Revolution Idle

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 lands at rank 1905 out of 2986 tested combos in Revolution Idle, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database for this title. The combo’s measured frame rates show a clear pattern: playable at 1080p, acceptable at 1440p with settings adjustments, and largely unsuitable at 4K beyond the lowest preset. The data indicates a system where the CPU’s six-core, six-thread Coffee Lake design and the GPU’s 8 GB GDDR6 memory interact in ways that favor lower resolutions, with the RTX 5050’s 66th percentile standing among all GPUs contrasting sharply with the i5-9400’s 47th percentile among CPUs. This imbalance manifests most visibly in the game’s scaling behavior, where the frame rate drops by roughly half from 1080p to 4K at identical settings, suggesting that neither component fully saturates the other at any tested resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s position at 1905 of 2986 tested combinations places it in the 36th percentile overall, meaning roughly two-thirds of tested pairings outperform it in Revolution Idle. This rank is not surprising given the component mix: the i5-9400’s average benchmark score of 2254 sits just 0.2% below the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259) and 0.4% above the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246), while the RTX 5050’s average score of 21035 trails the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153) by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237) by 1.0%, yet leads the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713) by 1.6%. These nearest-rival deltas are narrow, indicating that the GPU is positioned in a crowded performance band, and the CPU is similarly clustered within a few tenths of a percent of its closest competitors.

Within the game specifically, the rank reflects the measured FPS data rather than synthetic averages. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 113 FPS, which is strong for an idle game, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 18 FPS, a sixfold reduction. This wide spread explains the middling overall rank: the combo excels at low resolutions and settings but collapses under heavy GPU load. The percentileVsAllCpus figure of 47 for the i5-9400 and percentileVsAllGpus of 66 for the RTX 5050 further contextualize the rank — the GPU is above average, the CPU is slightly below, and their combined result in this game lands near the median of all tested combos. Notably, the data shows that the RTX 5050’s 13.17 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth do not translate into high 4K performance in Revolution Idle, likely due to the game’s modest graphics demands and the CPU’s 2.90 GHz base clock bottlenecking frame generation at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2317 MHz with a boost of 2572 MHz, and memory runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). The GPU’s 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. In Revolution Idle, the memory size and bandwidth appear sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results tell a different story. At 4K High, the combo averages 28 FPS; at 4K Medium, 29 FPS; and at 4K Low, 39 FPS. The jump from Low to High at 4K is only 11 FPS, suggesting that the GPU’s shading resources — not memory — are the limiting factor at this resolution. The RTX 5050’s 13.17 TFLOPS FP32 is modest by modern standards, and the 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS confirms that the GPU cannot handle the highest preset at 2160p.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce this interpretation. Its Passmark G3D score of 17326 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 place it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, yet the nearest rivals — the RX Vega M GL (21153), HD 8970M (21237), and RX 5600 XT (20713) — all have higher average scores, with deltas ranging from -1.6% to +1.6%. This means the RTX 5050 is not a top-tier part; it is a mid-range chip that excels at lower resolutions. In Revolution Idle, the GPU’s role is to render simple 2D-style graphics and occasional 3D elements, and the data shows that it does so comfortably up to 1440p. At 1080p Ultra, it produces 55 FPS, while at 1440p Ultra it drops to 34 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS is below the playable threshold, indicating that the RTX 5050’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are not the primary constraint — rather, the raw compute power is insufficient for 4K with maximum settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent scaling pattern across all four settings. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by roughly 35-40% at each preset: High goes from 85 to 54 FPS (a 31 FPS drop), Low from 113 to 75 (38 FPS), Medium from 89 to 56 (33 FPS), and Ultra from 55 to 34 (21 FPS). From 1440p to 4K, the drops are even steeper in percentage terms: High falls from 54 to 28 FPS (a 48% reduction), Low from 75 to 39 (48%), Medium from 56 to 29 (48%), and Ultra from 34 to 18 (47%). These near-identical percentage drops across settings suggest that the limiting component scales consistently with pixel count, which points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

However, the absolute numbers tell a more nuanced story. At 1080p Low, 113 FPS indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution. At 4K Low, 39 FPS shows that the GPU is struggling even with minimal settings. The frame rate at 4K Low (39) is less than half of 1080p Low (113), and this halving is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase (1920x1080 = 2.07 million pixels, 3840x2160 = 8.29 million pixels, a 4x increase). If the GPU were the sole limiter, we would expect a 4x drop from 113 to about 28 FPS; the actual 39 FPS is higher, suggesting that the CPU is also contributing to the frame rate at 4K Low. Conversely, at 1080p Ultra (55 FPS) versus 4K Ultra (18 FPS), the drop is 3.1x, closer to the 4x pixel increase, implying that at Ultra settings, the GPU is fully saturated and the CPU’s role diminishes.

