Undisputed

The pairing of the six-core Intel Core i5-9400 with the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a fascinating dataset in Undisputed, one that clearly illustrates the shifting bottleneck dynamics between CPU and GPU as resolution changes. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the three primary resolutions reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at 1080p and 1440p, but begins to show its CPU limitations as the workload transitions to 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K is the most telling aspect of this configuration's performance profile. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 268 FPS at 1920x1080 to 240 FPS at 2560x1440, representing a modest 10.4% reduction. However, the jump to 3840x2160 sees a much steeper decline, with the average falling to 157 FPS—a 34.6% drop from the 1440p figure and a 41.4% drop from 1080p. This non-linear scaling is a classic indicator that the CPU is beginning to cap performance at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes the limiting factor only at the highest pixel counts.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with even more pronounced CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 324 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high number for any title. Moving to 1440p Low only reduces this to 290 FPS (a 10.5% drop), but the 4K Low result of 249 FPS represents a 14.1% decline from 1440p. The fact that 4K Low (249 FPS) is actually higher than 4K High (157 FPS) by 58.6% highlights how much headroom the GPU has when the settings are lowered, yet the CPU still prevents the system from reaching the 300+ FPS territory seen at lower resolutions.

The Medium preset provides the most complete dataset, as it is the only settings level that includes minimum and maximum frame rate readings across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average is 286 FPS with a minimum of 243 and maximum of 329. The 1440p Medium average drops to 257 FPS (a 10.1% reduction), with a minimum of 218 and maximum of 296. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 190 FPS—a 26.1% drop from 1440p—with a minimum of 162 and maximum of 219. The frame time consistency here is noteworthy: the gap between minimum and maximum FPS remains relatively tight across resolutions, suggesting that the six-core CPU maintains stable frame pacing even under load.

Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling curve. The 1080p Ultra average of 222 FPS drops to 160 FPS at 1440p (a 27.9% reduction), then plunges to 101 FPS at 4K (a 36.9% drop from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that at Ultra, the GPU's rendering workload dominates, and the RTX 5090 D's capabilities are being fully utilized only at 4K. The 1080p Ultra result being only 222 FPS—compared to 286 FPS at Medium—shows that the CPU can still push high frame rates even with increased graphical demands, but the GPU becomes the primary constraint as the resolution climbs.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a monster of a graphics card, and its specifications in the data pack explain why it performs so well in Undisputed. With a massive 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the card offers 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is particularly relevant for a sports title like Undisputed, which likely benefits from high-resolution textures and fast asset streaming. The 4K High average of 157 FPS and 4K Ultra average of 101 FPS demonstrate that the card has ample headroom even at the most demanding settings.

The GPU's clock speeds are also significant. The base clock sits at 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. These figures, combined with the 21760 shading units and 176 ROPs, yield a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The raw compute performance of 104.8 TFLOPS (FP32) means that the card is not the limiting factor in most scenarios tested. The 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs in the database reinforces its position as a top-tier part, though its average benchmark score of 77712 places it in close competition with the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78940, deltaPct -1.6) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79605, deltaPct -2.4).

Interestingly, the RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals in the database are not desktop gaming cards but rather mobile and professional parts. This suggests that the benchmark database's GPU ranking has some unusual entries, but the data is what it is. The card's 92nd percentile ranking means it outperforms the vast majority of GPUs tested, which aligns with its 4K performance in Undisputed. The fact that the card achieves 249 FPS at 4K Low—a resolution and setting combination that would cripple most other GPUs—shows that the RTX 5090 D is operating well within its comfort zone.

How This Combo Ranks

In the combined CPU-GPU rankings for Undisputed, this specific configuration—the Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the RTX 5090 D—holds the 241st position out of 2813 tested combos. This places it in the top 8.6% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a pairing that seems mismatched on paper. The six-core, six-thread Coffee Lake processor from 2018 is clearly the weaker link, yet the overall combo still ranks highly due to the GPU's overwhelming performance.

The ranking becomes more impressive when considering the CPU's own position in the broader market. The i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (score 2259, deltaPct -0.2) and the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2264, deltaPct -0.4), showing that the i5-9400 is a mid-pack processor by modern standards. The fact that this mid-pack CPU can still achieve a 241st place combo ranking in Undisputed speaks to both the game's scalability and the GPU's ability to compensate for CPU limitations.

The deltaPct values for the CPU's rivals are all within plus or minus 0.4%, indicating that the i5-9400 is essentially performance-equivalent to several other mid-range processors. This means that swapping in a comparable CPU would likely produce nearly identical results in Undisputed, assuming the GPU remains the same. The combo ranking of 241 out of 2813 also suggests that many of the higher-ranked combos feature both newer CPUs and top-tier GPUs, but the RTX 5090 D's sheer horsepower is enough to carry the i5-9400 to a respectable position.

