Doom

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded data for Doom on this Intel Core i5-9400 with Intel Arc B390 combination shows a clear progression of performance as resolution and settings change. At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable frame rates across every preset, with the Low setting reaching an average of 107 FPS, Medium at 93 FPS, High at 78 FPS, and Ultra at 64 FPS. The Medium preset records a minimum of 79 FPS and a maximum of 107 FPS, which brackets the average closely. At this resolution, even the most demanding Ultra preset stays comfortably above the 60 FPS playable threshold, making 1080p the strongest environment for this hardware.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably but remains viable for two presets. Low settings produce an average of 69 FPS, while Medium lands exactly at 60 FPS average, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS. High settings fall to an average of 51 FPS, and Ultra drops further to 41 FPS. The data indicates that 1440p users must choose between Low and Medium presets to maintain playability, with Medium being the most demanding option that still clears the 60 FPS average threshold.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across all settings. Low averages 37 FPS, Medium averages 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS, High averages 28 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS. None of these settings reach the 60 FPS playable mark, and even the lowest preset falls far short of smooth performance. The verdict data confirms that no settings at 4K are considered playable for this combination.

The pattern across resolutions shows a consistent scaling penalty. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS at Low drops from 107 to 69, a reduction of roughly one-third. From 1440p to 4K, the same Low preset drops from 69 to 37, again a substantial loss. The Ultra preset follows a similar trajectory: 64 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 22 FPS at 4K. These numbers suggest that the integrated GPU, the Intel Arc B390, is the limiting factor as pixel count rises, since the CPU's role becomes less dominant at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The recorded average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 64, which exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdict data lists Ultra as one of the playable settings at this resolution, with a best average of 64 FPS.

Q: What is the best playable setting at 2560x1440?

A: Medium is the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at 1440p. It averages exactly 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS. Low also qualifies at 69 FPS average, but Medium offers higher visual quality while still meeting the playable threshold.

Q: Are any settings playable at 3840x2160?

A: No. The verdict data shows no playable settings at 4K. The highest average FPS recorded at this resolution is 37 FPS on Low settings, which falls well below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 33 FPS, High averages 28 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to nearby alternatives in the database?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482 and sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX at 1463 (1.3% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5% slower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 at 1443 (2.7% slower). This places the Arc B390 slightly ahead of these older discrete parts.

Q: Does the CPU hold back performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 ranks in the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 at 2259 (0.2% slower), the Intel Core i7-10710U at 2248 (0.3% faster), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 at 2246 (0.4% faster), and the Intel Core i3-10305 at 2264 (0.4% slower). For Doom, the FPS scaling between resolutions points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck, since the CPU's performance is relatively modest but consistent.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 79 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 51 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 28 FPS. These figures show how the lowest frame rates degrade with increasing resolution.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals that the Intel Arc B390 GPU dominates the performance equation for Doom, especially as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 107 FPS on Low settings, which suggests that the CPU can feed frames quickly enough to keep the GPU busy. However, the drop to 64 FPS on Ultra at the same resolution indicates that the GPU's shading units, texture units, and raster operations are stretched by higher visual fidelity. The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz and a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s. These specifications align with the observed performance: adequate for 1080p but insufficient for 4K.

The CPU, with 6 cores and 6 threads running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.10 GHz, provides enough compute for a game like Doom, which is not heavily multithreaded. The cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and singlecore score of 935 indicate modest processing power relative to modern CPUs. Yet the FPS differences between resolutions are far larger than what CPU-bound scenarios would show. For instance, moving from 1080p Low to 1440p Low cuts average FPS from 107 to 69, a 38 FPS loss. If the CPU were the bottleneck, such a resolution change would have minimal impact because the same CPU work is required regardless of pixel count. Instead, the GPU is doing more pixel shading work, and its limited resources show.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. Even Low settings only reach 37 FPS, and Ultra falls to 22 FPS. The scaling from 1440p Low (69 FPS) to 4K Low (37 FPS) represents a 46% reduction, which is consistent with a GPU that must process four times the pixels of 1080p. The Arc B390's memory is system shared, meaning it relies on the CPU's DDR4 memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. This shared memory architecture likely contributes to the steep performance drop at higher resolutions, as the GPU competes with the CPU for memory access.

