Overpower

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX presents a study in contrast: a six-core, six-thread Coffee Lake CPU from 2018 driving one of the most powerful GPUs of its generation. The measured frame rates across resolutions and presets reveal where this pairing excels and where it leaves performance on the table. The data shows a system that remains highly playable at every tested setting, though the scaling pattern exposes a distinct bottleneck that becomes more pronounced as resolution drops.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a clear, predictable pattern across all four quality presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 161.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 143.4 FPS at 3840x2160, a drop of roughly 11% that indicates the GPU is still managing the load with considerable headroom. The Medium preset tells a similar story: 134.9 FPS at 1080p, 127.9 FPS at 1440p, and 114.2 FPS at 4K. High settings show 130.8 FPS at 1080p, 122.9 FPS at 1440p, and 107 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, the most demanding configuration, yields 120.9 FPS at 1080p, 103.1 FPS at 1440p, and 89.2 FPS at 4K.

The most telling observation is the magnitude of the 1080p-to-4K penalty. At Low settings, the drop is 18.1 FPS; at Medium, it is 20.7 FPS; at High, 23.8 FPS; and at Ultra, 31.7 FPS. This widening gap suggests that as the GPU load increases, the graphics card becomes the primary limiter, while at lower resolutions the CPU's ceiling restricts how much of the RX 7900 XTX's potential can be realized. The 1080p Low result of 161.5 FPS versus the 1080p Ultra result of 120.9 FPS — a 40.6 FPS spread — indicates that even at the same resolution, the CPU prevents the GPU from stretching its legs fully on the lighter preset. In short, resolution scaling behaves as expected for a high-end GPU, but the absolute frame rates at 1080p are lower than the GPU's raw capabilities would suggest, pointing to the i5-9400 as the constraining factor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why 4K performance remains robust. The GPU carries 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game like Overpower, an Action title, this memory configuration ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets are unlikely to cause stuttering or frame drops. The 6144 shading units, 384 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units provide substantial raw compute, reflected in a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6841 and a Passmark G3D score of 31238.

The clock behavior is also relevant. The GPU's game clock of 2365 MHz and boost clock of 2498 MHz help sustain high frame rates even under sustained load. At 4K Ultra, the combo still manages 89.2 FPS, which is well within playable territory for most users. The fact that the GPU sits in the 85th percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44019, further confirms its high-end status. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (44195, 0.4% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (43667, 0.8% lower), and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (43313, 1.6% lower). The RX 7900 XTX trails the Radeon Pro 580 by a negligible margin and leads the RTX 4090 Mobile by a small one, indicating that it sits at the top tier of graphics hardware.

The GPU's 96 ray tracing cores and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) provide modern feature support, though the measured data does not isolate ray tracing performance specifically. What the numbers do show is that the GPU is never the reason frame rates dip below 89 FPS at any tested setting — the floor is at 4K Ultra, which is still a strong result for a demanding configuration.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It belongs to the Coffee Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process, and features 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are modest by modern standards: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125. The CPU sits at the 50th percentile among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305, placing it in the middle of the pack.

The nearest rivals for the i5-9400 clarify its position. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2300 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i3-1125G4 scores 2299 (0.2% higher), and the Intel Xeon E-2134 scores 2295 (0.4% higher). The Intel Core i7-8809G scores 2319 (0.6% lower). These deltas are all within a single percentage point, confirming that the i5-9400 performs essentially on par with these peers. None of these CPUs are considered high-end by current standards, and the data shows that the processor's six threads are a limiting factor in this game.

The evidence for the CPU bottleneck appears when comparing 1080p Low to 4K Low. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 161.5 FPS; at 4K Low, 143.4 FPS. The GPU is clearly capable of more work at 1080p, but the frame rate ceiling is capped around 161 FPS regardless of how light the graphics load becomes. This pattern holds across all presets at 1080p, with Ultra hitting 120.9 FPS and Low hitting 161.5 FPS — a spread that is smaller than what the GPU alone would produce if unconstrained. The CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads, with no hyper-threading, are the likely culprit for this plateau, as the game's CPU-bound scenes cannot push frame rates higher.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest recorded average is 161.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the RX 7900 XTX compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 4090 Mobile?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 44019, while the RTX 4090 Mobile scores 43667, making the AMD card 0.8% higher.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate measured across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest average frame rate is 89.2 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Is the i5-9400's performance close to the Intel Core i7-8809G?

A: Yes, the i5-9400 scores 2305 on average, while the i7-8809G scores 2319, meaning the i7-8809G is 0.6% higher.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K?

A: Yes, at 4K the average frame rates range from 89.2 FPS at Ultra to 143.4 FPS at Low, all above 60 FPS.

Q: Which component appears to limit frame rates at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the limiter, as 1080p Low (161.5 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (120.9 FPS) are lower than the GPU's capabilities would suggest, given the small 40.6 FPS spread between those presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 412th out of 1744 tested combos in Overpower. This placement, which lands in the top 24% of all configurations, is respectable but not exceptional given the GPU's high-end status. The ranking reflects the imbalance between the two components: the GPU alone sits at the 85th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs. If the pairing were balanced, a higher rank would be expected, but the CPU's mid-tier standing drags the overall combo down relative to what the GPU could achieve with a stronger processor.

The gap between the GPU's percentile and the combo's rank tells a clear story. The RX 7900 XTX is a top-tier part, but the i5-9400's six threads create a bottleneck that prevents the system from reaching the upper echelons of the ranking table. Combos ranked higher likely feature CPUs with more cores or higher single-thread performance, which would allow the GPU to stretch further in CPU-bound scenarios. For users seeking the absolute highest frame rates in Overpower, this pairing leaves a measurable amount of performance untapped, particularly at 1080p where the CPU limit is most visible.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a straightforward path for optimizing the experience. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 89.2 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Dropping to High at 4K raises the average to 107 FPS, a 20% improvement that is likely worth the visual trade-off for most users. Medium at 4K offers 114.2 FPS, and Low reaches 143.4 FPS, but the visual quality loss may be too steep for a game like Overpower.

At 1440p, the High preset at 122.9 FPS is a sweet spot, offering a strong balance between visual fidelity and smoothness. Ultra at 1440p drops to 103.1 FPS, which is still acceptable, while Medium and Low provide 127.9 FPS and 153.2 FPS respectively. For 1080p users, High at 130.8 FPS is recommended, as it provides a smooth experience without the visual penalty of lower presets. Ultra at 1080p yields 120.9 FPS, which is also playable, but the 9.9 FPS gain from dropping to High is minor relative to the visual difference.

In summary, the data suggests that High settings at any resolution offer the best balance of frame rate and visual quality for this combo. The GPU's 24 GB of memory and high bandwidth ensure that even at 4K High, the system maintains a comfortable margin above 100 FPS, making this the recommended preset for most scenarios. Users prioritizing maximum frame rates can drop to Low at 1080p for 161.5 FPS, but the improvement over High is modest and comes with a significant visual cost.