Revolution Idle

Revolution Idle is not a demanding title, and the measured results for the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B580 confirm that this combo is firmly CPU-bound at lower resolutions. The Arc B580’s powerful 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory are largely underutilized, as frame rates collapse under the weight of 4K Ultra settings, revealing that the aging six-core Coffee Lake processor is the primary limiting factor in this specific configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly shows where the bottleneck lies. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 109 FPS, which is a strong result for an idle game. However, moving to 2560x1440 Low drops the average to 69 FPS, a significant 36.7% reduction. Pushing further to 3840x2160 Low yields just 36 FPS, another 47.8% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steep drop-off pattern indicates that the system is not GPU-bound at lower resolutions; instead, the CPU’s single-core performance (935 in Cinebench R23) is the ceiling, and it cannot feed the Arc B580 enough data to maintain higher frame rates as pixel count increases.

The High settings scaling is even more telling. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 78 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 49 FPS, and at 4K High, it plummets to 26 FPS. This 3x resolution increase from 1080p to 4K results in a 3x performance drop, which is a textbook sign of a system that is balanced between CPU and GPU limitations. The GPU is finally being engaged at 4K, but the CPU’s inability to provide consistent draw calls means the Arc B580 cannot stretch its legs, resulting in a sub-30 FPS experience.

Ultra settings are the most punishing scenario. The transition from 1080p Ultra (50 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (32 FPS) is a 36% loss, and then to 4K Ultra (17 FPS) is another 46.9% loss. The 4K Ultra result of 17 FPS is nearly unplayable, showing that this combination is not suited for maxed-out 4K gaming. The data suggests that the Arc B580’s 2670 MHz boost clock and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are capable of handling the rasterization, but the game’s logic and physics tied to the CPU become the deciding factor, especially when the settings increase the number of active elements on screen.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is a modern GPU with a 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs, placing it ahead of rivals like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (0.6% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (-0.2% delta). Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides substantial headroom, yet in Revolution Idle, this capacity is not a limiting factor. The measured FPS data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the game does not exceed 17 FPS, which is far below what the GPU’s raw compute (13.67 TFLOPS) should deliver if it were the sole constraint.

The GPU’s clock speeds are fixed at a base and boost of 2670 MHz, which is a high sustained frequency. Despite this, the benchmark results indicate that the Arc B580 is not being fully exercised at 1080p. For instance, the jump from Low (109 FPS) to High (78 FPS) at 1080p is only a 28.4% reduction, which is relatively minor for a settings change. This suggests the GPU has spare capacity, but the CPU’s six threads (6 cores, 6 threads) are saturated, preventing higher frame rates. The GPU’s role only becomes dominant at 4K, where the 26 FPS High result is 68% lower than the 1080p High score, showing that the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are finally becoming relevant.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B580 ranks 2795 out of 3712 combos for Revolution Idle. This places it in the bottom 24.7% of all tested systems, which is a surprisingly low rank given the individual component strengths. The CPU itself has a 47th percentile ranking (vs all CPUs), and the GPU is at the 68th percentile, yet their combined performance in this game is poor due to the significant bottleneck.

The discrepancy between the component percentiles and the combo rank highlights the inefficiency of this pairing for this specific title. The nearest rival for the CPU is the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avg score 2259, delta -0.2%), while the GPU’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (avg score 23061, delta -0.2%). Even though the GPU is competitive with an RTX 3080 (delta -0.7%) in synthetic benchmarks, the real-world FPS in Revolution Idle is constrained by the CPU’s older architecture (Coffee Lake, 14 nm process) and its modest 2.90 GHz base clock. The data indicates that a user with a newer mid-range CPU could unlock significantly more FPS from the Arc B580, but as tested, this combo is severely hamstrung.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system's capabilities across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable results: 109 FPS on Low, 82 FPS on Medium (with a min of 70 and max of 94), 78 FPS on High, and 50 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset’s 82 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a 5.1% improvement over High while maintaining a smooth experience. The 1080p results show that the system can handle the game well at standard HD resolutions, but the Ultra setting’s drop to 50 FPS reveals the CPU’s limits when the game’s simulation load increases.

