Overpower

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a mid-range gaming experience in Overpower, landing at rank 1701 out of 2980 tested combos. The data set reveals a configuration that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet shows signs of CPU limitation at 1080p, creating a nuanced performance profile that depends entirely on the user’s display target.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU and GPU combination in Overpower?*

A: The combo ranks 1701st out of 2980 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database for this specific title.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its closest rival, the RTX 3060 Ti?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the RTX 3060 Ti's 16129 score. This places the two cards in a statistical tie for raw compute performance.

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

A: The highest average FPS is 142, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is significantly higher than the Ultra preset at the same resolution, which yields 69 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the frame rates are primarily dictated by the GPU. The difference between Low (108 FPS) and Ultra (52 FPS) settings at 4K shows a clear GPU workload scaling, not a CPU limitation.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the entire data set?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 57, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings. This is the only 4K row with min/max data, showing a 21 FPS variance from the 78 FPS max.

Q: Does the CPU have any performance advantage over its nearest rival?

A: The i5-9400 scores 2254 on average, which is 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i7-10710U's 2248 score. However, it is 0.2% slower than the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, which scores 2259.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, drawing 65 W TDP. The processor supports DDR4 memory via a dual-channel interface with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 and 256 KB of L2 per core, with a shared 9 MB L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141.

The CPU's percentile rank versus all CPUs is 47, meaning it sits just below the median of the database. Its nearest rivals in terms of average score are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta), the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, +0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, +0.4% delta). This cluster of processors indicates the i5-9400 is performing exactly at its expected level for a 6-core/6-thread part of its generation. The lack of hyper-threading means it relies on raw clock speed for single-threaded tasks, which is reflected in its 4.10 GHz boost capability.

In Overpower, the CPU's role becomes apparent when analyzing the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 142 FPS. The jump to Medium settings drops this to 89 FPS, a significant 53 FPS reduction that is not purely GPU-driven, as the GPU load at 1080p Low is likely not maxed out. This suggests the i5-9400's 6 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower settings, but the frame rate ceiling is capped by the CPU's single-thread performance. The data shows the CPU is not a severe bottleneck, but it prevents the system from reaching the higher frame rate territory that would be expected from a more modern 8-core processor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU has a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. Its memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The card's FP32 performance is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS, and it supports PCIe 5.0 x16.

With a percentile rank versus all GPUs of 59, the RX 9060 sits slightly above the median. Its average benchmark score of 16014 places it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, -0.7% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852, +1% delta). The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and Passmark G3D score of 17631 confirm its mid-range positioning. The 132 W TDP and single 8-pin power connector suggest an efficient design, but the database does not include power consumption figures for this title.

The GPU's role in Overpower is dominant at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the frame rates scale directly with the graphics preset: 108 FPS at Low, 67 FPS at Medium, 63 FPS at High, and 52 FPS at Ultra. This 56 FPS spread between Low and Ultra demonstrates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU has enough headroom to feed the card even at lower settings. The 8 GB VRAM buffer appears sufficient for this title at 4K, as the performance degradation from High to Ultra is gradual rather than a cliff, indicating no memory overflow issues. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth supports smooth texture streaming at these resolutions, though the data does not include specific VRAM usage metrics.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1701 out of 2980 tested configurations places it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems. This means roughly 43% of tested combos perform worse in Overpower, while 57% perform better. The ranking is not driven by a single component, but rather by the balance between the i5-9400's mid-range CPU performance (47th percentile) and the RX 9060's slightly above-average GPU performance (59th percentile).

The rank is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K Ultra. The i5-9400's position in the CPU hierarchy, where it is statistically tied with the i7-1068NG7 and i7-10710U, suggests that any CPU upgrade would yield minimal gains without also upgrading the GPU. Conversely, the RX 9060's proximity to the RTX 3060 Ti means that GPU upgrades would only provide meaningful improvements if paired with a stronger processor. The rank of 1701 reflects this balance: it is not a low-end system, but it lacks the headroom to push into the top tier of results for this action title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides twelve distinct measurement points across four resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 142 FPS at Low, 89 FPS at Medium (with a min of 76 and max of 102), 83 FPS at High, and 69 FPS at Ultra. The 1440p results show 127 FPS at Low, 79 FPS at Medium (min 67, max 91), 74 FPS at High, and 61 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, the frame rates drop to 108 FPS at Low, 67 FPS at Medium (min 57, max 78), 63 FPS at High, and 52 FPS at Ultra.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the variance is 26 FPS (76 to 102), which narrows to 24 FPS at 1440p (67 to 91) and widens to 21 FPS at 4K (57 to 78). This narrowing variance at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently utilized, reducing frame time spikes. The Low preset consistently delivers the highest frame rates, with 142 FPS at 1080p being the only measurement above 140 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K delivers the lowest average at 52 FPS, which is still technically playable but below the 60 FPS threshold that many users target.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 89 FPS with a 76 FPS minimum, which is well above the 60 FPS playability threshold. At 1440p, Medium yields 79 FPS with a 67 FPS minimum, maintaining smooth performance. At 4K, Medium drops to 67 FPS with a 57 FPS minimum, which is borderline but acceptable for slower-paced action sequences.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate. It delivers 83 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result of 63 FPS is particularly noteworthy, as it achieves 60+ FPS without the visual compromises of Medium. However, the lack of min/max data for High makes it difficult to assess frame time consistency. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo, as it only achieves 69 FPS at 1080p and dips to 52 FPS at 4K, which will result in noticeable stuttering during intense action sequences. For the best overall experience, Medium at 1440p provides the optimal balance of visual quality and performance, with the 79 FPS average and 67 FPS minimum offering a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the system's bottleneck characteristics. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 142 at 1080p to 127 at 1440p (a 10.6% reduction) and then to 108 at 4K (a 15% reduction from 1440p). This relatively shallow scaling curve at Low settings suggests the CPU is partially limiting performance at 1080p, as the GPU is not being fully utilized. The 142 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near the CPU's maximum frame generation capability for this title.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is much steeper: 69 FPS at 1080p, 61 FPS at 1440p (an 11.6% drop), and 52 FPS at 4K (a 14.8% drop from 1440p). The percentage reduction from 1440p to 4K is nearly identical between Low (15%) and Ultra (14.8%), indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor at both settings once the resolution increases. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra (8 FPS) is smaller than the difference at Low (15 FPS), confirming that at Ultra settings, the GPU is already saturated at 1080p.

The data indicates a classic mid-range system profile. At 1080p, the i5-9400's 6 cores can keep up with the GPU at lower settings, but the RX 9060's performance ceiling is reached at Ultra. At 4K, the GPU is the sole bottleneck, with the CPU's influence becoming negligible. The 4K Medium result of 67 FPS, compared to 1080p Medium of 89 FPS, shows a 24.7% reduction, which is consistent with the GPU's rendering load scaling. This suggests that users with a 1080p display will see better returns from lowering settings, while 4K users should focus on preset selection to maintain playability.