Doom

The Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination delivers a formidable Doom experience, with benchmark results indicating that the pairing is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p and solid 60+ FPS performance at 4K. The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across settings, with the GPU becoming the primary scaling factor as resolution increases, while the six-core Comet Lake processor provides ample headroom to keep frame rates high at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a distinct performance tier structure across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 146 FPS average, while the High preset achieves 179 FPS, Medium hits 211 FPS, and Low reaches 243 FPS. The jump from Ultra to High represents a 33 FPS improvement, which is substantial, but the most significant gains occur when moving from High to Medium, adding 32 FPS. For players with 144Hz displays, the High preset at 1080p is the optimal choice, as the 179 FPS average provides sufficient headroom above the refresh rate while maintaining visual fidelity. The Ultra preset's 146 FPS still clears 144Hz, but the margin is thinner and the visual difference between Ultra and High in Doom's fast-paced environments is often imperceptible during combat.

At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 116 FPS, which is just shy of a 120Hz display's capability but well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 137 FPS offers a better balance for high refresh rate monitors, providing 21 FPS more than High while sacrificing some shadow and texture quality. The Ultra preset at 95 FPS remains playable but drops below the 100 FPS mark, making it less ideal for competitive play. For 1440p, the Medium preset is recommended as the best experience, as it maintains a framerate comfortably above 120 FPS while still looking significantly better than Low.

At 3840x2160, the High preset achieves 63 FPS, which is essentially locked to 60Hz displays. The Medium preset at 74 FPS provides more headroom and is the recommended choice for 4K gaming, as it ensures the framerate stays above 60 FPS even during intense scenes. The Ultra preset at 51 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold and is not recommended for smooth gameplay, while the Low preset at 85 FPS offers the highest framerate but at a substantial visual cost. The data shows that Medium at 4K is the sweet spot, delivering 74 FPS average with the measured range spanning from 63 to 85 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this combination achieve 144 FPS at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: No. The measured data shows 146 FPS average at 1080p Ultra, which is above 144 FPS, so it can technically hit that target. However, the margin is only 2 FPS, meaning any demanding scene could cause drops below the threshold. The High preset at 179 FPS provides a much safer buffer.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this hardware?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers 74 FPS average, which is the highest framerate that still maintains a 60+ FPS floor (minimum measured at 63 FPS). The High preset at 63 FPS is the next option, but it has no headroom above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's core count affect performance in Doom?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 3929 and max-thread score of 4735 indicate strong multi-threaded performance, which helps maintain high framerates at 1080p where the GPU is not the bottleneck.

Q: Is the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K in Doom?

A: The measured data shows playable framerates at 4K (63-85 FPS depending on settings), indicating that the 8 GB GDDR7 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for this title at 4K Ultra settings, which achieve 51 FPS.

Q: What framerate can be expected at 1440p with High settings?

A: The benchmark results show 116 FPS average at 2560x1440 High settings. This is suitable for 60Hz and 100Hz displays, but not quite enough for a 144Hz monitor at this preset.

Q: How does the Low preset at 1080p compare to other resolutions?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 achieves 243 FPS, which is the highest measured framerate across all resolutions and settings. This is 86 FPS higher than the Low preset at 2560x1440 (157 FPS) and 158 FPS higher than Low at 3840x2160 (85 FPS).

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At the High preset, the framerate drops from 179 FPS at 1920x1080 to 116 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 63 FPS (35.2%), and then further to 63 FPS at 3840x2160, another 53 FPS drop (45.7%). This steep decline indicates that the RTX 5060 is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, requiring significantly more GPU throughput.

The Low preset shows a similar pattern: 243 FPS at 1080p drops to 157 FPS at 1440p (-86 FPS) and then to 85 FPS at 4K (-72 FPS). The percentage drops are 35.4% and 45.9% respectively, nearly identical to the High preset's scaling. This consistency across settings suggests that the resolution scaling is primarily determined by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, not by the CPU or specific rendering features.

The Medium preset demonstrates the same trend with 211 FPS at 1080p, 137 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset follows with 146 FPS, 95 FPS, and 51 FPS respectively. The fact that the relative performance gaps between resolutions remain consistent across all four presets indicates that the system is not CPU-limited at any resolution, as a CPU bottleneck would cause the framerate to plateau at higher resolutions rather than continue dropping.

