Doom

# Doom — Intel Core i5-13400F + AMD Radeon RX 570

This combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 places at rank 3547 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, putting it in the bottom 5% of all system pairings. The result reflects a substantial bottleneck scenario: the CPU is capable of far more, while the GPU's age and memory configuration limit overall performance. Benchmark results indicate that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming at moderate settings, with a clear degradation in playability as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 3547 out of 3712 represents a bottom-tier result for this title, with approximately 95% of tested system combinations delivering higher average frame rates in Doom. This ranking is not surprising given the hardware profile. The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake family, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It scores 22,604 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,191 in single-core, placing it at the 77th percentile among all CPUs. This is a strong modern processor.

The AMD Radeon RX 570, conversely, is an end-of-life GPU from 2017, built on the 14nm Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture. It has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1168 MHz and boost clock of 1244 MHz. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU sits at the 74th percentile among all GPUs in average benchmark score, but its raw compute of 5.095 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards.

The delta between these components is stark. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (deltaPct 0), Intel Core 5 120 (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (deltaPct -0.3), and AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (deltaPct 0.4). The GPU's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (deltaPct -0.4), AMD Radeon R9 M295X (deltaPct 0.7), AMD Radeon RX 470 (deltaPct -0.8), and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (deltaPct 1.2). The RX 570 is roughly equivalent to the RX 470, which is a generation older, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory is the primary constraint in Doom. At 3840x2160, the GPU runs out of memory bandwidth and capacity, causing average frame rates to fall to 24 FPS at High settings. The 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for 4K texture loads, and the 32 ROPs limit pixel throughput at higher resolutions. The GPU's pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are the theoretical maxima, but real-world performance in Doom falls far short of these limits due to memory pressure.

The clock speeds of 1168 MHz base and 1244 MHz boost are modest, and the GPU's 150 W TDP suggests it was designed for mainstream 1080p gaming. In Doom, the GPU's performance scales poorly with resolution: from 1080p to 1440p, average FPS drops by roughly 35% across all settings, and from 1440p to 4K, it drops by another 45-50%. This nonlinear scaling is typical of a GPU that is memory-bandwidth limited rather than compute limited.

At 1080p Low, the GPU achieves 92 FPS, which is respectable, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 19 FPS, a 79% reduction. The 4 GB frame buffer is likely exhausted at 4K with Ultra textures, forcing the GPU to use system memory over PCIe 3.0 x16, which severely impacts frame times. The GPU's DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3 support are adequate for Doom, but the lack of any ray tracing or tensor cores means it relies entirely on traditional rasterization.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and acceptable frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 92 FPS average, which is smooth for fast-paced FPS gameplay. Medium at 1080p yields 80 FPS average with a range of 68 to 93 FPS, providing a good balance between visual quality and performance. High at 1080p drops to 68 FPS, which is still playable but closer to the threshold where input lag becomes noticeable.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves exactly 60 FPS average, which is the minimum for competitive play. Medium at 1440p drops to 52 FPS average (44-60 FPS range), which is acceptable for single-player but risky for multiplayer. High at 1440p falls to 44 FPS, which is borderline. At 3840x2160, even Low only reaches 32 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold for most users.

The data suggests that the Medium preset at 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, offering 80 FPS average with a narrow 68-93 FPS range, indicating stable frame pacing. If visual fidelity is prioritized, High at 1080p at 68 FPS is viable, but the 12 FPS drop from Medium to High is significant. For users with 1440p monitors, Low is the only fully playable option, and 4K is not recommended for any preset due to sub-35 FPS averages.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear progression: Low averages 92 FPS, Medium averages 80 FPS (min 68, max 93), High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 36 FPS, or 39%, which indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at this resolution, as the CPU would not show such a large spread between settings.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers: Low averages 60 FPS, Medium averages 52 FPS (min 44, max 60), High averages 44 FPS, and Ultra averages 36 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 24 FPS, or 40%, similar to the 1080p percentage, suggesting the GPU is consistently the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results become marginal: Low averages 32 FPS, Medium averages 28 FPS (min 24, max 32), High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is only 13 FPS, or 41%, but all values are below 35 FPS, making this resolution impractical for this combo.