At 2560x1440, the performance becomes more marginal. Low settings produce 69 FPS, Medium drops to 52 FPS (min 44, max 60), High falls to 49 FPS, and Ultra is only 32 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is just 5.8%, which is within the margin of error, indicating that the settings are not the primary factor; the resolution is. The 4K results are the weakest: Low (36 FPS), Medium (27 FPS, min 23, max 31), High (26 FPS), and Ultra (17 FPS). None of the 4K presets reach the 30 FPS threshold, making 4K gaming impractical with this combo.

The data also shows that the scaling between Low and Ultra is consistent across resolutions, but the absolute deltas shrink as resolution increases. At 1080p, Ultra is 54.1% slower than Low. At 1440p, Ultra is 53.6% slower. At 4K, Ultra is 52.8% slower. This consistency suggests that the game’s engine scales the CPU load proportionally with settings, and the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions, but the CPU remains the floor.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 + Intel Arc B580 combo playable at 1080p for Revolution Idle?

A: Yes, at 1080p the combo delivers 78 FPS on High and 82 FPS on Medium, both of which are well above playable thresholds. Even Ultra settings at 50 FPS are acceptable, though the 109 FPS Low result shows the CPU is the limiting factor, not the GPU.

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

A: The data suggests 1920x1080 Medium (82 FPS) or High (78 FPS) is the optimal balance, as both offer smooth frame rates. 1440p Medium (52 FPS) is also viable, but 4K is not recommended since even Low settings only achieve 36 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B580’s average benchmark score (23021) is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061, -0.2% delta) and slightly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.6% delta). However, these synthetic scores do not translate to high FPS in this game due to the CPU bottleneck.

Q: Why is the 4K performance so poor despite the GPU having 12 GB of VRAM?

A: The 12 GB of VRAM is not the issue. The bottleneck is the Intel Core i5-9400, which has a 47th percentile CPU ranking and only 6 threads. The CPU cannot process the game’s logic fast enough to feed the GPU, resulting in 17 FPS at 4K Ultra, regardless of the GPU’s memory capacity.

Q: Does the CPU’s overclocking capability affect the results?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has a locked multiplier (multiplierUnlocked: false), so it cannot be overclocked. Its boost clock is fixed at 4.10 GHz, and this limitation is reflected in the measured FPS, where the CPU struggles to maintain higher frame rates at lower resolutions.

Q: Is this combo ranked well among all tested systems?

A: No, it ranks 2795 out of 3712 combos for Revolution Idle, which is in the bottom 25% of all tested systems. This poor ranking is due to the significant CPU bottleneck, despite the GPU’s high 68th percentile ranking.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz are modest by modern standards, and its L3 cache is 9 MB (shared). In Revolution Idle, this CPU is the primary constraint, as evidenced by the FPS data showing that performance scales almost linearly with resolution rather than being flat, which would indicate a GPU limit.

The CPU’s synthetic benchmarks reinforce this conclusion. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 6629, and its single-core score is 935, placing it at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, it trades blows with the Intel Core i7-10710U (avg score 2248, delta 0.3%) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (avg score 2246, delta 0.4%). However, in this game, the CPU’s single-thread performance is critical, and the 935 single-core score is insufficient to drive the Arc B580 to its potential.

The game’s idle genre means it likely relies heavily on background simulation and update ticks, which are single-threaded. The i5-9400’s lack of hyper-threading (6 threads, not 12) exacerbates this, as the game cannot utilize more than 6 threads effectively. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (109 FPS) is a hard ceiling imposed by the CPU, as the GPU could easily render more frames if fed. The data shows that upgrading the CPU while keeping the Arc B580 would yield substantial gains, but as tested, this CPU holds the entire system back, making the combo rank 2795 out of 3712 despite the GPU’s strong 68th percentile standing.