Doom

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Doom, with benchmark data showing a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions and settings. The combination achieves a combo rank of 1118 out of 3712 tested configurations, placing it in the upper third of all systems evaluated for this title. The measured frame rates reveal that this pairing is exceptionally well-balanced for the game’s engine, though the data also exposes where each component begins to influence the final output.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows that Doom scales predictably as resolution increases, but the rate of decline is notably steeper between 1440p and 4K than between 1080p and 1440p. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 218 FPS at 1920x1080 to 141 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 77 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 76 FPS, which represents a 65 FPS drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern suggests that while the RX 9070 remains capable at 4K, the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at that resolution, as the CPU has more headroom to supply frames at lower resolutions.

Examining the Low settings data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Low, the system produces 296 FPS average, while at 1440p Low it manages 192 FPS, and at 4K Low it still achieves 104 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is approximately 35%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is approximately 46%. This increasing rate of decline at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU’s rendering workload is scaling non-linearly with pixel count, which is typical for a game like Doom that relies heavily on fill rate and texture bandwidth.

The Medium settings row provides additional insight through its min and max FPS values. At 4K Medium, the system averages 90 FPS with a minimum of 77 FPS and maximum of 104 FPS. The gap between minimum and maximum is 27 FPS, which suggests some frame time variance under load. At 1440p Medium, the average is 167 FPS with a minimum of 142 FPS and maximum of 192 FPS, showing a wider 50 FPS spread. At 1080p Medium, the average climbs to 258 FPS with a minimum of 219 FPS and maximum of 296 FPS, maintaining a consistent 77 FPS spread. This data implies that the CPU is able to sustain high frame delivery at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s frame pacing becomes more variable as resolution increases.

Ultra settings tell a similar story. The 4K Ultra average is 62 FPS, which is the lowest measured figure in the entire dataset. At 1440p Ultra, the average improves to 115 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it reaches 178 FPS. The relative performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is about 35%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is about 46%, matching the pattern seen at other settings. This consistency across all four quality presets strongly suggests that the RX 9070’s compute units and memory subsystem are the bottleneck at 4K, rather than any CPU limitation.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Doom?*

A: The highest measured average is 296 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system delivers an average of 62 FPS, which is the lowest score in the measured dataset.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F holding back the RX 9070 at 1080p?

A: The data suggests not, as the system reaches 296 FPS at 1080p Low and 258 FPS at 1080p Medium, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at these settings.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce an average of 141 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 115 FPS, a difference of 26 FPS.

Q: Does the RX 9070’s 16 GB of VRAM become a limiting factor in this game?

A: No, Doom is not a VRAM-intensive title, and the measured frame rates at 4K remain above 60 FPS at all settings except Ultra, indicating that memory capacity is sufficient.

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

A: The combo ranks 1118 out of 3712 total configurations tested in Doom, placing it in the 30th percentile of all systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1118 out of 3712 tested combinations places this system in the top 30% of all configurations evaluated for Doom. This ranking is noteworthy because it indicates that the Intel Core i5-11400F, which sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs in general benchmarks, is not dragging down the overall gaming performance. The RX 9070, which holds the 69th percentile among all GPUs, appears to be the stronger contributor to this ranking.

The rank also suggests that the pairing is synergistic. The i5-11400F’s average benchmark score of 17177 places it within 0.3% of the AMD EPYC 7H12 and within 0.6% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U, according to nearest rival comparisons. Meanwhile, the RX 9070’s average benchmark score of 23877 puts it within 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z and within 1.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile. These individual component scores, when combined, produce a system that ranks higher than either component’s percentile might suggest, indicating good balance for gaming workloads.

The fact that this combo achieves 76 FPS at 4K High settings, which is a playable frame rate for most users, further justifies its rank. Many combinations with higher individual component scores may not deliver such consistent results across all resolutions. The data indicates that the i5-11400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Doom’s engine, which is known for being well-optimized, allowing the RX 9070 to operate near its full potential without CPU-induced stuttering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS data shows a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings produce the highest average at 296 FPS, followed by Medium at 258 FPS, High at 218 FPS, and Ultra at 178 FPS. The Medium setting row includes a minimum of 219 FPS and maximum of 296 FPS, indicating that even at lower quality presets, the frame delivery remains smooth. The gap between Low and Ultra is 118 FPS, which represents a 40% reduction in performance when enabling the highest quality settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease across the board. Low settings deliver 192 FPS, Medium delivers 167 FPS, High delivers 141 FPS, and Ultra delivers 115 FPS. The Medium row shows a minimum of 142 FPS and maximum of 192 FPS, which matches the Low average exactly, suggesting that the Medium preset can occasionally match the performance of Low in less demanding scenes. The delta between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 77 FPS, a 40% reduction consistent with the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings average 104 FPS, Medium averages 90 FPS, High averages 76 FPS, and Ultra averages 62 FPS. The Medium row includes a minimum of 77 FPS and maximum of 104 FPS, with the maximum matching the Low average. The gap between Low and Ultra is 42 FPS, representing a 40% reduction, which is remarkably consistent with the percentage drops seen at lower resolutions. This consistency suggests that the game’s settings scale uniformly regardless of resolution.

