Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers exceptional performance in Doom, with measured frame rates that consistently exceed the 60 FPS playability threshold across every resolution and preset combination tested. At 1920x1080, the combo produces an average of 300.5 FPS on Low settings, 263.5 FPS on Medium, 218.8 FPS on High, and 182.4 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages remain remarkably high: 197.7 FPS on Low, 172.2 FPS on Medium, 144.5 FPS on High, and 117.1 FPS on Ultra. Even at 3840x2160, the system sustains 102.3 FPS on Low, 92 FPS on Medium, 81.1 FPS on High, and 62.9 FPS on Ultra, with the latter being the only measured result that dips below the 100 FPS mark.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the frame rates range from a low of 182.4 FPS at Ultra to a high of 300.5 FPS at Low, representing a performance delta of 118.1 FPS between the most and least demanding presets. The Medium preset at 263.5 FPS sits 45 FPS above High's 218.8 FPS, while Ultra trails High by 36.4 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a significant additional load compared to High, likely due to enhanced post-processing or shadow effects that are not present in lower settings.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges but with reduced absolute numbers. Low settings deliver 197.7 FPS, Medium drops to 172.2 FPS, High reaches 144.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 117.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 80.6 FPS, compared to 118.1 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as resolution increases. The difference between Medium and High at this resolution is 27.7 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra is 27.4 FPS, showing a nearly linear degradation across the three higher presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope compresses further. Low settings produce 102.3 FPS, Medium 92 FPS, High 81.1 FPS, and Ultra 62.9 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 39.4 FPS, which is less than half the spread observed at 1080p. Notably, Ultra at 4K is the only measured configuration that falls below 70 FPS, though it still clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by a margin of 2.9 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 4K (18.2 FPS) is proportionally larger than the step from Medium to High (10.9 FPS), suggesting that Ultra settings at this resolution push the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth to their limits.

Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Ultra score of 182.4 FPS is 55.8% higher than the 1440p Ultra score of 117.1 FPS, which in turn is 86.2% higher than the 4K Ultra score of 62.9 FPS. This nonlinear scaling indicates that the RTX 3080's 10 GB GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly strained at higher resolutions, particularly when Ultra settings are enabled.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data indicates that the GPU is the dominant performance factor at all tested resolutions, but the CPU's contribution becomes relatively more important at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates of 300.5 FPS at Low and 263.5 FPS at Medium approach the theoretical ceiling of what the Ryzen 9 5900X can feed to the GPU, given that the CPU's 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.80 GHz boost clock across 12 cores and 24 threads provide substantial headroom. The 37 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 1080p suggests the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, but the smaller 44.1 FPS gap between Medium and High (263.5 to 218.8) hints at diminishing returns from GPU-side optimizations.

At 2560x1440, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced. The 197.7 FPS at Low drops to 172.2 FPS at Medium, a 25.5 FPS reduction, and further to 144.5 FPS at High, another 27.7 FPS reduction. The consistent ~25-28 FPS steps suggest the GPU is now handling a more uniform workload increase per preset tier. The CPU's 3DMark scores — 9075 in the 16-thread test and 10075 in the max-thread test — indicate ample processing power for the game's physics and AI calculations, which do not appear to scale significantly with resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting factor. The 102.3 FPS at Low versus 92 FPS at Medium (10.3 FPS difference) and 81.1 FPS at High (10.9 FPS difference) show that each preset step costs roughly 10-11 FPS, whereas at 1080p the same steps cost 37 and 44.1 FPS respectively. This inversion indicates that at 4K, the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are saturated, and the CPU's 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support are no longer the constraining factor. The RTX 3080's 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 164.2 GPixel/s pixel rate are the key specifications driving these results.

The scaling between resolutions at the same preset reveals the GPU's workload. For Low settings, 1080p to 1440p results in a 103.2 FPS drop (300.5 to 197.7), while 1440p to 4K results in a 95.4 FPS drop (197.7 to 102.3). For Ultra settings, the drops are 65.3 FPS (182.4 to 117.1) and 54.2 FPS (117.1 to 62.9). The smaller absolute drops at higher resolutions confirm that the GPU is approaching its throughput limits, and the CPU is not the bottleneck in any scenario tested.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Doom at 4K resolution with Ultra settings?*

A: Yes, the measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 62.9 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by 2.9 FPS. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and it remains playable.

Q: What is the maximum FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 300.5, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration that reaches the 300 FPS mark, and it is followed by 263.5 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does the RTX 3080's nearest rival compare in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA P106-100 has an average benchmark score of 23249, which is 0.3% higher than the RTX 3080's 23172. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 and AMD Radeon RX 6600M also have scores within 0.4% of the RTX 3080, at 23250 and 23273 respectively.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5900X significantly faster than its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X has an average benchmark score of 41376. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-14650HX, scores 41576, which is 0.5% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 7 366H scores 41263 (0.3% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H scores 41215 (0.4% lower). All four CPUs are within 0.5% of each other.

Q: What is the FPS difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce 144.5 FPS while Ultra settings produce 117.1 FPS, a difference of 27.4 FPS. This is the largest gap between High and Ultra across all resolutions, with 4K showing an 18.2 FPS difference and 1080p showing a 36.4 FPS difference.

Q: Does the RTX 3080's benchmark percentile indicate it is a high-performing GPU?

