Doom

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers an exceptionally strong showing in Doom, with the measured frame rates indicating that this combination is capable of maxing out high-refresh-rate monitors at 1440p and even providing a smooth 4K experience at high settings. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and presets, where the GPU's raw power is the dominant factor, though the CPU's six-core configuration keeps pace without becoming a bottleneck at the tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for Doom reveals a clear tiering of performance across its four available presets. At 1080p, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation for users prioritizing visual fidelity, as it still achieves an average of 212 FPS, which is more than sufficient for competitive play and well beyond the refresh rate of most standard monitors. The gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is only 15.8 FPS (227.8 vs 212), making the jump to maximum settings a relatively inexpensive performance trade-off for the visual gain.

However, the calculus shifts at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the High preset delivers 168.4 FPS, while Ultra drops to 137.8 FPS. The 30.6 FPS difference is more substantial, yet 137.8 FPS remains comfortably above the 120Hz threshold, making Ultra still viable for high-refresh 1440p panels. The Medium preset at 199.7 FPS offers a middle ground for those who want to push toward 200 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely not worth it when High already exceeds 160 FPS.

At 4K, the recommendation becomes more nuanced. The High preset at 90 FPS is the sweet spot, providing a console-beating experience that is smooth on a 90Hz display and perfectly playable on a 60Hz panel. Medium at 107 FPS is arguably better for 100Hz+ displays, but the jump to Ultra at 72 FPS is risky for anything above a 60Hz monitor. The Low preset at 124.9 FPS is only recommended for esports-style play at 4K where frame rate trumps all visual considerations. For the best overall experience, High at 1080p or 1440p offers the optimal blend of frame rate and image quality, with Ultra being a justifiable upgrade at those resolutions for those with capable displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the clear performance driver in this configuration, and the data confirms its position in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than ample for Doom's texture-heavy environments, as evidenced by the minimal frame rate penalties when moving from Low to High settings at 1080p (256.3 to 227.8 FPS). The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 7168 shading units, ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the card maintains a 72 FPS average.

The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, has a near-identical average benchmark score (42653 vs 42576, a delta of -0.2%), yet in Doom the 4070 SUPER's gaming-focused design shines. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor; the frame rate ceiling is more likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by the modest 12.5% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p (256.3 to 212 FPS). This suggests that while the GPU has headroom, the i5-9400's 6-core/6-thread configuration begins to cap performance at lower resolutions. At 4K, however, the GPU's workload increases dramatically, and the 4070 SUPER's 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance becomes the primary determinant, with the CPU fading into the background.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies in this system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 256.3 at 1080p to 216.5 at 1440p (a 15.5% reduction) and further to 124.9 at 4K (a 51.3% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline at 4K indicates that the GPU is being fully utilized, as the i5-9400 remains capable of feeding the graphics card with enough data at these lower settings. The pattern holds across all presets, with the 4K Ultra score of 72 FPS representing a 66.0% drop from the 212 FPS at 1080p.

The delta between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, 1440p produces 168.4 FPS, while 4K produces 90 FPS—a 46.6% reduction. This is a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the pixel count increases by 2.25x but the frame rate only drops by less than half, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading power are scaling efficiently with the increased load. In contrast, the drop from 1080p to 1440p at High (227.8 to 168.4 FPS, a 26.1% reduction) is less severe, but still points to the GPU as the primary limiter. The data strongly suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the component that determines performance in Doom, with the i5-9400 only potentially capping frame rates at the very high end of 1080p Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers exceptional performance across all presets. The Low preset achieves 256.3 FPS, Medium hits 244.3 FPS, High reaches 227.8 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 212 FPS. The spread of 44.3 FPS between the lowest and highest presets shows that even at maximum settings, the system is delivering well over 200 FPS, making this resolution ideal for 240Hz displays, though the i5-9400's 4.10 GHz boost clock may be near its limit here.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable. Low produces 216.5 FPS, Medium 199.7 FPS, High 168.4 FPS, and Ultra 137.8 FPS. The 78.7 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is more pronounced than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's shading units are now more heavily taxed. The 137.8 FPS Ultra result is still excellent for 1440p gaming, comfortably exceeding 120Hz refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the performance is surprisingly robust for a 4K resolution. Low yields 124.9 FPS, Medium 107 FPS, High 90 FPS, and Ultra 72 FPS. The 52.9 FPS drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is the largest of any resolution, confirming that the RTX 4070 SUPER's 80 ROPs and 224 TMUs are working at their limit when pushing 8.3 million pixels. The 90 FPS High result is the standout figure, proving that this older game engine (released in 2016) still scales beautifully with modern Ada Lovelace hardware.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 SUPER in Doom?

A: The data suggests minimal CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the CPU achieves 256.3 FPS, which is high but lower than what the GPU could theoretically produce. However, at 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiter, as shown by the consistent frame rate drops across all presets, indicating the i5-9400's 6 cores are sufficient for this title.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p 144Hz monitor?

A: The Ultra preset at 137.8 FPS is the best choice, as it exceeds the 144Hz refresh rate by a small margin. High at 168.4 FPS provides more headroom, but Ultra offers the best visual quality without dropping below the 120Hz threshold.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, at High settings the average FPS is 90, which is smooth for a 60Hz or 90Hz display. The Medium preset at 107 FPS is even better for 100Hz+ monitors, while Ultra at 72 FPS is only recommended for 60Hz panels.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rival, the RTX A6000, in terms of overall performance?

A: In aggregate benchmarks, the RTX 4070 SUPER scores 42576, which is 0.2% below the RTX A6000's 42653. This near-identical average score indicates that their raw compute capabilities are similar, though the 4070 SUPER is optimized for consumer gaming workloads like Doom.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is 44.3 FPS, with Low at 256.3 FPS and Ultra at 212 FPS. This represents a 17.3% performance drop for the highest visual settings, which is a reasonable trade-off for most players.

Q: Does the CPU's benchmark score correlate with in-game performance?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, placing it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scoring 2300 (0.2% higher). While this mid-range score suggests adequate processing power, the in-game data shows that the GPU dominates performance at resolutions above 1080p, making the CPU's percentile less relevant at 1440p and 4K.