Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 delivers a highly playable experience in Doom, with performance scaling predictably from the GPU-bound 4K tier down to a CPU-influenced 1080p tier. The measured data shows this combination sits near the bottom of the database, ranked 1400 out of 1681 tested combos, but the absolute frame rates tell a story of consistent capability across most settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas between 1080p and 4K reveal a classic GPU-bound curve. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 97.9 at 1920x1080 to 59 at 2560x1440, then falls sharply to 35.2 at 3840x2160. That represents a 39.7% reduction going from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 40.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. The GTX 1070's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are clearly the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the GPU's pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s struggles to fill 4K frames.

Low settings show a different scaling pattern. From 156 FPS at 1080p, the average drops to 104.1 at 1440p (a 33.3% decrease) and then to 56.7 at 4K (a 45.5% decrease). The steeper 4K penalty on Low settings suggests that even with reduced shading complexity, the memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s becomes a hard ceiling. Medium settings follow a similar trajectory: 138 FPS at 1080p, 91.7 at 1440p, and 48.4 at 4K.

High settings present the most balanced scaling. The 76.4 FPS average at 1440p is 33% lower than the 114 FPS at 1080p, while 4K High lands at 42.9 FPS, a 43.9% drop from 1440p. This consistency indicates the GTX 1070 maintains its efficiency curve until the pixel count overwhelms its 64 ROPs. Notably, the gap between 1080p and 1440p narrows as settings increase, suggesting the CPU begins to contribute more at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The GeForce GTX 1070 operates with a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1683 MHz, built on the 16 nm Pascal architecture. Its 1920 shading units and 120 texture mapping units provide 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which proves sufficient for Doom's id Tech 6 engine at 1080p and 1440p. The card's 8 GB GDDR5 memory at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) delivers 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, a figure that directly correlates with the 4K performance drop.

Benchmark data places this GPU at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (0.7% higher), the GeForce GTX 880M (-1.3%), and the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (-1.4%). This positioning suggests the GTX 1070 is a mid-pack performer in synthetic tests, yet the Doom results show it punching above that weight at 1080p.

The 4K Ultra result of 35.2 FPS is the weakest measured point, and it aligns with the GPU's PassMark DirectX 12 score of 48, which is notably lower than its DirectX 11 score of 100. Doom supports Vulkan, and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 47395 indicates strong API-level performance, but the hardware's raw throughput caps out around 4K Medium (48.4 FPS). The texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s are sufficient for 1440p High, but not for 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 1400 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 17% of the database. This low ranking reflects the age of both components rather than any fundamental incompatibility. The CPU's 77th percentile standing among all processors (average benchmark score 19616) and the GPU's 51st percentile standing combine to produce a system that is balanced but dated.

The ranking becomes more understandable when looking at the CPU's nearest rivals. The Intel Core i5-1345U scores 19691 (0.4% higher), the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U scores 19508 (0.6% lower), and the Intel Core i7-10700F scores 19485 (0.7% lower). These modern mobile and desktop chips bracket the Ryzen 5 2600's performance, yet they would typically pair with newer GPUs. Similarly, the GTX 1070's rivals — the Quadro K4200, GTX 880M, and GTX 1650 SUPER — all sit within 1.7% of its average score, showing the GPU holds its own against slightly newer parts.

What the rank does not capture is the playability profile. At 1080p, this combo delivers over 97 FPS on every setting tested, which is far above the 60 FPS threshold. The rank of 1400 reflects the sheer number of newer, higher-end combinations in the database, not a deficiency in this pairing for Doom specifically.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a wide spread across settings. Low settings produce 156 FPS average, Medium drops to 138 FPS (an 11.5% reduction), High reaches 114 FPS (a 17.4% reduction from Medium), and Ultra bottoms out at 97.9 FPS (a 14.1% reduction from High). The 1080p Ultra result of 97.9 FPS is particularly strong, indicating the CPU still has headroom even at the highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 104.1 FPS on Low, 91.7 FPS on Medium, 76.4 FPS on High, and 59 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p Ultra result of 59 FPS sits just below the 60 FPS target, making it borderline for smooth gameplay. The 1440p Low result of 104.1 FPS shows the GTX 1070 still has substantial compute left when pixel shading is lightened.

At 3840x2160, the results fall into marginal territory. Low settings yield 56.7 FPS, Medium drops to 48.4 FPS, High reaches 42.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35.2 FPS. The step from Low to Medium at 4K is a 14.6% reduction, while the step from High to Ultra is an 18.0% reduction. These numbers indicate that 4K is only viable on Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is below the 60 FPS ideal.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 contributes 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. This is a Zen architecture part on the 12 nm process, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy — 96 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 16 MB shared L3 — provides adequate bandwidth for Doom's single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores of 11186 multi-core and 1579 single-core demonstrate solid processing power, with the multi-core result placing it in the upper tier of its generation. The PassMark single-thread score of 2239 and multi-thread score of 13160 confirm that the CPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, where the GPU is still producing over 97 FPS on all presets.

At 1080p Low, the 156 FPS average is likely approaching the CPU's frame delivery ceiling, as the GPU is not heavily taxed at these settings. The Ryzen 5 2600's boost clock of 3.90 GHz is adequate for Doom's engine, which is known to scale well with modern processors. The 16 MB shared L3 cache helps with the game's texture streaming and geometry processing, particularly in large outdoor arenas.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database — the Core i5-1345U, Ryzen 5 7530U, and Core i7-10700F — all show average scores within 0.7% of the Ryzen 5 2600, indicating that the CPU's performance level is still competitive with newer mainstream parts. This explains why the 1080p results remain strong despite the combo's low overall rank.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data supports specific choices at each resolution. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings are the clear recommendation, as the 97.9 FPS average provides ample headroom above 60 FPS while delivering the best visual quality. Even High settings at 114 FPS are excessive for 60 Hz displays, so Ultra is the logical choice.

At 2560x1440, High settings at 76.4 FPS are the best option for maintaining smooth gameplay with high visual fidelity. Ultra at 59 FPS is just below the 60 FPS threshold, making it a marginal choice for players sensitive to frame pacing. Medium at 91.7 FPS is viable for those prioritizing higher refresh rates, but High offers the best balance of quality and performance.

At 3840x2160, Low settings at 56.7 FPS are the only preset that approaches playability. Medium at 48.4 FPS and High at 42.9 FPS are below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra at 35.2 FPS is best avoided. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires accepting reduced visual quality or lowering the resolution to 1440p.

Across all resolutions, the measured rows indicate that the GTX 1070's sweet spot is 1440p High, where the 76.4 FPS average represents a strong balance of image quality and frame rate. For competitive play, 1080p Low at 156 FPS offers the highest refresh potential, but the 97.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra is more than sufficient for most players. The recommendation is to prioritize Ultra at 1080p, High at 1440p, and Low at 4K, based strictly on the measured averages.