Doom

# Doom with Intel Core i5-10400F + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

This pairing of a 6-core Comet Lake processor with AMD's RDNA 4 flagship creates a fascinating study in how a 2016 engine scales with modern hardware. The measured data shows a combo that ranks 1030 out of 3712 tested configurations, placing it firmly in the upper third of all tested combos for this game. The i5-10400F, with its 2.90 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clock, sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 9070 XT, with its 1660 MHz base and 2970 MHz boost, holds the 55th percentile among GPUs. This rank disparity between CPU and GPU percentiles hints at where the bottleneck lies in this classic title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound progression, but with some intriguing nuances. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 266 FPS at 1920x1080 to 203 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 23.7% reduction — and then to 110 FPS at 3840x2160, another 45.8% drop. This steep decline at 4K clearly indicates that the RX 9070 XT's rendering workload becomes the limiting factor as pixel count quadruples.

The Medium settings row tells a similar story with more granularity. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 254 FPS average, dropping to 177 FPS at 1440p (a 30.3% decrease), then to 96 FPS at 4K (a 45.8% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across resolution steps suggests the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel throughput, though the 4K step is particularly punishing.

High settings show the most dramatic scaling penalty. The 231 FPS at 1080p falls to 149 FPS at 1440p (35.5% lower), then to 81 FPS at 4K (45.6% lower than 1440p). This pattern indicates that at High settings, the additional shading work amplifies the resolution penalty, making 4K particularly demanding. Ultra settings follow suit: 189 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p (35.4% drop), and 66 FPS at 4K (45.9% drop).

What's most revealing is the 4K-to-1080p ratio across settings. At Low, 4K delivers 41.4% of 1080p performance. At Medium, it's 37.8%. At High, 35.1%. At Ultra, 34.9%. This narrowing ratio at higher settings confirms that the GPU's compute resources are progressively more saturated as quality increases, making the resolution transition more costly. The data strongly suggests that for 4K gaming, users should expect roughly 35-41% of the 1080p frame rate depending on quality preset.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 1030 out of 3712 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the top 27.8% of all tested combos for Doom. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, suggesting that the i5-10400F does not cripple the RX 9070 XT in this particular title. The rank implies that roughly 2700 other combinations tested slower, while about 1030 delivered higher average frame rates.

The CPU's individual standing helps contextualize this rank. At the 68th percentile among all CPUs, the i5-10400F is comfortably above average, but not elite. Its nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% faster), Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% slower), AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% faster), and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% slower). These tiny deltas show that the i5-10400F sits in an extremely dense performance cluster, where fractional percentage differences separate competitors.

The GPU's 55th percentile ranking is more modest, yet the RX 9070 XT's nearest rivals are surprising: AMD Radeon HD 7770M (0.1% faster), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0.2% faster), NVIDIA P106-090 (0.5% faster), and AMD Radeon Pro 555 (1% faster). This clustering around the 13500 benchmark score mark suggests that the aggregate benchmark methodology compresses results oddly for this GPU, though its in-game performance clearly exceeds what these rival names suggest.

The gap between the combo's overall rank and the GPU's modest percentile indicates that Doom's engine favors the CPU-GPU balance this pairing provides. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration appears well-suited to the game's threading model, allowing the GPU to stretch its legs.

FAQ

Q: Does the i5-10400F bottleneck the RX 9070 XT in Doom?

A: The data suggests minimal CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 266 FPS average, which is exceptionally high for any configuration. If the CPU were severely limiting, we would expect to see frame rates plateau regardless of resolution or settings, but instead, FPS scales consistently with GPU workload.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo delivers 149 FPS average, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors. For 4K users, Medium settings at 96 FPS average (with 81 FPS minimum) provides a playable experience, while Ultra at 4K drops to 66 FPS average.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the drop is from 231 FPS to 81 FPS, a 64.9% reduction. At Medium settings, it's from 254 FPS to 96 FPS, a 62.2% reduction. At Low settings, it's from 266 FPS to 110 FPS, a 58.6% reduction. The percentage loss is consistent across presets, ranging from roughly 59% to 65%.

Q: Is the RX 9070 XT's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Doom?

A: The measured results show no VRAM-related issues. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 66 FPS average without reported stuttering or frame drops in the data. The 644.6 GB/s memory bandwidth appears more than adequate for this game's texture streaming demands.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance affect Doom?

A: The i5-10400F scores 688 in 3dmark single-thread and 1451 in Cinebench R23 single-core. These scores indicate solid single-thread capability for a 2020 processor. Doom's engine benefits from strong single-thread performance for game logic, and the 4.30 GHz boost clock helps maintain high frame rates even when GPU load is moderate.

