Doom

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a dominant 1080p experience in Doom, but the performance curve reveals a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The data shows a significant scaling pattern: moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings drops the average frame rate from 210.5 FPS to 135.6 FPS, a reduction of 74.9 frames per second. This gap narrows further at 4K, where Ultra settings produce 76 FPS. The frame rate differences across resolutions are substantial, indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the limiting factor as pixel count increases, while the i5-10400F provides ample headroom at lower resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the scaling from Low to Ultra settings shows a relatively modest performance penalty. Low settings yield 263.7 FPS, while Ultra settings reduce that to 210.5 FPS, a drop of 53.2 frames per second. This suggests that even at the most demanding preset, the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to maintain a high frame rate. However, the picture changes at 3840x2160, where the gap between Low (120 FPS) and Ultra (76 FPS) widens to 44 frames per second. The 4K results are consistently lower across all presets, confirming that the GPU's rendering workload becomes the dominant constraint, with the CPU's role diminishing as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 396th out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 23.5% of all configurations. The GPU is the primary driver of this ranking, as the RTX 4070 SUPER sits in the 84th percentile of all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 42576. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, scores 42653, showing a negligible delta of -0.2%, meaning the 4070 SUPER is essentially performance-equivalent to that workstation card in synthetic tests. The AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE is also close, with a score of 42723 and a delta of -0.3%, placing the 4070 SUPER in a tight competitive cluster.

The CPU side of the equation is less impressive. The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7552, scores 14115 with a delta of 0.4%, making the Intel chip marginally faster. The Intel Core i5-8500 trails by 1.1% with a score of 14332, while the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C is 0.8% ahead at 14277. These small deltas indicate that the i5-10400F is a mid-pack performer in synthetic CPU tests, but the measured FPS data shows it is more than sufficient for Doom, as the 4K Ultra result of 76 FPS remains playable.

The combination's rank suggests that while the GPU is a strong contributor, the CPU does not bottleneck the experience in most scenarios. Benchmark results indicate that the pairing is well-balanced for this title, as the 4K Low result of 120 FPS demonstrates that even at high pixel counts, the system can exceed standard refresh rates. The rank of 396 out of 1681 reflects a configuration that outperforms the majority of tested combos, driven primarily by the GPU's strong showing.

Settings Recommendations

For the best measured experience, the data supports using High settings at 2560x1440 as the optimal balance. At this resolution, High settings produce 167.5 FPS, which is 31.9 frames higher than Ultra at the same resolution (135.6 FPS). The visual quality difference between High and Ultra is often minimal in fast-paced shooters, and the additional 31.9 FPS provides a smoother experience without a proportional visual gain. The 4K High result of 92.4 FPS is also respectable, but the 1440p High setting offers a more comfortable margin above 144 Hz displays.

At 1920x1080, the Medium preset at 254.3 FPS is the recommended choice for competitive play. It sits only 9.4 frames below Low settings (263.7 FPS) but offers better visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1080p still delivers 210.5 FPS, which is playable, but the drop of 43.8 frames from Medium to Ultra is not justified on a 144 Hz monitor. For 4K, the Medium setting at 107.2 FPS is the sweet spot, as it stays above 100 FPS while Ultra drops to 76 FPS, a significant 31.2-frame penalty.

The data shows that Low settings are only marginally faster than Medium at 1080p (9.4 FPS difference), making Low a poor trade-off for visual quality. The same pattern holds at 1440p, where Low (227.4 FPS) is only 27.4 frames faster than Medium (200 FPS). The recommendation is clear: choose Medium or High depending on resolution, as the performance gains from dropping to Low are minimal compared to the visual degradation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates are consistently high across all presets. Low settings average 263.7 FPS, Medium averages 254.3 FPS, High averages 241.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 210.5 FPS. The difference between the fastest and slowest presets is 53.2 frames per second, indicating a well-optimized engine that scales predictably with graphical load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers remain strong but show a clear step down. Low settings deliver 227.4 FPS, Medium produces 200 FPS, High reaches 167.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 135.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 91.8 frames per second, more than double the 1080p spread, highlighting the GPU's increasing workload at higher pixel counts.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve flattens at lower levels. Low settings average 120 FPS, Medium averages 107.2 FPS, High averages 92.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 76 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 44 frames per second, narrower than at 1440p, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a ceiling where all presets are limited by raw pixel throughput. The 4K Low result of 120 FPS is notable, as it matches the 1080p Ultra result of 210.5 FPS only in relative terms, showing a 90.5-frame drop when resolution increases fourfold.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 144 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 200 FPS, which is well above 144 FPS. Even High at 1440p hits 167.5 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 144 FPS, with the highest being Low at 120 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, Low settings hit 263.7 FPS, which is a high ceiling. The i5-10400F has a single-thread benchmark score of 688 in 3dmark and 1453 in cinebench r23, suggesting it can keep up with the GPU at this resolution.

