Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 580 combination delivers a playable Doom experience at 1080p, but the data shows a sharp drop-off as resolution increases. The measured frames per second (FPS) across all settings reveal that this pairing is best suited for 1920x1080, where it consistently exceeds the 60 FPS threshold at most presets. At higher resolutions, the system struggles to maintain fluid motion, making 1440p a compromise and 2160p largely impractical for competitive or fast-paced play.

Settings Recommendations

For the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset at 1920x1080 is the clear recommendation. The data shows an average of 75 FPS at this setting, which is 13 FPS higher than the Ultra preset’s 62 FPS average. This difference is significant in a fast-paced FPS like Doom, where maintaining a higher frame rate directly impacts responsiveness and smoothness. The jump from High to Ultra costs 13 FPS, a 17% reduction in average performance, which is a substantial trade-off for incremental visual gains.

If maximum smoothness is the priority, the Low preset at 1080p delivers an excellent 102 FPS average, but this comes at the cost of reduced graphical detail. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with an 89 FPS average and a recorded minimum of 76 FPS, ensuring that even the most intense combat scenes maintain a frame rate well above 60 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 76 indicates better frame pacing stability than the High or Ultra presets, where min FPS data is not provided.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only setting that achieves a consistently smooth experience, with a 66 FPS average. The Medium preset at this resolution drops to 58 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS target, though its minimum of 49 FPS shows potential for stutter in heavy scenes. The High preset at 1440p averages 49 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a game that benefits from high frame rates. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with a 40 FPS average, is not recommended for a responsive experience.

For 3840x2160, no settings preset provides a consistently playable experience. The Low preset averages 36 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and will feel sluggish in fast action. The High preset at this resolution averages only 26 FPS, and Ultra drops to 22 FPS. The data suggests that this resolution is out of reach for this hardware combination in Doom, regardless of settings adjustments.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580’s performance in Doom is heavily influenced by its memory configuration and clock speeds. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. This memory bandwidth is a critical factor at higher resolutions, where the GPU must move larger amounts of texture and geometry data. The benchmark results confirm this, as the FPS drops significantly from 1080p to 1440p and further to 2160p, a pattern consistent with memory bandwidth becoming a bottleneck.

The GPU’s base clock is 1257 MHz, with a boost clock of 1340 MHz. These clocks, along with a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s, define the raw processing capability of the card. The FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS is the compute ceiling for the card. In Doom, which is a well-optimized title, these specifications translate to strong performance at 1080p, where the card can leverage its full compute and memory bandwidth.

The RX 580 sits at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, indicating it is a mid-range performer. Its average benchmark score of 12928 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile, which scores 12940, a delta of just -0.1%. This suggests that the RX 580’s performance profile is closely matched to that mobile GPU. However, the RX 580’s 8 GB of VRAM is a distinct advantage over cards with less memory, as it allows for higher texture quality settings without exceeding memory capacity, which is a key factor in Doom’s performance at 1440p and 2160p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and the AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 3397 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the lower 8.5% of all tested systems, which is a low ranking overall, but it is important to contextualize this against the specific hardware. This ranking reflects the age of both components, as the CPU was released in 2018 and the GPU in 2017. The data indicates that this pairing is not competitive with modern high-end systems, but it does not tell the whole story of its performance in absolute terms.

The benchmark results show that this combo is capable of delivering a smooth 1080p experience, which is the most common gaming resolution. The low combo rank is likely due to the inclusion of many much newer and more powerful components in the database. For its era, this pairing was a solid mid-range choice, as the CPU’s performance is in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 53rd percentile. The combination of a strong CPU with a mid-range GPU is a classic pairing for 1080p gaming, and the measured FPS confirms this is exactly what this system delivers.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 21484 is nearly identical to that of the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V, which scores 21440, a delta of 0.2%. This puts the Ryzen 5 2600 in a competitive position against much newer processors in synthetic tests. However, the GPU’s performance is the limiting factor in this pairing, as its score of 12928 is closely matched by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER, which scores 12986, a delta of -0.4%. This shows that the RX 580 is a capable, if not leading-edge, graphics processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution where this combo performs best, the data shows a clear hierarchy across settings. The Low preset achieves the highest average FPS at 102, followed by the Medium preset at 89 FPS with a minimum of 76 and a maximum of 103. The High preset averages 75 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 62 FPS. This data indicates that a 1080p monitor with a 60 Hz refresh rate will be fully utilized at Low, Medium, and High settings, with headroom for a 75 Hz or higher refresh rate at Low and Medium settings.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. The Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is the only setting that remains above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset averages 58 FPS, with a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 66, showing that while the average is close, there will be noticeable dips below 60 FPS. The High preset averages 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 40 FPS. These results suggest that 1440p is only viable at Low settings for a consistently smooth experience, and that the system is not well-suited for higher quality settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The Low preset averages 36 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset averages 31 FPS, with a minimum of 27 and a maximum of 36, indicating severe frame drops in action sequences. The High preset averages 26 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 22 FPS. These numbers clearly show that 2160p is not a viable resolution for this hardware in Doom, as even the lowest settings fail to provide a playable experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Doom?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system consistently exceeds 60 FPS on most presets. The highest average FPS at this resolution is 102 on Low, dropping to 62 on Ultra. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset averages above 60 FPS, while at 3840x2160, no preset averages above 36 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its closest rival in terms of raw performance?

A: The RX 580’s average benchmark score is 12928, which is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER’s score of 12986atched. It is also 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile’s score of 12940. This indicates that the RX 580 performs on par with these cards in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 a bottleneck for the RX 580 in Doom?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 21484, which is in the 75th percentile of all CPUs and closely matches the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V’s score of 21440. The GPU is in the 53rd percentile, suggesting the GPU is more likely the limiting factor for performance in this game, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU workload increases.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Medium and High presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset averages 89 FPS, while the High preset averages 75 FPS. This is a 14 FPS difference, representing an 18.7% decrease in average frame rate when moving from Medium to High. The Medium preset also has a recorded minimum of 76 FPS, ensuring better frame stability.

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but only at the Low preset, which averages 66 FPS. The Medium preset averages 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and the High and Ultra presets average 49 and 40 FPS, respectively. For a consistent 60+ FPS experience, 1440p requires the Low preset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset at 1080p compare to the High preset at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 1920x1080 averages 62 FPS, which is higher than the High preset at 2560x1440’s average of 49 FPS. This shows that at this hardware level, running a higher resolution at a lower quality preset yields lower performance than running a lower resolution at a higher quality preset.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 provides the processing foundation for this combo. It is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 46.9 GB/s of memory bandwidth are sufficient to feed the RX 580 in most gaming scenarios. The CPU’s performance in synthetic benchmarks is strong, with an average score of 21484, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

In Doom, which is a game that can scale with multiple threads, the 6-core and 12-thread configuration is a benefit. The CPU's multithreaded performance is evidenced by its Cinebench R15 multicore score of 1248 and Passmark multithread score of 13160. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle the game’s background tasks and physics calculations without becoming a significant bottleneck at 1080p, where the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates.

However, the CPU’s single-thread performance is more modest, with a Cinebench R15 single-core score of 157.3 and a Passmark single-thread score of 2239. In games that are heavily dependent on single-core performance, this could be a limiting factor, but Doom’s engine is generally well-optimized for multi-core processors. The data shows that at 1080p, the combo achieves high frame rates, indicating that the CPU is not holding back the GPU in this title. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant while the GPU’s rendering load increases exponentially.