Doom

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers exceptional performance in Doom, ranking in the top 11% of all tested combinations (rank 312 out of 2930). This pairing demonstrates that a mid-range 10th-generation processor can still drive a flagship GPU to very high frame rates in a well-optimized title like Doom. The data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p and 1440p, the system consistently exceeds 180 FPS across all settings, while even at 4K Ultra it maintains a playable 102 FPS average. The following sections break down how to configure this combo, what role each component plays, and what the measured numbers actually mean for your experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the Ultra preset is the best experience for most users, but the choice depends heavily on your display’s refresh rate and resolution. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 222 FPS average, which is only 44 FPS below the Low preset’s 266 FPS. Given that most 1080p monitors top out at 144Hz or 240Hz, the Ultra preset at 222 FPS still saturates a 240Hz display, and the visual quality gains from Ultra are substantial. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset produces 189 FPS average, which is again sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming; the High preset at 207 FPS and Medium at 219 FPS offer diminishing returns in visual fidelity for a modest FPS increase. For 4K (3840x2160), the situation changes: Ultra drops to 102 FPS, which is below the 120Hz threshold many high-end 4K monitors target. At 4K, the High preset at 125 FPS is the sweet spot, delivering a noticeable improvement over Ultra while staying above 120 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K (148 FPS) is also viable if you prefer smoother motion over the High preset’s better shadows and textures.

The Low preset is rarely worth using on this hardware. At 1080p Low, the system hits 266 FPS, but that extra 44 FPS over Ultra is unlikely to be visible on any consumer display, and the visual downgrade is severe. At 1440p Low (230 FPS) and 4K Low (170 FPS), the same logic applies—you are sacrificing image quality for frame rates that exceed what most monitors can display. The Medium preset, which has the only recorded minimum FPS data, shows consistency: at 4K Medium, the average is 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 FPS, and at 1440p Medium, the average is 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 FPS. This indicates that Medium provides a stable frame time experience, but given the headroom at 1080p and 1440p, Ultra is the recommended default. For 4K, choose High to balance visual quality and the 120Hz target. If you have a 144Hz 4K display, High is the only preset that consistently stays above that refresh rate in the measured data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and the measured FPS data reflects its massive computational headroom. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. In Doom, this memory configuration is overkill—the game was released in 2016 and its texture requirements are modest by modern standards—but the bandwidth ensures that even at 4K Ultra, there are no memory-related stutters. The GPU’s 21760 shading units and 176 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, which explains why the card can push 102 FPS at 4K Ultra. The boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, allows the card to brute-force Doom’s rendering pipeline without breaking a sweat.

The 5090 D’s role becomes clearer when comparing resolution scaling. At 1080p High, the system hits 239 FPS, but at 1440p High it only drops to 207 FPS—a modest 13% reduction despite a 78% increase in pixel count. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is likely limiting performance, as the GPU has headroom to spare. At 4K High, the average drops to 125 FPS, which is a 48% reduction from 1440p High, showing that the GPU finally becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K. The GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712, places it in the top tier, though the nearest rivals list shows it is only 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT and 1.6% behind the RX 6850M XT in synthetic tests. In real-world Doom performance, however, the 5090 D’s 32 GB VRAM and high bandwidth ensure that no setting combination will exceed its memory capacity, making it a future-proof choice even if Doom’s sequel or mods increase texture demands.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 312th out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the 89.4th percentile of all CPU-GPU pairings tested on this benchmark database. This is a strong result, but not surprising given the high-end GPU paired with a mid-range CPU. The ranking indicates that this combination outperforms the vast majority of systems, yet the CPU likely holds it back from the very top tier. For comparison, the i5-10400F alone sits in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 5090 D sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The combo’s rank being between these two percentiles suggests that the GPU’s performance is partially constrained by the CPU in lower-resolution scenarios.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the i5-10400F’s average benchmark score of 14185 is within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C and 0.5% of the AMD EPYC 7552, indicating that the processor is a balanced mid-range performer. The GPU’s nearest rivals, on the other hand, show a tighter cluster: the 5090 D is only 1.1% ahead of the RX 6650M XT and 2.4% behind the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB in synthetic averages. This suggests that in purely GPU-bound scenarios, the 5090 D performs similarly to those alternatives, but in Doom specifically, the 32 GB VRAM and Blackwell architecture give it an edge in frame pacing. The combo rank of 312 out of 2930 means that about 89% of tested systems are slower, but the top 11% likely pair the 5090 D with newer, higher-core-count CPUs that avoid the CPU bottleneck seen at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates, with all presets exceeding 220 FPS. The Low preset averages 266 FPS, Medium averages 254 FPS with a minimum of 216 FPS and maximum of 292 FPS, High averages 239 FPS, and Ultra averages 222 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 44 FPS, which is relatively small in percentage terms (16.5%), indicating that the GPU has enough headroom to absorb the extra rendering work of Ultra settings. The Medium preset’s recorded minimum of 216 FPS suggests that even in demanding scenes, the system stays well above 200 FPS, making 1080p gaming on a 240Hz monitor a effortless experience.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high. The Low preset averages 230 FPS, Medium averages 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 FPS and maximum of 252 FPS, High averages 207 FPS, and Ultra averages 189 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is linear but modest: for example, High drops from 239 FPS to 207 FPS, a 13.4% reduction. This indicates that the CPU is still contributing to performance at 1440p, as a pure GPU-bound scenario would show a larger drop. The Ultra preset at 189 FPS is still above the 144Hz refresh rate common on 1440p monitors, so maxing out settings here is entirely viable.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, and the FPS numbers reflect that. The Low preset averages 170 FPS, Medium averages 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 FPS and maximum of 170 FPS, High averages 125 FPS, and Ultra averages 102 FPS. The drop from 1440p High (207 FPS) to 4K High (125 FPS) is a 39.6% reduction, which aligns with the 2.25x pixel count increase, showing that the GPU is now fully utilized. The Medium preset’s minimum of 126 FPS indicates that even at 4K, the system rarely dips below 120 FPS, making it a strong choice for high-refresh-rate 4K displays. The Ultra preset at 102 FPS is playable but will not saturate a 120Hz display, so High is the recommended 4K preset.

