Roblox

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks in the 36th percentile of all tested combos for Roblox, placing 1338th out of 3711. This mid-pack standing reflects a system where the older six-core processor, despite its modest benchmark percentile of 47, is sufficient to feed a GPU that sits in the 75th percentile of all graphics cards. The result is a combination that delivers exceptionally high frame rates across the board, but the performance ceiling is ultimately shaped by the CPU's single-threaded capabilities and the GPU's raw throughput, which are both substantial yet not top-tier.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1338 out of 3711 tested configurations places it in the upper-middle tier of Roblox performance. This is a strong showing, given that Roblox is a sandbox title that can be heavily CPU-bound in complex user-generated worlds, but it is not at the very top of the leaderboard. The data suggests that the RTX 3070 Ti is the dominant component, as its 75th percentile standing among all GPUs is significantly higher than the CPU's 47th percentile. Consequently, the system is likely leaving some performance on the table in scenarios where the i5-9400's six threads become the limiting factor.

Benchmark results indicate that the i5-9400's average score of 2254 places it in a dead heat with its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, 0.3% delta). This clustering shows that the CPU's compute power is firmly within a well-established performance band, neither outpacing nor falling behind its direct competitors. For Roblox, this means the processor provides a predictable baseline of physics and logic processing, while the GPU handles the heavy lifting of rendering the blocky, yet often complex, scenes.

Given that the combo ranks in the 36th percentile, it outperforms roughly one-third of all tested systems while trailing the majority. This is a reasonable outcome for a hardware pairing that balances a mid-range 2018 CPU with a high-end 2021 GPU. The high average FPS numbers across all resolutions and settings confirm that this is not a marginal setup; it is one that can handle Roblox with substantial headroom, even if it does not claim a top-tier spot due to the processor's age.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance rank of this CPU and GPU combination in Roblox?

A: The combo ranks 1338th out of 3711 tested configurations, placing it in the 36th percentile of all combos.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4% delta), showing a tightly contested performance tier.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo in Roblox?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 434, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 Ti's memory bandwidth have a significant impact on Roblox performance?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s and 8 GB of GDDR6X memory. While this is ample for Roblox, the game's relatively simple textures do not typically stress memory bandwidth, making the GPU's compute power more relevant.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the more likely limiting factor. The i5-9400's percentile rank of 47 is much lower than the GPU's 75th percentile, and Roblox's physics-heavy sandbox nature can be sensitive to single-thread performance, where the i5-9400 scores 935 in Cinebench R23 single-core.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings compared to 1080p Low?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS drops to 107, while at 1920x1080 Low it reaches 434. This represents a 75% reduction in frame rate, highlighting the GPU's workload increasing with resolution and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern across resolutions, with the most significant frame rate drops occurring as the resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the system achieves an average of 434 FPS, which drops to 290 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 164 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 62% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, indicating that the RTX 3070 Ti is being pushed harder as the pixel count rises.

When moving to Ultra settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 283, which falls to 189 FPS at 1440p Ultra and then to 107 FPS at 4K Ultra. The drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 62%, a similar relative decrease to the Low settings scenario. This consistency suggests that the GPU's rendering load scales linearly with resolution, and the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB of VRAM and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle Roblox's demands without causing a memory bottleneck.

The scaling data reveals that the limiting component shifts with settings. At 1080p Low, the high frame rates (434 FPS) suggest that the CPU is likely the primary constraint, as the GPU can render frames faster than the processor can issue draw calls. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 107 FPS, indicating that the GPU's pixel processing capability becomes the dominant factor. This is a classic sign of a balanced system where the bottleneck moves between CPU and GPU depending on the workload intensity.

