Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 lands at rank 2934 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the lower-mid tier of systems. This positioning is driven by the GPU’s age and the CPU’s mid-range standing, but the data reveals that this pairing is still very playable at most settings, with the GPU acting as the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2934 out of 3712 means it outperforms roughly 21% of all tested configurations in this game, while trailing the majority. This is not a top-tier system by any means, but it is far from the bottom. The percentile data for the individual components helps explain why. The CPU, the Ryzen 5 8400F, sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, indicating it is a solidly above-average processor. Its average benchmark score of 25005 puts it within 0.4% of the AMD EPYC 9474F, and it slightly edges out the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F by 0.2% and the Intel Core i7-11850H by 0.3%. This shows the 8400F is a capable modern chip that is not the bottleneck in most gaming scenarios.

In contrast, the RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. It is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta), just 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon 680M, 0.6% behind the RTX 3050 OEM, and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7600. This places the GPU as a decidedly mid-pack performer. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-percentile GPU creates a system where the GPU is the limiting factor in most situations. In Doom, a game known for its scalability, this means the CPU has enough headroom to push the GPU to its limits, but the overall frame rate will be capped by the RTX 2060’s raw throughput.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which settings preset offers the best experience. The sweet spot for this combo is clearly the Medium preset across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 152 FPS average, which is only 23 FPS less than Low (175 FPS) but a substantial 47 FPS more than Ultra (105 FPS). More importantly, the Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 130, ensuring that frame drops stay well within a playable range, avoiding the stutters that can occur at higher settings.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again proves to be the most balanced choice, with an average of 99 FPS and a minimum of 84 FPS. This is a 31 FPS drop from Low (113 FPS) but a 31 FPS gain over High (83 FPS). The 84 FPS minimum is still smooth enough for a fast-paced FPS. At 4K, the Medium preset’s 53 FPS average and 45 FPS minimum are playable, but the system is clearly struggling at this resolution. High settings at 4K drop to 45 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS, which is below the threshold for a comfortable experience.

The data suggests that Medium is the optimal choice for this hardware. It offers a significant visual upgrade over Low, while maintaining frame rates that are high enough to avoid the performance penalty seen at High and Ultra. For players with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, Medium provides a high-refresh-rate experience. For 4K, Medium is the only preset that keeps the average FPS above 50, making it the only viable option for a mostly smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a classic pattern of GPU-bound performance. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 152 to 99, a 35% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the average FPS drops from 99 to 53, a 46% reduction. This increasing penalty at higher resolutions is a direct indicator that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component. The CPU’s performance is relatively resolution-independent, so the entire performance loss is due to the GPU’s inability to fill pixels fast enough at higher resolutions.

The pattern holds across all settings. At Low, the drop from 1080p (175 FPS) to 1440p (113 FPS) is 35%, and from 1440p to 4K (61 FPS) is 46%. At Ultra, the drops are similar: 105 FPS to 68 FPS (35%) and then 68 FPS to 37 FPS (46%). This consistent scaling shows that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. The RTX 2060’s 6 GB of VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are simply not sufficient for the massive pixel count at 4K. The 8400F has more than enough single-thread performance to feed the GPU at 1080p, but as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows faster than the CPU’s, making the RTX 2060 the clear bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows strong performance. Low settings produce 175 FPS average. Medium settings produce 152 FPS average, with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS. High settings produce 129 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 105 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS, showing the GPU’s sensitivity to quality presets at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the system remains playable. Low settings produce 113 FPS average. Medium settings produce 99 FPS average, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 113 FPS. High settings produce 83 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 68 FPS average. The scaling from 1080p is consistent, with each resolution step costing roughly 35% performance at the same settings.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. Low settings produce 61 FPS average. Medium settings produce 53 FPS average, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS. High settings produce 45 FPS average. Ultra settings produce 37 FPS average. At this resolution, the RTX 2060 is clearly overmatched. The 45 FPS minimum at Medium is the only data point that shows a playable floor, but even that is close to the edge. The 37 FPS average at Ultra is not suitable for a fast-paced shooter.

The data shows a consistent pattern across all settings: the drop from Low to Medium is relatively small (about 13% on average), the drop from Medium to High is larger (about 16% on average), and the drop from High to Ultra is the largest (about 20% on average). This suggests that the Medium preset is the point of diminishing returns, where the visual quality gains are not worth the FPS cost.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the defining component in this system’s Doom performance. Its specifications are modest by modern standards: 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. These specs explain the performance scaling observed. The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at Medium settings, but at 4K, the memory capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 58th percentile, with a Passmark G3D score of 14111 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242. Its nearest rivals, including the GTX 580 and Radeon 680M, show that it is a mid-range performer. The GPU’s 12 nm process node and 160 W TDP are dated, but in Doom, which is a well-optimized title from 2016, the RTX 2060 still manages to provide a decent experience at lower resolutions.

The data indicates that the RTX 2060’s role is to cap the system’s maximum frame rate. At 1080p Medium, the 152 FPS average is likely near the GPU’s limit, as the CPU is not the bottleneck. The consistent 35% drop when moving to 1440p, and the further 46% drop to 4K, are hallmarks of a GPU that is hitting its memory bandwidth and fill rate limits. The 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present, but they are not a factor in this game’s standard renderer. For this title, the RTX 2060 is a capable 1080p and entry-level 1440p card, but it is not suited for 4K gaming.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo good for playing Doom at 1080p?

A: Yes. The data shows strong performance at 1080p, with 175 FPS at Low, 152 FPS at Medium, 129 FPS at High, and 105 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset offers a particularly good balance with a 130 FPS minimum.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this system?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice across all resolutions. It provides a significant visual upgrade over Low while maintaining much higher frame rates than High or Ultra. For example, at 1440p, Medium delivers 99 FPS average, while High drops to 83 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: It is playable but not ideal. The Medium preset at 4K yields a 53 FPS average with a 45 FPS minimum. High and Ultra settings drop to 45 FPS and 37 FPS respectively, which are not smooth enough for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The CPU, the Ryzen 5 8400F, sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 2060 is at the 58th percentile. The dramatic FPS drops from 1080p to 4K confirm the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060’s average benchmark score of 15290 is nearly identical to the GTX 580 (15283), just 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon 680M (15270), 0.6% behind the RTX 3050 OEM (15199), and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171). It is a mid-pack performer.

Q: What is the expected FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The drop is consistent across settings. At Medium, FPS falls from 152 to 99, a 35% reduction. At Low, it falls from 175 to 113, also a 35% reduction. This indicates the GPU’s workload scales predictably with resolution.