Overpower

Overpower, the 2023 action title, exhibits a clear performance hierarchy when paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050. The measured data shows that resolution scaling follows a predictable but steep curve, with the most significant performance drop occurring between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers an average of 66 FPS, which falls to 58 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and further down to 50 FPS at 4K Ultra. This represents a 24% reduction in average frame rate from 1080p to 1440p, and a 14% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the graphics card remains the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, though the CPU begins to show its age at lower settings where frame rates exceed 120 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the RTX 5050 pushes 136 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p, and 103 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low is a modest 11% reduction, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 15%. This pattern suggests that at Low settings, the system is not purely GPU-limited; the six-core i5-9400 with its 2.90 GHz base clock begins to constrain performance, preventing the GPU from fully stretching its legs at lower resolutions. At Medium settings, the curve is similar, with 85 FPS at 1080p, 76 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K, representing a 10% drop between each step. High settings show the most linear scaling: 79 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K, with an 11-13% reduction per resolution step. Ultra settings follow the same trajectory but at lower absolute numbers, with 66, 58, and 50 FPS respectively.

The data reveals that the limiting component shifts depending on the resolution and preset combination. At 1080p Low, the 136 FPS average suggests the CPU is the primary limiter, as the RTX 5050 is capable of far higher frame rates in less demanding scenarios. However, as resolution increases to 4K, the GPU's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth become the constraining factors, with the 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS indicating a hard performance ceiling for this combo in the most demanding configuration. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 70 FPS, while at 4K the same comparison yields a 53 FPS difference, confirming that the GPU's workload scales more aggressively with resolution than with settings.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations for Overpower, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 holds the 1808th position out of 2980 total combos. This places it in the 39th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 61% of tested combos deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects the balanced but mid-pack nature of this hardware pairing; the GPU sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs in synthetic benchmarks, while the CPU sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. The disparity between the two components' percentile rankings explains the combo's middling position, as the older six-core processor without hyper-threading (6 threads total) holds back the newer Blackwell architecture GPU in CPU-bound scenarios.

Relative to the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic testing, the RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 is only 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, 1% lower than the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, and 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. These narrow deltas suggest that in Overpower, the RTX 5050 should perform similarly to these alternatives, though the game's specific engine optimizations may shift the balance. The CPU's nearest rivals show an even tighter grouping, with the i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2254 being 0.2% below the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, 0.3% above the Intel Core i7-10710U, and 0.4% above the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500. This clustering indicates that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo; the ranking is primarily driven by the GPU's capabilities at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a smooth 60 FPS experience, the data shows that High settings at 4K deliver exactly 60 FPS on average, making this the optimal configuration for maximum visual fidelity at that frame rate threshold. At 1440p, High settings provide 70 FPS, offering a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining strong visual quality. The Medium preset at 4K yields 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and maximum of 74 FPS, which is a viable alternative for those who want a slight performance buffer over the High preset. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 136 FPS, which is the only configuration in the dataset that approaches 144 Hz territory.

The Ultra preset, while visually superior, only achieves 66 FPS at 1080p and drops below 60 FPS at 1440p (58 FPS) and 4K (50 FPS). Given that the Ultra preset at 1440p produces a 58 FPS average, it falls short of the 60 FPS target, making High at 1440p the better choice for most users. The measured minimum frame rates for Medium settings provide additional insight: at 1080p, the minimum is 72 FPS, at 1440p it is 64 FPS, and at 4K it is 55 FPS. These minimums indicate that even the Medium preset at 4K can experience noticeable frame dips below the average. The recommendation is to prioritize High settings at 1440p for the best balance of visual quality and performance stability, or High at 4K for those who prefer resolution over frame rate headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings spectrum shows a clear progression. Low settings produce an average of 136 FPS, representing the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 85 FPS, with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 98 FPS, indicating a stable experience with a 13 FPS range between minimum and maximum. High settings deliver 79 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 66 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a significant 51 FPS drop, while the step from Medium to High costs only 6 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 13 FPS. This suggests that the Medium preset offers the best performance-per-frame-rate ratio at 1080p, as it retains 85 FPS while providing better visuals than Low.

