Doom

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a thoroughly playable Doom experience across all tested settings and resolutions. The data shows that this combination is well-balanced for this title, though the optimal preset depends heavily on your display's resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p and 1440p gaming, the High preset is the clear sweet spot, offering high average frame rates without the performance cost of Ultra. At 4K, the Medium preset provides the best balance of visual fidelity and smooth gameplay, as the High preset dips below the 60 FPS threshold that most players target for a fast-paced FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance scaling across the four presets. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 190 FPS, which is only 35 FPS behind Ultra’s 155 FPS but a substantial 68 FPS ahead of Medium’s 225 FPS. This makes High the most efficient choice for high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, as the visual uplift from High to Ultra is rarely worth a 22% frame rate reduction in a game that already runs far beyond the refresh rate of most displays. The Low preset at 258 FPS is only relevant for competitive play at extremely high refresh rates, but the visual degradation is severe.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset maintains a strong 123 FPS average, which is ideal for 144Hz monitors. The Medium preset’s 145 FPS is tempting, but the gap to High (22 FPS) is smaller than the gap from High to Ultra (23 FPS), suggesting that High is the better trade-off between image quality and speed. The Ultra preset at 100 FPS is still smooth, but it sacrifices 23 FPS compared to High, which may not be justified on a typical 1440p panel. The Low preset at 167 FPS offers no practical advantage over High for most users, as both exceed the refresh rate of common 1440p displays.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset averages 67 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset, with an average of 79 FPS and a minimum of 67 FPS, is the safest choice for 4K, providing a buffer above the 60 FPS target while still looking noticeably better than Low. The Ultra preset at 54 FPS drops below the 60 FPS threshold, making it unsuitable for a smooth experience on a standard 60Hz 4K monitor. The Low preset at 90 FPS is the only option that comfortably clears 60 FPS at 4K, but its visual compromises are significant.

The data indicates that the Medium preset at 4K offers the best experience per the measured rows, as it is the only 4K setting that combines a playable average (79 FPS) with a minimum frame rate (67 FPS) that does not dip below 60. For 1080p and 1440p, the High preset is the recommended default, as it provides excellent frame rates without the diminishing returns of Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Doom, as evidenced by the sharp FPS drops when moving from 1080p to 4K. The GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for this 2016 title even at 4K High settings, as the measured 67 FPS average indicates. The GPU’s boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz, combined with 5888 shading units, deliver the raw compute necessary to maintain high frame rates in this fast-paced shooter.

The RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM does not appear to be a bottleneck in Doom, as the game’s texture requirements are modest by modern standards. The data shows that frame rates scale consistently with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher settings. At 1080p High, the GPU produces 190 FPS, but at 4K High, this drops to 67 FPS, a 65% reduction. This steep scaling is typical for a game that relies heavily on pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth, both of which are directly tied to the GPU’s architecture.

The GPU’s 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 317.4 GTexel/s texture rate are more than adequate for Doom’s rendering requirements. The card’s 96 ROPs and 184 TMUs ensure that texture-heavy scenes and post-processing effects do not cause frame rate hitches. The measured minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (124 FPS) and 1080p Medium (191 FPS) show that the GPU maintains consistent frame pacing, which is crucial for a game where fast movement and quick reactions are paramount.

Benchmark results place the RTX 3070 in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, scores 17083, a 0.7% delta, indicating that the RTX 3070 is marginally faster in synthetic tests. However, in Doom, the RTX 3070’s real-world performance is what matters, and the measured data shows it is more than capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with acceptable performance at 4K on lower presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F plays a supporting role in Doom, as the game is primarily GPU-bound at most settings and resolutions. The CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz and base clock of 2.50 GHz, provide ample processing power to feed the RTX 3070. The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game’s physics and AI calculations.

The CPU’s benchmark scores confirm its strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 22604 in multi-core and 3191 in single-core, while in Geekbench, it scores 11068 multi-core and 1996 single-core. These results place the i5-13400F in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25292. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, scores 25284, a 0% delta, showing that the i5-13400F is essentially on par with a higher-tier mobile chip in synthetic tests.

In Doom, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings, where the GPU is less stressed and the CPU must work harder to maintain high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the CPU helps push the frame rate to 258 FPS, which is a 36% increase over the 1080p High preset’s 190 FPS. This indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as it can keep up with the GPU’s output even at very high frame rates. The 3dmark single-thread score of 960 and the passmark single-thread score of 3634 suggest that the CPU’s per-core performance is strong enough to avoid bottlenecks in this game.

