Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a component relationship that shifts depending on the workload, with the data suggesting a balance that favors the GPU at higher resolutions but exposes CPU limitations at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results to understand where the bottleneck lies and how this specific combo performs relative to other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable trend: as resolution increases, average frame rates drop significantly. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 244 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 156 FPS, a reduction of 36%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 82 FPS, which is 66% lower than the 1080p Low result. This scaling pattern is typical, but the magnitude of the drop between 1080p and 1440p is particularly steep, hinting at where the performance ceiling lies.

When examining the High settings row, the scaling is less severe in percentage terms but still substantial. The 1080p High average of 124 FPS drops to 78 FPS at 1440p (a 37% decline) and then to 41 FPS at 4K (a 67% decline from 1080p). The consistency of this ~36-37% drop from 1080p to 1440p across both Low and High settings suggests that the GPU is the primary scaling factor in this range, as the pixel count increases by 78% but the frame rate only decreases by about a third, indicating some headroom in the graphics pipeline.

The 4K results tell a different story. The gap between 4K Low (82 FPS) and 4K High (41 FPS) is exactly 50%, which is a massive performance hit for a settings change. This implies that at 4K, the RX 9060 is becoming the limiting component, as the increased resolution and settings are overwhelming the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The data shows the combo is not viable for 4K Ultra (39 FPS) or even 4K High (41 FPS) if smooth gameplay is the goal, but 4K Low at 82 FPS is surprisingly playable.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a different pattern. At Low settings, the drop is from 156 FPS to 82 FPS, a 47% reduction. At High settings, the drop is from 78 FPS to 41 FPS, a 47% reduction as well. This uniform percentage drop across settings when moving from 1440p to 4K strongly indicates that the GPU is the sole limiting factor at these resolutions, as the CPU has enough headroom to feed frames but the pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Pc Building Simulator?

A: The data shows 1080p is the sweet spot, with all settings from Low to Ultra exceeding 118 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (156 FPS) and Medium (111 FPS) break the 100 FPS barrier, while High and Ultra drop to 78 FPS and 74 FPS respectively. 4K is only playable at Low settings (82 FPS), as Medium (58 FPS) and above fall below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rival in this game?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129). It is 1.0% higher than the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and 1.0% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852). These deltaPct values are small, indicating near-identical raw performance among these cards.

Q: Is the Core i5-9400 a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The FPS data suggests yes at Low settings. The 1080p Low average of 244 FPS is exceptionally high, but the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p (244 FPS to 175 FPS, a 28% drop) is larger than the jump from Medium to High (175 FPS to 124 FPS, a 29% drop). This pattern, combined with the CPU's 6-core/6-thread configuration and 2.90 GHz base clock, suggests the CPU may be limiting the maximum frame rate at lower settings.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1790th out of 3002 tested combinations in Pc Building Simulator. This places it in the 40th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly 60% of tested configurations perform better in this specific game.

Q: Does the game benefit from the RX 9060's 8 GB VRAM?

A: The data indicates that 8 GB is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p across all settings, as frame rates remain high. However, at 4K Ultra (39 FPS) and 4K High (41 FPS), the performance drops significantly, which could be attributed to VRAM capacity or memory bandwidth (288.0 GB/s) being insufficient for the higher resolution textures.

Q: How does the CPU's single-core performance affect this game?

A: The i5-9400's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 935 and Geekbench single-core score of 1389 are modest by modern standards. In a simulation game like Pc Building Simulator, which often relies on single-threaded logic, this could explain why 1080p Low FPS (244) does not scale linearly with GPU capability, as the CPU's single-thread performance becomes a limiting factor at very high frame rates.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2990 MHz and a game clock of 2400 MHz. The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications place the GPU in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014.

In Pc Building Simulator, the GPU's role becomes more prominent as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by the 244 FPS Low result, which is likely above what the CPU can sustain. However, at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The 4K Medium result (58 FPS) with min/max of 49/66 shows some frame pacing issues, suggesting the GPU is working near its limits. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS is below the 40 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for playable simulation games.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and the PassMark G3D score of 17631 provide context for the GPU's overall capability. The GPU's 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 191.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are respectable, but the 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM may be limiting factors in this game at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU cannot maintain 60 FPS even at Medium settings, which aligns with the memory bandwidth constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1790th out of 3002 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 40% of all configurations. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component scores, but it reflects the specific demands of Pc Building Simulator. The CPU's 47th percentile ranking (average benchmark score of 2254) and the GPU's 59th percentile ranking (average benchmark score of 16014) suggest that the combination should perform reasonably well, yet the game-specific results show it lagging behind many other pairings.

