Doom

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The data indicates a system well-balanced for high-refresh-rate gaming at mainstream resolutions, though 4K Ultra settings will test its limits.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High settings preset, the average frame rate drops from 178 FPS at 1080p to 115 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 63 FPS. Moving to 4K, the average falls further to 62 FPS, representing a 116 FPS drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline—roughly halving performance with each step up in resolution—strongly indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 7700 is the bottleneck, as the workload on the GPU scales directly with pixel count.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 241 at 1080p to 156 at 1440p, then to 85 at 4K. The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 210 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset follows the same trend with 145 FPS, 94 FPS, and 51 FPS respectively. The fact that the relative performance drop between resolutions is nearly identical across all settings suggests that the limiting component is not the CPU's ability to process game logic, but rather the GPU's pixel throughput.

At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all presets, with even the most demanding Ultra setting achieving 145 FPS. This suggests that at this resolution, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately, and the system is likely balanced or even slightly GPU-limited. The jump from 1080p to 1440p produces a significant FPS reduction, but the 1440p results remain highly playable, with even Ultra settings maintaining an average above 90 FPS. The 4K results, however, show a more dramatic falloff, with the High preset just barely clearing 60 FPS and the Ultra preset dipping to 51 FPS, indicating that this combination is not ideally suited for 4K gaming at maximum quality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded capabilities, scoring 22,604 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 7,314 in 3DMark 16-thread tests. Single-thread performance is also respectable, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,191 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 960.

In Doom, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU, given that the FPS drops are so heavily correlated with resolution changes. The game's engine, released in 2016, is not particularly demanding on modern multi-core processors, and the 13400F's 16 threads provide ample headroom. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 5,591 and max-thread score of 7,307 indicate that the processor can handle substantial parallel workloads, but Doom's performance scaling suggests it does not require such extensive threading at the tested settings.

The processor's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L1 and L2 caches (80 KB and 1.25 MB respectively) provide sufficient memory hierarchy for game data. The 13400F's boost clock of 4.60 GHz is likely the more relevant metric for Doom, as the game's frame pacing at high FPS is often dependent on single-core speed. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,880 and 4-thread score of 3,459 suggest that the processor can handle the lighter thread counts that older game engines typically utilize. However, the fact that FPS scales so predictably with resolution indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration, as a CPU bottleneck would typically manifest as inconsistent scaling or a hard cap on maximum FPS regardless of resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip on a 5 nm process. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1900 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. Its compute capabilities include 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units, delivering a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s.

In Doom, the GPU's role is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops at higher resolutions. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for any of the tested settings, even at 4K Ultra, where the game's texture memory requirements are unlikely to exceed this amount. The memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s provides ample headroom for the game's data transfer needs. The GPU's boost clock of 2459 MHz is the key frequency metric, as it determines the actual sustained performance during gameplay.

The GPU's benchmark scores support its strong gaming performance. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2,865, and in Passmark G3D, it achieves 20,974. The DirectX 12 benchmark score of 96 in Passmark is notably lower, but this may reflect a specific test scenario rather than overall gaming capability. The GPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (with a delta of -1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (delta of -1.7%), placing the RX 7700 in a competitive mid-range segment.

The pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s are the specifications most directly relevant to Doom's rendering workload. As resolution increases, the demand on the pixel rate grows proportionally, explaining the observed FPS scaling. At 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, particularly at Ultra settings where the additional visual effects increase the per-pixel workload.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 holds a combo rank of 1,314 out of 2,930 tested combinations. This places it in the 55th percentile of all combos, indicating that it performs better than a slight majority of tested systems. The rank is derived from all measured FPS data across resolutions and settings, providing a holistic view of the combo's gaming capability.

The combo's rank reflects its balanced nature. The CPU, which sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs based on its average benchmark score of 25,292, is paired with a GPU that falls in the 58th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 15,852. The CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU, but in Doom, the GPU's influence on the final FPS is more significant, as shown by the resolution scaling analysis. This creates a slight imbalance where the CPU has more headroom than the GPU is able to use at higher resolutions.

