Undisputed

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a specific set of trade-offs in Undisputed. The data shows this combination is positioned at rank 2491 out of 2813 tested combos, placing it near the lower end of the performance spectrum. This is primarily due to the GPU’s low benchmark standing, but the CPU’s solid multi-threaded capabilities prevent the system from being entirely bottlenecked at lower resolutions. The measured frames per second reveal that this is a setup where settings management is not just a preference, but a necessity for achieving a playable experience.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results clearly indicate that the Low preset is the only reliable path to smooth gameplay across all resolutions. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 127 FPS, which is more than double the 49 FPS seen at Ultra. This is a substantial performance headroom that allows for a responsive and fluid experience, crucial for a sports title where timing is key. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p incurs a significant cost, dropping the average to 91 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 28% performance reduction for what is likely a modest visual gain.

For users targeting 1440p, the situation becomes more restrictive. The Low preset at 2560x1440 produces an average of 92 FPS, which is excellent and suggests the CPU is still doing heavy lifting. However, selecting High at this resolution drops the average to 55 FPS, which is on the borderline of acceptability for a fast-paced game. The Medium preset at 1440p, with an average of 66 FPS and a minimum of 56 FPS, is the highest quality setting that maintains a consistent frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. Pushing to Ultra at 1440p collapses performance to 35 FPS, which is not recommended for competitive play.

At 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option, yielding an average of 58 FPS. This is playable, though not ideal, and any increase in quality results in a severe performance penalty. The Medium preset at 4K averages 42 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS, indicating noticeable stutter potential. High and Ultra at 4K are effectively unplayable, with averages of 35 FPS and 22 FPS respectively. The data suggests that for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, users should run the Low preset at 1080p or 1440p, or the Medium preset at 1080p if they can tolerate a lower average frame rate. The Medium preset at 1440p is the maximum quality setting that keeps the average FPS above 60, but it comes with a minimum FPS of 56, which may cause occasional hitches.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary limiting factor in this configuration. Its benchmark score of 1482 in 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, indicating very low performance relative to the broader market. The nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463) and the GeForce 800M (scoring 1460), are older, entry-level parts, confirming that the Arc B390 is not positioned for high-end gaming. This explains the drastic frame rate drops when moving from Low to Ultra settings; the GPU simply does not have the raw compute power to handle higher graphical workloads.

The GPU’s memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it uses a portion of the system's DDR4 memory rather than dedicated VRAM. This reliance on shared memory, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent," is a significant disadvantage. In a game like Undisputed, which likely requires substantial texture memory at higher settings, the shared memory can become a bottleneck, leading to stutters and lower average frame rates. The GPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz, are not particularly high, and its FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS is modest. The 1536 shading units and 24 ROPs are low counts, which directly impacts pixel-fill rate and overall rendering speed, as seen in the 4K results where the pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s is insufficient to maintain high frame rates.

The data shows a clear pattern: the GPU is the dominant constraint. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 127 FPS, but this drops to 49 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This 61% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to highest settings is a direct consequence of the GPU’s limited capabilities. The GPU’s percentile rank of 9 and its proximity to the GT 520MX in benchmark scores underscore that this is not a component designed for demanding modern titles at high fidelity. The 12 RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are present, but they are of little use when the base rasterization performance is this low.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions. At the Low preset, performance drops from 127 FPS at 1080p to 92 FPS at 1440p and finally to 58 FPS at 4K. This represents a 54% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K. While this is a significant drop, it is not as severe as the scaling seen at higher settings. This indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately, and the bottleneck is more evenly distributed. The i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is managing to keep up with the GPU's demands at lower resolutions.

However, at the Ultra preset, the performance collapse is more pronounced. The system achieves 49 FPS at 1080p, but this falls to 35 FPS at 1440p and 22 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 55% reduction, but the absolute numbers are so low that it signals a hard GPU limit. The fact that the 4K Ultra score is 22 FPS, while the 1080p Ultra score is 49 FPS, shows that the GPU is overwhelmed by the pixel count and the increased shading complexity. The scaling at Medium settings is also telling: 91 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Medium is 36%, which is less than the drop from 1080p to 1440p (27%), suggesting that the CPU is beginning to become a factor at lower resolutions, but the GPU is still the primary limiter overall.

