Doom

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 delivers playable performance in Doom, but only at 1080p and with settings compromises. The data indicates this combo is firmly at the bottom of the tested hardware pool, ranking 1621st out of 1681 combinations. While the game runs, it does so with significant limitations that scale poorly with resolution and graphical fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance that degrades sharply as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 94.3 FPS, which drops to 58.5 FPS at 1440p and 31.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, showing that the GTX 1650's pixel-pushing capabilities are the primary limiting factor.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At Ultra, the 1080p result of 55.6 FPS falls to 36.1 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop) and then to 20.3 FPS at 4K (a 63% drop from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the GPU's 4 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become overwhelmed at higher resolutions, particularly when texture quality demands increase.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios. The i5-9400's six cores and six threads provide sufficient processing power to feed the GPU at 1080p, where the frame rates are highest. However, at 4K, the GPU's 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 53.28 GPixel/s pixel rate simply cannot keep up with the render load, making the GTX 1650 the definitive limiting component across all settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but not at playable frame rates. The best 4K result is 31.8 FPS at Low settings, and Ultra drops to 20.3 FPS. These figures fall well below the smoothness threshold expected by most players.

Q: What is the best resolution for this setup?

A: The data clearly favors 1080p, where even High settings produce 70.8 FPS. At 1440p, only Low settings exceed 55 FPS, and 4K never reaches 32 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where the combo consistently delivers fluid motion.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 8713 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, 0.4% slower) and the AMD Radeon 550X (8749, 0.4% slower). It also sits close to the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671, 0.5% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8761, 0.5% slower).

Q: Is the CPU holding back performance?

A: No, the evidence points to the GPU as the constraint. The i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz are sufficient for this title, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution—a sign of GPU limitation rather than CPU bottlenecking.

Q: What settings should be avoided?

A: Ultra settings should be avoided at all resolutions. At 1080p it drops to 55.6 FPS, at 1440p to 36.1 FPS, and at 4K to 20.3 FPS. These represent the worst measured results and offer no benefit given the hardware's constraints.

Q: How does the CPU rank among all tested processors?

A: The i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile across all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, 0.2% slower) and the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319, 0.6% faster).

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Low settings as the only consistent choice for maintaining high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 94.3 FPS, which is the highest score recorded across any resolution or setting. This provides a comfortable margin for the fast-paced action of Doom, where frame drops can be disorienting.

Medium settings offer a viable alternative at 1080p, producing 78.5 FPS. This represents a 17% drop from Low but may provide slightly better visual fidelity. However, at 1440p Medium falls to 49.4 FPS, which is borderline for a shooter. High settings at 1080p yield 70.8 FPS, still playable, but the gains over Medium are marginal given the performance cost.

Ultra settings are not recommended under any circumstances. The best Ultra result is 55.6 FPS at 1080p, and this drops to 36.1 FPS at 1440p and 20.3 FPS at 4K. The data shows no scenario where Ultra delivers acceptable performance, making it a poor trade-off for this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the full range of settings produces a spread from 55.6 to 94.3 FPS. Low leads at 94.3 FPS, followed by Medium at 78.5 FPS, High at 70.8 FPS, and Ultra at 55.6 FPS. This represents a 41% difference between the lowest and highest settings, giving players a meaningful choice between visual quality and frame rate.

At 1440p, the results compress significantly. Low achieves 58.5 FPS, Medium drops to 49.4 FPS, High to 45.1 FPS, and Ultra to 36.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is now 38%, but the absolute values are lower, with only Low clearing the 60 FPS threshold.

At 4K, all settings fall below playable thresholds. Low produces 31.8 FPS, Medium 29.3 FPS, High 22.3 FPS, and Ultra 20.3 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 36%, but the overall experience is uniformly poor, indicating the GPU is completely saturated at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1621st out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 4% of all configurations. This low ranking is consistent with the hardware's individual performance profiles: the CPU sits at the 50th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 43rd percentile among all GPUs. The combination of mid-range CPU with entry-level GPU produces results that are worse than either component would suggest individually.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 8713 places it just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, 0.4% difference) and in line with the AMD Radeon 550X (8749, 0.4% difference). This tight grouping suggests the GTX 1650 is operating at the very bottom of the modern GPU hierarchy, and Doom's demanding nature amplifies this weakness.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides a solid foundation with 6 cores and 6 threads, base clock of 2.90 GHz, and boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its 9 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for feeding a GPU of this class. The CPU scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1125 in single-core, representing a 50th percentile ranking across all CPUs.

In Doom, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU's limitations. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a pattern typical of GPU-bound workloads, where the CPU has spare capacity but the render pipeline is saturated. The i5-9400's nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% slower) and Intel Core i7-8809G (0.6% faster), show that this CPU is competitive within its class, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's constraints.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the decisive factor in this combo's performance. With 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 128.1 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU is clearly entry-level by modern standards. Its 896 shading units and 32 ROPs provide a theoretical pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s, figures that struggle with Doom's demands at higher resolutions.

The GPU's 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 5.967 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1) place it at the 43rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile, scores only 0.4% higher in average benchmarks, indicating the GTX 1650 is near the floor of current GPU performance. The 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors suggest this is a power-efficient but low-throughput design, and the measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in every configuration tested.