Doom

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers an exceptional gaming experience in Doom, with the data showing that the graphics card is the primary performance driver at higher resolutions, while the processor becomes a noticeable bottleneck only at 1080p. The combo ranks in the 89.8th percentile (379th out of 3712 tested combinations), placing it firmly among the top-tier setups for this title. Across all measured settings and resolutions, the average frame rates never dip below 85 FPS, confirming that this pairing is more than capable of handling the game’s demanding Vulkan-based engine with substantial headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: performance scales almost linearly with pixel count, but the rate of scaling varies significantly depending on the graphics preset. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 241 FPS at 1920x1080 to 156 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 35.3%. Moving further to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 85 FPS, representing a 64.7% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4080 is fully engaged at higher resolutions, with the GPU’s compute and memory bandwidth (716.8 GB/s) becoming the limiting factor.

The Low preset tells a different story. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 312 FPS, but this only drops to 260 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 16.7% reduction) and 141 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 54.8% reduction). The relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests that the CPU is beginning to constrain performance at lower resolutions, as the i5-11400F’s 6 cores and 12 threads struggle to feed the GPU enough frames. The larger jump to 4K at Low settings re-engages the GPU bottleneck, showing that the graphics card is still the dominant factor at that resolution.

The Medium preset offers the most balanced scaling. The average FPS goes from 297 at 1080p to 226 at 1440p (a 23.9% drop) and then to 123 at 4K (a 58.6% drop from 1080p). The measured minimum and maximum frame rates at Medium settings are particularly telling: at 4K, the min is 104 FPS and max is 141 FPS, while at 1440p the range is 192 to 260 FPS. These tight ranges indicate consistent frame pacing without significant stutters, which is a hallmark of a well-matched CPU-GPU pair when the GPU is the bottleneck.

At High settings, the scaling is similar to Ultra but with higher absolute numbers. The average FPS drops from 280 at 1080p to 191 at 1440p (a 31.8% reduction) and then to 104 at 4K (a 62.9% reduction). The fact that High and Ultra show nearly identical percentage drops from 1080p to 4K (62.9% vs 64.7%) suggests that the rendering workload is scaling consistently with pixel count, and the RTX 4080’s 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the primary constraint.

The data indicates that the CPU bottleneck is most pronounced at 1080p with Low settings, where the 312 FPS result is only 4.8% higher than the 297 FPS at Medium. This narrow gap implies that the i5-11400F’s 2.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock are nearing their limits for frame generation in this scenario. However, the combo still delivers over 300 FPS in this configuration, so the bottleneck is more of a theoretical observation than a practical limitation.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this combo. At this setting, the average FPS of 226 is 45.7% higher than the Ultra preset’s 156 FPS, while the minimum frame rate of 192 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even in intense combat sequences. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 35 FPS (a 15.5% reduction), which is a meaningful trade-off for what is likely a modest visual improvement in Doom’s fast-paced action.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers 312 FPS, but the data shows that this setting does not fully utilize the RTX 4080’s capabilities. The difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is only 15 FPS (a 4.8% gap), which suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor and that the extra visual quality from Medium comes at almost no performance cost. Therefore, Medium at 1080p is the better choice for competitive play, as it provides 297 FPS with better image quality.

At 3840x2160, the High preset is the recommended sweet spot, delivering 104 FPS on average. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the 19 FPS difference to Ultra (85 FPS) is not worth the visual degradation that comes with the lower preset. The Medium preset at 4K offers 123 FPS, which is 18.3% higher than High, but the visual quality reduction may be noticeable on a 4K display. For those with high-refresh-rate 4K monitors, the Medium preset at 123 FPS is a viable alternative, as the minimum frame rate of 104 FPS still provides a consistent experience.

The Ultra preset is only recommended for players with 1440p or lower resolution displays who prioritize maximum visual fidelity over frame rate. At 2560x1440, Ultra delivers 156 FPS, which is still well above the refresh rate of most monitors. At 1920x1080, Ultra achieves 241 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display. However, at 4K, the 85 FPS average at Ultra makes it the least desirable option, as the performance dip is significant relative to High and Medium.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo in Doom?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 312, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. However, the Medium preset at the same resolution delivers 297 FPS, which is nearly identical and offers better visual quality.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 or the i5-11400F the primary bottleneck in this game?

A: The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K resolution, where frame rates drop by 54.8% to 64.7% depending on the preset. At 1080p with Low settings, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the small 4.8% difference between Low and Medium presets.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 85 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. The minimum frame rate for this configuration is not explicitly listed, but the average is high enough to indicate consistent performance.

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

A: The combo ranks 379th out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 10.2% of all tested systems. This high percentile indicates that the pairing is well-suited for Doom’s performance demands.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 191 FPS, while Ultra averages 156 FPS. This represents a 35 FPS difference, or a 18.3% reduction in performance when moving from High to Ultra.

Q: Are the minimum frame rates consistent with the average FPS across resolutions?

