultra) of the frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the results are the most constrained: Low produces 56.9 FPS, Medium yields 39.6 FPS, High drops to 37.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27.8 FPS. The spread narrows to 29.1 FPS, confirming the GPU's saturation point. Notably, the difference between Medium and High at 4K is only 2.0 FPS, suggesting that these presets impose similar pixel-shading loads. The largest single drop in the entire dataset is from 1080p Low (156.2 FPS) to 1440p Low (99.1 FPS), a loss of 57.1 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It belongs to the Coffee Lake architecture on a 14 nm process, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1125 in single-core, placing it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 2305 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals: the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2300 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Xeon E-2134 scores 2295 (0.4% higher). The Core i7-8809G scores 2319, which is 0.6% higher.

In Minimum, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The fact that the combo ranks 1391 out of 1733 tested combos suggests that the processor is not a standout performer in this title. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (156.2 FPS) is high enough that the CPU could become a limiting factor if settings are lowered further, but the data does not show a clear CPU bottleneck at the tested presets. The 6-core, 6-thread configuration is adequate for a 2014 title, which was designed for the dual-core and quad-core era. The lack of hyperthreading means the CPU has 6 threads, but modern games rarely utilize more than 4-6 threads effectively, so this is not a significant handicap here.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s with dual-channel DDR4 support is sufficient for the GPU's demands. The PCIe Gen 3 x16 interface provides the necessary data path. The processor's boost clock of 4.10 GHz is the key asset; at 1080p, the higher IPC and clock speed help maintain frame rates above 100 FPS in most presets. However, the CPU's 50th percentile ranking indicates that it is neither a weak link nor a strength, and the overall combo ranking is dragged down by the GPU's mid-tier position.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1391 out of 1733 tested combos in Minimum. This places the configuration in the bottom 20% of all tested systems, which is a surprising result given the individual components' mid-range status. The GPU sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, and the CPU at the 50th percentile, so the combo ranking is lower than either component's individual percentile would suggest.

This discrepancy indicates that Minimum is particularly sensitive to the combination of CPU and GPU, or that many other tested combos feature higher-end components. The RTX 2060's nearest GPU rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, scores 15996 (0.5% lower), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15786 (1.8% lower). These close scores suggest that the RTX 2060 is not far off from other mid-range cards, yet the overall combo ranking implies that many systems with similar GPUs also pair them with more powerful CPUs.

The data shows that this combo is capable of smooth 1080p and acceptable 1440p gameplay, but it is far from the top of the heap. The rank of 1391 out of 1733 means that 342 other combos perform worse, which is a small minority. For players with this hardware, the measured FPS at 1080p Medium (116.7 FPS) and High (99.8 FPS) are solid, but the low overall ranking suggests that the hardware is better suited for older or less demanding titles than for Minimum at high settings. The combination is functional but not competitive against the broader field of tested hardware.