The fact that the 1440p Medium settings record a minimum FPS of 224 and a maximum of 303, with an average of 264, shows that even in the most variable scenarios, the frame times remain relatively stable. This stability reflects the i5-9400's ability to maintain consistent frame pacing, even when the GPU is not fully saturated.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest performance, with average frame rates ranging from 283 FPS on Ultra to 434 FPS on Low. The Medium preset records an average of 395 FPS, with a minimum of 336 and a maximum of 454, while High settings achieve 349 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is almost always GPU-bound, as even the most demanding Ultra preset stays well above the typical 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high, with the Low preset averaging 290 FPS and the High preset at 233 FPS. The Medium setting shows an average of 264 FPS, with a spread of 224 to 303 FPS, while Ultra dips to 189 FPS. The 1440p results show a 30-35% decrease in frame rates compared to 1080p for the same settings, which is a typical scaling factor for a high-end GPU like the RTX 3070 Ti.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers playable frame rates across all settings, but the demands of 4K are evident. The Low preset averages 164 FPS, Medium 149 FPS, and High 132 FPS. Ultra is the most demanding, with an average of 107 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K reports a minimum of 127 FPS and a maximum of 172 FPS, showing that even in the heaviest scenes, the system avoids significant frame drops.

The data shows a consistent pattern where each step up in settings reduces the average FPS by roughly 10-15%, and each increase in resolution cuts the frame rate by approximately 25-30%. This linear scaling indicates that neither the CPU nor the GPU is experiencing a sudden bottleneck, and the combo is well-matched for Roblox's engine, which is not particularly demanding on hardware compared to modern AAA titles.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the performance centerpiece of this combo, and its specifications align well with the measured Roblox results. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 6144 shading units provide ample processing power for Roblox's relatively simple shaders and geometry. Its 8 GB of GDDR6X memory, while not massive, is more than sufficient for a game that does not use high-resolution textures, and the 608.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures that memory access is never a bottleneck.

The GPU's boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1575 MHz are typical for the Ampere architecture, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3478 places it in the 75th percentile of all GPUs. This is a strong position, and the benchmark results show that the RTX 3070 Ti is capable of delivering high frame rates even at 4K, as evidenced by the 107 FPS average at Ultra settings. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (29783, 0.5% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (30095, -0.5% delta), showing that it performs in line with the previous generation's flagship and a current competitor.

In Roblox, the GPU's role is primarily to handle the rendering of the voxel-based worlds, which can sometimes include complex lighting and shadow effects. The RTX 3070 Ti's tensor cores and RT cores, while not utilized by Roblox's standard rendering pipeline, do not hinder performance. The GPU's pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are more than enough to handle the game's demands, and the data confirms that the GPU is only fully stressed at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 107 FPS.

The GPU's 75th percentile rank indicates that it is a high-end component, and the measured FPS numbers reflect this. Even at the most demanding settings, the system never falls below an average of 107 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The RTX 3070 Ti's performance in this game is not limited by its VRAM or bandwidth, but rather by the overall rendering load, which scales predictably with resolution and settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 serves as the system's central processor, and its capabilities are a key factor in the combo's overall ranking. With 6 cores and 6 threads, the CPU has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 place it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, indicating a mid-range performance level that is adequate for gaming but not exceptional.

The CPU's single-thread performance is particularly relevant for Roblox, as the game's engine often relies on a primary thread for physics and game logic. The i5-9400's single-core score of 935 in Cinebench R23 shows that it is capable of handling these tasks, but its 47th percentile rank suggests that newer processors with higher IPC could potentially provide better frame pacing in CPU-intensive scenarios. However, the measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 434 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's practical limit for frame generation.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s is a potential limitation, but it does not appear to be a bottleneck in Roblox, as the game's memory footprint is modest. The i5-9400's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10305 (2264, -0.4% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, 0.4% delta), showing that its compute performance is tightly clustered with other mid-range processors.

In the context of this combo, the CPU's role is to ensure that the GPU is fed with enough data to maintain high frame rates. At lower resolutions like 1080p, the CPU can become the limiting factor, as the GPU can render frames faster than the processor can provide them. This is evident in the 434 FPS at 1080p Low, which is likely close to the maximum frame rate the i5-9400 can sustain. At higher resolutions like 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary bottleneck, and the CPU has enough headroom to avoid dragging down performance. The data confirms that the i5-9400 is a capable partner for the RTX 3070 Ti, even if it is not the ideal match for maximizing the GPU's potential in all scenarios.