Doom

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT in Doom (2016) produces a performance profile that is heavily dictated by resolution and graphics preset. The data shows a system capable of high refresh rate play at 1080p, but one that transitions to a firmly GPU-bound state as pixel count increases. The measured FPS rows reveal a clear scaling pattern from the 1920x1080 to the 3840x2160 resolution, with the average frame rate dropping by roughly 51% between the Low settings at 1080p and the Low settings at 4K. This scaling behavior is the primary lens through which the component roles can be analyzed.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression across resolutions follows a steep curve that points directly at the Radeon RX 6600 XT as the limiting component in this configuration. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 192 FPS, which is more than sufficient to saturate a high refresh rate display. Moving to 2560x1440 with the same Low preset drops the average to 124 FPS, a reduction of 68 FPS, or approximately 35% lower than the 1080p result. The scaling continues when jumping to 3840x2160, where the Low preset averages only 67 FPS — a further 46% reduction from the 1440p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings levels, indicating that the game’s rendering load scales near-linearly with pixel count when the CPU has enough headroom.

The High settings row illustrates the same behavior: 141 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 50 FPS, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 42 FPS. The fact that the absolute FPS loss between steps is similar (around 40-50 FPS) while the percentage loss increases as resolution rises suggests that the GPU is approaching its throughput ceiling. At 4K Ultra, the average dips to 40 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for smooth gameplay. The data indicates that the RX 6600 XT’s 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 10.60 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are simply not enough to maintain fluid frame rates at the highest resolution and preset combination.

The presence of min and max FPS data for the Medium preset provides additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate ranges from 142 to 192 FPS, with an average of 167 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range tightens to 92–124 FPS, averaging 108 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range narrows further to 50–67 FPS, averaging 59 FPS. The shrinking delta between min and max FPS as resolution increases indicates a shift from CPU-bound variability at lower resolutions to a more consistent, GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions. The frame pacing becomes more stable, but the overall performance ceiling drops.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS for the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT combination at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings is 75 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Low preset compare to the 1080p Low preset?

A: The 3840x2160 Low preset yields an average of 67 FPS, while the 1920x1080 Low preset yields an average of 192 FPS. The 4K result is approximately 65% lower than the 1080p result.

Q: Is the system capable of 60 FPS at 4K?

A: The data shows that the Medium preset at 3840x2160 achieves an average of 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS. The High and Ultra presets at 4K are below 60 FPS, averaging 49 FPS and 40 FPS, respectively.

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset at 1920x1080?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 1920x1080, reaching 192 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 167 FPS, High at 141 FPS, and Ultra at 115 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU’s benchmark percentile relate to its in-game performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT holds a percentileVsAllGpus of 70, indicating it outperforms 70% of all GPUs in the database’s synthetic benchmarks. In Doom, this translates to playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, but it struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: What is the combo rank for this CPU-GPU pairing in this game?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2660 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the dominant factor in this game’s performance envelope, particularly as resolution increases. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, a figure that directly impacts the 4K results. The measured FPS at 3840x2160 across all settings — 49 FPS High, 67 FPS Low, 59 FPS Medium, and 40 FPS Ultra — shows a clear ceiling that aligns with the card’s compute capabilities. The FP32 throughput of 10.60 TFLOPS and the pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s are the specifications most relevant to Doom’s rendering load, and the data suggests these resources are fully utilized at 4K.

The clock speeds of the RX 6600 XT, with a base of 1968 MHz and a boost of 2589 MHz, contribute to its performance at 1080p where the GPU is not the sole bottleneck. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 115 (Ultra) to 192 (Low), indicating that the GPU still has headroom when the CPU can feed it frames efficiently. However, the scaling from 1080p to 4K is steep, with the Low preset dropping from 192 FPS to 67 FPS. This 65% reduction highlights the GPU’s limited memory bandwidth relative to higher-tier cards; the 128-bit bus is a constraint that becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmark scores provide context for its in-game behavior. The Passmark G3D score of 16461 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1804 are consistent with a mid-range card that sits at the 70th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER with a deltaPct of 1.1, show that the RX 6600 XT performs within a narrow band of its competitors in aggregate benchmarks, yet the Doom data reveals that the card’s real-world gaming performance is adequate for 1440p but marginal for 4K. The 4K Medium preset’s average of 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS, is the only sub-4K setting that approaches a stable 60 FPS experience at that resolution, and even that is borderline.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and frame rate for this combo is the Medium preset at 2560x1440. The data shows an average of 108 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS, which provides a smooth experience on most 1440p displays while keeping the minimum frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 141 FPS is preferable to Ultra at 115 FPS, as the visual difference between High and Ultra is often less impactful than the 26 FPS performance gap. The Low preset at 1080p, while achieving 192 FPS, sacrifices too much visual quality for a frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors.

