Doom

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 delivers a highly capable 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, but the data clearly shows that 4K Ultra is beyond its comfortable reach. Benchmark results indicate this combo ranks in the 40th percentile overall, placing it at position 1766 out of 2930 tested combinations, which is a solid mid-pack result for a mainstream pairing. The most striking finding is the scaling curve: performance drops by roughly 60% when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, which points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. For gamers targeting high refresh rates, the 1080p and 1440p results are excellent, while 4K demands settings compromises to maintain playable frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo achieves 122 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Ultra drops this to 79 FPS, a reduction of 43 FPS or approximately 35%. The jump to 4K Ultra yields 43 FPS average, which is 79 FPS lower than the 1080p result—a decline of nearly 65%. This steep drop-off indicates that the RTX 5050's rendering capabilities are being saturated as pixel count increases, while the CPU has ample headroom to keep up.

The scaling behavior is even more pronounced at lower settings. At Low settings, 1080p produces 202 FPS, while 1440p yields 131 FPS, and 4K drops to 71 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K Low is 131 FPS, a 65% reduction that mirrors the Ultra scaling trend. This consistency across settings suggests that the resolution scaling is driven primarily by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth constraints rather than any bottleneck shifting between components.

At Medium settings, the pattern holds with 1080p at 176 FPS, 1440p at 114 FPS, and 4K at 62 FPS. The High settings tier shows 1080p at 149 FPS, 1440p at 96 FPS, and 4K at 52 FPS. The relative drops from 1080p to 4K are remarkably uniform across all four settings tiers, ranging from 65% at Low to 65% at Ultra. This uniformity strongly indicates that the limiting component at 4K is the GPU, as CPU-bound scenarios would typically show less dramatic scaling with resolution changes.

The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combination. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 96 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while 1440p Ultra at 79 FPS still provides a comfortable margin. The 4K results, however, show that only Low settings (71 FPS) and Medium settings (62 FPS) maintain playable frame rates, with High at 52 FPS and Ultra at 43 FPS falling below ideal smoothness thresholds.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050's specifications directly explain the observed performance ceiling. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the GPU provides 320.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This bandwidth figure is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where the higher pixel count demands more memory throughput. The GPU's clock speeds are listed at a base of 2317 MHz and a boost of 2572 MHz, which are relatively high for a mainstream card and contribute to its strong 1080p performance.

The RTX 5050's compute capabilities are defined by 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for the observed frame rates. The FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS places this card in a competitive position, but the 4K results show that this compute power is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at Ultra settings in Doom, which is a demanding title at launch.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide additional context. The PassMark G3D score of 17326 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 indicate a mid-range GPU. The percentile ranking of 66 against all GPUs means this card outperforms two-thirds of the tested graphics cards, which is respectable but not top-tier. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 90334 and Vulkan score of 89381 show consistent performance across different compute APIs.

The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database highlight the competitive landscape. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21153, which is 0.6% higher than the RTX 5050's 21035 average. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21237, 1% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20713, which is 1.6% lower. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21379, 1.6% higher. These tight margins indicate that the RTX 5050 sits in a highly competitive performance band where small clock differences can shift rankings.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Doom at all tested settings and resolutions, as the game's texture requirements are manageable at this capacity. The memory clock of 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed provides the bandwidth needed for the observed 4K Medium performance of 62 FPS, but the drop to 43 FPS at Ultra suggests that bandwidth limitations become more pronounced as texture quality increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides a robust foundation for this gaming combo. With 6 cores and 12 threads, this Rocket Lake processor offers enough parallelism for Doom's engine, which is known to scale well with multiple cores. The base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz deliver strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates when GPU load is moderate. The 12 MB shared L3 cache provides adequate data locality for game assets.

