Ready Or Not

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination delivers a highly playable Ready Or Not experience at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K. Benchmark data shows this pairing ranks 1486th out of 1748 tested combos, placing it in the lower third of the database. The system hits a sweet spot at 1440p High settings, where it achieves 91.8 FPS average, while 1080p Ultra remains viable at 102.1 FPS. At 4K, however, only the Low preset approaches playability with 59.6 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to a sluggish 32.2 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The data shows 1440p High provides the best balance, delivering 91.8 FPS average. At 1080p, Medium and High settings produce 158.5 FPS and 145.3 FPS respectively, both well above the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K resolution should be avoided except on Low settings, which achieves 59.6 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs. It is essentially tied with the Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% ahead) and Core i3-1125G4 (2299, 0.2% ahead), while trailing the Core i7-8809G (2319) by 0.6%.

Q: What is the GPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to similar cards?

A: The GTX 1070 scores 12331 on average, sitting in the 51st percentile of all GPUs. It edges out the Quadro K4200 (12241, 0.7% faster) but falls behind the GTX 880M (12490) by 1.3% and the GTX 1650 SUPER (12504) by 1.4%.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings in Ready Or Not?

A: At 1080p, Ultra settings yield 102.1 FPS, which is playable. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 62.9 FPS, still marginally above 60 FPS. At 4K, Ultra is not recommended, as it produces only 32.2 FPS.

Q: How much performance difference exists between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: The gap is substantial. Low settings produce 182.3 FPS, while Ultra produces 102.1 FPS, representing a 79.9% difference in frame rate. Medium sits between at 158.5 FPS, and High at 145.3 FPS.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the GPU?

A: The GTX 1070 had a launch MSRP of 379 USD. This figure is provided for reference only.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor built on the Coffee Lake architecture with a 14 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boosts to 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's L3 cache is 9 MB shared, and it supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. In synthetic testing, the chip scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1125 in single-core, reflecting a mid-range part from its generation.

In Ready Or Not, the CPU's role is evident in the scaling between presets and resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from Low (182.3 FPS) to Medium (158.5 FPS) and High (145.3 FPS) shows a relatively modest performance penalty, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at these loads. The 6-core configuration with no hyper-threading means the processor relies on clock speed and cache efficiency; the 4.10 GHz boost clock helps maintain responsiveness during intense tactical firefights. The 50th percentile standing among all CPUs indicates this is an average performer, yet the measured frame rates suggest it does not bottleneck the GTX 1070 in this title at 1080p or 1440p. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as CPU load typically decreases at higher resolutions. The processor's 803 Cinebench R15 multi-core score and 3346 R20 score place it in a tier where it can handle modern game logic, but its age is shown by the 0.2% margins over newer i3 parts in the nearest rivals list.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Ready Or Not experience with this hardware. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best overall experience, delivering 158.5 FPS while maintaining visual quality above the bare minimum. High settings at 145.3 FPS are also excellent, and the small 13.2 FPS drop from Medium to High makes either choice viable. Ultra at 1080p produces 102.1 FPS, which remains smooth but sacrifices 56.4 FPS compared to Medium; given that tactical shooters benefit from high frame rates for quick target acquisition, Medium or High is preferable.

For 2560x1440, High settings at 91.8 FPS provide the optimal balance between fidelity and performance. Medium delivers 102.7 FPS, but the visual improvement from High is worth the 10.9 FPS cost. Ultra at 1440p drops to 62.9 FPS, barely above the 60 FPS target, and the 28.9 FPS penalty versus High makes it a risky choice for competitive play. Low settings at 1440p yield 114.7 FPS, but the visual downgrade is unnecessary given the headroom at High.

At 3840x2160, the data paints a different picture. Only the Low preset at 59.6 FPS approaches playability, while Medium (55.7 FPS) and High (47.2 FPS) fall below 60 FPS. Ultra at 32.2 FPS is not viable for gameplay. Users with 4K displays should either run Low settings or reduce resolution to 1440p for a better experience. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 27.4 FPS drop, with the GPU clearly hitting its memory bandwidth and compute limits.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1486th out of 1748 tested combos in Ready Or Not, placing it in the bottom 15% of the database. This low ranking is somewhat misleading given the actual frame rates, as the database includes many high-end systems with newer GPUs and CPUs. The CPU's 50th percentile standing and the GPU's 51st percentile standing indicate this is an average pairing by hardware metrics, but the game's optimization for older architectures helps it perform better than the raw rank suggests.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is closely matched with the Core i3-10305 (0.2% faster) and Core i3-1125G4 (0.2% faster), while the Core i7-8809G is 0.6% faster. These tiny deltas mean the i5-9400 is not a significant bottleneck in this configuration. The GPU's rivals show a similar pattern: the Quadro K4200 is 0.7% slower, while the GTX 880M and GTX 1650 SUPER are 1.3% and 1.4% faster respectively. These small margins indicate the GTX 1070 is well-matched with the CPU, and the combo's rank reflects the overall age of the hardware rather than any specific weakness.

In practical terms, the 1440p High result of 91.8 FPS places this system in a comfortable position for a tactical shooter, where frame pacing and consistency matter more than raw maximums. The 1080p Medium result of 158.5 FPS shows the system can drive high-refresh monitors at lower resolutions. The rank of 1486 suggests that most tested combos are newer or higher-tier, but the measured data proves this older pairing remains relevant for this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture using a 16 nm process at TSMC, featuring the GP104 chip with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1506 MHz with a boost clock of 1683 MHz, while memory runs at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The card has 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 6.463 TFLOPS, and the card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In Ready Or Not, the GPU's role is dominant at 4K, where the measured frame rates show heavy scaling with settings. The 8 GB VRAM buffer is sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across presets. The GPU's 51st percentile ranking means it sits in the middle of the performance distribution, and its nearest rivals show it is nearly identical to the GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% slower) and GTX 880M (1.3% slower). The 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth is a key factor in the 4K results, where texture streaming and memory-intensive effects degrade performance from 59.6 FPS on Low to 32.2 FPS on Ultra.

At 1080p, the GPU delivers 182.3 FPS on Low, indicating it is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The 102.1 FPS on Ultra shows the card can handle max settings at 1080p without issue. At 1440p, the 62.9 FPS Ultra result is close to the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting the GPU is nearing its limits with maximum quality settings. The 4K results clearly show the GTX 1070 is outclassed at this resolution, with only the Low preset achieving near-60 FPS performance. The card's 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its mid-range positioning from the Pascal generation, and its end-of-life production status means no further driver optimizations are likely to improve these results.