The CPU’s 65W TDP and Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, provide efficient performance that does not throttle under sustained gaming loads. The data does not show any frame rate anomalies that would suggest CPU-related stutters or drops, even at the highest frame rates. This confirms that the i5-13400F is a well-matched partner for the RTX 3070 in Doom, providing enough headroom to ensure the GPU is the primary performance driver.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1596 out of 3712 tested combos for Doom. This places the combo in the 57th percentile of all tested configurations, indicating that it performs above average but is not at the top tier. Given that this pairing is a mid-range CPU with a mid-to-high-range GPU, this ranking is expected and reflects a balanced system that offers strong performance without the premium cost of flagship components.

The combo’s ranking suggests that there are many faster configurations, likely featuring higher-end CPUs and GPUs, but also that this pairing outperforms a significant portion of the tested combos. The 1080p High preset’s 190 FPS average and 1440p High’s 123 FPS average are competitive with systems that cost considerably more. The 4K performance, while not exceptional, is still playable on Medium settings, which confirms the RTX 3070’s capabilities.

The rank of 1596 out of 3712 indicates that while this combo is not at the bleeding edge, it is far from a weak configuration. For a 1080p or 1440p gaming setup, this pairing offers a level of performance that will satisfy most players. The data shows that the combo’s performance is consistent across all settings, with no major drops that would indicate a mismatch between the CPU and GPU. This is a well-balanced system that delivers a smooth experience in Doom, even if it does not top the charts.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data clearly illustrates how performance scales with resolution for this combo. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 190. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 123 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 67 FPS, a further 46% reduction from 1440p. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the GPU’s workload.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is steeper than the scaling from 1440p to 4K in percentage terms, which is typical for many games. The 67 FPS drop from 1080p High to 1440p High represents a 35% decrease, while the 56 FPS drop from 1440p High to 4K High represents a 46% decrease. This suggests that the GPU is becoming increasingly saturated at higher resolutions, with the 4K High preset pushing the RTX 3070 to its limits.

The data also shows that the CPU’s influence diminishes as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 258 FPS, but at 4K Low, it drops to 90 FPS. This 65% reduction is similar to the reduction seen at High settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at all resolutions. The fact that the frame rate drops consistently across all presets when moving to 4K confirms that the RTX 3070 is the bottleneck, not the i5-13400F.

The minimum FPS values, where available, provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 191 FPS, while at 1440p Medium, it is 124 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it is 67 FPS. These minimums show that the combo maintains smooth frame pacing even when the GPU is heavily loaded, with no sudden drops that would cause stuttering. This is a positive indicator for the overall gaming experience, as consistent frame times are more important than raw average FPS in a fast-paced game like Doom.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 4K offers the best experience, with an average of 79 FPS and a minimum of 67 FPS. This is the only 4K setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS while providing a minimum frame rate that does not dip below that threshold. The High preset’s 67 FPS average is too close to the 60 FPS minimum, while Ultra drops to 54 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p at 144Hz?

A: Yes, the High preset at 1440p averages 123 FPS, which is close to the 144Hz refresh rate. The Medium preset at 145 FPS is even closer, but the visual quality difference may not justify the 22 FPS gain. Low at 167 FPS exceeds 144Hz, but the visual compromises are severe.

Q: How much does the CPU affect performance in Doom?

A: The CPU’s impact is minimal in most scenarios, as the game is heavily GPU-bound. At 1080p Low, the CPU helps achieve 258 FPS, but the GPU is still the limiting factor at higher settings. The i5-13400F’s strong single-threaded performance ensures it does not bottleneck the RTX 3070.

Q: Is the RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM enough for Doom?

A: Yes, the 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient for Doom, as the game’s textures are not demanding by modern standards. The data shows consistent performance across all settings, with no signs of VRAM-related stuttering or texture pop-in.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1596 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the 57th percentile. It is not a top-tier configuration, but it significantly outperforms many lower-end pairings. The RTX 3070’s average benchmark score of 17208 places it just 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT.

Q: What is the performance difference between Ultra and High presets?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 155 FPS compared to High’s 190 FPS, a 23% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra averages 100 FPS versus High’s 123 FPS, a 19% reduction. At 4K, Ultra averages 54 FPS versus High’s 67 FPS, a 19% reduction. The visual uplift from High to Ultra is marginal, making High the recommended setting.