Doom

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B580 delivers a highly playable experience in Doom across most modern resolutions, with the data indicating a clear performance hierarchy tied to both resolution scaling and graphics preset. At 1920x1080, the combination achieves an average of 134.1 FPS on High settings and 112.6 FPS on Ultra, showcasing strong headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rate remains robust at 87.5 FPS on High and 74.5 FPS on Ultra, while the demanding 3840x2160 resolution sees a significant drop, with Ultra averaging just 37.6 FPS. The measured results place this combo at rank 1303 out of 1681 tested combinations, indicating that while it is not at the top tier, it occupies a solid mid-range position for this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 with the Intel Arc B580 produces an average of 112.6 FPS at 1920x1080 on Ultra settings. This is a substantial 24.8% improvement over the 1440p Ultra result of 74.5 FPS, demonstrating the game's scaling with resolution.

Q: How does the Low preset at 1440p compare to the High preset at 4K?

A: At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the combo achieves 118.4 FPS average, which is 166% higher than the 44.6 FPS average seen at 3840x2160 with High settings. The data shows that resolution has a more profound impact on performance than the preset shift from Low to High.

Q: Which preset delivers the highest frame rate at 3840x2160?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average frame rate at 4K, reaching 65.8 FPS. This is the only preset at this resolution that breaks the 60 FPS threshold, as Medium averages 55.7 FPS, High averages 44.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 37.6 FPS.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of the Intel Arc B580 among all GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has a percentile rank of 66 among all GPUs, meaning it performs better than 66% of the database's tested graphics cards. Its average benchmark score is 23021.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a high-end processor according to benchmarks?

A: No, the i5-9400 has a percentile rank of 50 among all CPUs, placing it exactly at the median. Its average benchmark score is 2305, which is within 0.6% of the Intel Core i7-8809G's score of 2319.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between High and Ultra settings at 1920x1080?

A: At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 134.1 FPS, while Ultra averages 112.6 FPS. This represents a 19.1% performance cost for enabling the Ultra preset over High.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate for this combo in Doom. For players targeting the smoothest experience on high-refresh-rate monitors at 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average at 185.7 FPS, but the Medium preset offers a more balanced compromise at 159 FPS. The High preset at 1080p, averaging 134.1 FPS, remains well above the 100 FPS mark and provides significantly better visuals than Medium for only a 15.7% reduction in average frame rate. Given the substantial jump in fidelity typically associated with High over Medium, the data suggests High is the optimal preset for 1080p gaming, as it maintains an average well above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance curve tightens. The Low preset achieves 118.4 FPS, but High still delivers a very playable 87.5 FPS average, which is suitable for 60Hz and entry-level 144Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 74.5 FPS, which remains acceptable but represents a 14.9% decrease from High. For 1440p, the High preset is the recommended choice, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium (105.8 FPS) while retaining a frame rate that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, with a 17.3% performance penalty compared to Medium.

The 3840x2160 resolution tells a different story. Here, even the High preset struggles to maintain a smooth experience, averaging only 44.6 FPS. The Medium preset at 55.7 FPS is borderline playable, but the Low preset is the only option that crosses the 60 FPS threshold, averaging 65.8 FPS. For 4K gaming, the data strongly indicates that users should select the Low preset to achieve a consistently fluid experience, as the visual quality difference between Low and Medium is less critical than the 15.4% frame rate improvement. The Ultra preset at 4K, with an average of 37.6 FPS, is not recommended for competitive or action-oriented play.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the primary driver of the frame rate differences observed across resolutions in Doom. Its memory configuration of 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus yields a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s, which is sufficient to feed the GPU at high resolutions without becoming a bottleneck in this title. The GPU's clock speeds are fixed at a base and boost of 2670 MHz, and it features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, which are the key metrics for handling the fast-paced geometry and effects in Doom.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU scales predictably with resolution, dropping from an average of 134.1 FPS at 1080p High to 87.5 FPS at 1440p High, and further to 44.6 FPS at 4K High. This represents a 34.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 49% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The GPU's benchmark scores support its mid-range positioning; it sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 23021 places it just 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, which scores 23181. The Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 27.34 TFLOPS of FP16 compute provide ample raw processing power for this 2016 title, which is not overly demanding on modern hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B580 achieves a rank of 1303 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the lower-mid range of the database. This ranking reflects that while the GPU is capable, the overall system performance is limited by the six-core, six-thread processor. The combo's rank is notably below the top quartile, but it is far from the bottom, indicating that the system is capable of delivering playable frame rates in most scenarios.

The ranking in Doom is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance headroom. The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 is significantly higher than its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 760M, which scores 22999 and is only 0.1% behind. However, the CPU's average benchmark score of 2305 is only 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134, which scores 2295. This suggests that in CPU-bound scenarios, the i5-9400 may hold back the GPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 185.7 FPS average, which is likely near the CPU's limit for frame generation, while the GPU could potentially push higher if paired with a stronger processor. The rank of 1303 out of 1681 indicates that there are many faster combinations, but the system still outperforms 22.5% of all tested configs in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, operates at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its architecture is Coffee Lake, built on a 14 nm process, and it features a shared L3 cache of 9 MB. For a fast-paced FPS like Doom, the CPU's single-core performance is critical for maintaining high frame rates, and the boost clock of 4.10 GHz helps in this regard. The processor's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125 and multi-core score of 7969 indicate adequate performance for gaming workloads.

In this combo, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS is 185.7, which is a 56.8% increase over the 118.4 FPS at 2560x1440 Low. This scaling suggests that at 1080p, the frame rate is approaching the CPU's limit, as the GPU has more headroom to render frames quickly. The i5-9400's 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support are sufficient for the game's data streaming needs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2305 is 0.2% higher than both the Intel Core i3-10305 and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, which score 2300 and 2299 respectively. The processor's 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is a mainstream part that, while not top-tier, provides enough single-threaded throughput to avoid severe bottlenecks in most gaming scenarios, though the data shows it can cap frame rates in less demanding scenes.