Ready Or Not

Ready Or Not pairs a six-core Intel Core i5-9400 from the Coffee Lake era with the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, creating a stark generational contrast in this tactical shooter. The benchmark data shows a combination that ranks 609th out of 3,714 tested configurations, placing it in the top 16.4% of all combos for this title. This rank suggests that despite the aging CPU, the sheer graphical horsepower of the RTX 5090 dominates the performance equation, delivering frame rates that are exceptionally high across all tested resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 609 out of 3,714 represents a strong showing for a system built around a processor released in 2018. The data indicates that the RTX 5090's massive rendering capabilities are largely able to compensate for the i5-9400's modest multi-threaded performance. The CPU sits at the 47th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 2,254, placing it in direct competition with mobile and older desktop parts like the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% slower). This is a mid-pack CPU, yet the overall combo still achieves a top-tier rank in Ready Or Not, which strongly implies the game's performance ceiling is defined by the GPU.

The high combo rank is further contextualized by the GPU's own standing. The RTX 5090 holds a 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are data center and mobile workstation parts, such as the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% faster) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (1.4% slower). In a tactical shooter like Ready Or Not, where frame rates are often already high, the 5090's dominance ensures the i5-9400 rarely becomes the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the data still reveals its influence. The rank signifies that this pairing is far more capable than the CPU alone would suggest, and it outperforms a vast majority of the 3,714 combos tested, many of which likely feature more balanced, modern mid-range CPUs paired with less powerful GPUs.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides a 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, which is a staggering resource for a game like Ready Or Not, even at 4K. The core clock scales from a base of 2017 MHz to a boost of 2407 MHz, and with 21,760 shading units, the raw compute throughput is immense. The data shows that this GPU is capable of pushing the game to an average of 287 FPS at 1080p High settings, indicating that the GPU is not maxed out until the resolution and settings are increased.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced as the graphical load increases. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 98, a figure that is still highly playable but demonstrates the GPU is now working near its limits. The RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking and its synthetic benchmark scores, such as 18,355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and 39,650 in Passmark G3D, establish it as a top-tier part. In this combo, its role is to provide a massive performance headroom, ensuring that even the most demanding settings in Ready Or Not are handled with ease, while the CPU handles the game's logic and AI. The variance between settings at 4K, from 98 FPS at Ultra to 175 FPS at Low, highlights how the GPU's workload scales with preset complexity, a characteristic that is less visible at 1080p where the CPU begins to assert its limitations.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a significant bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in Ready Or Not?

A: The data suggests a partial bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 311 FPS, but at 4K Low it still manages 175 FPS. The relatively small gap between 1080p and 1440p results (311 vs 267 FPS at Low) indicates that the CPU is limiting performance at lower resolutions, while the larger drop to 4K (175 FPS) shows the GPU taking over as the primary constraint.

Q: How does this combo's rank compare to the CPU's own standing?

A: The combo ranks 609th out of 3,714, which is in the top 16.4% of all tested systems. The i5-9400 itself only sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. This discrepancy demonstrates that the RTX 5090's strength boosts the overall system performance far beyond what the CPU's individual benchmark scores would predict.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 267 on Low to 187 on Ultra. This represents a 30% reduction in frame rate when moving to the highest preset. The data shows a more linear scaling here than at 1080p, where the CPU limit compresses the range.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM provide any tangible benefit in this game?

A: While the FACT PACK does not include VRAM usage metrics for Ready Or Not, the 32 GB capacity is far beyond what a tactical shooter would typically require. The practical benefit is the massive 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth, which contributes to the high frame rates seen even at 4K Ultra (98 FPS), ensuring texture streaming and asset loading are not bottlenecks.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded in the data?

A: The highest average frame rate is 311 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is followed closely by 297 FPS at 1080p Medium and 287 FPS at 1080p High, showing that the system's performance is heavily capped by the CPU at this resolution.

Q: How does the i5-9400's single-core performance influence the results?