The CPU's benchmark results confirm its capability. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14340 and single-core score of 2024 indicate a processor that can handle both multithreaded workloads and latency-sensitive tasks. The Geekbench multicore score of 7737 and single-core score of 1777 further validate this performance profile. The PassMark multithread score of 16908 and single-thread score of 2981 show consistent performance across different testing methodologies.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 71 against all CPUs means it outperforms 71% of tested processors, which is a strong result for a mainstream desktop chip. The average benchmark score of 17177 places it in a competitive position. The nearest rivals show tight competition: the AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 17120 (0.3% lower), the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17239 (0.4% higher), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17278 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17074 (0.6% lower).

In Doom specifically, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 202 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to reach this high level. The fact that 1080p Ultra drops to 122 FPS indicates that the GPU is still the primary limiter even at this resolution, as the CPU has headroom to push higher frame rates if the GPU could render them. The 1080p Medium result of 176 FPS and High result of 149 FPS further support this interpretation.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is adequate for Doom's workload. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the RTX 5050, which uses a PCIe 5.0 x8 connection. This ensures that data transfer between the CPU and GPU does not become a bottleneck in the tested scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1766 out of 2930 tested combinations places this system in the 40th percentile overall. This ranking reflects a mid-pack position that is competitive for mainstream gaming builds. The data indicates that while this combo cannot compete with high-end systems for 4K Ultra gaming, it delivers strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, which are the most common gaming resolutions.

The ranking suggests that this pairing is well-balanced for its intended use case. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking and GPU's 66th percentile ranking combine to produce a system that performs better than 40% of all tested combos. This indicates that neither component is severely holding back the other, creating a harmonious pairing that maximizes the value of each component's capabilities.

When considering the performance tiers, this combo sits in a range where it can handle esports titles and older AAA games at high refresh rates, but newer demanding titles may require settings adjustments at higher resolutions. The Doom results specifically show that this combo excels at 1080p and 1440p, with all settings tiers at these resolutions producing playable frame rates. The 4K results are the only area where performance falls below ideal thresholds, and even then, Medium settings maintain 62 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p Results: The combo delivers its best performance at this resolution. Low settings produce 202 FPS average, Medium delivers 176 FPS with a minimum of 150 FPS and maximum of 203 FPS, High achieves 149 FPS, and Ultra reaches 122 FPS. All of these results are well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the High and Ultra settings provide excellent experiences for competitive and immersive play.

1440p Results: Performance remains strong at this resolution. Low settings yield 131 FPS, Medium produces 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS, High achieves 96 FPS, and Ultra delivers 79 FPS. These results show that 1440p is a viable resolution for this combo, with even Ultra settings maintaining frame rates above 75 FPS.

4K Results: Performance drops significantly at this resolution. Low settings produce 71 FPS, Medium delivers 62 FPS with a minimum of 52 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS, High achieves 52 FPS, and Ultra reaches 43 FPS. The Medium settings result is the only one that maintains a playable frame rate, while High and Ultra fall below the 60 FPS threshold. Low settings at 71 FPS provide the best 4K experience.

The data shows a consistent pattern across all settings: the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is approximately 80 FPS at 1080p (202 to 122), 52 FPS at 1440p (131 to 79), and 28 FPS at 4K (71 to 43). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as settings changes have less impact when the GPU is already saturated with pixel rendering.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom?

A: The data shows 1440p is the optimal balance, with High settings achieving 96 FPS and Ultra delivering 79 FPS. Both provide smooth gameplay while offering significantly better visual fidelity than 1080p.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but with limitations. Medium settings produce 62 FPS average, which is playable, while Low settings reach 71 FPS. High and Ultra at 4K fall below 60 FPS, so they are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 is within 1.6% of its closest competitors. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 1.6% lower, while the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 0.6% higher, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 1.6% higher.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The 1080p Low result of 202 FPS suggests the CPU can push frames very high, but the drop to 122 FPS at Ultra indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase. The CPU has headroom beyond what the GPU can render.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p High settings?

A: The measured data shows 149 FPS average at 1080p High settings. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience suitable for competitive play.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1766 out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the 40th percentile. This is a solid mid-pack result, indicating that it outperforms 40% of all tested system configurations.