Overpower

The pairing of an Intel Core i5-10400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a striking benchmark profile in Overpower, where the GPU’s immense raw power is consistently moderated by the CPU’s older architecture. The data shows a system that delivers high average frame rates across all resolutions, but the scaling patterns reveal that the processor is the primary constraint at lower settings. This combination ranks 295th out of 1744 tested combos in the game, placing it in the top 17% of all configurations, a strong result that underscores the GPU’s dominance despite the CPU bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is surprisingly modest, which directly indicates that the Intel Core i5-10400F is the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 169.9 at 1920x1080 to 153.8 at 3840x2160, a decrease of only 16.1 FPS (about 9.5%). This narrow gap suggests that even at 4K, the CPU is still holding back the RTX 4090 from reaching its full potential. The GPU is clearly capable of far more, as evidenced by its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance, but the processor’s 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock cannot feed frames fast enough to saturate the graphics card at these settings.

The pattern becomes more pronounced as settings increase. At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 129.5 at 1080p to 109.6 at 4K, a reduction of 19.9 FPS (about 15.4%). While this is a larger percentage drop than at Low, the absolute values remain remarkably close, indicating that the GPU is still not the primary bottleneck. The RTX 4090’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for 4K textures, yet the measured results show that raising resolution does not proportionally reduce performance. This is the signature of a CPU-limited system: the workload shifts, but the processor’s 6 cores and 12 threads remain the fixed ceiling.

At Medium settings, the scaling is even flatter. The average FPS goes from 139.7 at 1080p to 130.7 at 4K, a mere 9 FPS difference (6.4%). This near-flat scaling across a 4x pixel increase is definitive proof that the Intel Core i5-10400F is the limiting component. The CPU’s 14 nm process node and Comet Lake architecture, while capable, simply cannot generate enough draw calls or physics calculations to push the GPU harder. The data suggests that for this combo, resolution is almost irrelevant to performance; the frame rate is dictated by the processor’s throughput, not the graphics card’s render speed.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate that High settings offer the best balance between visual fidelity and performance for this combo. At 1920x1080, High yields 136.9 FPS, compared to 129.5 FPS at Ultra and 139.7 FPS at Medium. The jump from Medium to High costs only 2.8 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 7.4 FPS. This suggests that the High preset provides nearly all of the visual benefits of Ultra without the disproportionate frame rate penalty. The GPU’s 176 ROPs and 512 TMUs are more than capable of handling High settings, and the CPU’s load does not increase enough to become a further bottleneck.

At 2560x1440, High produces 132.7 FPS, which is only 3.6 FPS behind Medium’s 136.5 FPS. This is a negligible difference for a significant visual upgrade. At 3840x2160, High achieves 123.5 FPS, which is 7.2 FPS behind Medium but still 13.9 FPS ahead of Ultra. The data consistently shows that High is the sweet spot. Low settings, while delivering the highest frame rates, sacrifice too much visual quality for a marginal gain: at 4K, Low is 30.3 FPS faster than High, but the visual degradation in a fast-paced action game is not worth that trade-off when High already exceeds 120 FPS at all resolutions.

Ultra settings are not recommended for this combo. The frame rate at 4K Ultra drops to 109.6 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 13.9 FPS loss compared to High. Given that the CPU is the limiting factor, the extra GPU workload from Ultra settings does not translate into a better experience; it simply reduces the already-throttled frame rate. The measured data favors High for a consistent, high-refresh experience across all tested resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, yet its role is underutilized due to the CPU. The GPU’s benchmarks are impressive: a Passmark G3D score of 38194 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 place it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, has an average score of 66733 versus the RTX 4090’s 66473, a negligible 0.4% difference. The GPU’s base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz are high, and its 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores provide ample compute for modern game effects.