FAQ

*Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in Undisputed?*

A: Yes, but primarily at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 324 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame output. The fact that 4K Low (249 FPS) is lower than 1080p Low (324 FPS) by 23.1% while 1080p High (268 FPS) is lower than 1080p Low (324 FPS) by 17.3% suggests the CPU caps performance around 300+ FPS, while the GPU has more headroom.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system?

A: The data shows that 1440p Medium (257 FPS) offers an excellent balance, with 1440p High (240 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (160 FPS) also being playable. For 4K, the Medium preset (190 FPS) is the sweet spot, as the Ultra preset (101 FPS) is over 46% slower while offering diminishing visual returns.

*Q: Does the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of VRAM matter for Undisputed?*

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor at any tested resolution or setting. The GPU maintains high frame rates even at 4K Ultra (101 FPS), indicating that memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for this title.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 241st out of 2813 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.6% of all systems. This is notable given that the CPU ranks at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, showing that the GPU's performance dominates the overall result.

*Q: Is the i5-9400's six-thread configuration sufficient for Undisputed?*

A: Yes. The 6 cores and 6 threads, running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz, are enough to maintain high average frame rates. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium (162 FPS) and 1080p Medium (243 FPS) show that the processor can sustain consistent performance without major frame drops.

Q: Should users expect consistent frame times across all settings?

A: The Medium preset data shows a tight range between minimum and maximum FPS at each resolution. At 1080p, the range is 243 to 329 FPS; at 1440p, it is 218 to 296 FPS; at 4K, it is 162 to 219 FPS. This suggests stable frame pacing, though the spread widens slightly at lower resolutions where the CPU is more stressed.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this system depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, all settings levels deliver excellent frame rates, with Low (324 FPS), Medium (286 FPS), High (268 FPS), and Ultra (222 FPS) all being well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors. For competitive play, the Low preset maximizes frame rate, but the Medium preset (286 FPS) offers a better balance between visual quality and performance, with a minimum of 243 FPS ensuring no drops below the refresh rate of most high-refresh panels.

At 1440p, the Medium preset (257 FPS) is the clear recommendation. It delivers a 17.1% higher average than High (240 FPS) and a 60.6% higher average than Ultra (160 FPS), while the minimum of 218 FPS keeps gameplay smooth. The Low preset (290 FPS) is available for those prioritizing maximum frame rate, but the visual compromise is significant for only a 12.8% gain over Medium.

At 4K, the Medium preset (190 FPS) is the standout choice. It offers a 21.1% improvement over High (157 FPS) and an 88.1% improvement over Ultra (101 FPS), while maintaining a minimum of 162 FPS. The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, drops below the 120 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for high-end gaming. The Low preset (249 FPS) is still viable for esports-style play at 4K, but the Medium preset provides the best overall experience.

The Ultra preset is only recommended for users with monitors capped at 60 or 120 Hz, as the 4K Ultra average of 101 FPS is still playable but represents a substantial performance hit. At 1080p Ultra (222 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (160 FPS), the preset is more reasonable, but the data suggests that the Medium preset offers the best performance-to-quality ratio across all resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process node. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 9 MB L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, which is a potential limitation given the RTX 5090 D's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth.

In Undisputed, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low average of 324 FPS is the highest recorded in the entire dataset, suggesting that this is near the CPU's maximum frame output for this game. The difference between 1080p Low (324 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (222 FPS) is 31.5%, which is smaller than the difference between 4K Low (249 FPS) and 4K Ultra (101 FPS) at 59.4%. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary constraint, while at 4K, the GPU workload becomes dominant.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average score of 2254. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 show that it is a competent mid-range processor, but not a high-end one. The nearest rivals in the database—the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, Intel Core i7-10710U, AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, and Intel Core i3-10305—all have average scores within 0.4% of the i5-9400, confirming that this processor is not a performance outlier in either direction.

Despite its age (released in 2018) and end-of-life production status, the i5-9400 holds up adequately in Undisputed. The 4K Medium minimum FPS of 162 suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to avoid major stutters, even at higher resolutions. However, the 1080p results (324 FPS Low, 286 FPS Medium) are likely hitting a CPU ceiling, as the RTX 5090 D is capable of far higher frame rates in less CPU-bound scenarios. For users targeting the highest possible frame rates at 1080p, upgrading the CPU would yield tangible benefits, but for 4K gaming, the i5-9400 provides sufficient performance to keep the RTX 5090 D mostly GPU-bound.