Q: What settings provide the most balanced experience at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 177 FPS average with a 150 FPS minimum, making it the safest choice for consistent high-refresh-rate gameplay. High settings at 149 FPS average are also viable, but the minimum FPS is not recorded in the data, making Medium the more predictable option.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 266 FPS average, Medium 254 FPS (with 216 FPS minimum and 292 FPS maximum), High 231 FPS, and Ultra 189 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 77 FPS, or 28.9% of the Low result. This relatively modest spread suggests that at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to handle even the most demanding preset without dramatic frame rate collapse.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy remains consistent. Low settings yield 203 FPS, Medium 177 FPS (150-203 FPS range), High 149 FPS, and Ultra 122 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 81 FPS, representing 39.9% of the Low figure. This widening percentage gap indicates that at 1440p, the additional shading work from higher settings begins to tax the GPU more noticeably.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes significantly. Low settings produce 110 FPS, Medium 96 FPS (81-110 FPS range), High 81 FPS, and Ultra 66 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap shrinks to 44 FPS, or 40% of Low. Interestingly, the 4K Medium minimum FPS of 81 matches the 4K High average exactly, suggesting that the GPU's frame delivery becomes more variable as resolution increases.

The Ultra preset at 4K produces the lowest measured result: 66 FPS average. This is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but barely. The data shows that 4K Ultra is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS average, making it the least comfortable option for high-refresh-rate displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. Its 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock deliver solid performance for gaming workloads. The 12 MB shared L3 cache and 64 KB L1 per core help maintain responsive game logic processing.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 10283 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1451 in single-core. The 3dmark results show scaling from 688 single-thread to 4748 for 16 threads, indicating reasonable multi-thread scaling. The 12115 Passmark multi-thread score and 12115 overall benchmark average place it at the 68th percentile, making it a slightly above-average processor.

For Doom specifically, the CPU's role appears to be providing sufficient frame pacing without becoming a bottleneck. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 266 FPS suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with draw calls well beyond typical display refresh rates. The 12 threads likely help with the game's background tasks, physics, and AI processing without competing with the GPU for system resources.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (42.7 GB/s bandwidth) provide adequate system bandwidth for this game. The PCIe Gen 3, 16 lanes interface is older but sufficient for the RX 9070 XT's PCIe 5.0 x16 bus, as the game's data requirements do not appear to saturate even Gen 3 bandwidth.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the data shows that all settings presets deliver well above 144 FPS. Ultra at 189 FPS average is the clear choice for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness. The 77 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is negligible when both are well above refresh rate thresholds.

At 1440p, Medium settings at 177 FPS average (150 FPS minimum) offer the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. High settings at 149 FPS average are also excellent for 144 Hz displays, but the lack of a recorded minimum FPS makes Medium the safer recommendation for consistent frame delivery. Ultra at 122 FPS remains playable but begins to approach the 120 Hz threshold.

For 4K gaming, Medium settings at 96 FPS average (81 FPS minimum) provide the best experience. This preset maintains frame rates above 80 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense action sequences. High settings at 81 FPS average are acceptable for 60 Hz displays but lack headroom for VRR monitors. Ultra at 66 FPS average is borderline, and the data suggests avoiding it unless visual quality takes absolute priority.

The settings hierarchy shows a consistent pattern: Medium settings offer roughly 20-25% more performance than Ultra at every resolution, while Low settings provide about 10-15% more than Medium. This suggests that the Medium preset represents the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance for this combo across all resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using TSMC's 4 nm process, featuring the Navi 48 chip with 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, which appears more than sufficient for Doom's texture and geometry requirements.

The GPU's 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs deliver substantial compute throughput. The 2970 MHz boost clock and 2400 MHz game clock, combined with 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 performance, provide ample raw power for this 2016 title. The 380.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 760.3 GTexel/s texture rate explain why the GPU handles even 4K resolution with reasonable frame rates.

The RX 9070 XT's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs seems low given its in-game performance, but the nearest rival data shows it clustered with much older cards in aggregate benchmarks. This discrepancy suggests that the benchmark methodology may not fully capture the GPU's modern architecture advantages in older games. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility likely benefit Doom's modern rendering path.

The GPU's 304 W TDP and dual 8-pin power connectors indicate substantial power delivery, though the measured frame rates suggest this power is well-utilized. The 16 GB VRAM capacity ensures that even at 4K Ultra, there is no memory pressure, as evidenced by the stable frame rates across all tested configurations. The 4 nm process allows high clock speeds, and the 2970 MHz boost clock demonstrates excellent thermal headroom for sustained gaming loads.