Overpower

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D in Overpower presents a classic study in component balance, though the data suggests the CPU is the primary constraint. The RTX 5090 D, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, is clearly a top-tier part, ranking in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. However, the Core i5-10400F, a 6-core/12-thread Comet Lake part from 2020, ranks in the 68th percentile among CPUs. The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal that while the GPU has ample headroom, the CPU's capabilities limit the overall performance ceiling, particularly at lower resolutions where the graphics card is less burdened.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data for Overpower shows a distinct pattern as resolution scales from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo achieves 137 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High, the average drops to 131 FPS, and at 3840x2160 High, it falls further to 125 FPS. This is a relatively modest decline of about 8.8% from 1080p to 4K, which is unusual for a high-end GPU. Typically, a GPU-bound scenario would show a much steeper drop, often 30-40% or more, as pixel count quadruples. The gentle slope here strongly indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor, preventing the RTX 5090 D from stretching its legs even at 1080p.

Comparing the Low settings across resolutions reinforces this conclusion. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo hits 168 FPS. At 2560x1440 Low, it drops to 162 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it reaches 153 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 4K on Low settings is only 15 FPS, or roughly 8.9%. If the GPU were the bottleneck, reducing the graphical load to Low would typically yield a massive FPS increase at lower resolutions, but here the gains are capped. The data suggests that the i5-10400F's single-thread performance, reflected in its 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451, is what's holding back the frame rate.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution further highlights the CPU limit. At 1080p, Low yields 168 FPS while Ultra yields 128 FPS, a 40 FPS difference. At 4K, Low yields 153 FPS while Ultra yields 117 FPS, a 36 FPS difference. The absolute FPS values remain in a tight band across all settings and resolutions, with the range spanning from 117 FPS (4K Ultra) to 168 FPS (1080p Low). This narrow spread is the hallmark of a CPU-bound scenario. The GPU is so powerful that even at 4K Ultra, it's not being fully utilized because the CPU cannot feed it data fast enough.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in Overpower?

A: Yes, the data strongly suggests this. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is very flat (137 to 125 FPS on High), which indicates the CPU is limiting performance. A GPU-bound system would show a much larger FPS drop at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's raw performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, placing it in the 92nd percentile. It is 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (score 76904) and 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78940). It also trails the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants by 2.1% and 2.4%.

Q: What is the best settings preset to use at 1440p with this combo?

A: Based on the data, Medium settings at 2560x1440 provide a good balance with an average of 135 FPS and a minimum of 115 FPS. Ultra settings at the same resolution drop to 123 FPS average, which is still playable, but the lower minimum FPS might be less stable.

Q: Does increasing the resolution from 1440p to 4K significantly hurt performance?

A: Not as much as you might expect. On High settings, the average FPS drops from 131 at 1440p to 125 at 4K, a decrease of only 4.6%. This is another sign of CPU limitation, as the GPU is capable of handling the 4K workload without much additional cost.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its peers?

A: The i5-10400F's average benchmark score is 14185. It is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon 6756E (14163, +0.2%) and the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, +0.5%). It is slightly behind the Intel Core 7 160UL (14232, -0.3%) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, -0.6%).

Q: What is the maximum FPS potential of this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 168 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At High settings, the average is 137 FPS, and at Ultra it is 128 FPS. The data does not show any configuration exceeding 168 FPS average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 42.7 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface. In the context of Overpower, these specifications point to a capable but aging mid-range CPU. The benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451, place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs.

The data indicates that the CPU is the primary limiting factor in this combo. The 3DMark scores show a clear scaling pattern: 1350 for 2 threads, 2560 for 4 threads, 3929 for 8 threads, and 4748 for 16 threads. This demonstrates that the processor's performance scales well up to its thread count, but its absolute ceiling is modest compared to modern high-end CPUs. In Overpower, the frame rates appear to be capped by the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls, rather than the GPU's ability to render frames.