The minimum FPS values at Medium settings provide additional context. At 4K, the minimum of 77 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered acceptable for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, the minimum of 142 FPS ensures high-refresh-rate monitors can be utilized effectively. At 1080p, the minimum of 219 FPS means even 240 Hz displays would rarely see frame drops below their refresh rate.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using a 4 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 357 mm² containing 53,900 million transistors. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operation units, provide the compute throughput necessary for Doom’s demanding effects.

The memory subsystem is particularly relevant for this game. The RX 9070 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 2518 MHz, or 20.1 Gbps effective. For Doom, which was released in 2016 and does not require excessive memory capacity, this bandwidth is more than sufficient. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra settings, which would stress memory bandwidth, the GPU maintains 62 FPS average, indicating that the 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is not a bottleneck.

The GPU’s pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are the key specifications driving the measured FPS at higher resolutions. The 4K resolution contains approximately 8.3 million pixels, and the RX 9070 processes these at a rate that allows 104 FPS at Low settings. The FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS provides the raw compute power for the game’s rendering techniques, while the 56 ray tracing cores, though not heavily utilized in this title, add future-proofing capability.

The RX 9070’s average benchmark score of 23877 places it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z at a 0.6% higher score and the AMD Radeon RX 6800S at a 0.8% lower score. This positioning indicates that the GPU is competitive with previous-generation high-end cards, and the measured FPS in Doom confirms that it delivers strong performance in this specific workload.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that High settings at 2560x1440 provide the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average of 141 FPS. This frame rate is well above the 60 FPS standard and approaches the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors. The step up to Ultra settings at the same resolution yields 115 FPS, a 26 FPS reduction that may not justify the additional visual fidelity for most users.

For users with 4K displays, High settings at 3840x2160 deliver 76 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play. Dropping to Medium at 4K increases the average to 90 FPS, with a minimum of 77 FPS, providing a smoother experience. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 62 FPS average, is borderline for gameplay and should only be used if visual quality is prioritized over frame rate consistency.

At 1920x1080, the choice is less critical because all settings produce high frame rates. Ultra settings at 1080p average 178 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most 144 Hz monitors. Users with 240 Hz displays may prefer High settings at 218 FPS or Medium at 258 FPS to maximize frame delivery. The Low preset at 296 FPS is only necessary for extreme competitive play where every frame matters.

The data from Medium settings across all resolutions, which includes minimum FPS values, suggests that this preset offers the most consistent experience. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 219 FPS ensures no perceptible stutter. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 142 FPS keeps frame times below 7 milliseconds. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 77 FPS maintains a stable experience above the 60 FPS threshold. This consistency makes Medium the safest recommendation for users who prioritize smoothness over maximum graphical detail.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F features 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. The base clock is 2.60 GHz, which boosts to 4.40 GHz under load. These specifications, combined with a 12 MB shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core, provide sufficient processing power for Doom’s game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU’s benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for games like Doom that rely heavily on a primary rendering thread. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 indicate that the i5-11400F can handle the game’s main thread without becoming a bottleneck. The multi-threaded results, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14340 and 3DMark max-threads score of 5652, demonstrate that the 12 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and game engine threads.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 with a dual-channel bus and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for this title, as Doom does not require excessive memory throughput. The 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes ensure that the RX 9070 can communicate with the CPU at full bandwidth, though the game’s performance is unlikely to be limited by PCIe bandwidth in this scenario.

The i5-11400F’s average benchmark score of 17177 places it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD EPYC 7H12 at 0.3% higher and the Intel Core i5-12450H at 0.4% lower. This close grouping suggests that the i5-11400F is a mid-range processor that performs admirably in gaming workloads. The data from Doom confirms this, as the measured FPS at 1080p Low (296 FPS) indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far beyond what is needed for typical gameplay.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 276 mm² die size are notable for their efficiency, allowing the processor to maintain boost clocks without thermal throttling in most systems. The 4.40 GHz boost clock is achieved consistently across the benchmark suite, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024, which is competitive with newer processors. In Doom, this single-thread performance is what enables the high frame rates at lower resolutions, where the CPU’s ability to process game state updates becomes the limiting factor rather than the GPU’s rendering throughput.