Doom

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers a surprisingly playable experience in Doom, though the data reveals significant bottlenecks and a strict ceiling on graphical fidelity. This combination ranks in the bottom 12% of all tested combos, with the GPU's 9th percentile standing performance severely limiting the CPU's capable 68th percentile processing power.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom?*

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo achieves consistently playable frame rates. At 1080p, average FPS ranges from 107 on Low settings down to 64 on Ultra, while 2560x1440 drops to a range of 69–41 FPS, and 3840x2160 falls to 37–22 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 places it just 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M (1460), and 2.7% ahead of the GeForce GT 710 (1443). These are extremely marginal performance gaps, indicating the B390 sits at the very bottom of the GPU performance spectrum.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this configuration?

A: Benchmark results indicate the opposite. The Core i5-10400F scores in the 68th percentile among all CPUs, while the Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile. The GPU is the clear limiting factor, as the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads provide ample processing headroom that the GPU cannot utilize in most scenarios.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance of performance and quality?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 93 FPS average, which is 15 FPS higher than High (78 FPS) and only 14 FPS lower than Low (107 FPS). The Medium preset also shows a minimum of 79 FPS, suggesting it maintains playability more consistently than the High preset's lower average.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: No. The data shows 3840x2160 performance ranges from 37 FPS at Low settings to just 22 FPS at Ultra. Even the best-case 4K scenario fails to reach 40 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a fast-paced FPS like Doom.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 2580th out of 2930 total combos tested for Doom, placing it in the bottom 12% of all configurations. The ranking reflects the GPU's extremely low relative performance compared to other available graphics solutions.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process node. Its role in Doom is defined by severe computational limits: the GPU offers 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with bandwidth dependent on the host system's memory architecture.

The data shows the Arc B390's performance ceiling clearly. Its single benchmark score — 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 — places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts: the GT 520MX (1463, +1.3%), GeForce 800M (1460, +1.5%), GT 625 OEM (1446, +2.5%), and GT 710 (1443, +2.7%). These deltas are small enough that in real-world gaming, the B390 trades blows with decade-old entry-level discrete GPUs.

In Doom, this translates to a hard cap on achievable frame rates. The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits, but the measured FPS data shows the actual performance is far below what those specifications might suggest. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 22 FPS, indicating the memory bandwidth constraints of system-shared memory become prohibitive at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2580 out of 2930 tested combinations places this configuration firmly in the bottom tier for Doom performance. This ranking is heavily skewed by the GPU's 9th percentile standing; the Arc B390 is among the weakest graphics solutions in the database, and no amount of CPU capability can compensate for that fundamental limitation.

The contrast between the two components is stark. The Core i5-10400F achieves a 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E (14163, +0.2% for the i5), the Intel Core 7 160UL (14232, -0.3%), AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, +0.5%), and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, -0.6%). The CPU is a solid mid-range performer, capable of feeding much faster GPUs.

The GPU, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of just 1482, ranking in the 9th percentile. The deltaPct values against its nearest rivals are all under 3%, meaning the B390 is essentially at the floor of GPU performance. When combined, the system's overall ranking reflects the weakest link principle: the GPU drags the entire configuration down to near-bottom-tier status.

For context within the 2930 total combos tested, this ranking means approximately 350 configurations perform worse. Those are almost certainly systems with even older or more limited GPUs, but the practical takeaway is that this combo cannot compete with any modern discrete GPU configuration in Doom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its best results: 107 FPS average on Low, 93 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107), 78 FPS on High, and 64 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p results show a clear progression — dropping from Low to Ultra costs approximately 40% of the frame rate, but even Ultra remains technically playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. Low settings produce 69 FPS, Medium drops to 60 FPS (with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69), High falls to 51 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 41 FPS. The 1440p results are borderline for smooth gameplay; the Medium preset's minimum of 51 FPS is the only configuration that stays above the 50 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra dip into territory where frame pacing becomes noticeable.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings yield 37 FPS, Medium produces 33 FPS (with a minimum of 28 and maximum of 37), High drops to 28 FPS, and Ultra falls to 22 FPS. None of the 4K configurations reach the 40 FPS mark, making 4K gaming impractical for this hardware.

The scaling patterns are consistent across resolutions: the gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (107) and Ultra (64) is 43 FPS. At 1440p, that gap narrows to 28 FPS (69 vs 41). At 4K, it shrinks to just 15 FPS (37 vs 22). This indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes so saturated that settings adjustments have diminishing returns.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal configuration for this combo is 1920x1080 with the Medium preset. This yields 93 FPS average with a minimum of 79 FPS, which provides smooth, consistent gameplay in Doom's fast-paced combat scenarios. The Medium preset offers a substantial improvement over High (78 FPS) with only a modest visual quality reduction, and it stays well above the 60 FPS threshold that most players target.

For players who prioritize maximum visual fidelity, the High preset at 1080p (78 FPS) is the highest quality setting that maintains playable frame rates. Ultra at 1080p (64 FPS) is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, and the data suggests the visual difference between High and Ultra may not justify the 14 FPS loss.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset (60 FPS) is the only configuration that achieves a 60 FPS average, but the 51 FPS minimum suggests occasional dips below that threshold. Players with 1440p monitors should either accept these dips or reduce to Low (69 FPS) for more consistent performance. High and Ultra at 1440p (51 and 41 FPS respectively) are not recommended for competitive play.

The 3840x2160 resolution should be avoided entirely. Even the best 4K configuration (Low, 37 FPS) fails to reach 40 FPS, and the system-shared memory architecture likely causes stuttering during intense combat sequences. Players with 4K displays should run the game at 1080p or 1440p with windowed or borderless mode rather than native 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Comet Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 256 KB L2 per core, and 12 MB shared L3. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth.

Benchmark results show the CPU is well-suited for gaming workloads. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and single-core score of 1451 indicate strong per-thread performance, which is critical for Doom's engine. The Geekbench scores (6257 multi-core, 1420 single-core) and 3DMark multi-threaded scores (4748 at 16 threads, 4735 at max threads) reinforce that the CPU has substantial headroom.

In this specific combo, the CPU's role is severely underutilized. The Arc B390's 9th percentile GPU performance means the i5-10400F rarely becomes the bottleneck. The CPU's 68th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 9th percentile creates a massive imbalance — the processor is capable of driving frame rates several times higher than what the GPU can deliver.

The CPU's 65W TDP and 14 nm process node are modest by modern standards, but the architecture's efficiency is sufficient for this workload. The PassMark multi-thread score of 12115 and single-thread score of 2541 confirm the CPU handles Doom's physics and AI calculations without strain. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would unlock significantly higher frame rates, as the CPU has ample performance reserves.

The nearest CPU rivals — Intel Xeon 6756E (14163, +0.2% for the i5), Intel Core 7 160UL (14232, -0.3%), AMD EPYC 7552 (14115, +0.5%), and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277, -0.6%) — all show that the i5-10400F sits in a tightly contested performance band. Any of these CPUs paired with a stronger GPU would likely outperform this combo in Doom, but with the B390, the CPU choice has minimal impact on the final results.