Revolution Idle

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B570 lands at rank 2373 out of 2986 tested combinations in Revolution Idle. That places this combo in the bottom 20% of all tested systems, a surprisingly low position for a GPU that otherwise sits in the 65th percentile among all graphics cards. The discrepancy between the GPU's standalone standing and this combo's in-game rank suggests that something other than raw graphics horsepower is holding the system back.

Benchmark results indicate the Arc B570 alone averages 20556 in synthetic tests, placing it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and 0.1% behind the Intel Arc A750. Yet in this specific idle game, the combination with the i5-9400 produces frame rates that are playable but far from impressive. The CPU, with an average benchmark score of 2254, sits at the 47th percentile among all processors, closely matching the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% slower).

The rank gap between GPU percentile (65th) and combo rank (bottom 20%) hints that Revolution Idle may not be scaling with the GPU's capabilities at all. For an idle game, the computational demands often shift toward background simulation and periodic updates rather than continuous rendering, which could explain why a mid-range CPU like the i5-9400 becomes the limiting factor. The data suggests that this combo's placement is more about the CPU's modest standing than the GPU's relatively strong one.

# GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 brings substantial hardware to this pairing. Its 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while the GPU operates at a fixed 2500 MHz base and boost clock. The 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs deliver a theoretical FP32 performance of 11.52 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 14195 in PassMark G3D and 96844 in Geekbench Vulkan, numbers that place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs.

However, the measured frame rates in Revolution Idle tell a different story. At 1080p High settings, the combo produces 69 FPS, while at 4K High it drops to 23 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings shows roughly a 67% performance reduction, which is a steeper drop than would be expected if the GPU were the sole bottleneck. The Arc B570's 10 GB VRAM is never likely to be exhausted in an idle game, and its 2500 MHz clock speed is more than sufficient for typical 2D or light 3D workloads.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic testing—the RTX 3070 Mobile and Arc A750—would likely perform similarly in this title, given the deltaPct values of 0.1% and -0.1% respectively. The fact that the Arc B570's PassMark DirectX 9 score (164) is higher than its DirectX 11 (118) and DirectX 12 (72) scores suggests the architecture may favor older API paths, which could be relevant if Revolution Idle uses a legacy rendering pipeline. The data indicates the GPU is not the primary constraint in most settings, except perhaps at 4K Ultra where the 15 FPS average suggests the card is finally being pushed to its limits.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake refresh generation, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It runs at a 2.90 GHz base clock with a 4.10 GHz boost, and features a 9 MB shared L3 cache along with 256 KB L2 and 64 KB L1 per core. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth, and the CPU connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes. Its TDP is 65 W, and it integrates UHD 630 graphics, though the discrete Arc B570 renders that irrelevant for this game.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 scores 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core, with Geekbench scores of 5141 multi-core and 1389 single-core. These numbers place it at the 47th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rival being the Intel Core i7-10710U (0.3% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% faster). For an idle game, single-thread performance often matters more than multi-core throughput, since the game's simulation logic may run on a single thread. The i5-9400's single-core Cinebench R23 score of 935 is modest by modern standards, and this could be the crux of the bottleneck.

The measured FPS patterns support CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 96 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 44 FPS—a 54% reduction. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at the same resolution would typically be larger. The relatively small gap between Low and High at 1080p (96 vs 69 FPS) suggests the CPU is capping performance around the 96 FPS mark, and the GPU's increased workload at higher settings only marginally impacts the final frame rate. The 6 threads without hyper-threading may also limit background tasks in an idle game that simulates multiple systems simultaneously.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides 12 measured configurations across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1080p, the combo delivers 96 FPS on Low, 72 FPS on Medium (with min 62 and max 83), 69 FPS on High, and 44 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a narrow 21 FPS spread between min and max, indicating relatively stable frame pacing. Moving to 1440p, the numbers drop to 61 FPS on Low, 46 FPS on Medium (min 39, max 53), 44 FPS on High, and 28 FPS on Ultra. At 4K, the performance becomes marginal: 32 FPS on Low, 24 FPS on Medium (min 20, max 27), 23 FPS on High, and 15 FPS on Ultra.

The pattern across resolutions reveals that Low settings at 1440p (61 FPS) nearly match High settings at 1080p (69 FPS), suggesting that resolution scaling and settings scaling have similar impacts on performance. The 4K Ultra result of 15 FPS is the only truly unplayable configuration, while 4K Low at 32 FPS is borderline acceptable for an idle game where action is not time-sensitive. The Medium preset consistently shows the tightest min-max ranges, with 62-83 FPS at 1080p, 39-53 FPS at 1440p, and 20-27 FPS at 4K, indicating that Medium provides the most predictable frame delivery.

# Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at each settings level reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, the combo goes from 96 FPS at 1080p to 61 FPS at 1440p to 32 FPS at 4K—a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the drop is from 69 FPS to 44 FPS to 23 FPS, a 67% reduction as well. At Ultra, the numbers fall from 44 FPS to 28 FPS to 15 FPS, a 66% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution scaling is uniform, which typically indicates a GPU-bound scenario where pixel count directly drives performance.

However, the absolute FPS values tell a more nuanced story. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 96 FPS, which is below the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors, yet still smooth. If the CPU were the primary bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat when resolution increases, since the CPU workload wouldn't change much. The fact that FPS drops by roughly 33% at each resolution step (1080p to 1440p, then 1440p to 4K) suggests the GPU becomes more involved as pixel count rises. The 4K Ultra result of 15 FPS indicates the Arc B570's 11.52 TFLOPS is insufficient for 4K Ultra in this title, despite the game being an idle genre that typically has modest graphics demands.

The scaling data implies that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited, but as resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the limiting component. This dual-bottleneck behavior explains why the combo ranks so low: the CPU caps lower-resolution performance, and the GPU cannot compensate at higher resolutions. The ideal operating point appears to be 1440p, where the balance between CPU and GPU loads produces 61 FPS on Low and 44 FPS on High, both playable for an idle game.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and the player's tolerance for frame rate variability. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, with 72 FPS average and a tight 62-83 FPS range. High settings at 1080p deliver 69 FPS, nearly identical to Medium, but with no min/max data to confirm stability. The 3 FPS difference between Medium and High at 1080p is negligible, so players could reasonably choose either, with Medium providing documented frame consistency.

At 1440p, the Low preset at 61 FPS is the most playable option, while Medium at 46 FPS (min 39, max 53) remains acceptable for an idle game where reaction time is not critical. High at 44 FPS is nearly identical to Medium but lacks the min/max documentation, so Medium is the safer choice for predictability. At 4K, only Low at 32 FPS is playable, with Medium at 24 FPS and High at 23 FPS being marginal. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it produces 44 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K—the latter being a slideshow.

For the best experience, 1080p Medium or High is the sweet spot, delivering around 70 FPS. Players wanting higher visual fidelity should accept 1440p Low or Medium, while 4K is only viable on Low settings. The data suggests that Revolution Idle does not benefit significantly from Ultra settings at any resolution, as the visual complexity of an idle game likely does not justify the 40-50% FPS penalty.

# FAQ

Q: Why does this combo rank so low if the GPU is in the 65th percentile?

A: The combo ranks 2373 out of 2986 tested combinations, while the Arc B570 alone sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs. The i5-9400, at the 47th percentile of CPUs, likely limits lower-resolution performance, and the game's idle nature may not fully utilize the GPU's capabilities, causing the combined score to reflect the CPU's modest standing.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings for playable frame rates?

A: The data shows 1080p Medium at 72 FPS (min 62, max 83) and 1440p Low at 61 FPS are the smoothest options. For 4K, only Low at 32 FPS is playable, while 4K Ultra at 15 FPS is not recommended.

Q: Is the 10 GB VRAM on the Arc B570 ever a limitation in this game?

A: The 10 GB GDDR6 memory with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is unlikely to be a constraint in Revolution Idle, given the genre's modest texture and geometry demands. The frame rate drops across resolutions are more consistent with compute or fill-rate limits than VRAM capacity issues.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 is 0.1% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.1% below the Intel Arc A750 (20582). Its PassMark G3D score of 14195 places it at the 65th percentile overall.

Q: Does the i5-9400 bottleneck the system at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Low result of 96 FPS, combined with the CPU's 47th percentile ranking and single-core Cinebench R23 score of 935, suggests the processor may cap performance around 100 FPS. The relatively small FPS gap between Low and High at 1080p (96 vs 69) supports a CPU-limited scenario at lower settings.

Q: What do the min and max FPS values tell us about frame stability?

A: Only the Medium preset provides min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 62-83 FPS (spanning 21 FPS), at 1440p it is 39-53 FPS (spanning 14 FPS), and at 4K it is 20-27 FPS (spanning 7 FPS). The tighter ranges at higher resolutions suggest more consistent frame pacing when the GPU is under heavier load.