Compared to its nearest rival combos, this pairing is competitive. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (delta of 0%), the Intel Core 5 120 (delta of -0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (delta of 0.4%), all of which have nearly identical average CPU scores. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X (delta of -0.1%) and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (delta of -1%), indicating that the GPU's performance is closely matched with other mid-range options. The combo rank of 1,314 suggests that while this system is capable, there are many other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in Doom, likely those with more powerful GPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 241 FPS. The Medium preset reaches 210 FPS, High reaches 178 FPS, and Ultra reaches 145 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to the 1080p Ultra performance?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 51, which is 94 FPS lower than the 1080p Ultra average of 145 FPS. This represents a 64.8% reduction in performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1440p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 156 at Low settings to 94 at Ultra, with the scaling pattern matching the GPU's pixel throughput demands rather than a CPU limitation.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for the Medium preset?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS is 179 at 1920x1080, 116 at 2560x1440, and 63 at 3840x2160. The maximum FPS for this preset is 242 at 1080p and 156 at 1440p, with the 4K maximum not being recorded.

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

A: This combo is ranked 1,314 out of 2,930 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle range of all tested systems.

Q: Does the game support high refresh rates at 1440p?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440, the combo achieves an average of 115 FPS on High settings and 136 FPS on Medium settings, both of which are above the typical 144Hz refresh rate threshold. Even Ultra settings maintain an average of 94 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance, with average FPS ranging from 145 at Ultra to 241 at Low. The Medium preset achieves 210 FPS average, with a minimum of 179 and a maximum of 242, showing consistent frame delivery. The High preset records 178 FPS average, with the Low preset at 241 FPS. The Ultra preset, while the lowest of the group, still maintains a high average of 145 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected drop from 1080p. The Low preset achieves an average of 156 FPS, while the Medium preset records 136 FPS average, with a minimum of 116 and a maximum of 156. The High preset averages 115 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 94 FPS. All 1440p results remain above 90 FPS, making this resolution highly playable across all settings.

The 3840x2160 results show the most significant performance degradation. The Low preset averages 85 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset averages 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 85. The High preset averages 62 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target and may result in noticeable stuttering during intense scenes. The data shows a consistent pattern of approximately 50% FPS reduction when moving from 1080p to 4K, and approximately 35% reduction when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's target resolution and refresh rate. For 1920x1080 displays with high refresh rates (144Hz or above), the Ultra preset at 145 FPS average is the best choice, as it provides the highest visual quality while still maintaining frame rates well above the refresh rate threshold. Users with 240Hz displays may prefer the High preset at 178 FPS, which sacrifices some visual fidelity for a significant FPS increase. The Medium preset at 210 FPS is also viable for extreme refresh rate displays, though the visual quality reduction from High to Medium is more noticeable than the FPS gain.

For 2560x1440 displays, the High preset at 115 FPS average is the recommended starting point, as it balances visual quality with smooth gameplay. Users with 144Hz displays will find this setting ideal, as the average FPS is close to the refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 94 FPS is also a strong option for those prioritizing visual quality, and it remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. The Medium preset at 136 FPS is suitable for users with 165Hz or higher refresh rate displays, providing a substantial FPS boost over High with a moderate reduction in visual quality. The Low preset at 156 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized over visuals.

For 3840x2160 displays, the data suggests that the High preset at 62 FPS is the maximum viable option, as it just clears the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 74 FPS provides a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS and is recommended for users who experience frame drops in intense scenes. The Low preset at 85 FPS is the best option for maintaining high frame rates at 4K, though the visual quality reduction is significant. The Ultra preset at 51 FPS is not recommended for 4K gaming, as the average frame rate falls below the smoothness threshold and may result in noticeable stuttering. Users with 4K displays should prioritize the Medium or High presets to maintain consistent performance.