Doom

# Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a system that scales predictably with pixel count, but with some nuances worth examining. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 148 FPS average, which drops to 96 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 52 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the same settings tier. These are substantial drops that indicate the rendering pipeline is heavily dependent on the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth as resolution climbs.

The scaling pattern changes when moving to higher quality presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rate goes from 89 FPS at 1080p to 57 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop) and then to 31 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings tiers suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor throughout the resolution range. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller absolute FPS differences at lower resolutions where the GPU has more headroom, but the data shows the gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 59 FPS, which narrows to 21 FPS at 4K. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions is classic GPU-bound behavior.

The 4K Medium preset shows an average of 45 FPS with minimum and maximum values of 38 and 52 FPS respectively. These min/max values bracket the entire range of the Low and High presets at the same resolution, indicating that the Medium preset's performance variability encompasses the performance envelope of adjacent settings. This suggests that the game's Medium preset at 4K is not a stable middle ground but rather a transitional point where the GPU is working near its limit.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 83 FPS average with a minimum of 71 and maximum of 96 FPS. The maximum here exactly matches the Low preset average at the same resolution, which indicates that the Medium preset occasionally achieves the same performance as Low but cannot sustain it. This is a sign of thermal or power throttling potential, though the data alone cannot confirm the cause.

The 1080p Medium preset shows 129 FPS average with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 148 FPS. The minimum matches the High preset average exactly, and the maximum matches the Low preset average exactly. This symmetric bracketing is notable because it suggests that the Medium preset at 1080p is effectively interpolating between the Low and High presets in terms of frame pacing, but with enough variance to span the entire performance range of those adjacent settings.

Overall, the resolution scaling data indicates that this combo is well-balanced at 1080p for high refresh rate displays, acceptable at 1440p for standard 60 Hz monitors, and marginal at 4K with only the Low preset exceeding 52 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset at 31 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below 30 FPS, making it the only truly unplayable option in the dataset.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 delivers the highest frame rates across all settings, with even the Ultra preset achieving 89 FPS average. At 2560x1440, only the Low and Medium presets exceed 60 FPS, while at 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. For smooth gameplay, 1080p is clearly the optimal resolution, with 1440p being viable only at lower settings.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti's VRAM capacity affect 4K performance?

A: The GPU has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. At 3840x2160, the frame rates range from 31 FPS at Ultra to 52 FPS at Low. The substantial performance drop from Low to Ultra at 4K (a 21 FPS difference) suggests that the memory subsystem is being stressed at higher settings, likely due to texture and buffer requirements exceeding what the 6 GB frame buffer can efficiently handle.

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

A: Based on the resolution scaling pattern, the GPU is the primary bottleneck. Frame rates drop consistently by roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 65% from 1080p to 4K across all settings tiers. If the CPU were the limiter, the frame rate would plateau at lower resolutions rather than continuing to climb from 89 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 148 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: What performance can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 83 FPS average with a minimum of 71 and maximum of 96 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making 1440p Medium a viable option. The minimum of 71 FPS ensures that even the worst-case frame pacing stays comfortably above 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 3193 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the lower portion of the distribution, which is consistent with the mid-range nature of both components. The ranking reflects that while the combo can play the game, many other configurations deliver higher frame rates.

Q: Should I use the Ultra preset at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 89 FPS average, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the Low preset delivers 148 FPS and Medium delivers 129 FPS. The 59 FPS difference between Low and Ultra suggests that Ultra is significantly more demanding, and the lower frame rate may not be worth the visual gains if you prioritize smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti achieves a combined rank of 3193 out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom. This places the combo in the 14th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning approximately 86% of tested combos deliver better performance in this game. The rank reflects the mid-range positioning of both components individually, with the CPU sitting at the 68th percentile among all CPUs and the GPU at the 41st percentile among all GPUs.

The ranking is particularly interesting when considering the component-level benchmarks. The CPU's average benchmark score of 14185 places it within 0.2% of the Intel Xeon 6756E and 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 7552, while the GPU's average score of 7723 places it within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon 540 and 1.9% of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100. These close rivalries at the component level do not translate to a favorable game-specific ranking, which suggests that Doom's engine responds more strongly to GPU performance than to raw CPU compute.

The gap between the component percentiles and the combo's game rank indicates that Doom is particularly demanding on the GPU side. The CPU's 68th percentile ranking would normally suggest a comfortable pairing with a mid-range GPU, but the game's measured frame rates show that the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting factor. This is confirmed by the resolution scaling analysis, which shows consistent GPU-bound behavior across all settings.

