Revolution Idle

The data for Revolution Idle with the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 shows a configuration where the CPU is the primary constraint at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes increasingly relevant as resolution climbs. The measured FPS ranges from a playable 44.1 at 4K Ultra to a fluid 113 at 1080p Low, indicating a system that scales predictably with graphical load.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS deltas across resolutions reveal a classic pattern of diminishing returns as pixel count increases. At 1080p, the average frame rates are tightly clustered between 102.3 and 113, suggesting that the system is not being pushed hard by the graphical workload. Moving to 2560x1440, the spread widens significantly, with the Ultra preset dropping to 53.8, while Low remains at 98.8. This 45 FPS gap between settings at 1440p highlights the GPU's growing influence on performance as resolution increases.

The jump to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic shift. At 4K, even the Low preset only manages 58.2 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 29.4. The scaling from 1080p to 4K is steep: the High preset loses roughly 58 FPS, representing a 57% drop in performance. This indicates that at 4K, the RTX 3080 is operating near its limits for this title, with the pixel throughput requirements of 4K overwhelming the CPU's ability to feed frames efficiently. The fact that Low at 4K (58.2) is only slightly faster than Ultra at 1440p (53.8) suggests that the resolution increase has a more profound impact than the quality preset changes, a sign that the workload is becoming heavily pixel-bound.

The data shows that at 1080p, the system is likely CPU-limited, as the FPS differences between Low and High are minimal. The RTX 3080 is capable of far higher frame rates than the 113 observed, but the Core i5-9400's six threads appear to be the bottleneck. This is corroborated by the fact that the 4K results show a much wider spread between presets, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario where the graphics card's fill rate and compute capacity dictate performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a high-end Ampere architecture card with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. Its boost clock of 1710 MHz and 8704 shading units provide substantial compute throughput, reflected in its 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance. In this game, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K, where the memory bandwidth and pixel rate are critical for maintaining playable frame rates. The 44.1 FPS at 4K High reflects the card's ability to handle the resolution, but the 29.4 FPS at Ultra shows that the most demanding settings require more than the card can efficiently deliver.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 80th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro Duo, scores 35860, which is a 0.2% delta, indicating that the RTX 3080 is essentially at performance parity with that card. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 further confirms its DirectX 12 capabilities. For Revolution Idle, the GPU's 10 GB VRAM is sufficient, as the game does not appear to require textures or buffers that would exceed this capacity at any tested setting. The data suggests that the GPU is not the limiting component at 1080p, but it becomes the primary performance arbiter at 1440p and especially 4K, where the difference between Low and Ultra settings is more pronounced.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread Coffee Lake processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are typical for its generation. The CPU's benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 2305 puts it nearly exactly in line with its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, which scores 2300, a delta of 0.2%.

In Revolution Idle, the CPU's influence is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates plateau around 102-113 FPS regardless of the preset. This flat scaling indicates that the CPU is the bottleneck, as the GPU is not being fully utilized. The six threads of the i5-9400 are adequate for the game's logic and physics, but they cannot feed the RTX 3080 fast enough to push beyond the observed 113 FPS ceiling. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes, as the GPU's rendering workload becomes the limiting factor. The 44.1 FPS at 4K High and 29.4 at 4K Ultra show that the GPU is struggling with the pixel count, and the CPU is likely waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame. The data indicates that this CPU is a capable partner for the RTX 3080 at higher resolutions, but it prevents the system from achieving its full potential at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 703rd out of 1774 tested combos for Revolution Idle. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations, with roughly 40% of the tested combos outperforming it. The ranking is a reflection of the CPU's relative weakness compared to the GPU, as the combo is ranked lower than what the GPU alone would suggest. The RTX 3080 is in the 80th percentile of GPUs, but the i5-9400 is only in the 50th percentile of CPUs, creating a mismatch that holds the system back in CPU-bound scenarios.

When compared to other combos, this pairing benefits from the GPU's high performance, but it is ultimately constrained by the CPU's six threads. The rank of 703 indicates that there are many systems with faster processors that achieve higher frame rates in this game, particularly at lower resolutions. However, for users targeting 4K, the combo's ranking is likely more favorable, as the GPU becomes the dominant factor and the CPU's limitations are less impactful. The data shows that this combo is balanced for high-resolution gaming but leaves performance on the table at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 113 at Low settings to 82.4 at Ultra. The High preset achieves 102.3, and Medium reaches 104.1. The narrow spread of roughly 30 FPS between Low and Ultra indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU is not being stressed enough to cause significant variation. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, this combo can deliver over 100 FPS at most settings, but the Ultra preset drops below that threshold.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS shows a wider spread, reflecting the GPU's increasing workload. Low settings produce 98.8 FPS, Medium yields 87.1, and High drops to 80. The Ultra preset falls to 53.8, a significant 45 FPS drop from Low. This indicates that the RTX 3080 is starting to feel the pressure at this resolution, but the system remains highly playable for most settings. The 1440p High setting at 80 FPS is a strong result, suggesting that users can enjoy high-quality visuals without sacrificing smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops considerably. Low settings achieve 58.2 FPS, Medium reaches 45.8, and High produces 44.1. The Ultra preset bottoms out at 29.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows a clear hierarchy at 4K, where Low is the only preset that maintains a frame rate above 60, and even it falls short of that mark. The 4K results demonstrate that this combo is best suited for 1440p or 1080p gaming, as the RTX 3080 cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K with this CPU pairing. The difference between 4K Low (58.2) and 4K Ultra (29.4) is nearly 30 FPS, highlighting the substantial impact of quality settings at this resolution.