Revolution Idle

Revolution Idle is not a typical twitch shooter, but its benchmark data with the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 reveals a clear performance hierarchy that scales predictably with resolution. The measured frames per second (FPS) show that the RTX 5070 is the dominant component in this pairing, with the older six-core i5-9400 providing sufficient headroom to keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions but becoming less relevant as pixel count rises. At 1080p, the gap between the lowest and highest settings is a modest 28.5 FPS, indicating the CPU is doing more of the heavy lifting. Moving to 1440p, the spread widens to 37.8 FPS, and at 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra stretches to 32.7 FPS, which points to the GPU being the primary bottleneck at that resolution. The data suggests that for this idle game, the RTX 5070’s raw compute power—reflected in its 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 performance—is more than enough to handle the workload, while the i5-9400’s six threads keep the scene processing from becoming a limiting factor until the resolution drops.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K is significant but not linear, which provides insight into where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 100.3 FPS; dropping to 1440p High reduces that to 84.7 FPS, a 15.6% decline. Pushing further to 4K High yields 48.1 FPS, a 43.2% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep falloff at 4K is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 5070’s 672.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 12 GB of GDDR7 memory are being taxed by the higher pixel count. In contrast, the transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a more gradual decline, suggesting the CPU is still contributing meaningfully to frame pacing at the lower resolution.

The Low settings preset highlights this dynamic even more clearly. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 111.2 FPS, which is the highest recorded score across all configurations. At 1440p Low, it drops to 97.7 FPS, a 12.1% reduction, and at 4K Low, it falls to 63.1 FPS, a 35.4% drop from the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest graphical load, the i5-9400’s single-core performance—measured at 1125 in Cinebench R23 single-core—is not the limiting factor; instead, the RTX 5070’s ability to render frames at higher resolutions is what determines the final output. The Ultra preset tells a different story: at 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 82.7 FPS, but at 1440p Ultra, it drops to 59.9 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 30.4 FPS. The 49.3% drop from 1440p to 4K Ultra confirms that the GPU is being pushed to its limits, with the 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs on the RTX 5070 struggling to keep up with the pixel shader demands at 3840x2160.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and frame rate for this combo lies in the Medium preset at 1440p. At that configuration, the combo produces 90 FPS, which is only 7.7 FPS less than the Low preset at the same resolution but offers a noticeably improved visual experience. Pushing to High at 1440p drops the frame rate to 84.7 FPS, a 5.9% reduction from Medium, which is a reasonable trade-off for users who prioritize image quality. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 100.4 FPS, nearly identical to the High preset’s 100.3 FPS, indicating that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution and that raising settings from Medium to High yields no measurable performance penalty.

For 4K gaming, the data recommends sticking to Low settings, as the 63.1 FPS average is the only result above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 52.1 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays, while High and Ultra fall below 48.1 FPS and 30.4 FPS, respectively, making them unsuitable for smooth play. The Ultra preset is the least recommended option across all resolutions, as it delivers the lowest frame rates—82.7 FPS at 1080p, 59.9 FPS at 1440p, and 30.4 FPS at 4K—without a proportionate visual payoff for an idle game where the action is minimal. In summary, the sweet spot is 1440p Medium for most users, with 1080p Medium as a close second for those who prefer higher refresh rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 111.2, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 30.4 FPS, which is the lowest score in the measured data and well below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the frame rate difference between Low (111.2 FPS) and High (100.3 FPS) is only 10.9 FPS, indicating that the Intel Core i5-9400 is likely the limiting component, as increasing GPU load does not significantly affect performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 665th out of 1774 tested combinations, placing it in the top 37.5% of all configurations.

Q: Which preset provides the best 4K experience?

A: The Low preset at 4K is the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS, delivering 63.1 FPS. All other presets at 4K fall below 52.1 FPS, making Low the only viable option for smooth playback.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 100.3 at 1080p to 48.1 at 4K, a 52.1% reduction in frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data reveals a consistent trend across all settings. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 111.2 FPS on Low, 100.4 FPS on Medium, 100.3 FPS on High, and 82.7 FPS on Ultra. The near-identical scores for Medium and High suggest that the CPU's six threads are saturated, and additional graphical load does not impact performance until Ultra is enabled, which introduces a 17.7 FPS penalty. At 2560x1440, the scores are 97.7 FPS on Low, 90 FPS on Medium, 84.7 FPS on High, and 59.9 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Medium to High is 5.3 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra is a substantial 24.8 FPS, indicating that the RTX 5070’s shader units are heavily taxed by the Ultra preset's effects.

At 3840x2160, the performance falls significantly: 63.1 FPS on Low, 52.1 FPS on Medium, 48.1 FPS on High, and 30.4 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 11 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 17.7 FPS, showing that the GPU’s 6144 shading units and 48 RT cores are overwhelmed at 4K with higher settings. Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently yields the lowest frame rates, with the 4K Ultra result being 27.3 FPS below the 1080p Ultra result. The data also shows that the Low preset at 4K (63.1 FPS) performs nearly as well as the Ultra preset at 1440p (59.9 FPS), highlighting the importance of resolution over settings for this particular combo.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination holds a rank of 665 out of 1774 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations. This ranking is notable given the CPU’s age—the i5-9400 was released in 2018 and is now end-of-life—but the RTX 5070’s strong benchmark scores compensate for the processor’s limitations. The GPU alone ranks in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687, which places it close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441) and ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610) by a 0.2% margin. The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 50th percentile with an average score of 2305, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300) and Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299), both of which are within 0.2% of its performance.

This disparity in component performance explains the combo’s rank. The RTX 5070 is capable of delivering high frame rates in most scenarios, but the i5-9400’s modest single-core score of 1125 in Cinebench R23 limits the system’s ability to maintain high FPS in CPU-bound situations, as seen at 1080p Low where the frame rate plateaus at 111.2 FPS. The combo’s rank of 665 suggests that while it is not a top-tier pairing, it outperforms 62.5% of all tested combinations, making it a viable option for 1440p gaming. The data indicates that the RTX 5070 is the primary driver of this ranking, as its benchmark scores are consistently in the top 20% of GPUs, while the CPU’s performance is merely average. For users seeking to improve this combo’s ranking, upgrading the CPU to a model with higher single-threaded performance would likely yield the most significant gains, as the GPU already demonstrates strong results across all resolutions.