The nearest rival CPUs to the i5-9400 include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avgScore 2259, deltaPct -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-10710U (avgScore 2248, deltaPct 0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (avgScore 2246, deltaPct 0.4%). These deltaPct values are all within 0.5% of the i5-9400, indicating that the CPU's performance is well-matched to its peers. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals are within 2.1% of the RX 9060's average score, with the RTX 3060 Ti being 0.7% faster.

The rank of 1790 out of 3002 suggests that while each component is average or slightly above average individually, the combination does not synergize as well in this game as other pairings might. This could be due to the CPU's 6-core/6-thread configuration lacking the multi-threading benefits that some simulation games utilize, or it could be that the GPU's memory subsystem is insufficient for the game's requirements at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 3840x2160, the results are as follows: Low averages 82 FPS, Medium averages 58 FPS (with a min of 49 and max of 66), High averages 41 FPS, and Ultra averages 39 FPS. The gap between Medium and High (58 to 41 FPS, a 29% drop) is significant, while the gap between High and Ultra (41 to 39 FPS, a 5% drop) is minimal, suggesting that Ultra settings add little visual benefit for the performance cost at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the results improve substantially: Low averages 156 FPS, Medium averages 111 FPS (with a min of 94 and max of 127), High averages 78 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The scaling from Low to Medium (156 to 111 FPS, a 29% drop) is consistent with the 4K scaling, but the Medium to High drop (111 to 78 FPS, a 30% drop) is also significant. The High to Ultra drop (78 to 74 FPS, a 5% drop) mirrors the 4K pattern, indicating that Ultra settings are not well-optimized in this game.

At 1920x1080, the results are excellent: Low averages 244 FPS, Medium averages 175 FPS (with a min of 149 and max of 201), High averages 124 FPS, and Ultra averages 118 FPS. The Low to Medium drop (244 to 175 FPS, a 28% reduction) is the largest percentage drop across all resolutions, which could indicate the CPU is struggling to maintain frame rates as settings increase. The High to Ultra drop (124 to 118 FPS, a 5% reduction) is again minimal, suggesting that Ultra settings are not worth the performance hit.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution. At 1080p, any setting from Low to Ultra provides a playable experience, with even Ultra averaging 118 FPS. However, the Low to Medium drop of 69 FPS (244 to 175) suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for balancing visual quality and performance, as it still maintains 175 FPS while offering better visuals than Low. High (124 FPS) and Ultra (118 FPS) are nearly identical, so High is recommended over Ultra for a negligible visual difference with a 6 FPS gain.

At 1440p, the data clearly indicates that Low (156 FPS) and Medium (111 FPS) are the only settings that provide a smooth experience above 100 FPS. High (78 FPS) and Ultra (74 FPS) are playable but may feel less responsive for a simulation game that requires precise mouse input. Medium is the recommended setting here, as it offers a 33 FPS improvement over High while maintaining a 111 FPS average with a minimum of 94 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the data shows that only Low (82 FPS) provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium (58 FPS) is borderline, with a minimum of 49 FPS that could cause noticeable stutters. High (41 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) are not recommended for a playable experience. For 4K gaming, Low settings are the only viable option, and even then, the 82 FPS average may dip in complex scenes due to the GPU's memory bandwidth constraints.

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 memory support is limited to DDR4 in dual-channel configuration, providing 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth. The processor is end-of-life and does not have an unlocked multiplier, which limits overclocking potential.

In Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low settings, where the 244 FPS average is likely CPU-bound. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 indicate that the CPU has moderate multi-threaded performance but relatively weak single-thread performance compared to modern processors. This is a simulation game, which often relies on single-threaded logic for game state updates, so the single-core score is particularly relevant.

The CPU's 47th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 2254 place it in the middle of the pack. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (deltaPct -0.2%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (deltaPct 0.4%), show that the i5-9400 is competitive with its direct peers. However, the 6-thread limitation (no Hyper-Threading) could be a bottleneck in a game that benefits from additional threads, especially when running background tasks or complex simulation calculations.

The data suggests that the CPU is sufficient for 1440p and 4K gaming, where the GPU is the limiting factor, but it may hold back performance at 1080p with lower settings. The 1080p Low result of 244 FPS is impressive, but the drop to 175 FPS at Medium (a 28% reduction) is larger than the GPU-focused scaling seen at higher resolutions, implying that the CPU's single-thread performance is the constraint at these high frame rates. For players targeting 1080p with high refresh rate monitors, the i5-9400 may be the limiting component in this pairing.