Doom

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded frame rate data for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination covers three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates range from 202 FPS at Ultra to 254 FPS at Low. The spread between the least demanding and most demanding preset is 52 FPS, a 25% drop from Low to Ultra. Medium sits close to High, with 242 FPS average versus 228 FPS respectively. The minimum recorded at 1080p Medium is 205 FPS, while the maximum reaches 278 FPS, indicating some scene-to-scene variance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall into a tighter band. Low delivers 217 FPS, Medium 189 FPS. High drops to 160 FPS. Ultra remains playable at 131 FPS. At this resolution, the gap between Low and Ultra is 86 FPS, so the preset scaling is roughly linear with each step costing around 28 to 29 FPS. The minimum observed across all 1440p runs is 161 FPS at Medium, and the maximum observed is 217 FPS at Low.

At 3840x2160, the load increases considerably. The average FPS drops to 118 at Low, 102 at Medium, 87 at High, and 71 at Ultra. Notably, the minimum FPS at Medium is 87 FPS, which still clears the 60 FPS playability threshold with headroom. The maximum FPS at 4K Low is 118 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 2160p is 47 FPS, which is a narrower relative gap than at lower resolutions, suggesting resolution scaling affects the CPU/GPU balance.

The recorded data shows all settings at all three resolutions average above 60 FPS. Even the most demanding preset (2160p Ultra) holds an average of 71 FPS. The margin above the 60 FPS line is comfortable. The minimum observed frame rate across the entire measured set is 87 FPS, which occurs at 2160p Medium. No runtimes in the dataset drop below 60 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that still holds an average of at least 60 FPS is Ultra. The measured average at 1080p Ultra is 202 FPS. The margin over the 60 FPS playability threshold is wide. Medium and High also exceed 60 FPS by a large margin, but the data indicates Ultra is the strongest preset that stays clear of the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with a measured average of 131 FPS. The step from High to Ultra costs 29 FPS, but the result remains far above the 60 FPS floor. Low and Medium also clear the threshold, though Ultra offers the most headroom.

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS average is Ultra. The recorded average is 71 FPS. This is the narrowest margin in the dataset: only 11 FPS of headroom above the threshold. High preset at this resolution averages 87 FPS, but Ultra is the highest tier that remains compliant.

# CPU and GPU Roles

The measured scaling across resolutions and presets reveals how the workload shifts between the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070. At 1080p, frame rates are exceptionally high, exceeding 200 FPS at Low and 228 FPS at 1080p Low. The CPU, with 6 cores and 6 threads, clearly feeds frames quickly enough for these lower resolution settings. The GeForce RTX 5070 is not the limiting factor at 1080p; the delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is only 22 FPS, so the scaling is mild.

At 1440p, the gap from Low to Ultra widens to 86 FPS. This suggests the rendering load is increasing substantially, but the GPU still has headroom. The CPU's role here is not yet dominant, as the 9400's six cores keep up with title-thread scheduling. The i5-9400 has no Hyper-Threading, but six physical cores are sufficient. The 1440p Ultra result, 131 FPS, is still well above the threshold.

At 2160p, the gap from Low to Ultra is 47 FPS, and the absolute values drop below 120 FPS. The RTX 5070's Blackwell architecture is now heavily loaded, but the i5-9400 is also more likely to be the bottleneck at this resolution. The 4K Medium result, 102 FPS, and the 4K Ultra result, 71 FPS, indicate that both the CPU and GPU are under meaningful load. The measured scaling from 1080p to 2160p at Ultra shows a drop from 202 FPS to 71 FPS. That is a 65% reduction, indicating a load shift. The Core i5-9400's six threads can still feed frames, but the RTX 5070's shader and rasterization work dominates the frame time.

Comparing the CPU's passmark average of 2254 against the GPU's average of 40377, the ratio of work is heavily on the GPU at 4K. At lower settings, the CPU becomes relatively more important, but the data shows GPU-bound behavior starting at 1440p Ultra.

# Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-9400 are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, the Intel Core i7-10710U, and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500. The i7-1068NG7 averages a benchmark score of 2259, which is 0.2% higher than the i5-9400. The i7-10710U scores 2248 on average, 0.3% lower. The Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, a 0.4% difference. The i3-10305 scores 2264, about 0.4% higher. These deltas are small, so any of these CPUs would produce similar frame pacing in CPU-bound scenes. The i5-9400's 6-core layout matches the Ryzen 5's 6-core layout, so thread scheduling should be comparable.

On the GPU side, the closest measured cards are the AMD Radeon Pro 580, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile. The Radeon Pro 580 averages 40318, a 0.1% gap. The WX 7100 averages 40063, a 0.8% gap. The Radeon Pro 5300 averages 40870, which is 1.2% higher. The RTX A500 Mobile averages 39568, 2% lower. These small deltas indicate the RTX 5070's performance sits in a tight cluster with these cards. The 5070's 12 GB VRAM is not a distinguishing factor in this dataset, as the measured FPS deltas are driven by the average benchmark scores.

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination achieves a rank of 987 among 3712 tested combos in the database. The average benchmark scores of the combo place it in the upper quarter of all recorded combinations. The CPU's 47th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 82nd percentile among all GPUs contribute to this overall standing. The combo is in the top 26.6% of tested pairs.

The data indicates the i5-9400 is a mid-pack processor when compared to all CPUs. The GPU is well above the median. The resulting pairing is stronger than the CPU alone but the GPU clearly contributes more to the combo's rank than the processor does.

FAQ

Q: Can the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 run Doom at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 71 FPS. The minimum recorded FPS in the dataset at 2160p Medium is 87 FPS. All runs at 4K stay above 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset at 2560x1440?

A: Ultra. It delivers 131 FPS average. High, Medium, and Low all also run above 60 FPS, but Ultra is the highest preset that remains strictly above the 60 FPS floor.

Q: Is 1920x1080 too demanding for this combo?

A: No. The most demanding preset at 1080p, Ultra, scores 202 FPS average. Low scores 254 FPS. The margin over the 60 FPS playability threshold is wide.

Q: How much does the CPU matter at 4K?

A: The scaling from 1080p to 2160p at Ultra shows a 65% FPS drop. The CPU's six threads are still capable, but the GPU load dominates. The CPU's average benchmark score is 2254, while the GPU's average is 40377, so at 4K the RTX 5070 is the primary driver.

Q: Does the GPU matter more at 1080p?

A: Less so. The 1080p Ultra result is 202 FPS, and Low is 254 FPS. The difference is small, meaning the 5070 is not the bottleneck at 1080p. The i5-9400's six cores are feeding frames fast enough.

Q: What is the closest rival hardware?

A: On the CPU side, the Intel Core i7-1068NGN is 0.2% apart, the i7-10710U is 0.3% apart, the Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 is 0.4% apart. On the GPU side, the Radeon Pro 580 is 0.1% apart, the WX 7100 is 0.8% apart, and the RTX A500 Mobile is 2% apart.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Doom? Based on the measured data, yes. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 202 FPS average, far beyond the 60 FPS target. At 2560x1440, Ultra hits 131 FPS average. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 71 FPS, still above the 60 FPS line. The most demanding preset that remains at or above 60 FPS at each resolution is Ultra: 202 FPS at 1080p, 131 FPS at 1440p, 71 FPS at 2160p. The minimum recorded FPS in the dataset is 87 FPS, so no measured run dips below 60. The Core i5-9400 and RTX 5070 pair is playable at all tested presets and resolutions.