A: The RTX 3080 ranks in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms 68% of the database's tracked GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 23172, and its Passmark G3D score is 25086.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Based on nearestRivals data for the GPU, several alternatives would deliver near-identical performance in Doom. The NVIDIA P106-100 has an average benchmark score of 23249, just 0.3% above the RTX 3080's 23172, indicating virtually indistinguishable raw compute performance. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 scores 23250 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M scores 23273 (0.4% higher). The AMD Radeon R9 M290X completes the group with a 23276 score (0.4% higher). These four GPUs form a tight cluster around the RTX 3080's performance level, suggesting that any of them would produce similar frame rates in this game, though the RTX 3080's unique feature set — including 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores — may affect performance in other titles.

On the CPU side, the Ryzen 9 5900X's nearest rivals are all within a 0.5% performance band. The Intel Core i7-14650HX leads with a score of 41576 (0.5% higher), while the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H (41263), Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (41215), and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 (41208) trail by 0.3-0.4%. These processors would deliver essentially identical frame rates in Doom, given that the game's CPU demands are well within the capabilities of any of these 12-24 thread parts. The Ryzen 9 5900X's 12 cores and 24 threads, combined with its 64 MB L3 cache, provide ample computational headroom, but the benchmark scores show that the specific model choice among these rivals would not meaningfully alter the measured FPS results.

The RTX 3080's 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper tier of the database, and the fact that its four closest rivals are all within 0.4% of its score underscores the competitive density at this performance level. For Doom, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards, any of these GPUs would likely exceed 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, based on the RTX 3080's 62.9 FPS result.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 ranks 1042nd out of 3712 tested combos in the database for Doom, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all system configurations. This ranking reflects the fact that while both components are individually strong — the CPU in the 87th percentile of all CPUs and the GPU in the 68th percentile of all GPUs — there are many systems with more powerful GPUs or newer architectures that achieve higher frame rates in this title. The 3712 total combos include configurations with higher-tier GPUs that would naturally outperform this pairing, particularly at 4K resolution where the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

The rank of 1042 suggests that approximately 2,670 tested combos perform worse than this system in Doom, while 1,041 perform better. Given that the game was released in May 2016 and is not particularly demanding by current standards, the combination's 72nd percentile ranking is respectable but not elite. The RTX 3080's 10 GB GDDR6X memory and 320-bit bus width are sufficient for this game's textures and geometry, and the Ryzen 9 5900X's 12 cores provide more than enough processing power for the game's engine. However, systems with GPUs that rank higher than the 68th percentile would likely surpass this combo's measured FPS, especially at 4K Ultra where the 62.9 FPS result is only marginally above the playability threshold.

The rank also reflects the balance of this pairing. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 68th percentile indicates that the CPU has more headroom relative to its peer group than the GPU does, which is consistent with the observation that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. For users seeking higher 4K performance, a GPU with a higher percentile ranking would be a more impactful upgrade than a CPU change, as the data shows the CPU is not the bottleneck at any tested resolution.

The Verdict

This PC can run Doom at all tested resolutions and presets, with every configuration clearing the 60 FPS playability threshold by at least 2.9 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 62.9 FPS, which is the narrowest margin above the threshold, while High averages 81.1 FPS, Medium 92 FPS, and Low 102.3 FPS. At 2560x1440, all presets exceed 117 FPS, with Ultra at 117.1 FPS, High at 144.5 FPS, Medium at 172.2 FPS, and Low at 197.7 FPS. At 1920x1080, even the most demanding Ultra preset produces 182.4 FPS, and the least demanding Low preset reaches 300.5 FPS.

The verdictByResolution data lists all four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) as playable at every resolution, which means there is no configuration in the measured dataset that fails to meet the 60 FPS standard. The 4K Ultra result of 62.9 FPS is the closest call, but it still clears the threshold. For users with high refresh rate monitors, the 1440p and 1080p results provide ample headroom — 117.1 FPS at 1440p Ultra and 182.4 FPS at 1080p Ultra would fully utilize a 120 Hz or 144 Hz display, while 60 Hz displays would be comfortably saturated at any resolution and preset.

The data suggests this system is well-suited for Doom's fast-paced gameplay, where maintaining high frame rates is critical for responsiveness. The 4K Ultra performance is sufficient for a smooth experience, but users who prioritize visual fidelity at 4K should note that the 62.9 FPS average leaves little margin for frame time spikes.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 62.9 FPS. This is the only resolution where the best playable setting has a single-digit margin above the threshold. Users who prefer more headroom could opt for High at 81.1 FPS, Medium at 92 FPS, or Low at 102.3 FPS, but Ultra is technically playable.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is again the best playable setting, delivering 117.1 FPS. This provides a 57.1 FPS margin above the 60 FPS threshold, making it a safe choice for consistent performance. High at 144.5 FPS, Medium at 172.2 FPS, and Low at 197.7 FPS offer progressively higher frame rates for competitive play, but Ultra's 117.1 FPS is already well above what most displays can show.

At 1920x1080, Ultra is the best playable setting with an average of 182.4 FPS. This is more than triple the 60 FPS threshold, and even the highest-quality preset leaves substantial performance on the table. Medium at 263.5 FPS and Low at 300.5 FPS are available for users with very high refresh rate displays, but Ultra's 182.4 FPS exceeds the refresh rate of all but the most extreme gaming monitors.

In summary, Ultra settings are playable at every resolution, with the 4K result being the only configuration that falls below 100 FPS. The recommended setting for each resolution is Ultra, based on the criterion of the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS, and the measured averages confirm that this system has sufficient performance to run Doom at maximum quality across all tested resolutions.