The Long Drive

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 presents a stark contrast in hardware generations within The Long Drive. The CPU is a 6-core, 6-thread Coffee Lake part with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It holds a benchmark percentile of 50 among all CPUs, placing it squarely in the mid-range of the database. In contrast, the GPU is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture behemoth, featuring 21,760 shading units and a 32 GB GDDR7 memory pool on a 512-bit bus, achieving a 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs. This pairing creates a significant imbalance, where the CPU's computational ceiling is likely to constrain the GPU's output, a dynamic clearly visible in the measured frame rates across different resolutions and settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400's specifications define its role as the potential bottleneck in this configuration. With 6 cores and 6 threads, it lacks the multi-threading capabilities of many contemporary processors, which can limit performance in games that utilize more than six threads. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125 place it at the 50th percentile, indicating it is an average performer in the current market. The data shows this processor is closely matched with the Intel Core i3-10305, which has an average score of 2300 against the i5-9400's 2305, a negligible delta of 0.2%. This suggests that for the purposes of gaming, the i5-9400 offers compute potential comparable to a modern entry-level i3.

In The Long Drive, the CPU's influence is most pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU can render frames quickly. At 1080p, the frame rates are high, but the scaling pattern reveals the CPU's limitation. The boost clock of 4.10 GHz is adequate for single-threaded tasks, but the 6-thread limit means that any background processing or game logic beyond that scope will contend for resources. The benchmark results for the CPU, such as a Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 3346, reinforce that this is not a high-end compute part. This means that in scenes with heavy physics or AI simulation, common in a driving game, the CPU may not be able to feed the RTX 5090 with enough draw calls to maintain maximum frame rates, capping performance well below what the GPU could otherwise achieve.

FAQ

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

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is only 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305's score of 2300. It edges out the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299) by the same margin and is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295), showing they are all effectively in the same performance tier.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the average frame rate on Low settings is 152.1 FPS. Switching to Ultra settings reduces the average frame rate by 96.5 FPS, down to 55.6 FPS, representing a significant 63.5% performance drop due to the increased graphical load.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's benchmark score align with its in-game performance?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84306 and a 94th percentile ranking, indicating it is a top-tier GPU. However, in-game data for The Long Drive shows its performance is highly dependent on settings and resolution, with frame rates ranging from 55.6 FPS at 4K Ultra to 221.8 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating that even a powerful GPU has limits under maximum load.

Q: What is the performance delta between the RTX 5090 and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600?

A: The RTX 5090's average score of 84306 is 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600's score of 83209. This indicates the RTX 5090 holds a slight edge in overall synthetic compute performance over that specific rival.

Q: How many FPS can the combo achieve at 1440p on High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the measured average frame rate is 139.9 FPS. This is a substantial decrease from the 192.7 FPS seen on Low settings at the same resolution, showing a 52.8 FPS difference between those two quality presets.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination is ranked 243rd out of 1734 tested combos in The Long Drive, placing it in the top 14% of all configurations tested by the database.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that highlights the CPU bottleneck. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves its highest frame rate of 221.8 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 192.7 FPS, a reduction of 29.1 FPS. At 4K Low, the frame rate falls further to 152.1 FPS, another 40.6 FPS decrease from the 1440p result. This scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings represents a total drop of 69.7 FPS, or 31.4%.

However, the scaling behavior changes at higher graphical settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 148.4 FPS at 1080p, 96.1 FPS at 1440p, and 55.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 92.8 FPS, which is a larger absolute decrease than at Low settings. This indicates that at Ultra settings, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor, as the increased resolution and graphical fidelity place a heavier load on the RTX 5090. The data suggests that at lower settings, the CPU's 6-thread limit caps the maximum frame rate, preventing the system from scaling as efficiently as it would with a more powerful processor. At higher settings, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant constraint, and the frame rate drops more steeply with increasing resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark results provide a comprehensive view of the system's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves an average of 221.8 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 206.1 FPS on Medium and 169.9 FPS on High. The most demanding preset, Ultra, yields an average of 148.4 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 73.4 FPS, showing the significant impact of quality settings on frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. Low settings produce an average of 192.7 FPS, while Medium settings show a modest decrease to 179.6 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 139.9 FPS, and Ultra settings bring it down to 96.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 96.6 FPS, indicating that the higher resolution amplifies the performance cost of Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution tested, the frame rates are substantially lower. Low settings achieve an average of 152.1 FPS, which is still a playable frame rate. Medium settings drop to 122.4 FPS, and High settings fall to 75.1 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K produce an average of only 55.6 FPS, which is the lowest result in the entire dataset. The performance difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 96.5 FPS, demonstrating that the RTX 5090 is heavily taxed at this resolution with maximum graphical settings. Across all resolutions, the scaling from Low to Ultra shows a consistent pattern of frame rate reduction, with the absolute drop being largest at 1440p and 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination holds a rank of 243 out of 1734 tested combos in The Long Drive. This places the pairing in the 86th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of systems tested. The high ranking is largely attributable to the RTX 5090's dominance in raw graphics processing, as evidenced by its 94th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 84306.

However, the CPU's 50th percentile ranking suggests that the overall combo rank is likely held back by the i5-9400. The data implies that a more powerful processor could push this GPU to even higher frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU is the limiting factor. The 243rd rank out of 1734 combos indicates that while this is a strong system, it is not at the very top of the performance charts. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D with a delta of 0.1%, perform nearly identically, so the differentiation in ranking comes from the CPU. The benchmark results show that this combo is a high-performing configuration, but one that leaves performance on the table due to the mid-range processor paired with a flagship GPU.