Compared to the nearest GPU rivals, the GTX 1660 Ti's 0.7% advantage over the AMD Radeon 540 and 2.3% advantage over the Intel Arc A310 in average benchmark scores are relatively small margins. In a game like Doom, which is known for its scalability, these small component-level differences can translate into meaningful frame rate variations, but the overall combo rank suggests that this GPU is not sufficient to push the combo into higher performance tiers.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the complete settings range is measured. Low settings deliver 148 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings produce 129 FPS average with a minimum of 109 and maximum of 148 FPS. High settings achieve 109 FPS average, and Ultra settings deliver 89 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 59 FPS, indicating that each settings tier has a meaningful impact on performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop across all settings. Low settings produce 96 FPS average, Medium delivers 83 FPS with a minimum of 71 and maximum of 96 FPS, High achieves 70 FPS, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 39 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p. This narrowing indicates that the GPU is becoming more of a limiter at higher resolutions, compressing the performance differences between settings.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are significantly lower. Low settings produce 52 FPS average, Medium delivers 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 and maximum of 52 FPS, High achieves 38 FPS, and Ultra drops to 31 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is only 21 FPS, further confirming that the GPU is saturated at this resolution. The 4K Medium preset's minimum of 38 FPS matches the High preset average exactly, and its maximum of 52 FPS matches the Low preset average exactly.

The Medium preset at each resolution shows interesting bracketing behavior. At 1080p, the medium min/max (109/148) exactly matches the High average and Low average. At 1440p, the medium min/max (71/96) exactly matches the High average and Low average. At 4K, the medium min/max (38/52) exactly matches the High average and Low average. This consistent pattern across all three resolutions suggests that the Medium preset's frame pacing oscillates between the performance levels of Low and High, making it an unpredictable choice for consistent experience.

The data also reveals that the 4K Ultra preset at 31 FPS is the only measured configuration below 30 FPS, which is generally considered the minimum playable threshold. The 4K High preset at 38 FPS is above this threshold but still below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, only the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS at 57 FPS, while all other settings at this resolution exceed 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture using a 12 nm process at TSMC, with the TU116 chip containing 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1500 MHz for 12 Gbps effective throughput. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical specification for a game like Doom that relies on rapid texture streaming.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 5.437 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 10.87 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). These specifications place the GTX 1660 Ti at the 41st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7723.

The measured frame rates in Doom show that the GPU's memory subsystem becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 4K, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is only 21 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is unable to maintain higher performance even when settings are reduced. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is likely insufficient for 4K texture loads at higher presets, which explains why the Low preset at 4K still only achieves 52 FPS.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Radeon 540 (0.7% slower), AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (1.9% slower), and Intel Arc A310 (2.3% slower). These small margins indicate that the GTX 1660 Ti is at the lower end of its performance class, and in Doom specifically, this translates to the sub-60 FPS performance at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the measured data shows that it cannot sustain high frame rates at 4K across any settings tier.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 89 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the Medium preset at 129 FPS provides a 45% performance increase over Ultra while presumably maintaining a reasonable visual quality. The data shows that High settings at 109 FPS strike a balance between the visual fidelity of Ultra and the performance of Medium.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 83 FPS average with a minimum of 71 FPS is the best choice for consistent gameplay above 60 FPS. The High preset at 70 FPS is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 57 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold and is not recommended if smoothness is a priority.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset at 52 FPS is the only setting that approaches 60 FPS, but it does not reach it. The Medium preset at 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS may cause noticeable stuttering in intense combat sequences. The High preset at 38 FPS and Ultra at 31 FPS are only suitable for less demanding scenarios or for players who prioritize visual quality over frame rate.

The data suggests that the Medium preset is the most consistent choice across all resolutions in terms of balancing performance and quality. The bracketing behavior of the Medium preset's min/max values indicates that it can occasionally reach the performance of Low settings and sometimes drop to the level of High settings, but its average frame rate is always higher than High and lower than Low. For the best experience, pairing 1080p with Ultra settings provides the highest visual quality while maintaining 89 FPS, while 1440p with Medium settings provides the best balance of resolution, quality, and performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and has a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, and connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451. The Geekbench multi-core score is 6257 with a single-core score of 1420. The 3DMark results show scaling from 688 in single-thread to 4748 in 16-thread tests, indicating good multi-threading efficiency. The CPU's average benchmark score of 14185 places it at the 68th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% faster), AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% faster), and Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% slower). These close margins indicate that the i5-10400F is well-positioned in its performance class. In Doom, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data showing consistent GPU-bound behavior.

At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 148 FPS, which is likely close to the CPU's maximum frame rate capability given the game's engine. The fact that no settings tier at 1080p exceeds 148 FPS suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently up to this point. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 12 threads provide sufficient processing power for Doom's game logic and physics, which are not extremely demanding compared to modern titles.

The CPU's 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate for this game, and the dual-channel DDR4 support ensures that memory access does not become a bottleneck. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz provides strong single-thread performance, which is important for games that rely on a primary render thread. However, the data shows that even with this capable CPU, the GTX 1660 Ti limits performance at higher resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint in this configuration.