A: The data provides minimum frame rates only for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the min is 253 FPS with an average of 297 FPS, at 1440p the min is 192 FPS with an average of 226 FPS, and at 4K the min is 104 FPS with an average of 123 FPS. The minimums are consistently about 15% to 18% below the averages, indicating stable frame pacing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest performance across all presets. The Low setting produces an average of 312 FPS, while Medium follows closely at 297 FPS with a measured range of 253 to 342 FPS. High settings achieve 280 FPS, and Ultra drops to 241 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 71 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference among all resolutions, reinforcing the CPU bottleneck at this resolution. The 4.8% gap between Low and Medium is notably smaller than the 6.1% gap between Medium and High, and the 16.2% gap between High and Ultra, suggesting diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy shifts. The Low preset averages 260 FPS, Medium delivers 226 FPS with a range of 192 to 260 FPS, High achieves 191 FPS, and Ultra drops to 156 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is now 13.1%, which is larger than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more involved. The gap between Medium and High is 15.5%, and between High and Ultra it is 18.3%, showing a consistent pattern of increasing performance costs at higher settings. The minimum frame rate at Medium (192 FPS) is higher than the average FPS at Ultra (156 FPS), which demonstrates that the Medium preset provides a more consistent experience than the maximum settings.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4080 is clearly the limiting factor. The Low preset averages 141 FPS, Medium delivers 123 FPS with a range of 104 to 141 FPS, High achieves 104 FPS, and Ultra drops to 85 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 12.8%, while the gap between Medium and High is 15.5%, and between High and Ultra it is 18.3%. These percentage drops are nearly identical to those at 1440p, confirming that the GPU is consistently the bottleneck at 4K. The minimum frame rate at Medium (104 FPS) is equal to the average FPS at High, which highlights how much performance is sacrificed when pushing to higher presets.

The data across all resolutions shows a clear pattern: the RTX 4080’s performance scales predictably with resolution, while the i5-11400F’s contribution becomes more significant at lower resolutions and settings. The Medium preset consistently offers the best balance of average FPS and minimum frame rate stability, making it the most reliable choice across all three resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 379 out of 3712 tested combinations places it in the 89.8th percentile of all systems tested in Doom. This is a strong result, indicating that the pairing of the i5-11400F with the RTX 4080 is well-optimized for this game’s engine. The RTX 4080’s individual benchmark percentile of 86 (vs all GPUs) is slightly lower than the combo’s overall percentile, which suggests that the CPU is not dragging down the system’s performance in this title.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 17,177 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7H12, which scores 17,120 (a 0.3% difference). The i5-11400F also sits within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G and 0.4% of the Intel Core i5-12450H. This tight clustering indicates that the CPU’s performance in general benchmarks is competitive with its peers, but the specific demands of Doom may favor certain architectural traits.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 54,247 is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER (54,209) and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54,828). This places the RTX 4080 at the very top of its performance tier, with the nearest rivals being within 2.7% of its score. The combo’s rank in Doom is likely driven by the GPU’s dominant performance, as the game is known for being GPU-intensive at higher resolutions.

Given that the combo outperforms 89.8% of all tested systems, it is safe to conclude that this pairing is excellent for Doom. The rank is particularly impressive considering that the CPU is a mid-range 11th-gen part, while the GPU is a high-end 40-series card. The data suggests that the system is well-balanced for this game, with neither component significantly limiting the other’s potential.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the CPU’s benchmark results show solid performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 14,340 in multi-core and 2,024 in single-core, while in Geekbench it achieves 7,737 multi-core and 1,777 single-core. The 3DMark scores range from 868 in single-thread to 5,652 in max-threads, indicating that the CPU scales well with additional threads.

The CPU’s cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. This 12 MB L3 cache is shared across all 6 cores, which can be beneficial for games that rely on frequent data access. The memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s (dual-channel DDR4) is a potential bottleneck in CPU-intensive scenarios, but the measured FPS data suggests that it is not significantly limiting in Doom.

The CPU’s role in Doom becomes apparent when comparing the frame rates across presets at 1080p. The fact that the Low preset only achieves 312 FPS, while the Medium preset achieves 297 FPS, indicates that the CPU is not capable of feeding the RTX 4080 with substantially more frames even at the lowest settings. The 4.8% difference between these presets is the smallest among all resolutions, which is a clear sign of CPU limitation. However, the CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates, as evidenced by the 241 FPS at Ultra settings and 280 FPS at High settings.

The CPU’s 71st percentile ranking against all CPUs (based on average benchmark score of 17,177) positions it as a solid mid-range performer. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher score) and the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower score), which are both comparable in overall performance. The single-thread performance, as measured by 3DMark (868) and Cinebench R20 (850), is adequate for gaming, but it is not exceptional. The boost clock of 4.40 GHz helps in single-threaded scenarios, but the 14 nm process means the CPU runs at a higher thermal envelope (65 W TDP) compared to newer, more efficient designs.

In the context of Doom, the CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid major bottlenecks at resolutions above 1080p. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, and the CPU’s role is reduced to maintaining a consistent frame delivery. The data shows that the combo can achieve 260 FPS at 1440p Low and 191 FPS at 1440p High, which indicates that the CPU is not holding back the GPU at these settings. The CPU’s performance is adequate for this game, but the narrow gap between Low and Medium at 1080p highlights that it is the limiting component when the GPU is not fully utilized.