A: The CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score is 935, which is low by modern standards. Since Ready Or Not's game logic and draw call submission are often single-thread dependent, this likely explains why the FPS plateaus around 311 at 1080p regardless of settings, as the CPU cannot push the frame rate higher even when the GPU has headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system achieves its highest frame rates. On Low settings, the average is 311 FPS. This drops slightly to 297 FPS on Medium, which has a reported min of 252 FPS and max of 341 FPS. High settings produce an average of 287 FPS, while Ultra is the slowest at this resolution, still delivering a very high 252 FPS average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain extremely high but begin to show more variance. The Low preset averages 267 FPS. The Medium preset reports an average of 254 FPS, with a min of 216 and max of 293 FPS. High settings yield 246 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 187 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at this resolution is a 30% reduction, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the load of increased pixel count and detail.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes the defining factor. The Low preset still averages a very playable 175 FPS. Medium settings average 153 FPS, with a minimum of 130 and maximum of 176 FPS. High settings drop to 139 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 98 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 4K shows a performance drop of roughly 56% for Ultra settings (252 to 98 FPS), and a 44% drop for Low settings (311 to 175 FPS), illustrating how the RTX 5090's capabilities are taxed more heavily at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends on the user's display and refresh rate. For a 1080p or 1440p monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate, the High preset is the recommended choice. At 1080p High, the system averages 287 FPS, which easily saturates a 240Hz display. At 1440p High, the average of 246 FPS still provides a near-perfect experience for high-refresh-rate gaming, and the min FPS data for Medium (216 at 1440p) suggests High will maintain a stable frame time. The Low preset offers diminishing returns at these resolutions, as the CPU limit is clearly hit around 311 FPS, which is only a marginal gain over High.

For 4K gaming, the High preset at 3840x2160, which averages 139 FPS, is the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. The Medium preset at 153 FPS is a viable alternative for those seeking extra headroom, but High offers a more substantial visual upgrade for a 14 FPS loss. The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, drops the average to 98 FPS. For a tactical shooter where clarity and reaction time are paramount, maintaining a frame rate above 120 FPS is generally preferable, making High the superior choice. The Low preset at 4K is not recommended, as the 175 FPS average does not justify the significant loss in graphical quality, given that High is only 36 FPS slower.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it as a mid-range part, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6,629 and a single-core score of 935. The CPU's role in Ready Or Not is to handle the game's simulation, AI, and physics, and the data suggests it performs this task adequately, but it is the limiting factor for maximum frame rates.

Evidence of this CPU limit is seen in the small delta between 1080p Low (311 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (252 FPS). A GPU-bound scenario would show a much wider spread. Instead, the 19% difference indicates that the CPU is unable to feed the RTX 5090 enough data to fully utilize its potential at lower resolutions. The CPU's 47th percentile ranking and its proximity to mobile chips like the Core i7-10710U (0.3% faster) in average score highlight its age. While it does not prevent the system from achieving high frame rates, it caps the top-end performance. In contrast, at 4K, the CPU has more time to prepare frames, allowing the GPU to become the primary bottleneck, as seen in the more significant FPS drops between settings (175 FPS at Low vs 98 FPS at Ultra).

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic transition from a CPU-bound to a GPU-bound state. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 311 at 1080p to 267 at 1440p, a 14% reduction, and then to 175 at 4K, a 44% reduction from 1080p. The relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p is a key indicator of the CPU limit, as the GPU has ample headroom to handle the increased pixel count without a proportional frame rate penalty.

The scaling becomes much more aggressive at Ultra settings. The average FPS falls from 252 at 1080p to 187 at 1440p (a 26% drop) and then to 98 at 4K (a 61% drop from 1440p). This steep decline demonstrates that at Ultra, the RTX 5090 is now the primary bottleneck, and its workload scales significantly with resolution. The data implies that at 1080p, the system is CPU-limited, with the GPU often idle waiting for instructions. At 4K, the roles are reversed, and the GPU's rendering load dictates the final frame rate. The 4K Ultra result of 98 FPS shows that even the mighty RTX 5090 can be brought to its knees by this game at maximum settings, whereas the 1080p results show a system held back by its six-core processor.