Overpower

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a distinctive performance profile in Overpower, one that is heavily dictated by the GPU at higher resolutions and by the CPU’s solid single-threaded throughput at lower ones. The measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy: the combination is playable at 1080p across most settings, but struggles to maintain high refresh rates at 4K, particularly with Ultra presets. The data indicates a system where the RTX 2060, with its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus, becomes the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises, while the 10-core, 16-thread CPU provides ample headroom to avoid limiting performance at standard resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a stark drop in average FPS that is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 115.7 FPS at 1080p to 90.7 FPS at 4K, a reduction of 25.0 FPS or roughly 21.6%. This scaling is relatively mild compared to the higher presets, suggesting that even at 4K Low, the workload is not saturating the GPU’s compute capabilities. However, the pattern changes dramatically with more demanding settings. At High settings, the average drops from 70.8 FPS at 1080p to 53.1 FPS at 4K, a 25.0% decrease. At Ultra, the drop is even more pronounced: from 55.7 FPS at 1080p to 42.5 FPS at 4K, a 23.7% reduction. This non-linear scaling, where the absolute FPS loss is similar but the percentage impact grows, indicates that the RTX 2060’s memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s and its 6 GB VRAM capacity are being pushed to their limits.

The data strongly suggests that the limiting component shifts depending on resolution. At 1080p and 1440p, the CPU’s performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a single-core score of 3093, is sufficient to feed the GPU adequately. For instance, moving from 1080p High to 1440p High only reduces the average FPS from 70.8 to 59.9, a 15.4% penalty that is less than the 25.0% penalty seen when moving from 1440p High to 4K High. This indicates that at 1440p, the GPU is still the bottleneck, but the gap between resolutions is narrower. At 4K, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting factor, as the 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit bus struggle to handle the increased texture and shading demands, causing the frame rate to collapse to 42.5 FPS at Ultra. The benchmark results imply that for a smoother 4K experience, a GPU with more memory and bandwidth would be necessary, as the RTX 2060’s 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate is simply too low for the pixel count of 3840x2160.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060’s specifications directly explain its behavior in Overpower. With a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, the GPU’s raw compute is moderate, but its 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs are responsible for the pixel processing. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, running at 1750 MHz with a 14 Gbps effective rate, provides 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is the critical constraint at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 42.5 suggests that the memory subsystem is saturated. The GPU’s transistor count of 10,800 million on a 445 mm² die, built on TSMC’s 12 nm process, indicates a design that is now dated but still functional for 1080p gaming.

The benchmark data shows that the GPU’s performance scales predictably with settings. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 115.7 is well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the GPU is not fully utilized. However, at 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 42.5, a 63.3% reduction from the 1080p Low figure. This is a clear sign that the GPU’s FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS is insufficient for the heavy pixel shader workloads at high resolutions. The 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present, but Overpower’s rendering likely does not leverage them to the same extent as the traditional rasterization pipeline, meaning the raw shading units are the primary driver. The GPU’s percentile rank of 58 versus all GPUs positions it as a mid-range part, which aligns with its performance in this game: capable at 1080p, but not a 4K powerhouse.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS values, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 70.8 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. However, the Medium preset, at 73.8 FPS, offers a marginal 3.0 FPS improvement over High, suggesting that the visual fidelity gains from High are not worth the slight performance trade-off. For users with a 144 Hz monitor, the Low preset at 115.7 FPS is the only option that approaches that refresh rate, though it sacrifices significant visual quality. At 2560x1440, the High preset yields 59.9 FPS, which is borderline for a 60 Hz display. Dropping to Medium raises this to 67.5 FPS, a 12.7% improvement that makes Medium the more sensible choice for a stable 60 FPS experience. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with an average of 49.9 FPS, is not recommended as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

For 3840x2160, the data is less encouraging. The High preset averages 53.1 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Medium preset drops to 58.2 FPS, which is surprisingly higher than High, indicating that the High preset may impose a specific texture or shadow setting that disproportionately impacts the GPU. However, the Low preset at 4K, with 90.7 FPS, is the only way to achieve a smooth experience at this resolution, but it requires a significant visual downgrade. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 42.5 FPS, is not viable for competitive play. The data suggests that the best experience, balancing visual quality and performance, is the Medium preset at 1440p, which delivers 67.5 FPS. This configuration leverages the CPU’s headroom while keeping the GPU’s memory usage in check.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s capabilities. At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are as follows: Low at 115.7, Medium at 73.8, High at 70.8, and Ultra at 55.7. The difference between Medium and High is minimal, with only 3.0 FPS separating them, while the jump from High to Ultra is a 15.1 FPS drop, indicating a steep performance penalty for the highest preset. At 2560x1440, the values are: Low at 105.8, Medium at 67.5, High at 59.9, and Ultra at 49.9. The scaling from Low to Medium is a 38.3 FPS drop, which is significant, but the subsequent drops to High and Ultra are more gradual, at 7.6 FPS and 10.0 FPS, respectively. This suggests that the Medium preset is a sweet spot for 1440p, as it maintains a higher frame rate than High while offering better visuals than Low.

At 3840x2160, the values are: Low at 90.7, Medium at 58.2, High at 53.1, and Ultra at 42.5. The most striking observation is that Medium outperforms High by 5.1 FPS, which is an anomaly in the data. This could be due to a specific setting in the High preset that is particularly taxing on the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM, such as high-resolution textures that exceed the memory capacity, causing swapping. The Ultra preset, at 42.5 FPS, is 15.7 FPS below Medium, highlighting the extreme demand of the highest settings. Overall, the data shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can handle all presets with average FPS above 55, and 1440p gaming, where it can manage Medium and High presets with playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the overall benchmark database, this specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1423 out of 1744 tested combos in Overpower. This places it in the lower 18.4% of all combinations, which is a low ranking that reflects the GPU’s age and the demanding nature of the game. The CPU itself is a strong performer, with a percentile rank of 88 against all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H with an average score of 32513 and a deltaPct of 0, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 with a score of 32446 and a deltaPct of 0.2, and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 with a score of 32584 and a deltaPct of -0.2. These rivals are all within 0.2% of the i5-14400F’s average benchmark score of 32508, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo.

The GPU, however, has a percentile rank of 58 against all GPUs, which is a more middling position. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600S with an average score of 15996 and a deltaPct of 0.5, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M with a score of 16351 and a deltaPct of -1.7, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 with a score of 16351 and a deltaPct of -1.7. The RTX 2060’s average benchmark score of 16074 is slightly above the RX 7600S but below the Radeon Pro models. This combination of a high-performing CPU and a mid-range GPU results in a combo rank that is dragged down by the GPU’s limitations. The data indicates that to improve this combo’s ranking, a GPU upgrade would be far more impactful than a CPU swap, as the i5-14400F is already performing at a level comparable to its direct rivals. The combo’s rank of 1423 out of 1744 suggests that while it can handle Overpower at 1080p, it is not competitive with more balanced systems that pair similar CPUs with more powerful GPUs.