Pc Building Simulator

Pc Building Simulator, a simulation title that tasks players with assembling and benchmarking virtual PCs, exhibits a surprising performance curve when paired with an Intel Core i5-9400 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D. The data reveals a system where the GPU's raw power is often held in check by the aging six-core processor, particularly at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the average frame rates range from 244 FPS on Low settings down to 185 FPS on Ultra, while 4K Ultra still manages a playable 89 FPS. This combination of a last-generation mainstream CPU with a current flagship GPU creates a bottleneck profile that is more pronounced in lighter loads, making it a fascinating case study in system balancing.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the shifting balance of power between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low, the system produces an average of 244 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 209 FPS, and at 4K Low, it falls further to 168 FPS. This demonstrates that even at the lowest graphical settings, the demand on the GPU is increasing enough to start limiting performance, though the CPU is still a significant factor.

The trend becomes more pronounced when examining the higher settings. At 1080p High, the average is 188 FPS, but at 1440p High, it rises to 161 FPS, and at 4K High, it drops to 94 FPS. The frame rate reduction from 1080p to 1440p is a 14.4% decline, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is a substantial 41.6% decline. This indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as the workload on the graphics card scales with pixel count.

The Ultra settings tell a similar story. The system achieves 185 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 159 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and 89 FPS at 4K Ultra. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Ultra is relatively small, suggesting the CPU is holding the system back at the lower resolution. However, the jump to 4K Ultra, with its 44% performance drop from 1440p, shows the RTX 5090 D being pushed to its limits. The data suggests that for this specific game, the optimal balance for high refresh-rate gaming would be at 1440p, where the CPU is less of a limiting factor and the GPU can flex its muscles.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D perform in Pc Building Simulator at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K Ultra settings, the system averages 89 FPS. Lowering the settings to High yields 94 FPS, Medium produces 133 FPS, and Low reaches 168 FPS. The game is quite playable at 4K, even on the highest settings, with the Medium preset offering a significant frame rate boost.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: Yes, particularly at lower resolutions. The data shows a small difference between 1080p Ultra (185 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (159 FPS), a 14% drop. This relatively small performance penalty for a 2.25x increase in pixel count suggests the CPU is limiting the frame rate at 1080p. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the larger performance drops.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a high-refresh-rate 1440p monitor?

A: For a 1440p monitor with a 165Hz or 240Hz refresh rate, the High preset at 161 FPS or the Ultra preset at 159 FPS are excellent choices. Both maintain an average well above 144 FPS, offering a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 184 FPS is also viable, but the visual fidelity gain from High or Ultra is likely worth the small frame rate cost.

Q: How does the game's performance compare between the Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is notable but not extreme. At 1080p Low, the system averages 244 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra, it averages 185 FPS. This represents a 24% reduction in performance for the highest visual quality. The headroom on Low suggests that the CPU is the primary constraint, preventing the GPU from reaching even higher frame rates.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 558 out of 3002 indicate?

A: It signifies that this specific CPU-GPU combination is in the top 18.6% of all tested combos for this game. This is a strong showing, but it also indicates that many other combinations deliver higher average performance, primarily those with more powerful CPUs to better complement the RTX 5090 D.

Q: Does the game have any frame rate hitches or minimum FPS issues?

A: The data only provides minimum FPS values for the Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 182 FPS, at 1440p Medium it's 156 FPS, and at 4K Medium it's 113 FPS. These minimums are all within a reasonable range of their respective averages, suggesting the frame pacing is relatively stable without severe stutters.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. In the context of Pc Building Simulator, this CPU's performance is a significant factor, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, which places it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs.

This mid-pack positioning is reflected in the game's performance. At 1080p Low, the system hits 244 FPS, but the CPU appears to be the limiting factor. The fact that the frame rate only increases from 185 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 244 FPS at 1080p Low, despite a massive reduction in GPU workload, strongly suggests the CPU is capping the frame rate. A more powerful processor would likely allow the RTX 5090 D to push even higher frame rates in this scenario.

The CPU's six threads are adequate for this simulation game, but they don't provide the headroom that a modern eight-core or higher processor would. The nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% slower) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% faster), which are all in a similar performance tier. This indicates the i5-9400 is not a high-end part, and its age is showing in CPU-bound scenarios. However, at 4K resolution, the CPU's role diminishes, and the massive 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth of the GPU take over as the primary drivers of performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is ranked 558th out of 3002 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator. This places it in the 82nd percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it outperforms the vast majority of other combinations. This high rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's enormous power.

However, the ranking also reveals the pairing's weakness. A top-tier GPU like the RTX 5090 D, which sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, should ideally be paired with a top-tier CPU to maximize its potential. The i5-9400, sitting in the 47th percentile of CPUs, is a clear mismatch. The system's overall rank of 558 reflects the GPU's strength, but it falls short of what a more balanced system with a high-end CPU could achieve. The data suggests that the CPU is holding the combo back from reaching a higher rank, as many combos above it likely feature more powerful processors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a powerhouse, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. With a boost clock of 2407 MHz, the GPU has a staggering 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power. Its benchmark scores are equally impressive, with a Passmark G3D score of 44065 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376915, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

In Pc Building Simulator, the GPU's dominance is most evident at 4K resolution. At 4K Ultra, the system still manages an average of 89 FPS, a very playable frame rate for a simulation game. The performance scaling from High to Ultra at 4K shows a decrease from 94 FPS to 89 FPS, a modest 5.3% drop, indicating the game is not heavily taxing the GPU's raw power even at maximum settings. The GPU's 32 GB of VRAM is also far more than this game requires, ensuring there are no memory-related stutters or texture pop-ins.

The RTX 5090 D's role is to provide massive frame rates, but it is often hamstrung by the CPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU seems to have hundreds of FPS of headroom, but the i5-9400 cannot feed it data fast enough. This is a classic case of a GPU that is overqualified for a game at lower resolutions, only reaching its full potential when the resolution is high enough to make the GPU the definitive bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates, but CPU limitations are apparent. Here is the full breakdown:

• Low: 244 FPS average
• Medium: 214 FPS average (minimum 182 FPS, maximum 247 FPS)
• High: 188 FPS average
• Ultra: 185 FPS average

Moving to 2560x1440, the GPU starts to take on more work, and the frame rates remain high:

• Low: 209 FPS average
• Medium: 184 FPS average (minimum 156 FPS, maximum 211 FPS)
• High: 161 FPS average
• Ultra: 159 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the GPU is fully engaged, and the CPU bottleneck is largely eliminated. The results show a clear scaling with settings:

• Low: 168 FPS average
• Medium: 133 FPS average (minimum 113 FPS, maximum 153 FPS)
• High: 94 FPS average
• Ultra: 89 FPS average

The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 59 FPS (244 vs 185), while at 4K, the difference is 79 FPS (168 vs 89). This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor preventing the Low setting from reaching even higher frame rates, while at 4K, the GPU's workload is the primary constraint. The Medium settings at all resolutions provide a good balance, with the minimum FPS values staying well above the average of most other systems.