Doom

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 pairing delivers a playable but limited experience in Doom, with performance that scales predictably from a smooth 1080p experience to a slideshow at 4K. This combination ranks in the 3547th position out of 3712 tested combos, placing it firmly in the lower quartile of all hardware pairings tested for this title. The data indicates that this is a classic 1080p gaming setup, where the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 224 GB/s bandwidth become the primary bottlenecks at higher resolutions, while the CPU's six cores and 12 threads provide ample headroom for the game's engine.

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate can I expect at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 56 FPS. This is the most demanding preset tested at this resolution, and while it is playable, it does not hit the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 2560x1440?

A: Yes, but only with Low settings. The data shows an average of 60 FPS at 1440p on Low. Moving to Medium drops the average to 52 FPS, and High settings reduce it further to 44 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its closest rival, the RX 470?

A: The RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 28766, which is 0.8% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 470's score of 28996. This effectively places them at parity in synthetic benchmarks.

*Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Doom?*

A: The highest average is 92 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 90 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any tested resolution?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The i5-10400F's performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283, is sufficient to drive the RX 570. The frame rate drops consistently with resolution increases, which points to a GPU limitation.

*Q: What is the worst-case scenario for this hardware in Doom?*

A: At 4K (3840x2160) with Ultra settings, the combo averages only 19 FPS. This is the lowest average recorded, indicating the resolution is not viable for this title with this hardware.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the defining component in this pairing for Doom. Its Polaris 20 chip, built on a 14 nm process, features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and boosts to 1244 MHz, while the 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at an effective 7 Gbps across a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is critical, as the data shows that performance degrades sharply as resolution increases, which is a classic symptom of VRAM capacity and bandwidth exhaustion.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities are represented by its 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. These figures explain why the card performs adequately at 1080p, where it can maintain an average of 68 FPS on High settings. However, the pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s becomes a limiting factor as pixel count increases. The benchmark results show the GPU holds a 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, but its nearest rivals include the Radeon RX 6800M and the Quadro RTX 8000, which are in a similar performance tier. The RX 570's average benchmark score of 28766 places it just 0.4% behind the RX 6800M and 1.2% ahead of the Quadro RTX 8000, indicating that its performance in Doom is representative of its overall standing.

In Doom, the GPU's 4 GB memory buffer is the primary constraint. At 1080p, the game fits comfortably within this limit, allowing the card to stretch its legs. At 1440p, the data shows an average of 44 FPS on High settings, a significant drop from the 68 FPS at 1080p. This 35% reduction in frame rate for a 78% increase in pixel count suggests that the memory bandwidth and capacity are struggling to keep up. At 4K, the card is simply overwhelmed, with the average FPS falling to 24 on High settings, which is below the threshold for acceptable playability.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 68 FPS on High settings, which is a comfortable level for smooth gameplay. Moving to 2560x1440, the average drops to 44 FPS on the same settings, a reduction of 24 FPS or roughly 35%. This significant drop indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the pixel count increases by 78%, but the frame rate does not scale proportionally.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more dramatic. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS plummets to 24, which is a 45% reduction from the 1440p result. This is a stark illustration of the RX 570's limits. The 4K resolution has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, and the frame rate falls by more than half, confirming that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are exhausted. The data shows that even at Low settings, 4K only yields an average of 32 FPS, which is still not playable for a fast-paced FPS.

The pattern across all settings is consistent. At 1080p, the range from Low to Ultra spans 56 to 92 FPS, with Medium at 80 FPS and High at 68 FPS. At 1440p, the same settings range from 36 FPS on Ultra to 60 FPS on Low. At 4K, the range narrows to 19 FPS on Ultra to 32 FPS on Low. This compression of frame rates at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling, and adjusting settings has diminishing returns. The data strongly suggests that this hardware configuration is optimized for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a compromise that requires lower settings to maintain playability.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination ranks 3547th out of 3712 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the bottom 5% of all hardware pairings. This low rank is a reflection of the GPU's age and memory limitations, as the CPU is relatively capable. The combo's ranking indicates that it is outclassed by the vast majority of systems tested for this game, which is expected for a mid-range GPU from 2017 paired with a budget CPU from 2020.

The low rank is primarily attributable to the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM, which is insufficient for modern high-resolution textures and settings. While the combo can achieve playable frame rates at 1080p, its performance at higher resolutions is poor, as shown by the 4K results. The data shows that the combo is ranked in the 3547th position, which means there are 3546 other combinations that perform better in Doom. This ranking is not a judgment of the components' overall quality, but rather a specific assessment of their combined performance in this particular title.

In context, the CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E, which is 0.2% faster, and the AMD EPYC 7552, which is 0.5% slower. The GPU, meanwhile, is in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 28766. The fact that the combo ranks so low despite both components being above the median in their respective categories highlights the importance of the GPU's memory capacity in Doom. This game is particularly sensitive to VRAM, and the 4 GB limit on the RX 570 is a severe handicap.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. These specifications are more than adequate for Doom, which is a well-optimized game engine that does not heavily stress the CPU.

Benchmark results confirm the CPU's capability. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 10283, and its single-core score is 1451. The Geekbench multi-core score is 6257, with a single-core score of 1420. These numbers indicate that the i5-10400F provides strong single-threaded performance, which is crucial for gaming. The 3DMark scores show a scaling pattern from 1350 in the 2-thread test to 4735 in the max-thread test, demonstrating that the processor scales well with additional threads.

In the context of Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this pairing, as the frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to allow the GPU to reach its maximum potential, as evidenced by the 92 FPS average on Low settings. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 14 nm process make it an efficient choice, but its performance is not the limiting factor in this system. The processor's nearest rivals in terms of benchmark scores are the Intel Core 7 160UL, which is 0.3% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, which is 0.6% slower, indicating that the i5-10400F sits in a competitive performance bracket.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield an average of 92 FPS, Medium settings yield 80 FPS with a range of 68 to 93 FPS, High settings yield 68 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 56 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each step up in quality costs approximately 12 FPS, allowing users to trade visual fidelity for smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low settings produce an average of 60 FPS, which is the minimum for smooth gameplay. Medium settings average 52 FPS, with a range of 44 to 60 FPS. High settings average 44 FPS, and Ultra settings average 36 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p costs between 20 and 28 FPS depending on the settings, with the largest absolute drop occurring at Low settings (32 FPS loss) and the smallest at Ultra settings (20 FPS loss).

The 4K results are uniformly poor. At 3840x2160, Low settings average 32 FPS, Medium settings average 28 FPS with a range of 24 to 32 FPS, High settings average 24 FPS, and Ultra settings average 19 FPS. None of these frame rates are acceptable for a fast-paced FPS like Doom, which requires consistent 60 FPS for optimal play. The data clearly shows that this combo is not viable at 4K, and even at 1440p, only Low settings achieve the 60 FPS target. At 1080p, the combo offers a good balance of performance and quality, with High settings providing a solid 68 FPS average.