This scaling behavior suggests that the 6-core, 12-thread i5-10400F is capable of feeding the RTX 5060 adequately at all tested resolutions. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451 indicate solid per-core performance for game logic, while the multi-threaded scores (3DMark max-thread 4735, Cinebench R23 multi-core 10283) provide enough headroom for background tasks. The GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are the primary factors driving the resolution scaling curve.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1640 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 55.8th percentile (calculated from rank/ofCombos). This means that roughly 44% of tested system configurations achieve higher framerates in this game, while 56% perform worse. The ranking reflects a mid-to-upper tier position, consistent with the measured framerates that deliver excellent 1080p performance and decent 4K capability.

The CPU's individual percentile of 68 (percentileVsAllCpus) indicates that the i5-10400F outperforms 68% of all tested processors in general benchmarks, with an average benchmark score of 14185. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E (avgScore 14163, deltaPct 0.2) and AMD EPYC 7552 (avgScore 14115, deltaPct 0.5), showing that the i5-10400F sits in a competitive range for general compute tasks. The GPU's percentile of 72 (percentileVsAllGpus) with an average benchmark score of 26331 places it ahead of 72% of all tested graphics cards, with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (avgScore 26011, deltaPct 1.2) as a close rival.

The combination's in-game rank of 1640 out of 3712 suggests that while both components perform well individually, the pairing in Doom yields results that are slightly below the median of tested combos. This could be attributed to the game's optimization for higher-end CPUs or the specific balance between the i5-10400F's 6 cores and the RTX 5060's capabilities. The 1080p Ultra framerate of 146 FPS is respectable but not exceptional, and the 4K Ultra framerate of 51 FPS shows that the system is not a top-tier 4K performer.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F brings 6 cores and 12 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process, provides a 12 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. The 3DMark benchmark scores show scaling from 1350 in 2-thread tests to 4735 in max-thread tests, indicating that the CPU efficiently utilizes additional threads up to its 12-thread limit.

In Doom, the CPU's role becomes more critical at lower resolutions where the GPU can render frames quickly enough to expose any processing bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 243 FPS, which requires the CPU to maintain high frame pacing. The i5-10400F's single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and 2541 in Passmark single-thread tests provide the necessary per-core performance for game logic, while the multi-threaded capabilities handle the additional tasks like audio, physics, and AI.

The measured FPS data shows that the CPU does not become a limiting factor even at the highest framerates. At 1080p Low, the 243 FPS average represents the ceiling of what this CPU can push, but it is sufficient for the RTX 5060's output at that resolution. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and Passmark multi-thread score of 12115 indicate strong overall throughput, while the Passmark physics score of 696 suggests adequate performance for game physics calculations.

The boost clock of 4.30 GHz is particularly important for Doom's frame generation, as the game's engine benefits from high single-thread performance. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1350 shows that even with just two threads active, the CPU can deliver solid performance, which is relevant for scenes with limited parallelism. The 12 MB L3 cache helps maintain data locality for the game's assets, reducing memory latency that could otherwise impact frame times.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show a clear progression across settings. The Low preset delivers 243 FPS average, which is the maximum measured framerate for this combination. The Medium preset achieves 211 FPS average, with a measured range spanning from 180 to 243 FPS. The High preset reaches 179 FPS average, while the Ultra preset drops to 146 FPS average. These numbers indicate that the system is capable of supporting high refresh rate monitors at 1080p, with even the Ultra preset clearing the 144Hz threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the framerates scale down proportionally. The Low preset achieves 157 FPS average, the Medium preset delivers 137 FPS with a range from 116 to 157 FPS, the High preset reaches 116 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 95 FPS. The 1440p results show that the High preset is the boundary for 120Hz displays, while the Medium preset provides a comfortable margin above 120 FPS. The Ultra preset's 95 FPS is still smooth for most players but falls short of high refresh rate targets.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly due to the GPU's rendering load. The Low preset achieves 85 FPS average, the Medium preset delivers 74 FPS with a range from 63 to 85 FPS, the High preset reaches 63 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 51 FPS. The 4K results show that the Medium preset is the only option that maintains a consistent 60+ FPS experience, as the High preset sits right at the 60 FPS mark and the Ultra preset falls below it. The Low preset at 85 FPS offers the best 4K performance but at a significant visual quality cost.

The data shows that the RTX 5060's 8 GB GDDR7 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for all tested configurations, as no texture-related stuttering is indicated in the measured minimum framerates. The GPU's 3840 shading units and 48 ROPs deliver the raw throughput needed for Doom's rendering, while the 120 TMUs handle texture filtering efficiently across all resolutions. The 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance provides the computational headroom for the game's lighting and particle effects, with the measured framerates reflecting the GPU's capabilities at each resolution and settings combination.