Overpower

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Overpower, though the data reveals a distinct shift in system bottleneck behavior as resolution and settings increase. The 6-core, 6-thread Coffee Lake processor provides a solid foundation, while the RDNA 3.0 GPU demonstrates its capability to drive high frame rates, particularly at lower settings. However, the scaling patterns across the measured resolutions indicate that the graphics card becomes the primary limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU’s influence is more pronounced at lower resolutions and higher frame rates. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to clarify the roles of each component.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the magnitude of that decline varies significantly depending on the quality preset. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 103.7 FPS at 1080p to 88.7 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 15.0 FPS, and then falls further to 75.8 FPS at 4K, representing a total drop of 27.9 FPS from the 1080p baseline. This pattern suggests that the GPU is the dominant constraint at High settings, as the increased pixel count directly impacts the rendering workload.

The scaling becomes more dramatic when examining the Low settings data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 159 FPS, which is the highest average recorded across any resolution and settings combination. Moving to 1440p Low yields 153.1 FPS, a modest decline of only 5.9 FPS, while 4K Low still maintains a highly playable 137.1 FPS. This relatively flat scaling curve between 1080p and 1440p Low indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to keep frame rates high, and the GPU’s 12 GB of memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle the lower-quality textures and effects without significant performance penalties.

At 4K Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 63.8, which is 39.9% lower than the 4K Low result of 137.1 FPS. This steep drop underscores the GPU’s role as the limiting component at the highest resolution and quality settings. The difference between 1080p Ultra (83.2 FPS) and 4K Ultra (63.8 FPS) is 19.4 FPS, a smaller absolute gap than at Low settings but still a substantial percentage reduction. The data indicates that players targeting 4K will need to compromise on quality settings to maintain smooth frame rates, as the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 73.3 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, based on the Navi 32 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, is the primary driver of high frame rates in Overpower. Its boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz provide substantial compute throughput, with the 35.17 TFLOPS FP32 performance enabling the GPU to handle the game’s action-oriented rendering demands. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical factor for maintaining performance at higher resolutions where texture data and frame buffers require faster memory access.

The GPU’s benchmark scores support its strong in-game performance. With a Passmark G3D score of 22547 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 132758, the RX 7700 XT demonstrates that it is well-suited for modern API workloads. Its percentile ranking of 73rd versus all GPUs places it in the upper tier of available graphics cards, and its average benchmark score of 30097 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which scores 30109 with a deltaPct of 0.0. This near-parity in synthetic benchmarks translates to the measured FPS results, where the GPU consistently delivers playable frame rates even at 4K Medium (87 FPS) and 4K High (75.8 FPS).

The GPU’s VRAM capacity of 12 GB proves adequate for Overpower’s requirements. The fact that the 4K Low setting achieves 137.1 FPS, while 4K High drops to 75.8 FPS, indicates that the memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck at lower settings, but the increased texture detail and effects at higher presets place a greater load on the GPU’s shader units and ROPs. The pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s are sufficient to handle the game’s geometry and texture mapping, but the 4K Ultra result of 63.8 FPS shows that the GPU is nearing its limits when all visual features are enabled at maximum resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, provides a competent foundation for Overpower, but its performance is clearly secondary to the GPU in this configuration. The processor’s base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, combined with 9 MB of shared L3 cache, allow it to keep up with the GPU’s demands in most scenarios. However, its benchmark scores indicate that it is a mid-range part, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it in the 50th percentile versus all CPUs.

The CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p Low settings, where the system achieves 159 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is capable of processing game logic and draw calls quickly enough to keep the GPU fed, but the relatively modest 6-thread count means that the processor is likely the limiting factor at this resolution and settings level. The difference between 1080p Low (159 FPS) and 1440p Low (153.1 FPS) is only 5.9 FPS, which indicates that the CPU can maintain its output even as the GPU’s workload increases, but the 4K Low result of 137.1 FPS shows a more significant 21.9 FPS drop from 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is starting to become more dominant.

At Ultra settings, the CPU’s role diminishes further. The 1080p Ultra result of 83.2 FPS is only 19.4 FPS higher than the 4K Ultra result of 63.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions when quality is maximized. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 2305 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i3-10305 with a score of 2300 and a deltaPct of 0.2, and the Intel Xeon E-2134 with a score of 2295 and a deltaPct of 0.4. This parity suggests that the i5-9400 is not a significant differentiator in this system, and its performance is adequate but not exceptional for Overpower’s requirements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system’s performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 159 FPS on Low settings, 112.2 FPS on Medium, 103.7 FPS on High, and 83.2 FPS on Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium is 46.8 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is 20.5 FPS, showing that the quality preset has a significant impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 153.1 FPS on Low, 96.6 FPS on Medium, 88.7 FPS on High, and 75.2 FPS on Ultra. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Medium settings, where the FPS drops by 15.6, while the Low setting only loses 5.9 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1440p shows a 75.2 FPS average, which is 8 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra result but still comfortably playable.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 137.1 FPS on Low, 87 FPS on Medium, 75.8 FPS on High, and 63.8 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result is particularly noteworthy, as it demonstrates that the RX 7700 XT can drive high refresh rates even at the highest resolution when settings are reduced. The gap between 4K Medium (87 FPS) and 4K High (75.8 FPS) is 11.2 FPS, while the gap between 4K High and 4K Ultra (63.8 FPS) is 12 FPS, indicating that each quality tier has a similar performance cost at this resolution.

Overall, the data shows that the system is capable of maintaining above 60 FPS in all tested configurations, with the only exception being the 4K Ultra result of 63.8 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. The best performance-to-quality balance appears to be at 1440p High, where the system delivers 88.7 FPS, or 1080p Ultra at 83.2 FPS, both of which provide a high-quality visual experience without sacrificing smoothness.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this system in Overpower?

A: The highest average FPS is 159, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is followed by 153.1 FPS at 2560x1440 Low and 137.1 FPS at 3840x2160 Low.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 63.8, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. However, it is the lowest average recorded across all tested configurations.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299), and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295). It is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319).

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is in the 73rd percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30097. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which scores 30109 with a deltaPct of 0.0.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the system achieves 153.1 FPS on Low settings and 75.2 FPS on Ultra settings, representing a difference of 77.9 FPS. This shows that quality settings have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

Q: Does the system perform better at 1080p High or 1440p Medium?

A: The system achieves 103.7 FPS at 1080p High and 96.6 FPS at 1440p Medium. The 1080p High configuration delivers 7.1 FPS more than 1440p Medium, indicating that the lower resolution with higher quality settings yields better frame rates.