Overpower

Overpower, released in August 2023, presents a demanding workload for this mid-range pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. The measured data reveals a system that can handle the game, but requires careful attention to settings and resolution to maintain smooth performance. The combination ranks at 3178 out of 3713 tested combos in this title, placing it in the lower half of the database, which suggests significant challenges at higher graphical presets. This analysis breaks down the measured frame rates, component roles, and optimal configuration based solely on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K clearly indicates where the performance bottleneck lies. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 100 FPS, but this falls to 89 FPS at 1440p Low (-11%) and further to 76 FPS at 4K Low (-24%). This scaling pattern shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is struggling to maintain frame rates as pixel count increases, pointing to the GTX 1660 SUPER as the primary limiting factor. The 6 GB VRAM buffer and 192-bit memory bus are being taxed heavily, as the data shows a linear degradation in performance with resolution.

Moving to High settings, the pattern intensifies. The average FPS drops from 58 at 1080p to 51 at 1440p (-12%) and then to 44 at 4K (-24%). This consistent ~12% penalty per resolution step suggests that the GPU's compute resources, specifically its 1408 shading units and 48 ROPs, are saturated. The 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply not enough to drive 4K at playable rates, as 4K High yields only 44 FPS. Even at 4K Low, the 76 FPS average indicates the GPU is still the constraint, as a CPU-bound scenario would show much smaller differences between resolutions.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with 48 FPS at 1080p, 43 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K is 25%, which is nearly identical to the Low preset's 24% drop. This consistency across all presets reinforces that the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, appears to have sufficient headroom at these frame rates, as the scaling is purely resolution-driven rather than core-count-limited. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, this combo is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 76 FPS average leaves little margin for demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 3178 out of 3713 tested combinations places it in the 14th percentile, indicating that 85% of tested systems outperform it in Overpower. This is a concerning position for a system that was once considered a mainstream gaming setup. The ranking reflects the age of both components, as the i5-9400 from 2018 and GTX 1660 SUPER from 2019 are both end-of-life products. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 47 shows it sits near the median of all processors, but its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-10710U (0.3% faster) and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% faster), all of which are similarly aged.

The GPU's percentileVsAllGpus of 53 places it slightly above the median, with its closest competitor being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.4% faster) and AMD Radeon RX 580 (0.4% faster). This ranking shows that while the GPU is not a top performer, it is not the weakest link in the system either. However, the combination's overall rank suffers because both components are below the 75th percentile, and Overpower seems to stress both subsystems heavily. The measured data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the system only manages 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that most gamers consider smooth.

Comparing to the CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-9400's avgBenchmarkScore of 2254 is nearly identical to the i7-1068NG7's 2259 (-0.2% delta), meaning the processor is performing exactly as expected. Similarly, the GPU's avgBenchmarkScore of 12986 is just 0.4% below the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile's 12940. This indicates that neither component is a defective or underperforming sample; the system is simply outclassed by more modern hardware. For context, the GPU's passmark_g3d score of 12699 and geekbench_vulkan score of 57102 show it has reasonable compute capability, but Overpower's engine appears to demand more than this hardware can deliver at high settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1530 MHz with a boost clock of 1785 MHz, and it has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s. The 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the key metric for Overpower, as the game's action genre likely relies heavily on pixel and texture throughput.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's memory subsystem is a particular weakness. At 4K, the 6 GB VRAM is likely insufficient for Ultra textures, as the 36 FPS average at 4K Ultra is the lowest recorded. The 192-bit bus and 336 GB/s bandwidth become bottlenecks when the game needs to stream high-resolution assets. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 52 FPS (100 vs 48), which is a 52% drop, indicating that the GPU's ROPs and shading units are overwhelmed by the increased shading complexity of Ultra settings. The GPU's fp16 performance of 10.05 TFLOPS (2:1) suggests the architecture can handle some compute tasks efficiently, but Overpower appears to be a FP32-bound workload.