The resolution scaling data indicates that for Revolution Idle, the RTX 5050 is the dominant bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p, the system is more balanced. The i5-9400’s 4.10 GHz boost clock and 6 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but as resolution rises, the GPU’s 13.17 TFLOPS and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factors. The 1440p results — 54 FPS High, 56 FPS Medium, 75 FPS Low — are the sweet spot, offering playable performance without the CPU or GPU being overly strained.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Revolution Idle?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 + RTX 5050 ranks 1905 out of 2986 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems for this game.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400’s average benchmark score of 2254 is 0.2% below the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259), 0.3% above the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248), 0.4% above the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246), and 0.4% below the Intel Core i3-10305 (2264).

Q: What is the RTX 5050’s memory configuration and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 5050 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 320.0 GB/s bandwidth. This configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p in Revolution Idle, but the 4K results (18-39 FPS depending on settings) indicate that memory is not the main constraint at higher resolutions.

Q: What FPS does the combo achieve at 1080p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo averages 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 FPS and a maximum of 103 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5050 better than the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT based on average benchmark scores?

A: Yes, the RTX 5050’s average benchmark score is 21035, which is 1.6% higher than the RX 5600 XT’s 20713.

Q: What are the CPU’s core and clock specifications?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It features 9 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel mode.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce an average of 113 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 89 FPS, with a minimum of 76 and a maximum of 103. High settings average 85 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to an average of 55 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear gradient: from Low to Ultra, the frame rate falls by 58 FPS, a 51% reduction. This suggests that the GPU’s shading units are progressively more loaded as settings increase, but even at Ultra, 55 FPS is playable for an idle game.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. Low settings average 75 FPS, which is still smooth. Medium averages 56 FPS (min 48, max 65), High averages 54 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is only 2 FPS, indicating that these two presets impose similar GPU loads. The Ultra result of 34 FPS is borderline, but the game’s idle nature may tolerate lower frame rates. The 1440p data shows that the combo can handle this resolution with settings up to High without major issues, but Ultra requires a compromise.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles. Low settings average 39 FPS, which is the only 4K result above 30 FPS. Medium averages 29 FPS (min 25, max 34), High averages 28 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The difference between High (28) and Medium (29) is negligible, and even Low (39) falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Ultra result of 18 FPS is the lowest in the dataset, representing a 84% drop from 1080p Low (113 FPS). These numbers confirm that 4K is not viable for this combo in Revolution Idle, regardless of settings.

The settings scaling at each resolution follows a similar pattern. At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 58 FPS; at 1440p, it is 41 FPS; at 4K, it is 21 FPS. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the absolute performance headroom shrinks. The 4K Medium result of 29 FPS, with a min of 25 and max of 34, shows tight variance, suggesting consistent GPU-bound behavior. In contrast, the 1080p Medium result (89 FPS average, min 76, max 103) has a wider variance, indicating that the CPU and GPU are both contributing to frame generation.

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 is 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, and it has 9 MB of shared L3 cache, with 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 per core. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s and uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes. Its synthetic benchmarks include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935, a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141 and single-core score of 1389, and a Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 2784 with single-core of 392. The average benchmark score is 2254, with a percentile rank of 47 against all CPUs.

In Revolution Idle, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, UI updates, and any background calculations typical of idle games. The measured FPS data shows that the i5-9400 is not a bottleneck at 1080p: at Low settings, 113 FPS indicates that the CPU can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them at this resolution. However, at 4K, the CPU’s contribution becomes less relevant, as the GPU’s 13.17 TFLOPS is insufficient to maintain high frame rates. The nearest CPU rivals — the i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2%), i7-10710U (2248, +0.3%), Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, +0.4%), and i3-10305 (2264, -0.4%) — all have nearly identical average scores, meaning that swapping the i5-9400 for any of these would likely produce similar results in this game.

The CPU’s 6 threads are a limiting factor in multi-threaded scenarios, but Revolution Idle is not a heavily threaded title. The 2.90 GHz base clock is modest, but the 4.10 GHz boost clock provides adequate single-thread performance for the game’s logic. The 65 W TDP and 14 nm process node indicate an older, less efficient design compared to newer CPUs, but this does not directly impact gaming performance in this context. The data shows that the CPU’s percentile rank (47) is lower than the GPU’s (66), suggesting that the CPU is the weaker component in this pairing, yet the resolution scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. At 1080p, the CPU’s six cores are sufficient, as evidenced by the 113 FPS Low result, which is likely capped by the GPU’s rendering speed rather than CPU limits. Overall, the i5-9400 plays a supporting role in this combo, providing enough processing power for lower resolutions but ceding dominance to the RTX 5050 as the resolution increases.