Undisputed

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a competitive mid-range experience in Undisputed, securing the 1633rd position out of 2813 tested combinations. This places the combo in the 42nd percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms a slight majority of the field while remaining firmly behind top-tier configurations. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component is egregiously holding the other back, though the data reveals clear asymmetries in how the CPU and GPU perform under the game’s specific workloads. The combo’s standing is respectable for a six-core processor from the Coffee Lake era paired with a current-generation RDNA 4.0 GPU, and the measured frame rates across resolutions suggest the pairing is better suited for high-refresh 1080p gaming than for pushing 4K panels.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 1633 out of 2813 combos, the i5-9400 and RX 9060 combination lands just above the median tested configuration. The ranking is influenced predominantly by the GPU, which sits in the 59th percentile of all graphics cards, while the CPU lags behind at the 47th percentile of all processors. This disparity is reflected in the game’s scaling behavior; the RX 9060 provides substantial headroom, but the i5-9400’s six threads become a limiting factor at lower resolutions where frame rates climb into the 200s. The combo’s 42nd percentile placement suggests that while the GPU is capable of outperforming roughly 59% of all cards, the overall system result is dragged down by the older CPU, preventing the pair from cracking the top half of all configurations.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s average benchmark score of 2254 places it within 0.4% of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, which scores 2246, and just 0.3% below the Intel Core i7-10710U at 2248. The nearest rival above is the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 at 2259, a delta of -0.2%, meaning the i5-9400 is effectively neck-and-neck with these processors. On the GPU side, the RX 9060’s average score of 16014 is 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti’s 16129 and 1% above the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862, placing it in a tightly contested performance band. This close clustering means that in Undisputed, the combo’s rank is more sensitive to game-specific optimization than to raw component averages.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the dominant contributor to this combo’s performance in Undisputed. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the card delivers a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, which proves adequate for the game’s texture streaming at 1080p and 1440p but becomes strained at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz are high figures that translate directly into the measured frame rates; at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 252 FPS, a number that only makes sense with a GPU capable of such sustained clock speeds. The 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for the game’s physics and character animations, while the 28 ray accelerators, though not heavily utilized in a sports title, add future-proofing.

The GPU’s 59th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 16014 are reflected in the game’s resolution scaling. At 4K High, the combo produces 69 FPS, which is playable but not optimal, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 44 FPS, indicating the card hits its memory bandwidth limit. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is the likely constraint here, as the 8 GB capacity is sufficient for the game’s assets, but the 128-bit bus limits how fast data can be fed to the 1792 shaders. The RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on a 4 nm process with 29,700 million transistors, provides a 21.43 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, which is more than enough for the game’s DirectX 12 workload, but the bottleneck shifts to memory at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p compared to 4K?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 252 FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 115 FPS, a reduction of roughly 54%. The gap narrows at higher settings, with 1080p Ultra at 97 FPS versus 4K Ultra at 44 FPS, indicating a 55% performance loss when scaling resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RX 9060?

A: The data suggests yes at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 252 FPS, which is likely CPU-limited given the i5-9400’s six threads and 4.10 GHz boost clock. At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the constraint, with frame rates dropping to 44 FPS, showing the CPU has less impact at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 60 FPS target at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 131 FPS with a minimum of 111 FPS, which comfortably exceeds a 60 FPS target. Even the High preset at 108 FPS average is sufficient, but Medium provides more headroom for frame time consistency.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 9060’s average benchmark score of 16014 is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti’s 16129, and 1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7700’s 15852. This places it in a performance band where the differences are within measurement noise.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, the combo produces 69 FPS, which is playable, while 4K Medium delivers 83 FPS. However, 4K Ultra drops to 44 FPS, suggesting that players should stick to Medium or High settings for a smooth experience.

Q: What does the CPU’s 47th percentile ranking mean for gaming?

