Revolution Idle

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 occupies the 567th position out of 1,774 tested combinations in Revolution Idle. This places the combo in the upper third of all tested systems, roughly the 68th percentile. The ranking reflects a significant imbalance: the RTX 5080 is an exceptional GPU, while the i5-9400 is a six-core Coffee Lake processor from 2018 that sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs. The delta between these components is visible in the benchmark data, where the GPU’s average benchmark score of 59,188 dwarfs the CPU’s 2,305. This pairing produces a system that is clearly capable but leaves performance on the table, particularly at lower resolutions where the older processor becomes the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 567 out of 1,774 indicates that this system outperforms roughly two-thirds of all tested configurations in Revolution Idle. However, the rank is more a reflection of the GPU’s strength than the CPU’s. The RTX 5080 alone sits at the 89th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59,188. In contrast, the i5-9400’s average score of 2,305 places it near the median of all CPUs, at exactly the 50th percentile. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2,300, delta 0.2%) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (score 2,299, delta 0.2%), showing that the i5-9400 is essentially tied with newer budget-tier processors. On the GPU side, the RTX 5080’s nearest rival is the Intel Arc A570M (score 58,239, delta 1.6%), which the 5080 beats by a narrow margin, while the Intel Arc Pro A60 (score 60,326, delta -1.9%) slightly outperforms it. This combination of a top-tier GPU with a mid-tier CPU means the system’s overall rank is constrained by the processor’s age, but the GPU ensures it remains competitive. In a game like Revolution Idle, which is not graphically demanding, the rank is likely higher than it would be in a AAA title, but the data shows the CPU still holds the system back from the top tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. It has 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 84 ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores. The GPU’s base clock is 2,295 MHz with a boost clock of 2,617 MHz, and its memory runs at 1,875 MHz with 30 Gbps effective speed. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for any workload. The GPU’s pixel rate is 293.1 GPixel/s, texture rate is 879.3 GTexel/s, and it delivers 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. In Revolution Idle, these specifications are overkill; the game is an idle genre title, not a graphically intensive shooter. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the GPU easily pushes frame rates above 100 at 1080p and remains playable even at 4K Ultra. The RTX 5080’s percentile rank of 89 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59,188, places it well above the vast majority of graphics cards. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Arc A570M (delta 1.6%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (delta 2.6%), are all significantly weaker in raw compute, yet in this game, the differences are less pronounced because the CPU often becomes the bottleneck. The GPU’s 16 GB of VRAM is far more than Revolution Idle requires, and its high bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is never an issue, but the data shows that at lower resolutions, the GPU’s potential is not fully utilized.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of CPU limitation at lower settings and GPU scaling at higher ones. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 86.5 at Ultra to 113.6 at Low, a spread of 27.1 FPS. This relatively narrow range suggests that the CPU is the primary constraint, as the GPU has ample headroom. Moving to 1440p, the FPS drops to a range of 71.2 at Ultra to 94.6 at Low, with a spread of 23.4 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is modest, indicating that the GPU is beginning to take on more work but the CPU still limits performance. At 4K, the range tightens to 40.5 at Ultra to 78.8 at Low, a spread of 38.3 FPS. Here, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, as the higher resolution demands more from the rendering pipeline. The largest single drop occurs between 1440p High (86.3 FPS) and 4K High (56.9 FPS), a 29.4 FPS decrease, which is consistent with the GPU’s performance scaling. Conversely, at Low settings, the drop from 1080p (113.6 FPS) to 1440p (94.6 FPS) is only 19.0 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K (78.8 FPS) it is 15.8 FPS, showing that the CPU limits the system more at lower settings. This pattern indicates that for Revolution Idle, the i5-9400 is the bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p, while the RTX 5080 becomes the limiting factor only at 4K Ultra. The data suggests that users with this combo should target 1440p or 4K to better utilize the GPU, but at 1080p, the CPU will cap performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates, with Low settings achieving 113.6 FPS, High at 103.6 FPS, Medium at 102.3 FPS, and Ultra at 86.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 27.1 FPS, which is notable but not extreme. The fact that High (103.6) and Medium (102.3) are nearly identical suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor in this range, as the GPU can handle the extra load without dropping performance. At 2560x1440, the FPS figures are 94.6 at Low, 89.1 at Medium, 86.3 at High, and 71.2 at Ultra. Here, the spread tightens to 23.4 FPS, but the relative performance is more consistent, indicating that the GPU is now sharing the load with the CPU. The drop from 1080p High (103.6) to 1440p High (86.3) is 17.3 FPS, which is a reasonable scaling for a resolution increase. At 3840x2160, the numbers fall to 78.8 at Low, 64.3 at Medium, 56.9 at High, and 40.5 at Ultra. The spread here is 38.3 FPS, the largest of any resolution, which indicates that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck. The drop from 1440p High (86.3) to 4K High (56.9) is 29.4 FPS, a significant decrease that reflects the GPU’s workload. The 4K Ultra figure of 40.5 FPS is still playable for an idle game, but it shows the limits of this combo. Overall, the data shows that the i5-9400 holds back the RTX 5080 at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU’s capabilities are fully taxed, resulting in a more balanced system.

FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 567th out of 1,774 tested combinations, placing it in the upper third of all systems.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2,305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2,300) and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (score 2,299). It is 0.4% above the Intel Xeon E-2134 (score 2,295) and 0.6% below the Intel Core i7-8809G (score 2,319).

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: Based on the data, 1440p offers the best balance. At 1440p High, the system achieves 86.3 FPS, which is only 17.3 FPS lower than 1080p High (103.6 FPS), but the GPU is better utilized. At 4K High, the FPS drops to 56.9, which is still playable but shows the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p and 1440p, as frame rates do not scale much between settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as shown by the larger spread of FPS across settings (40.5 to 78.8 FPS).

Q: How does the RTX 5080’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 59,188. It is 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M (score 58,239) and 2.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A580 (score 57,756). It is 1.9% behind the Intel Arc Pro A60 (score 60,326) and 2.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (score 57,661).

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the system achieves 103.6 FPS, while at 4K High, it drops to 56.9 FPS, a decrease of 46.7 FPS. This demonstrates the significant impact of resolution on the GPU’s workload.