The data indicates that the Core i5-10400F is a capable partner for this GPU at 1080p. The CPU’s multi-core score of 10283 in Cinebench R23 and its 68th percentile ranking relative to all CPUs suggest it has enough processing power to avoid being a major obstacle. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU’s workload expands, and the system becomes increasingly GPU-bound. The 4K results, where even the Low preset only manages 58 FPS, confirm that this combination is not suited for 4K gaming, regardless of the CPU’s strength. The limiting component at higher resolutions is unequivocally the Intel Arc B390.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a consistent 60+ FPS experience at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 91 FPS with a minimum of 78 FPS, ensuring a stable experience above 60 FPS. The Low preset offers a higher average of 127 FPS but with lower visual quality.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Undisputed?*

A: The data shows that 4K gaming is not a realistic option for this combo. At 4K, the Low preset averages 58 FPS, which is borderline, while the Medium preset drops to 42 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are not playable, with averages of 35 FPS and 22 FPS, respectively.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F a bottleneck for the Intel Arc B390?

A: At 1080p, the CPU appears sufficient, as evidenced by the high frame rates at Low and Medium settings. However, the data shows the system becomes more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, where the GPU’s performance drops sharply. The CPU is not the primary limiting factor in this configuration.

Q: How much performance is lost by increasing the resolution from 1080p to 1440p at the High preset?

A: At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 76 FPS at 1920x1080 to 55 FPS at 2560x1440. This is a 28% reduction in performance.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Arc B390 scored 1482 in the 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 benchmark. This is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and 2.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446).

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this hardware?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 127 FPS, achieved at the 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F plays a supporting role in this configuration, and the benchmark data suggests it is up to the task. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Comet Lake architecture, it offers a solid foundation for modern gaming. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and single-core score of 1451 indicate balanced performance. The CPU’s 68th percentile ranking relative to all CPUs shows it is a mid-range part, but its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon 6756E (scoring 14163) and the AMD EPYC 7552 (scoring 14115), are server-class chips, which highlights the i5’s respectable standing in consumer workloads.

The CPU’s clock speeds, with a base of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.30 GHz, are adequate for gaming. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache is a decent amount, and the dual-channel DDR4 memory support with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s is standard for its generation. The CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the frame rate differences between settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low (127 FPS) and Medium (91 FPS) is 36 FPS, which is a large gap. This suggests that while the GPU is the main renderer, the CPU must prepare the frames, and the increased draw calls at higher settings are being handled without a complete collapse. The fact that the CPU is not a major bottleneck is supported by the 3dmark benchmark scores, such as the 16-thread score of 4748 and the max-thread score of 4735, which show good scaling with threads.

However, the CPU’s limitations would likely surface in CPU-intensive scenarios, such as large crowds or complex physics calculations. The Passmark physics score of 696 is not particularly high, which could be a concern for a sports game with dynamic player interactions. The data from this specific test, however, shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Undisputed at the tested settings. The performance drop from 1080p to 4K at the same settings is primarily due to the GPU. For example, at Low settings, the CPU is able to maintain high frame rates at 1080p (127 FPS) and 1440p (92 FPS), only dropping significantly at 4K (58 FPS) where the GPU is saturated. This indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU up to a certain point, after which the GPU’s rendering speed becomes the sole constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system’s capabilities across different resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the system shows its best performance. The Low preset yields an average of 127 FPS. The Medium preset averages 91 FPS, with a minimum of 78 FPS and a maximum of 105 FPS. The High preset averages 76 FPS. The Ultra preset is the weakest, averaging 49 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down as expected. The Low preset averages 92 FPS, which is still very high. The Medium preset averages 66 FPS, with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. This is the only 1440p preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The High preset averages 55 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops significantly to 35 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The Low preset averages 58 FPS, which is the only playable option. The Medium preset averages 42 FPS, with a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS, indicating a stuttery experience. The High preset averages 35 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the worst, averaging only 22 FPS.

The data reveals a clear hierarchy: the system is best suited for 1080p gaming, can handle 1440p with lower settings, and is not recommended for 4K. The performance gap between Low and Ultra settings is consistent across all resolutions, with Ultra typically performing at roughly 40% of the Low preset’s frame rate. This underscores the importance of settings management for this hardware combination. The minimum FPS data points, available only for the Medium preset, show a variance of about 10-12 FPS from the average, indicating some frame pacing inconsistency but not a total loss of stability. The combination of the i5-10400F’s solid multi-threading and the Arc B390’s low-end performance results in a system that can play Undisputed adequately at lower settings, but it is not a high-performance gaming rig.