FAQ

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using at 4K?

A: The data shows 102 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which is below the 120Hz threshold that many 4K monitors target. The High preset at 125 FPS is a better choice for 4K, offering a 23 FPS improvement while still maintaining high visual quality.

Q: Can this combo handle a 240Hz 1080p monitor?

A: Yes. At 1080p, the Low preset averages 266 FPS, Medium averages 254 FPS, High averages 239 FPS, and Ultra averages 222 FPS. All presets exceed 240Hz, so you can max out settings and still saturate a 240Hz display.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The 5090 D’s average benchmark score of 77712 is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904) and 1.6% lower than the RX 6850M XT (78940). It is also 2.1% lower than the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79396) and 2.4% lower than the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79605).

Q: Does the i5-10400F bottleneck the RTX 5090 D?

A: The evidence suggests partial bottlenecking at lower resolutions. The FPS drop from 1080p High (239) to 1440p High (207) is only 13.4%, which is smaller than the 78% pixel increase, indicating CPU limitation. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as shown by the 39.6% drop from 1440p to 4K High.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The only minimum FPS values recorded are for the Medium preset: 216 FPS at 1080p, 186 FPS at 1440p, and 126 FPS at 4K. These values indicate that the Medium preset provides consistent frame times across all resolutions.

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

A: The combo ranks 312th out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the top 10.7% of all systems. This is a strong result, but the CPU’s 68th percentile ranking suggests that newer processors could push the 5090 D to even higher frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F plays a supporting role in this pairing, and the measured FPS data reveals its limitations and strengths. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. In Doom, which is a well-threaded game for its era, the 12 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU fed, but the older Comet Lake architecture (14 nm process) shows its age in lower-resolution scenarios. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as measured by Cinebench R23 single-core (1451) and Geekbench single-core (1420), is modest by 2025 standards, but Doom’s engine does not require extreme single-thread performance to maintain high frame rates.

The CPU’s role becomes evident when comparing FPS across resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the system hits 222 FPS, but at 1440p Ultra it drops to 189 FPS—a 14.9% reduction. This relatively small drop suggests that the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU’s output at 1440p, but at 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the GPU has enough headroom to render more frames if the CPU could supply them. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 14185 places it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% faster), Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% slower), AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% faster), and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% slower)—show that it is a mid-pack performer. In Doom’s measured results, the CPU’s 12 threads handle the game’s draw calls and physics without issue, as evidenced by the high minimum FPS on the Medium preset (216 FPS at 1080p). The 65W TDP and 12 MB of L3 cache are adequate for this workload, and the CPU’s memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s (dual-channel DDR4) is sufficient for Doom’s memory access patterns.

The CPU’s impact is most noticeable at 4K, where the FPS drops are more pronounced due to the GPU’s increased workload. At 4K Ultra (102 FPS), the CPU has more time per frame to process game logic, so its limitations are less apparent. This suggests that if you primarily play at 4K, the i5-10400F is an acceptable pairing with the RTX 5090 D, but if you play at 1080p or 1440p with a high-refresh-rate monitor, a newer CPU with higher single-thread performance would unlock additional frame rates. The data shows that the combo ranks 312th out of 2930, and the CPU’s 68th percentile ranking indicates that most of the systems ranked above this combo likely use faster processors. The i5-10400F’s 4.30 GHz boost clock helps mitigate its architectural disadvantages, but in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p, the 5090 D’s 104.8 TFLOPS of compute power goes partially unused. For Doom specifically, this pairing delivers excellent results across all resolutions, and the CPU does not prevent the system from achieving playable frame rates at any settings combination tested.