At 2560x1440, the pattern mirrors 1080p but with reduced absolute numbers. Low settings achieve 121 FPS, Medium settings produce 76 FPS (minimum 64, maximum 87), High settings deliver 70 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 58 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 45 FPS, while Medium to High costs only 6 FPS. Notably, the 1440p Medium configuration shows a wider variance between minimum and maximum (23 FPS) compared to the 1080p Medium (26 FPS), suggesting that the GPU's 8 GB memory buffer is being stressed more at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the results are the most constrained. Low settings produce 103 FPS, which is still above 100 FPS and surprising for a 4K resolution. Medium settings deliver 65 FPS (minimum 55, maximum 74), High settings produce exactly 60 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 50 FPS. The 4K Low result of 103 FPS is notably higher than 1440p Ultra's 58 FPS, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K; the GPU's raw throughput at Low settings is sufficient to maintain high frame rates even at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB207 chip, plays the dominant role in determining Overpower's performance across all measured configurations. With 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, the GPU's compute capabilities are substantial for a 50-series entry. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the 50 FPS average suggests the memory subsystem is saturated. The GPU's boost clock of 2572 MHz and base clock of 2317 MHz are consistent with the 13.17 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, which is evidenced by the 4K Low result of 103 FPS.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores provide context for its in-game performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502, Passmark G3D score of 17326, and Geekbench Vulkan score of 89381 all point to a GPU that performs at the 66th percentile among all tested GPUs. The nearest rival comparisons show that the RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 is within 1.6% of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, indicating that in Overpower, the RTX 5050 should deliver frame rates very close to that card. The GPU's 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores are present but not directly referenced in the measured FPS data; however, the 4K High result of exactly 60 FPS suggests that the GPU's architecture handles the game's demands efficiently at high settings without relying on upscaling technologies. The pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s align with the observed performance scaling, as higher resolutions disproportionately impact these fixed-function units.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400, a Coffee Lake architecture processor with 6 cores and 6 threads, plays a supporting role in this combo. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, combined with 9 MB of shared L3 cache, provide adequate single-threaded performance for Overpower's game logic. The CPU's synthetic benchmark results include a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629, a Geekbench multicore score of 5141, and a Geekbench singlecore score of 1389. These scores place the i5-9400 at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, which is below the GPU's 66th percentile, creating an imbalance where the CPU can bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions and settings.

The measured FPS data confirms this CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 136 FPS, which is likely close to the CPU's maximum frame rate capability in this game. The fact that 4K Low produces 103 FPS — only 24% lower than 1080p Low — while 4K Ultra produces 50 FPS — 24% lower than 1080p Ultra — suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher settings. The i5-9400's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-10710U (0.3% higher average score) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% higher), all within a tight 0.7% band. This indicates that the CPU's performance is typical for its class, and the 6-thread configuration without hyper-threading is sufficient for Overpower's multi-threaded workload, as evidenced by the 4K Low result of 103 FPS, which shows the CPU can feed frames at over 100 FPS even at 4K when the GPU is not heavily tasked. However, the lack of additional threads means that any CPU-bound scenario, such as 1080p Low at 136 FPS, will not improve with a faster GPU alone.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for a 60 FPS target in Overpower?

A: The measured data shows that High settings at 3840x2160 deliver exactly 60 FPS on average, while High at 2560x1440 provides 70 FPS. For a 60 FPS target with maximum visual quality, 4K High is the optimal choice, as it meets the threshold exactly without the frame dips observed in the Medium preset at 4K (minimum 55 FPS).

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 is 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, 1% lower than the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, and 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. These deltas indicate that in Overpower, the RTX 5050 should perform within a narrow margin of these alternatives.

Q: Is the i5-9400 CPU a bottleneck for the RTX 5050 in this game?

A: The data suggests partial CPU bottlenecking at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 136 FPS, while 4K Low produces 103 FPS, a difference of only 24%. This indicates that at 1080p Low, the CPU limits the frame rate, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 121 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 58 FPS, a difference of 63 FPS. This represents a 52% reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Overpower?

A: This combo ranks 1808th out of 2980 tested combinations, placing it in the 39th percentile. This means that 60.7% of tested combos perform better in Overpower, reflecting the mid-pack positioning of this CPU-GPU pairing.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset across all resolutions?

A: The measured minimum FPS for Medium settings is 72 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 55 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate the lowest frame rates observed during testing, with the 4K Medium minimum of 55 FPS falling below the 60 FPS target.