Notably, the minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium settings at each resolution: 68 at 1080p, 44 at 1440p, and 24 at 4K. These minimums are close to the averages, indicating that the GPU does not experience severe frame time spikes, but the overall performance is too low for high refresh rate displays.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 60 FPS in 1080p?

A: Yes, at Low settings the average FPS is 92, and at Medium it is 80 FPS. However, High settings drop to 68 FPS, which is above 60 but not by a large margin, and Ultra falls to 56 FPS, which is below 60.

Q: Is 4K gaming feasible with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 32 at Low settings, and Ultra only reaches 19 FPS. All 4K results are below the generally accepted 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The RX 570's average benchmark score is 28,766, which is 0.4% lower than the RX 6800M, 0.7% higher than the R9 M295X, 0.8% lower than the RX 470, and 1.2% higher than the Quadro RTX 8000. This places it in a tightly contested mid-range bracket.

Q: What is the CPU's role in limiting performance?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F is not a limiting factor in Doom. With a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22,604 and a single-core score of 3,191, it is significantly faster than what the GPU can utilize. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for this title.

Q: What is the best resolution-to-settings combination for this combo?

A: The data indicates that 1920x1080 with Medium settings provides the best balance, with an average FPS of 80 and a minimum of 68. This offers a stable experience without the need to drop to Low settings.

Q: Does the GPU's 4 GB VRAM cause issues at higher resolutions?

A: Yes, particularly at 4K. The 4 GB frame buffer is likely insufficient for Ultra textures at 3840x2160, leading to average FPS of 19. Even at Low settings, the 4K result of 32 FPS suggests memory bandwidth limitations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a 20 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark scores are robust: 22,604 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 3,191 in single-core, and 11,068 in Geekbench multi-core. Its average benchmark score is 25,292, placing it at the 77th percentile of all CPUs.

In Doom, the CPU's role is underutilized. The game's engine is primarily GPU-bound at the settings tested, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when increasing resolution or graphics presets. At 1080p Low, the CPU could theoretically push higher frame rates, but the RX 570 caps performance at 92 FPS. The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by 3DMark single-thread score of 960 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 3,191, is sufficient for Doom's gameplay logic and AI.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (deltaPct 0), Intel Core 5 120 (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (deltaPct -0.3), and AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (deltaPct 0.4). These deltas are all within 0.4%, indicating that the i5-13400F performs essentially identically to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. However, none of these CPUs would meaningfully change the Doom results, as the GPU is the clear bottleneck.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 or DDR5) are standard for its class, but the memory bandwidth is not a factor in Doom at these settings. The 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes from the CPU are also irrelevant, as the GPU uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The CPU's launch MSRP of $196 positions it as a mainstream part, but pricing analysis is outside the scope of this benchmark review.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 92 at 1080p to 60 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 32 at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 80 to 52 to 28 FPS, representing 35% and 46% drops respectively. At High settings, it goes from 68 to 44 to 24 FPS (35% and 45% drops), and at Ultra, from 56 to 36 to 19 FPS (36% and 47% drops).

This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively constant across resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not scale significantly with resolution. Instead, the consistent 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and 45-47% drop from 1440p to 4K aligns with the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth limitations.

The drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe (45-47%) than from 1080p to 1440p (35%), which is typical for a GPU with 4 GB VRAM. At 4K, the frame buffer is likely exceeded, causing additional memory management overhead. The RX 570's 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for 4K texture streaming, and the 32 ROPs cannot sustain the pixel fill rate required at 3840x2160.

The 1080p to 1440p scaling of 35% is slightly better than the theoretical pixel count increase (1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p, which would imply a 44% drop if purely pixel-bound). This suggests that at 1080p, the GPU is partially limited by other factors, such as draw call processing, but at 1440p and 4K, it becomes purely pixel and memory bound. For users targeting 1440p, the Low preset is the only option that maintains 60 FPS average, while 1080p users have more headroom to increase settings without sacrificing playability.