The CPU's role becomes more relevant when comparing presets at the same resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (107 FPS) and Ultra (64 FPS) is 43 FPS, which reflects both GPU and CPU load changes. At 4K, the difference between Low (37 FPS) and Ultra (22 FPS) is only 15 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is so saturated that preset changes have less relative impact. This pattern reinforces that the GPU is the dominant factor in Doom performance for this system. The CPU, while not insignificant, does not prevent the GPU from reaching its limits at any resolution, as evidenced by the playable 1080p results.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the Intel Core i5-9400, the database lists four nearest rivals with nearly identical average benchmark scores. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, just 0.2% lower than the i5-9400's 2254. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, 0.3% higher. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, 0.4% lower. These CPUs would behave virtually the same in Doom, meaning any of them paired with the same Intel Arc B390 would produce FPS numbers within a fraction of a percent of the recorded values. Users upgrading or downgrading between these CPUs would see no meaningful change in frame rates.

For the Intel Arc B390, the nearest GPU rivals are all older NVIDIA parts with slightly lower benchmark scores. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower than the Arc B390's 1482. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% lower. These GPUs would produce very similar performance in Doom, with the Arc B390 holding a small edge. However, all of these parts are in the 9th percentile or lower among GPUs, meaning they are entry-level or legacy hardware. The practical takeaway is that this system's GPU performance is comparable to those older discrete cards, but none of them would deliver playable 4K results or high-refresh 1440p performance.

The combination of the i5-9400 with any of its rival CPUs, paired with the Arc B390, would yield nearly identical Doom results. Similarly, swapping the Arc B390 for a GT 520MX or GT 710 would reduce FPS by a small margin, but the overall experience would remain the same: playable at 1080p across all presets, playable at 1440p only on Low and Medium, and not playable at 4K. The data suggests that this hardware tier is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p as a secondary option at reduced settings.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 64 FPS. This is the highest visual quality option and it clears the playable threshold by a small margin. High settings average 78 FPS, Medium averages 93 FPS, and Low averages 107 FPS, but Ultra offers the full feature set while remaining playable. The verdict data confirms that all four presets are playable at 1080p, with Ultra being the best choice for visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Medium, which averages exactly 60 FPS. Low settings average 69 FPS and are also playable, but Medium provides better visual quality at the cost of a lower margin above the threshold. The minimum FPS at Medium is 51, which dips below 60 during intense scenes, but the average meets the playable standard. High and Ultra are not playable at this resolution, with averages of 51 FPS and 41 FPS respectively.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches the 60 FPS threshold. The best average is Low at 37 FPS, followed by Medium at 33 FPS, High at 28 FPS, and Ultra at 22 FPS. Since none of these are playable, there is no recommended setting for 4K. The verdict data lists no playable settings at this resolution, and the best settings field is null, indicating that the system cannot deliver a smooth experience at 4K under any conditions.

The Verdict

Based on the recorded data, this PC can run Doom playably at 1920x1080 with all presets, including Ultra at an average of 64 FPS. At 2560x1440, it can run the game at Low (69 FPS average) and Medium (60 FPS average), but not at High (51 FPS) or Ultra (41 FPS). At 3840x2160, no settings are playable, with the highest average being 37 FPS on Low. The verdict by resolution confirms this: 1080p has four playable settings (High, Low, Medium, Ultra) with a best average of 64 FPS at Ultra; 1440p has two playable settings (Low, Medium) with a best average of 60 FPS at Medium; and 4K has zero playable settings.

The system's overall rank in the database for Doom is 3300 out of 3712 combinations, placing it in the lower tier of tested hardware. This aligns with the GPU's 9th percentile ranking and the CPU's 47th percentile ranking. The Intel Arc B390, despite being a newer architecture (Xe3-LPG, 3 nm process), performs at a level comparable to decade-old discrete GPUs, and its integrated nature (IGP slot width, system shared memory) limits its ability to handle high-resolution gaming. The 6-core i5-9400 is adequate for Doom's CPU demands, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's shortcomings.

For a player targeting 1080p, this system delivers a solid experience, especially on High or Ultra settings where the average FPS remains above 60. For 1440p, Medium is the ceiling, and even then the minimum FPS of 51 means occasional stutter during heavy action. For 4K, the system is not viable, and users should avoid attempting to run the game at that resolution. The data is clear: this hardware is a 1080p gaming solution, and its performance at higher resolutions is limited by the integrated GPU's compute and memory bandwidth constraints.