In Overpower, the GPU’s VRAM and memory bandwidth are not stressed. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 384-bit bus and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is far beyond what this game requires at any resolution. The measured FPS data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as the frame rate only drops to 109.6 FPS. This confirms the GPU’s raw power, but it also highlights the waste in this configuration. The RTX 4090’s 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance is effectively idle in many scenes because the CPU cannot issue instructions fast enough. The GPU’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are never fully utilized, as evidenced by the minimal frame rate differences between 1080p and 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 169.9 FPS, Medium 139.7 FPS, High 136.9 FPS, and Ultra 129.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 40.4 FPS, which is substantial, but the gap between Medium and High is only 2.8 FPS. This indicates that the CPU is already struggling to keep up at 1080p, as the frame rate does not scale linearly with the GPU workload. The processor’s Passmark multithread score of 12115 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 suggest it has moderate multi-threaded capability, but its single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread score of 2541) is the limiting factor for game logic.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the same pattern. Low settings yield 163.2 FPS, a drop of only 6.7 FPS from 1080p. Medium produces 136.5 FPS, High 132.7 FPS, and Ultra 123.1 FPS. The difference between Medium and High at 1440p is 3.8 FPS, and the difference between High and Ultra is 9.6 FPS. The data shows that the CPU bottleneck persists, as the frame rate drop from 1080p to 1440p is minimal across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are still robust. Low settings achieve 153.8 FPS, Medium 130.7 FPS, High 123.5 FPS, and Ultra 109.6 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced here, particularly at High settings (9.2 FPS) and Ultra settings (13.5 FPS), but the absolute numbers remain above 100 FPS. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is finally beginning to contribute more to the performance equation, but the CPU still holds the overall ceiling. The measured data across all 12 configurations shows a consistent pattern: the frame rate is heavily influenced by settings but only mildly by resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 295th out of 1744 tested combinations in Overpower, placing it in the top 16.9% of all configurations. This is a strong ranking, driven almost entirely by the RTX 4090’s exceptional performance. The CPU’s percentile versus all CPUs is 73, and its average benchmark score is 14168, which puts it in the same performance class as the AMD EPYC 7552 (deltaPct of 0.4%) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (deltaPct of -0.8%). The GPU’s percentile versus all GPUs is 91, with an average score of 66473, placing it just 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40.

The rank of 295 out of 1744 is notable because it shows that despite the CPU being a mid-range part from 2020, the GPU’s sheer power boosts the combo to a high tier. The data suggests that if the CPU were swapped for a newer, faster model, this combo could rank significantly higher, as the GPU is clearly capable of more. The gap between the GPU’s 91st percentile and the CPU’s 73rd percentile highlights the imbalance in this pairing. The combo’s ranking is a direct result of the GPU carrying the load, and the measured FPS data confirms this, as the system consistently delivers high frame rates that are only limited by the processor’s throughput.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is the bottleneck in this configuration, and the benchmark data makes this clear. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.90 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, this CPU is a capable mid-range processor from the Comet Lake generation. Its 3DMark scores are modest: 688 for single-thread, 2560 for 4-thread, and 4748 for 16-thread. The Cinebench R23 scores are 1453 for single-core and 10297 for multi-core. These numbers place the CPU in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168.

In Overpower, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with frames, and it fails to do so efficiently. The measured FPS data shows that the frame rate does not drop significantly when resolution increases, which is a classic sign of a CPU limit. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as measured by Passmark’s single-thread score of 2541, is the critical factor for game logic, and it is simply not fast enough to keep up with the RTX 4090. The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate, but they do not compensate for the low clock speeds relative to modern processors.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% faster), the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% slower), and the Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% slower). This shows that the i5-10400F is firmly in the mid-range tier. The data indicates that the CPU is the limiting component in this combo, and any increase in settings or resolution does not meaningfully change the frame rate because the processor’s throughput is the fixed constraint. For a game like Overpower, which is an action title, the CPU’s 6 cores are sufficient for threading, but the clock speed and IPC are not high enough to unlock the GPU’s full potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: The benchmark data shows that the combo performs nearly identically across all resolutions. At High settings, the frame rate only drops from 136.9 FPS at 1080p to 123.5 FPS at 4K. This means 3840x2160 is viable, as the system still averages above 120 FPS at 4K High.

Q: Why does the frame rate not drop much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The measured FPS data shows a minimal drop, such as from 169.9 FPS at 1080p Low to 153.8 FPS at 4K Low. This indicates the Intel Core i5-10400F is the limiting factor, as the GPU has enough headroom to handle the increased resolution without a proportional performance penalty.

Q: Which settings preset should I use?

A: The data favors High settings. At 1440p, High yields 132.7 FPS, which is only 3.8 FPS behind Medium but 9.6 FPS ahead of Ultra. At 4K, High provides 123.5 FPS, which is a good balance of visual quality and performance.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU?

A: Yes. The frame rate scaling pattern, where 4K performance is close to 1080p performance, is a clear sign of a CPU bottleneck. The CPU’s single-thread score of 2541 and its 73rd percentile ranking indicate it cannot fully feed the RTX 4090.

Q: How does this combo rank against others in the game?

A: This combo ranks 295th out of 1744 tested combinations. This places it in the top 17% of all configurations, which is strong due to the GPU. The GPU’s 91st percentile ranking versus the CPU’s 73rd percentile highlights the imbalance.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 109.6, which is still above 100 FPS. However, the data shows that High settings at 4K provide 123.5 FPS, a 13.9 FPS improvement, making High the better choice for smoother gameplay.