Overpower

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces a fascinating dataset in Overpower, revealing a system where the GPU’s raw might is consistently tempered by a six-core CPU from 2020. The measured frames per second show a clear pattern: the RTX 5070 is capable of far more than the i5-10400F can feed it, especially at lower resolutions where the processor’s limitations become the primary bottleneck. This combination ranks 982nd out of 3,713 tested setups, placing it in the upper third of all configurations, yet the data suggests that the GPU is often waiting on the CPU to catch up.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combination delivers an average of 109 FPS. This is the lowest average at 1080p, while the Low preset reaches 168 FPS, indicating that the CPU is likely limiting performance as settings increase.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14,185, which places it 0.2% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6756E (14,163) and 0.5% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14,115). It trails the Intel Core 7 160UL by 0.3% (14,232) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C by 0.6% (14,277).

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth and size?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 1750 MHz, which translates to 28 Gbps effective.

Q: What is the best average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 168 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The second-best is 162 FPS at 2560x1440 with Low settings, showing that the GPU can push high frame rates when the CPU load is minimized.

Q: How does the GPU’s average benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40,377, which is 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40,318) and 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (40,063). It is 1.2% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870) and 2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (39,568).

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock and how many cores does it have?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It belongs to the Comet Lake architecture on a 14 nm process node.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Overpower’s demands. The GPU’s base clock is 2325 MHz, boosting to 2512 MHz, and it houses 6,144 shading units alongside 192 tensor cores and 48 RT cores. The measured data shows that the GPU’s performance ceiling is high: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 168 FPS, which is only 14% higher than the 1440p Low result of 162 FPS, suggesting the GPU is not the limiting factor at these settings.

The RTX 5070’s average benchmark score of 40,377 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 29,137. The GPU’s FP32 compute is 30.87 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 201.0 GPixel/s, indicating raw capability that should easily handle Overpower’s action sequences. However, the frame rate data reveals a different story: at 4K Ultra, the combo only manages 82 FPS, while at 4K Low, it reaches 153 FPS. This 71 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is substantial, but the more telling comparison is between 4K and 1080p at the same settings, where the GPU’s headroom is clearly being constrained by the CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 982nd out of 3,713 tested combos in Overpower, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all systems. This is a solidly above-average result, but not exceptional for a GPU that sits in the 82nd percentile overall. The discrepancy between the GPU’s percentile and the combo’s rank suggests that the CPU is dragging down the overall performance, as the i5-10400F only reaches the 68th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 14,185 is remarkably close to its nearest rivals, with deltas of only 0.2% to 0.6%. This indicates that the i5-10400F is a consistent performer, but its 6 cores and 12 threads are dated compared to modern CPUs. The combo rank of 982 implies that many other pairings with stronger CPUs achieve higher frame rates in Overpower, even with less capable GPUs. The data suggests that if the same RTX 5070 were paired with a more powerful processor, the combo rank would likely improve significantly, as the GPU’s 82nd percentile score is clearly underutilized in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 168 FPS, Medium drops to 140 FPS, High to 131 FPS, and Ultra to 109 FPS. The Medium preset has a recorded minimum of 119 FPS and a maximum of 161 FPS, showing a 42 FPS variance within the run. The 59 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is notable, but the scaling suggests that the CPU is becoming a bottleneck as settings increase, since the GPU should handle these resolutions with ease.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 162 FPS on Low, 126 FPS on Medium, 117 FPS on High, and 97 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset again has the only min/max data, showing 107 FPS minimum and 145 FPS maximum. The drop from 1080p Low (168 FPS) to 1440p Low (162 FPS) is just 6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not the limiting factor at Low settings. However, the gap widens at Ultra: 109 FPS at 1080p versus 97 FPS at 1440p, a 12 FPS difference that points to increased GPU load.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 153 FPS on Low, 107 FPS on Medium, 99 FPS on High, and 82 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS. The most striking observation is the 4K Low result of 153 FPS, which is only 9 FPS lower than the 1440p Low result of 162 FPS. This suggests that even at 4K, the RTX 5070 is not fully utilized at Low settings, as the CPU’s single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 688) becomes the limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

Based purely on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience for this combo. It delivers an average of 126 FPS with a minimum of 107 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without the CPU bottleneck seen at Low settings. The 1440p Medium result is only 14 FPS lower than the 1080p Medium result of 140 FPS, but the visual quality improvement at 1440p is substantial. The minimum of 107 FPS keeps the experience above typical 60 FPS thresholds, making it a safe choice for action sequences.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the 1080p Low preset at 168 FPS is the best option, but the data implies that the CPU is already at its limit, as increasing resolution to 1440p Low only costs 6 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset at 82 FPS is playable but shows the largest gap between settings, indicating that the GPU is finally being pushed while the CPU struggles to keep up. The Medium preset at 1080p (140 FPS) also merits consideration, as it offers a 32 FPS improvement over Ultra at the same resolution while maintaining a minimum of 119 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process node. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz boosts to 4.30 GHz, and it has 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s memory bandwidth is 42.7 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4, which is modest by modern standards. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 10,283 in multi-core and 1,451 in single-core, while its 3DMark scores show a clear scaling pattern: 1,350 for 2 threads, 2,560 for 4 threads, 3,929 for 8 threads, and 4,748 for 16 threads.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 14,185 places it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals being server and mobile processors with similar scores. The single-thread performance is particularly telling: a Passmark single-thread score of 2,541 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1,420. In Overpower, the CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 168 FPS, but at 1080p High, it drops to 131 FPS. This 37 FPS drop is unlikely to be caused by the GPU, which has ample headroom, but rather by the CPU’s inability to feed the GPU with enough draw calls as settings increase. The 4K Low result of 153 FPS versus 1080p Low of 168 FPS shows only a 9% drop, proving that the CPU is the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is remarkably small at Low settings, which is the clearest indicator of a CPU bottleneck. At Low, the averages are 168 FPS at 1080p, 162 FPS at 1440p, and 153 FPS at 4K. This represents only a 9% decrease from 1080p to 4K, which is far less than the 4x pixel count increase would suggest if the GPU were the limiting factor. The RTX 5070 clearly has enough bandwidth and compute to handle 4K Low, but the i5-10400F’s single-thread performance caps the frame rate.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more pronounced: 140 FPS at 1080p, 126 FPS at 1440p (10% drop), and 107 FPS at 4K (23.5% drop from 1080p). This indicates that as settings increase, the GPU becomes more of a factor, but the CPU still exerts influence. At Ultra settings, the averages are 109 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p (11% drop), and 82 FPS at 4K (24.8% drop). The 4K Ultra result of 82 FPS is the lowest in the dataset, showing that the GPU is finally being stressed, yet the CPU’s limitations prevent it from reaching the higher frame rates seen with stronger processors. The data strongly suggests that the RTX 5070 could deliver significantly higher FPS at 1080p and 1440p if paired with a CPU with better single-thread performance, as the GPU’s 82nd percentile score is not being fully realized in this configuration.