A: The i5-9400 outperforms 47% of all CPUs in the database, which is below average. In Undisputed, this means the CPU can handle the game’s logic and AI at lower resolutions, but it cannot match the frame rates that faster processors would allow at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 181 FPS average with a minimum of 154 FPS, providing a smooth experience on high-refresh monitors without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 131 FPS with a 111 FPS minimum, still comfortably above the 100 FPS threshold that competitive players prefer. Even at 4K Medium, the combo manages 83 FPS with a 70 FPS minimum, which is acceptable for slower-paced sports gameplay.

The High preset is viable for those prioritizing visuals over frame rate, but it comes with a notable penalty. At 1080p High, the average is 150 FPS, a 17% drop from Medium, while at 1440p High it falls to 108 FPS, and at 4K High it drops to 69 FPS, which approaches the lower limits of playability. The Ultra preset is not recommended, as it pushes the GPU to its limits with 97 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and only 44 FPS at 4K, making it unsuitable for consistent gameplay. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates—252 FPS at 1080p and 182 FPS at 1440p—but the visual degradation is significant, making Medium the optimal compromise.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution and settings increase. At 1920x1080, the combo ranges from 252 FPS at Low to 97 FPS at Ultra, with Medium at 181 FPS (min 154, max 208) and High at 150 FPS. The 1080p results indicate that the GPU has significant headroom, as even the Ultra preset produces nearly triple the frame rate of the 4K Ultra result. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop to 182 FPS at Low, 131 FPS at Medium (min 111, max 151), 108 FPS at High, and 70 FPS at Ultra. The 1440p results show a more balanced load between CPU and GPU, with the Medium preset’s minimum of 111 FPS suggesting that frame times remain consistent.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The Low preset yields 115 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and indicates the game is not overly demanding at lower settings. Medium drops to 83 FPS (min 70, max 95), High falls to 69 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 44 FPS. The 4K data reveals that the RX 9060’s 8 GB memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for Low and Medium, but the Ultra preset’s higher texture and shading demands overwhelm the card, resulting in a 47% drop from Medium to Ultra. The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings, showing 154 at 1080p, 111 at 1440p, and 70 at 4K, which indicate good frame pacing without severe stutters.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400, with its six cores and six threads, plays a supporting role in this combo’s Undisputed performance. The CPU’s base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, combined with 9 MB of shared L3 cache, provide adequate single-threaded performance for the game’s physics and AI calculations. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, which places the CPU in the 47th percentile of all processors. In Undisputed, this translates to a CPU that can keep up with the GPU at higher resolutions but limits maximum frame rates at 1080p.

The CPU’s influence is most evident in the 1080p Low preset, where the combo achieves 252 FPS. At this frame rate, the GPU is not the bottleneck; instead, the CPU’s six threads are likely maxed out, preventing higher frame rates. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 with a score of 2259 and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 at 2246, would likely produce similar results, as their performance deltas are within 0.4%. The CPU’s 47th percentile ranking means it is slightly below average, and in a game like Undisputed that relies on responsive input and smooth animations, this could result in minor frame pacing issues at very high frame rates, though the measured data does not show severe minimum FPS drops.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck shifts in this combo. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (252 FPS) to 1440p (182 FPS) represents a 28% drop, and then to 4K (115 FPS) another 37% drop. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is still capable of high frame rates at 4K, but the CPU begins to limit performance at 1080p. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low is more gradual than from 1080p to 1440p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

At Medium and High settings, the scaling is more consistent. For Medium, the drop from 1080p (181 FPS) to 1440p (131 FPS) is 28%, and from 1440p to 4K (83 FPS) is 37%. For High, the drop from 1080p (150 FPS) to 1440p (108 FPS) is 28%, and from 1440p to 4K (69 FPS) is 36%. This uniform scaling indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at these settings, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom. At Ultra, the drop from 1080p (97 FPS) to 1440p (70 FPS) is 28%, and from 1440p to 4K (44 FPS) is 37%, showing that the GPU’s memory bandwidth is the primary constraint. The data conclusively shows that the CPU limits performance at 1080p Low, while the GPU limits performance at all other settings, with the transition point occurring somewhere between 1080p and 1440p depending on the preset.