The GPU's launch MSRP was 229 USD, and its successor, the GeForce 20 series, offers improved ray tracing and tensor cores that are absent here. The GTX 1660 SUPER's passmark_directx_12 score of 50 is notably lower than its directx_11 score of 104, which could explain the performance drop at higher settings if Overpower uses DX12 features. The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs means it is a slightly above-average performer, but its age shows in the 4K results. The data suggests that for this game, the GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions, and the 6 GB VRAM is a hard limit at 4K Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear progression from 100 FPS at Low to 62 FPS at Medium, 58 FPS at High, and 48 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset has a recorded min FPS of 53 and max of 72, indicating a playable range, while the other presets lack min/max data. The 1080p Low result of 100 FPS is the only triple-digit score in the entire dataset, and it suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution. The jump from Low to Medium is a 38% drop, which is substantial and indicates that Medium settings introduce significant GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues with 89 FPS at Low, 56 FPS at Medium (min 47, max 64), 51 FPS at High, and 43 FPS at Ultra. The 1440p Medium result shows a 10 FPS range between min and max, which is tighter than the 1080p Medium's 19 FPS range, suggesting more consistent frame pacing at higher resolutions. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 11% at Low (100 to 89), 10% at Medium (62 to 56), 12% at High (58 to 51), and 10% at Ultra (48 to 43). This consistent ~10-12% penalty confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU would not scale this predictably with resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are 76 FPS at Low, 47 FPS at Medium (min 40, max 54), 44 FPS at High, and 36 FPS at Ultra. The 4K Medium result has the widest min-max range of 14 FPS in the entire dataset, indicating frame pacing issues at this demanding resolution. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 15% at Low (89 to 76), 16% at Medium (56 to 47), 14% at High (51 to 44), and 16% at Ultra (43 to 36). This slightly larger penalty at 4K compared to the 1080p-to-1440p step suggests that the memory bandwidth is becoming a critical constraint. The 4K Low result of 76 FPS is playable, but any settings increase pushes the system below the 60 FPS threshold.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, and it supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In Overpower, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU, as the resolution scaling patterns show no evidence of CPU bottlenecking. The 6 threads without hyper-threading could be a limitation in heavily threaded scenes, but the measured data does not show this.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 indicate it is a competent processor, ranking in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, has an average score of 2259 versus the i5-9400's 2254, a negligible 0.2% difference. The Geekbench multicore score of 5141 and single-core of 1389 suggest that the CPU can handle the game's logic and physics without becoming a bottleneck, as long as the GPU is not overwhelmed. The 1080p Low result of 100 FPS is likely near the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability, but the GPU's inability to maintain high FPS at higher settings masks any CPU limitations.

The CPU's memory support for dual-channel DDR4 with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is modest by modern standards, but it does not appear to be the limiting factor in this game. The processor's 6 cores and 6 threads are sufficient for Overpower's action genre, which typically uses 4-8 threads. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz provides adequate single-threaded performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R20 single-core score of 392. However, the lack of hyper-threading could cause stuttering in scenes with many AI-driven characters, but this is not reflected in the average FPS data. The CPU's pcie Gen 3, 16 Lanes interface is sufficient for the GTX 1660 SUPER's PCIe 3.0 x16 bus.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and frame rate expectations. For 1080p, the Medium preset is the best balance, offering 62 FPS average with a range of 53-72 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and provides better visual quality than Low (100 FPS) without the 23% performance penalty of High (58 FPS). The High preset's 58 FPS is marginally below 60, which could be noticeable during action sequences, so Medium is the recommended choice for a smooth experience.

For 1440p, the Medium preset yields 56 FPS with a range of 47-64 FPS, which is borderline playable but may dip below 50 FPS in demanding scenes. The Low preset at 89 FPS is the safest option for consistent performance, but it sacrifices visual fidelity. Given that the Medium preset's min FPS of 47 is still above the 30 FPS minimum for playability, Medium is recommended for 1440p users who prioritize visual quality, while Low is for those who demand 60+ FPS. The High preset at 51 FPS and Ultra at 43 FPS are not recommended due to their sub-60 FPS averages.

For 4K, only the Low preset is viable, with an average of 76 FPS and no min FPS data. The Medium preset drops to 47 FPS with a min of 40, which is below the 45 FPS threshold that most gamers consider acceptable for action games. The High and Ultra presets at 44 and 36 FPS, respectively, are not recommended for any playable experience. The 6 GB VRAM is the limiting factor at 4K, and users should stick to Low settings and potentially reduce the resolution to 1440p for a better experience. The data clearly shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p Medium or 1440p Low gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The data shows that 1080p Medium provides 62 FPS average (min 53, max 72), which is the only preset that maintains a 60+ FPS average. At 1440p, Low settings offer 89 FPS, but Medium drops to 56 FPS. For 4K, only Low settings (76 FPS) are playable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Overpower?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting component. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent across all settings (10-16% per resolution step), and the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads show no signs of bottlenecking, as the 1080p Low result of 100 FPS is likely CPU-limited but the GPU cannot maintain this at higher settings.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 3178 out of 3713 tested combinations, placing it in the 14th percentile. This means 85% of tested systems perform better in Overpower, and the rank reflects the age of both the 2018 CPU and 2019 GPU.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Overpower?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 76 FPS average. The Medium preset drops to 47 FPS (min 40), and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. The 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are insufficient for high-quality 4K textures.

Q: What is the highest settings preset that maintains 60 FPS?

A: Only 1080p Medium achieves a 60+ FPS average (62 FPS). At 1080p High, the average drops to 58 FPS, and at 1440p, even Low settings (89 FPS) are needed to stay above 60 FPS consistently.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 12986 is just 0.4% below the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and 0.4% above the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12928). Its 53rd percentile ranking places it slightly above the median of all GPUs.