Q: How much performance is lost between High and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the drop from 241.6 to 210.5 FPS represents a 31.1-frame loss. At 1440p, the drop is from 167.5 to 135.6 FPS, a 31.9-frame loss. At 4K, the drop is from 92.4 to 76 FPS, a 16.4-frame loss.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: The 4K Ultra preset averages 76 FPS, which is playable. The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, and the measured results show no indication of VRAM limitations at any setting.

Q: How does this combo compare to the average tested configuration?

A: The combo ranks 396th out of 1681 tested, putting it in the top 23.5%. The GPU is in the 84th percentile while the CPU is in the 73rd percentile, showing the GPU is the stronger component.

Q: What is the impact of lowering resolution from 4K to 1440p?

A: At Ultra settings, the jump from 76 FPS at 4K to 135.6 FPS at 1440p is a 59.6-frame improvement. At Low settings, the jump is from 120 to 227.4 FPS, a 107.4-frame improvement.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process, has a 12 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The CPU's benchmark results show a single-thread score of 688 in 3dmark and 1453 in cinebench r23, which are moderate numbers. The multi-thread scores are more substantial, with cinebench r23 multicore reaching 10297 and passmark multithread scoring 12115.

In Doom, the CPU's role becomes less critical as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (263.7 FPS) and Ultra (210.5 FPS) is 53.2 frames, which is a 20.2% reduction. This indicates that the CPU can still influence frame rates at lower resolutions, as the GPU is not fully saturated. However, at 4K, the difference between Low (120 FPS) and Ultra (76 FPS) is 44 frames, a 36.7% reduction, showing that the GPU is now the bottleneck. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Doom's engine, which is not heavily multi-threaded, as evidenced by the fact that the 3dmark 2-thread score of 1350 is close to the 4-thread score of 2560, suggesting diminishing returns beyond 4 threads.

The 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface are adequate for this pairing. The CPU's percentile rank of 73rd places it above average, but its nearest rivals show it is not a standout performer. The data indicates that this CPU is a capable partner for the RTX 4070 SUPER, providing enough single-thread performance to avoid bottlenecking at typical gaming resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, with a boost clock of 2475 MHz and 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is substantial, and the GPU's 7168 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 80 ROPs provide ample raw compute power. The GPU's FP32 performance of 35.48 TFLOPS is a key indicator of its capabilities. It also has 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores, though these are not directly relevant to Doom's rendering.

The GPU's benchmark results show a 3dmark steel nomad dx12 score of 4627 and a passmark g3d score of 29995. Its percentile rank of 84th places it in the upper echelon of GPUs, with nearest rivals like the RTX A6000 and RX 7650 GRE within a 0.3% delta. The measured FPS data confirms this strength: at 1080p, the GPU pushes past 240 FPS on High settings and exceeds 260 FPS on Low. At 4K, it maintains playable frame rates above 76 FPS even on Ultra.

The GPU's 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for Doom at all tested settings, as the game's 2016 release date means it does not require excessive memory. The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this class of GPU. The launch MSRP is 599 USD. The GPU's role is clearly to handle the rendering workload, and the data shows it does so effectively, with the 4K Low result of 120 FPS being particularly impressive given the pixel count. The RTX 4070 SUPER is the reason this combo ranks in the top 23.5% of tested configurations.