For users with a 4K display, the data suggests that the Medium preset is the only viable option, with an average of 59 FPS and a minimum of 50 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 49 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40 FPS, both of which are below the minimum for comfortable gameplay. The Low preset at 4K achieves 67 FPS, which is playable, but the visual downgrade is significant. The recommendation is to prioritize the Medium preset at 4K if the user can tolerate occasional dips below 60 FPS, or to lower the resolution to 1440p for a more consistent experience.

The data also indicates that the Medium preset provides the most stable frame pacing across all resolutions, as evidenced by the min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the range is 142–192 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 92–124 FPS; and at 4K Medium, it is 50–67 FPS. This consistency makes Medium the safest choice for users who prioritize smoothness over maximum visual detail.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 2660 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the lower half of the database. This rank is reflective of the system’s balanced but mid-range nature. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus is 68, meaning it outperforms 68% of all CPUs, while the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus is 70. The system is well-matched in the sense that neither component is drastically over- or under-powered relative to the other, but the combined result is a configuration that does not excel in this particular game.

The rank suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates in Doom, likely due to more powerful GPUs or CPUs with higher single-thread performance. The i5-10400F’s 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451 are modest, and while they are sufficient for 1080p gaming, they may hold back the RX 6600 XT at lower resolutions where the CPU is more likely to be the bottleneck. However, the data shows that at 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the CPU’s load decreases relative to the GPU’s rendering work. The combo’s rank of 2660 out of 3712 is a benchmark of the entire system’s capability, and it places this pairing in a position where it is competitive with other mid-range configurations but not a top performer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system’s performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 192 FPS, followed by Medium at 167 FPS (with a range of 142–192 FPS), High at 141 FPS, and Ultra at 115 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear gradient, with the system capable of exceeding 100 FPS even at the highest preset. This indicates that the CPU and GPU combination is well-suited for high refresh rate 1080p gaming.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops but remains respectable. The Low preset averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS (92–124 FPS), High averages 91 FPS, and Ultra averages 75 FPS. The 1440p results are all above 60 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for the system if the user wants to maintain high settings. The Medium preset at 1440p offers a good balance, with an average above 100 FPS and a minimum of 92 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates. The Low preset averages 67 FPS, Medium averages 59 FPS (50–67 FPS), High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 40 FPS. Only the Low preset at 4K exceeds 60 FPS, and the Medium preset is just below that threshold. The 4K results confirm that the RX 6600 XT is the limiting factor, as the frame rates drop sharply compared to the 1440p results.

The data also shows that the minimum FPS values, where available, are consistently lower than the averages, indicating some frame time variance. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 142 FPS, which is 25 FPS lower than the average of 167 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 92 FPS, 16 FPS lower than the average. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 50 FPS, 9 FPS lower than the average. The variance decreases as resolution increases, reinforcing the idea that the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F plays a significant but secondary role in this game’s performance. With 6 cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.90 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, the CPU provides enough processing power to feed the RX 6600 XT at 1080p and 1440p. The benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451, which are reasonable for a 10th-generation Comet Lake processor. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and 2-thread score of 1350 indicate that its per-core performance is adequate for gaming workloads.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 4K, the frame rates are nearly identical across different settings, with the GPU’s workload dominating the performance profile. However, at 1080p, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent, as the difference between the Low and Ultra presets is 77 FPS (192 vs 115), which is a larger absolute gap than at 4K (27 FPS difference between Low and Ultra). This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s frame generation, but the GPU’s performance ceiling is reached as resolution increases.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 at 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is another factor, though the data does not show a direct impact on FPS. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache is sufficient for the game’s data needs, and the 14 nm process node, while older, does not appear to limit performance in this title. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus of 68 places it above the median, and its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon 6756E with a deltaPct of 0.2, show that the i5-10400F is competitive with other processors in aggregate benchmarks. In Doom, the CPU’s contribution is to ensure that the GPU is not starved of frames at lower resolutions, and the data confirms that the system can reach 192 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a strong indication of the CPU’s capability to drive high frame rates.