Doom

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 sits at rank 773 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database. This position reflects a system that delivers consistently high frame rates across most settings, though it is not at the very top of the performance hierarchy. The combo's percentile placement is reinforced by the individual components: the CPU ranks in the 73rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits in the 72nd percentile among all graphics cards. These are closely matched component tiers, which suggests a balanced pairing without a severe bottleneck in either direction.

In terms of direct rival comparisons, the i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14168 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7552 at 14115, a delta of just 0.4% in favor of the Intel part. It also edges out the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C by 0.8% and the Intel Core i5-8500 by 1.1%, though these margins are negligible in real-world gaming. The GPU side shows similar tight clustering: the RTX 3070's average score of 28238 is 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, 1.0% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, and 0.6% behind the AMD FirePro S7150. These deltas are all within a single percentage point, meaning the 3070 sits in a crowded performance band.

For Doom specifically, the combo's rank of 773 out of 1681 indicates that while many higher-end configurations exist, this pairing still delivers playable-to-excellent performance across all tested resolutions and presets. The data shows no configuration in the measured set falls below 52 frames per second, which is a critical threshold for a fast-paced FPS. The ranking is likely held back by the CPU's single-thread performance in the 3DMark suite, where it scores 688 in the single-thread test, but the game's engine appears to scale well with the available six cores and twelve threads.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how each preset behaves across the three resolutions. For 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 257.6 FPS, which is the highest average in the entire dataset. This is 29.7 FPS ahead of Medium at 227.9, and a full 100.4 FPS ahead of Ultra at 157.2. Even at Ultra, the frame rate remains well above 144 Hz, making this resolution suitable for high-refresh monitors with maximum visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. Low produces 167.5 FPS, Medium drops to 146.8, High comes in at 125.5, and Ultra falls to 99.3. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 68.2 FPS, which is proportionally similar to 1080p but with lower absolute values. For 1440p displays, High appears to be the sweet spot, as it maintains above 120 FPS while offering significantly better visual fidelity than Low or Medium. The Ultra preset still clears 90 FPS, so it remains viable for 60 Hz panels.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the most significant scaling challenges. At 4K, Low averages 91.6 FPS, Medium drops to 76.4, High falls to 70.2, and Ultra bottoms out at 52.4. The difference between Low and Ultra is 39.2 FPS, which is the largest absolute spread across any resolution. For 4K gaming, the recommendation is to use High settings, which maintains an average above 70 FPS while preserving a reasonable level of detail. Medium is also acceptable at 76.4 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs only 6.2 FPS, making High the better visual investment. Ultra at 4K is only suitable for players who prioritize image quality over smoothness, as 52.4 FPS will feel less fluid in combat scenarios.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 at High settings delivers 125.5 FPS, which balances visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, even Ultra achieves 157.2 FPS, so 1080p is ideal for high-refresh monitors, while 4K at High remains playable at 70.2 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High across resolutions?

A: At 1080p, Ultra is 34.6 FPS slower than High. At 1440p, the gap widens to 26.2 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra is 17.8 FPS slower than High. The relative cost of Ultra increases as resolution drops, making High the more efficient choice at lower resolutions.

Q: Is the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Doom?

A: The measured results show no VRAM-related failures at any resolution or preset. The GPU maintains playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra at 52.4 FPS, indicating that 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is adequate for this game's requirements.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RX 6600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 0.9% higher than the RX 6600 XT. In Doom-specific data, the 3070 delivers frame rates that are consistently above 90 FPS at 1440p High, which suggests a comfortable margin over the competitor in practice.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 227.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This is 29.7 FPS below Low (257.6) but 70.7 FPS above Ultra (157.2), making Medium a strong choice for high-refresh 1080p displays.

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

A: The CPU's single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and multi-thread score of 4748 suggest it is capable for gaming. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU becoming the primary limiter at higher resolutions, with 1080p results indicating the CPU handles the game's engine efficiently.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the highest resolution tested, the combo delivers an average of 70.2 FPS on High settings. Dropping to Medium yields 76.4 FPS, while Low pushes up to 91.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing only 52.4 FPS. The spread of 39.2 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates that 4K is where the RTX 3070's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are most heavily taxed. Interestingly, High is only 6.2 FPS below Medium, suggesting that the visual quality improvements at High come at a relatively modest performance cost compared to the jump from High to Ultra, which costs 17.8 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope expands considerably. Low settings achieve 167.5 FPS, Medium reaches 146.8, High hits 125.5, and Ultra falls to 99.3. The gap between Low and Ultra is 68.2 FPS, which is proportionally larger than at 4K. This indicates that at 1440p, the GPU has more headroom, but the CPU's six cores and twelve threads begin to play a larger role in frame delivery. The 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at these frame rates, as evidenced by the linear scaling between presets.

At 1920x1080, the results are exceptional across the board. Low produces 257.6 FPS, Medium 227.9, High 191.8, and Ultra 157.2. Even the lowest-performing preset at this resolution (Ultra) exceeds the highest-performing preset at 1440p (Low at 167.5 FPS) by a significant margin. The 1080p results show that this combo is capable of driving high-refresh monitors at 240 Hz with Medium settings, and even Ultra stays above the 144 Hz threshold. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 100.4 FPS, the largest absolute difference in the dataset, which underscores how resolution limits the GPU's ability to exploit lower presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 plays the dominant role in this combo's Doom performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), which is sufficient for the game's textures and geometry at 4K, as shown by the playable 70.2 FPS at High settings. The GA104 chip contains 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, with a boost clock of 1725 MHz enabling a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s.

The GPU's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a key factor in the frame rates observed. At 4K, the 52.4 FPS at Ultra indicates that the compute load is significant, but the GPU still manages to keep the game playable. The 184 tensor cores and 46 RT cores are present for advanced features, though Doom's measured data does not specifically isolate ray tracing effects. The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all graphics cards aligns with its performance in this game, where it consistently outpaces the nearest rivals like the RX 6600 XT by 0.9% and the GTX 980 Ti by 1.0% in synthetic benchmarks.

The 220 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface are adequate for the workload, though the game's engine appears to scale more with GPU compute than memory bandwidth at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU's capabilities are underutilized, as evidenced by the 257.6 FPS at Low settings, which likely approaches the CPU's limit. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with the frame rate dropping to 52.4 FPS at Ultra. This behavior confirms that the RTX 3070 is best paired with a 1440p display for balanced performance, where it delivers between 99.3 and 167.5 FPS depending on preset.