The fact that the FPS does not drop significantly when moving from 1080p to 4K, and that the difference between Low and Ultra settings is relatively small, points to a scenario where the CPU is saturated. The i5-10400F's single-thread performance, while decent for its generation, is not sufficient to keep up with the RTX 5090 D's immense rendering power. This is a classic case where a top-tier GPU is paired with a mid-range CPU, resulting in a system that leaves significant GPU performance on the table.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 454th out of 2980 tested combos in Overpower. This places it in the top 15.2% of all tested systems. While this is a solid ranking, it is important to consider the context. The RTX 5090 D is one of the most powerful GPUs available, ranking in the 92nd percentile. If the combo were truly balanced, with a CPU capable of matching the GPU's performance, it would likely rank much higher, potentially in the top 1-2%.

The rank of 454 suggests that while the system is powerful, it is being held back by the CPU. Many other combos with less powerful GPUs but stronger CPUs are likely outperforming it. The data shows that the i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14185 is similar to server and mobile chips like the Xeon 6756E and Ryzen 3 7320C, which are not typically paired with a flagship GPU. This mismatch is reflected in the overall combo ranking, which is good but not exceptional for a system with an RTX 5090 D.

The gap between the GPU's high percentile (92nd) and the combo's rank (454th out of 2980) is telling. It indicates that the CPU is dragging down the system's overall performance in this game. For users looking to maximize their ranking, upgrading the CPU would be the most effective change, as the GPU is clearly not the limiting factor. The data suggests that this combo is a case of overkill on the GPU side and underkill on the CPU side, leading to a system that is powerful but not fully utilized.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation processors. It has 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores, with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The card is equipped with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. Its compute power is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

In the context of Overpower, the GPU's role is to render frames as fast as possible, but the data shows it is not being fully utilized. The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, which is 92nd percentile among all GPUs. However, in this specific game, the measured FPS suggests that the card is often waiting for the CPU. For instance, at 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 117 FPS, which is a demanding scenario for any GPU. Yet, the fact that it only drops to 125 FPS at 4K High and 128 FPS at 4K Medium indicates that the GPU has headroom to spare.

The GPU's memory capacity of 32 GB is far more than what most games, including Overpower, would require, so VRAM is not a limiting factor here. The card's bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s is also immense, ensuring that texture streaming is not an issue. The data shows that the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates, but it is constrained by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls and manage game state. This is particularly evident at 1080p, where the GPU should theoretically be able to render hundreds of frames per second, but the combo only reaches 168 FPS on Low settings.

The comparison to the GPU's nearest rivals is also telling. The RTX 5090 D is only 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT in average benchmark score, which is a laptop GPU. This is surprising given the massive difference in memory and compute specs. It suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 D is performing well, but in a real game like Overpower with a CPU bottleneck, the advantage is diminished. The GPU is clearly the stronger component in this pair, but it is not being given the opportunity to show its full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Overpower provides a detailed look at how this combo performs across different settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the highest average FPS is 168 on Low settings. Medium settings see a drop to 140 FPS, High to 137 FPS, and Ultra to 128 FPS. The minimum FPS recorded at 1080p is 119 on Medium, with a maximum of 161. This shows that even at the lowest settings, the combo cannot break past 168 FPS, reinforcing the CPU limit.

Moving to 2560x1440, the FPS values are slightly lower. Low settings yield 162 FPS, High yields 131 FPS, Medium yields 135 FPS, and Ultra yields 123 FPS. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 115, with a maximum of 155. The difference between 1080p and 1440p on Low settings is only 6 FPS (168 vs 162), which is negligible and points to the CPU being the bottleneck. At Ultra settings, the difference between 1080p and 1440p is 5 FPS (128 vs 123).

At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 153 on Low settings. Medium settings yield 128 FPS, High yields 125 FPS, and Ultra yields 117 FPS. The minimum FPS at 4K is 109 on Medium, with a maximum of 147. The spread between the highest and lowest settings at 4K is 36 FPS (153 Low vs 117 Ultra), which is narrower than the 40 FPS spread at 1080p. This is counterintuitive for a GPU-bound system, where the spread would typically increase at higher resolutions.

The data shows that the combo's performance is remarkably consistent across all resolutions and settings, with the average FPS ranging from 117 to 168. This consistency is a clear indicator that the CPU is the limiting factor. The RTX 5090 D is capable of much higher frame rates, but the i5-10400F cannot keep up. For users, this means that lowering graphical settings or resolution will not yield significant FPS gains in Overpower. The system's performance is capped by the CPU, and any attempt to increase FPS would require a CPU upgrade rather than adjusting game settings.