Pc Building Simulator

# Pc Building Simulator: Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The pairing of a six-core Coffee Lake CPU from 2018 with a current-generation Ada Lovelace flagship GPU creates an unusual performance profile in Pc Building Simulator. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at lower resolutions but transitions into a more balanced state as pixel count increases. The RTX 4080 SUPER, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 256-bit bus, demonstrates its headroom at 1080p, while the i5-9400's six threads become increasingly relevant as resolution climbs. This analysis examines the measured FPS data across three resolutions and four quality presets, interpreting what the numbers indicate about component utilization and playability.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, but the magnitude varies significantly depending on quality preset. At Low settings, average FPS falls from 243.3 at 1920x1080 to 154.8 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 88.5 FPS or roughly 36%. At High settings, the decline is from 190.7 to 74.5, a 116.2 FPS drop representing about 61% fewer frames. The Ultra preset shows a similar pattern: 185.1 at 1080p down to 74 at 4K, a 111.1 FPS decrease. Medium settings exhibit the smallest absolute drop, from 215.8 to 106.5, losing 109.3 FPS.

This scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p, the RTX 4080 SUPER is not being fully exercised, as the CPU's six threads constrain the frame rate ceiling. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 58.2 FPS (243.3 vs 185.1), suggesting the processor limits the GPU's ability to differentiate between presets. At 1440p, the spread widens to 71.3 FPS (210.6 Low vs 139.3 Ultra), showing the GPU begins to take on more of the workload. At 4K, the Low-to-Ultra gap narrows again to 80.8 FPS (154.8 vs 74), but the absolute values drop sharply, confirming the GPU is now the primary bottleneck as pixel fill rate demands escalate.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly revealing. At High settings, FPS halves from 148.1 to 74.5, a 73.6 FPS reduction that aligns with the 2.25x pixel count increase. This near-linear scaling at higher resolutions demonstrates that the RTX 4080 SUPER's 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 736.3 GB/s memory bandwidth are the determining factors, with the i5-9400's 2.90 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost clocks providing adequate instruction throughput. The data suggests that the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p, where the GPU's power is harnessed without the CPU becoming a hard ceiling.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER's specifications directly explain its behavior across the measured resolutions. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, the card has ample capacity for Pc Building Simulator's simulation-heavy workloads, which typically involve numerous assets and UI elements. The 10240 shading units and 320 texture mapping units provide substantial parallel processing capability, reflected in the card's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs. Its 2295 MHz base clock and 2550 MHz boost clock are relatively high for the Ada Lovelace architecture, contributing to the strong raw throughput.

The GPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks show it sitting just ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT by 0.2% and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M by 0.4%, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 7700S by 2.1% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 2.9%. These margins are narrow, indicating that in synthetic tests the 4080 SUPER is closely matched with these competitors. However, in Pc Building Simulator specifically, the measured FPS data reveals a card that can push 154.8 FPS at 4K Low and 210.6 FPS at 1440p Low, demonstrating that even with a modest CPU, the GPU's capabilities are not the limiting factor at lower settings.

The VRAM allocation becomes relevant at 4K Ultra, where the 74 FPS average suggests the GPU is working near its limits. The 256-bit memory bus and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the 112 ROPs, but the pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s becomes a constraint at 3840x2160. The card's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, while not directly relevant to this simulation game, contribute to its overall compute capacity and explain its strong Passmark G3D score of 34245. The data indicates the GPU is the dominant performance driver at 4K, while at 1080p the CPU's six threads and 9 MB L3 cache create a performance plateau.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS values across the four presets provide clear guidance for optimal configuration. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 215.8 FPS, which is only 27.5 FPS below the Low setting's 243.3 but 25.1 FPS above High's 190.7. Given that Medium offers substantially improved visual quality over Low with a modest FPS penalty, it represents the most balanced choice at this resolution. The Ultra preset's 185.1 FPS is still highly playable, but the 30.7 FPS gap from Medium to Ultra is not justified by the incremental visual improvements in a simulation game.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again emerges as the sweet spot, delivering 182.8 FPS. This is 27.8 FPS below Low's 210.6 but 34.7 FPS above High's 148.1. The Ultra setting's 139.3 FPS remains smooth for simulation gameplay, but the data shows diminishing returns beyond Medium. The High preset at 1440p yields 148.1 FPS, which is still above typical display refresh rates, but Medium provides a 34.7 FPS advantage that could matter on high-refresh monitors.

At 3840x2160, the recommendation shifts. The High preset produces 74.5 FPS, which is adequate for a simulation title, while Ultra drops marginally to 74 FPS—a difference of only 0.5 FPS that makes Ultra the better choice for 4K users seeking maximum fidelity. The Medium preset at 106.5 FPS offers the best balance of quality and performance, but the Low setting's 154.8 FPS indicates that even at 4K, the RTX 4080 SUPER has substantial headroom at reduced settings. For 4K users prioritizing smoothness, Medium at 106.5 FPS is the recommended starting point, with High as a viable alternative for those preferring visual quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 243.3 at Low to 185.1 at Ultra, with Medium at 215.8 and High at 190.7. The spread of 58.2 FPS between Low and Ultra is relatively narrow, confirming the CPU's influence at this resolution. The i5-9400's six threads, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969, appear sufficient to feed the GPU at lower settings but cap performance as quality increases.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 210.6 (Low), 182.8 (Medium), 148.1 (High), and 139.3 (Ultra). The 71.3 FPS spread is wider than at 1080p, indicating the GPU begins to assert its role. The jump from Medium to High costs 34.7 FPS, while High to Ultra costs only 8.8 FPS, suggesting that High is a more efficient preset than Ultra at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 154.8 (Low), 106.5 (Medium), 74.5 (High), and 74 (Ultra). The Low-to-Medium gap of 48.3 FPS is the largest single-step drop in the entire dataset, highlighting the GPU's sensitivity to shader complexity at 4K. The High-to-Ultra difference of 0.5 FPS is negligible, making Ultra the rational choice for 4K High users. The overall pattern shows that as resolution increases, the FPS penalty for each preset step grows, emphasizing the GPU's 52.22 TFLOPS compute being fully utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 436th out of 1769 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator, placing it in the top 25% of all systems. This ranking is notable given the CPU's modest specifications—six cores, six threads, and a 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 88th percentile GPU ranking and 53610 average benchmark score compensate substantially for the processor's age.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% faster), Intel Core i3-1125G4 (0.2% faster), and Intel Xeon E-2134 (0.4% faster), while the Intel Core i7-8809G is 0.6% slower. These margins are tiny, indicating the i5-9400 performs on par with newer budget and older workstation parts, but its six threads limit its ability to fully exploit the RTX 4080 SUPER's capabilities in CPU-bound scenarios.

The GPU's nearest rivals—the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (0.2% slower), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (0.4% slower), AMD Radeon RX 7700S (2.1% slower), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (2.9% slower)—are all closely matched in aggregate performance. In Pc Building Simulator, the 4080 SUPER's measured FPS at 4K High (74.5) and 1440p Ultra (139.3) demonstrate that this combo delivers smooth simulation gameplay across most settings, though the 436th ranking reflects the CPU's relative weakness in a game that benefits from higher thread counts. The data suggests that users pairing this GPU with a stronger processor would see improved 1080p performance, but at 1440p and 4K, the current combo remains competitive within the broader tested population.