Minimum

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB produces a wide spread of frame rates in Minimum, a Third-Person Shooter from 2014. The data shows a system that is heavily influenced by graphics settings, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint as resolution increases. This analysis walks through the measured FPS data to explain how each component contributes to the final experience.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 232.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 153.9 FPS, a reduction of approximately 34%. At 4K, the same Low preset yields 78.5 FPS, which is roughly half of the 1440p result. This steep decline indicates that the rendering load is scaling dramatically with pixel count, a clear sign that the GPU is doing the heavy lifting.

When the settings are raised to Ultra, the scaling behavior becomes even more pronounced. The 1080p Ultra score is 115.9 FPS, which drops to 74.1 FPS at 1440p (a 36% decrease) and then to 38.1 FPS at 4K (a further 49% decrease). The fact that the 4K Ultra result is less than a third of the 1080p Low result suggests that the combination of high resolution and high settings is overwhelming the 8 GB frame buffer and the GPU's compute throughput.

The data indicates that the limiting component at 4K is undeniably the GPU. The CPU, with its six cores and six threads, appears capable of feeding the graphics card at lower resolutions but becomes less relevant as the pixel workload increases. Specifically, the gap between 1440p and 4K at Medium settings (117.3 FPS vs. 59.5 FPS) is a 49% drop, which is a larger relative loss than the 1080p to 1440p transition (180.9 FPS to 117.3 FPS, a 35% drop). This non-linear scaling is typical of a system where the GPU is hitting a memory bandwidth or raw compute ceiling.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its L3 cache is 9 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1125 in single-core, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Minimum, the CPU's role appears to be sufficient for the lower resolution targets. At 1080p Low, the 232.2 FPS result suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate is high enough to indicate that the GPU is still able to push frames quickly. However, the CPU's limitations become apparent when comparing its performance to the GPU's capabilities. The i5-9400's average benchmark score is 2305, which is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, which scores 2300 (a deltaPct of 0.2%). This suggests that the i5-9400 is not a top-tier performer even among its contemporaries.

The data suggests that while the CPU can keep up with the GPU at 1080p, it may start to hold back performance in scenarios where the GPU is not fully saturated. For instance, the difference between 1080p Low (232.2 FPS) and 1440p Low (153.9 FPS) is significant, but the CPU is likely still providing enough instructions to avoid being the main constraint. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz is modest by modern standards, and the lack of hyper-threading (only six threads) means that heavily threaded game logic could theoretically cause hitches, but the measured average FPS does not indicate a severe CPU bottleneck at any resolution tested.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB is the dominant component in this pairing. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, it features 4352 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. Its memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 2310 MHz and a boost clock of 2535 MHz.

The GPU's influence is clear when examining the performance scaling across settings. At 4K, the difference between Low (78.5 FPS) and High (51.9 FPS) is 26.6 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra (38.1 FPS) is 13.8 FPS. This shows that each step up in quality has a diminishing but still significant cost. The fact that the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB's 3DMark Steel Nomad score is 2913, which is exactly the same as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (deltaPct 0%), is an outlier in the data; the two cards are not comparable in real-world gaming, but the benchmark score places the 4060 Ti in the 17th percentile of all GPUs.

The 8 GB VRAM is likely a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 38.1 FPS. At this resolution and quality, the game is probably exceeding the memory capacity, causing the GPU to rely on slower system memory or to reduce texture quality dynamically. The fact that the 1440p Ultra result (74.1 FPS) is much more playable than the 4K Ultra result suggests that the 8 GB capacity is adequate for 1440p but insufficient for 4K with high-quality textures. The GPU's 128-bit memory bus, while efficient, also contributes to this limitation, as the 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is not exceptionally high for a card in this class.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and performance is found at 2560x1440 with High settings. This configuration produces an average of 95.5 FPS, which is smooth for a third-person shooter. The 1440p Medium setting yields 117.3 FPS, which is also excellent, but High offers a noticeable visual improvement for a 21.8 FPS sacrifice.

At 1920x1080, the High preset (150.8 FPS) is the best choice for players with high-refresh-rate monitors, as it provides a fluid experience without the performance hit of Ultra (115.9 FPS). The 1080p Medium setting (180.9 FPS) is also viable, but High is the sweet spot for visual fidelity. The Low preset at 1080p (232.2 FPS) is only useful for competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized over graphics.

For 4K, the data does not favor any preset above Low. The 4K Low result (78.5 FPS) is playable, but the Medium (59.5 FPS) and High (51.9 FPS) results are borderline, and Ultra (38.1 FPS) is not recommended for a smooth experience. Players targeting 4K should stick to Low or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p to achieve higher quality settings. The 4K High result is only 51.9 FPS, which may feel stuttery in fast-paced action.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos for Minimum, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB ranks 743rd out of 1733 total combinations. This placement puts it in the 43rd percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it performs better than a majority of configurations but is far from the top tier.

This ranking is somewhat surprising given the GPU's modern architecture, but it is likely dragged down by the CPU's modest performance in the game's engine. The i5-9400's 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggests it is an average processor, and when paired with a GPU that is in the 17th percentile of all GPUs (based on the 3DMark score), the combined result is a mid-pack performer. The data implies that while the RTX 4060 Ti is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions, the overall combo is held back by the CPU in certain scenarios, preventing it from reaching the upper echelons of the ranking.

The ranking also suggests that many other combos, likely featuring more powerful CPUs, achieve higher average FPS in Minimum. The deltaPct values for the CPU's rivals show that the i5-9400 is within 0.6% of the Intel Core i7-8809G, which means that swapping the CPU for a similarly priced alternative would not yield a significant improvement in this game. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, has a similar 3DMark score (2907, deltaPct 0.2%), suggesting that the extra VRAM does not provide a performance advantage in this particular benchmark.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are consistently high across all settings. The Low preset achieves 232.2 FPS, Medium reaches 180.9 FPS, High delivers 150.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 115.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 116.3 FPS, which shows that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down proportionally. Low yields 153.9 FPS, Medium produces 117.3 FPS, High manages 95.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 74.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 79.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of the higher pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops considerably. Low is the only playable option at 78.5 FPS, followed by Medium at 59.5 FPS, High at 51.9 FPS, and Ultra at 38.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 40.4 FPS, which is the smallest absolute spread of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The data shows a clear hierarchy: the combo excels at 1080p, is very good at 1440p, and struggles to maintain high quality at 4K.