Overpower

# Overpower with Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a consistently playable experience across all tested resolutions in Overpower, though the data reveals a clear pattern: this combination is heavily GPU-bound at 4K, but the aging 6-core/6-thread Coffee Lake processor begins to emerge as a limiting factor at 1080p. The measured frame rates show a surprisingly narrow gap between 1440p and 4K at high settings, indicating that the RTX 3080 Ti's massive 12 GB GDDR6X buffer and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are doing substantial heavy lifting, while the i5-9400's modest single-thread performance constrains the upper ceiling at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is far from uniform across settings, and that variance tells the real story. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 160 FPS at 1920x1080 to 146 FPS at 3840x2160 — a decline of only 14 FPS, or roughly 9%. This remarkably shallow scaling curve indicates that at Low settings, the limiting component is not the GPU at any resolution; the RTX 3080 Ti is so far ahead of what Low demands that the i5-9400's 6 threads become the bottleneck even at 4K.

At Medium settings, the scaling steepens considerably: 131 FPS at 1080p drops to 117 FPS at 1440p (a 14 FPS loss), then to 100 FPS at 4K (another 17 FPS loss). The 4K-to-1080p delta here is 31 FPS, roughly 24%. This suggests that Medium settings begin to engage the RTX 3080 Ti's shading units and texture units more meaningfully, but the GPU still has headroom to spare.

High settings produce the most telling curve: 122 FPS at 1080p, 109 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 13 FPS, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 17 FPS. The total 30 FPS decline from 1080p to 4K represents a 25% reduction, which is comparatively modest for a 4x pixel count increase. This indicates that at High settings, the system is still partially CPU-limited at 1080p and 1440p, with the GPU only becoming the dominant constraint at 4K.

Ultra settings show the steepest relative scaling: 101 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K drop of 24 FPS (24%) is actually smaller in absolute terms than at Medium, but the low starting point makes the 4K experience the weakest of all configurations. The fact that Ultra at 4K (77 FPS) is only 15 FPS behind Ultra at 1080p (101 FPS) confirms that the RTX 3080 Ti's 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being fully utilized, while the CPU's influence wanes as pixel count rises.

How This Combo Ranks

In the Overpower benchmark database, this specific combination of Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 1,177th out of 3,713 tested combos. That places it in the top third of all configurations, which is notable given the CPU's age and market positioning. The i5-9400 itself sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2,254 — nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2,259, delta of -0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-10710U (2,248, delta of +0.3%). This means the processor is performing exactly as expected for its class, neither overachieving nor underdelivering.

The RTX 3080 Ti, however, is a different story. It sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,187. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870, delta of +0.8%), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (41,707, delta of -1.2%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377, delta of +2%). The RTX 3080 Ti outperforms the RTX 5070 by 2% in aggregate benchmarks, which is striking given the generational gap between them.

The combination's rank of 1,177 out of 3,713 means it outperforms roughly 68% of all tested configurations in Overpower. However, this rank is likely held back by the CPU: the i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads (with no hyper-threading) and its 2.90 GHz base / 4.10 GHz boost clocks create a ceiling that the RTX 3080 Ti frequently hits, especially at 1080p. The data suggests that pairing this GPU with a stronger processor would push the combo significantly higher in the rankings, as the GPU's 83rd percentile standing far exceeds the CPU's 47th percentile.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates point to High settings as the optimal balance for this combination across all three resolutions. At 1080p, High delivers 122 FPS average, which is only 9 FPS below Low (160 FPS) but provides substantially better visual quality. The jump from High to Ultra costs 21 FPS (down to 101 FPS) — a 17% penalty that is difficult to justify when High already clears 120 FPS.

At 1440p, High produces 109 FPS, which remains comfortably above 100 FPS and is only 8 FPS behind Medium (117 FPS). Ultra at 1440p drops to 90 FPS, which is still playable but begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing becomes noticeable in a fast-paced action title. The 19 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1440p mirrors the 1080p pattern.

At 4K, High delivers 92 FPS, which is the single most impressive data point in this entire dataset. Achieving 92 FPS at 3840x2160 with High settings is a strong result for any hardware, and it is only 8 FPS behind Medium (100 FPS) and a full 15 FPS ahead of Ultra (77 FPS). The recommendation is clear: High settings at all resolutions, with the understanding that 4K Ultra (77 FPS) is the only configuration that dips below the 80 FPS mark.

Medium settings are a viable alternative for users who want a small FPS buffer, particularly at 4K where it reaches 100 FPS. However, the visual quality trade-off from High to Medium is typically more perceptible than the 8 FPS gain suggests. Low settings are only recommended for competitive play at 1080p, where 160 FPS provides maximum headroom for high-refresh-rate displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates span from 160 FPS at Low to 101 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset records 131 FPS average with a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 151 FPS, showing a 39 FPS variance between the 1% low and peak. High sits at 122 FPS, which is 9 FPS below Medium but 21 FPS above Ultra. The 1080p results demonstrate that the i5-9400 is the primary constraint: even at Low settings, the system cannot exceed 160 FPS, which is modest for a GPU capable of far higher output.

At 2560x1440, the results compress slightly: Low produces 154 FPS, Medium 117 FPS (100 min, 135 max), High 109 FPS, and Ultra 90 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 64 FPS, compared to 59 FPS at 1080p. This compression indicates that the GPU is beginning to take on more of the workload, but the CPU still prevents Low from reaching the 160 FPS seen at 1080p. The Medium preset's 35 FPS variance (100 to 135) is the largest of any configuration, suggesting that scene complexity drives significant frame time swings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the full GPU-bound behavior emerges: Low hits 146 FPS, Medium 100 FPS (85 min, 115 max), High 92 FPS, and Ultra 77 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is a steep 46 FPS, while the Medium-to-High gap is only 8 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 15 FPS. The 4K results show that the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit bus are sufficient to handle the bandwidth demands of 4K, but the GPU's compute resources become the limiting factor at Medium and above. The Medium preset's 30 FPS variance (85 to 115) at 4K is noteworthy — it is the only configuration where minimum FPS dips below 90, indicating potential stutter in heavy scenes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. Built on Samsung's 8 nm process, the GA102 chip packs 28,300 million transistors across a 628 mm² die. The GPU operates at a 1,365 MHz base clock and 1,665 MHz boost clock, with memory running at 1,188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 12 GB GDDR6X frame buffer on a 384-bit bus delivers 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that proves critical for maintaining 92 FPS at 4K High.

The GPU's 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs produce a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is the raw throughput that Overpower's Ultra settings appear to demand at 4K. The 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but likely underutilized in this title, as the measured FPS does not suggest heavy ray tracing or DLSS workloads.

The RTX 3080 Ti's aggregate benchmark score of 41,187 places it at the 83rd percentile, and its performance in Overpower aligns with that standing. The GPU's role in this combo is to keep frame rates high enough that the i5-9400's limitations become the primary bottleneck at 1080p, while at 4K, the GPU itself becomes the limiting factor. The 350 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with the performance on offer, and the 750 W suggested PSU indicates the system requires substantial power delivery. The launch MSRP of 1,199 USD positions this GPU at the high end, and the data shows it delivers accordingly.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming at high settings?

A: Yes. The measured data shows 92 FPS average at 3840x2160 with High settings, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. Even Ultra settings at 4K achieve 77 FPS, indicating the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB GDDR6X memory and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K workloads.

Q: Which component is the bottleneck in this system?

A: At 1080p, the Intel Core i5-9400 is the limiting factor — the system only reaches 160 FPS at Low settings, and the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads cannot push higher. At 4K, the GPU becomes the constraint, as demonstrated by the 46 FPS drop from Low to Medium settings at that resolution.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1,177th out of 3,713 combos, placing it in the top third. The RTX 3080 Ti outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 by 2% in aggregate benchmarks, while the i5-9400 performs within 0.4% of the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 and Intel Core i7-10710U.

Q: What is the best settings preset for competitive play?

A: Low settings at 1080p delivers 160 FPS, which provides the maximum frame rate for high-refresh-rate displays. If visual quality is a priority, High at 1080p still achieves 122 FPS, which is sufficient for most competitive scenarios.

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: No. The data shows no VRAM-related performance drops. The 4K High preset sustains 92 FPS, and even 4K Ultra maintains 77 FPS, indicating that 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus is adequate for this title at 4K.

Q: How much FPS does raytracing or DLSS add or remove?

A: The measured data does not include raytracing or DLSS results. All scores are from standard rasterization benchmarks. The RTX 3080 Ti includes 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, but their impact on Overpower cannot be determined from the available measurements.