Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti produces a wide range of frame rates in Doom, with the data showing that the choice of graphics preset has a more significant impact than resolution scaling. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is capable of delivering high refresh rate gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K remains playable with adjusted settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows for this combo provide a clear hierarchy of performance across the four tested presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset yields an average of 188 FPS, which is the lowest of the four settings at that resolution. The High preset delivers 210 FPS, while Medium reaches 223 FPS. The Low preset produces the highest average at 234 FPS. The data suggests that the jump from Low to Medium costs approximately 11 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs another 13 FPS, and the leap from High to Ultra costs an additional 22 FPS. Given that the minimum FPS for Medium at 1080p is 190, this preset offers a very stable experience with a substantial frame rate cushion above typical high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly. The Low preset averages 202 FPS, Medium drops to 176 FPS, High falls to 149 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 122 FPS. The Medium preset here has a minimum FPS of 150, which still provides smooth gameplay for most displays. The High preset at this resolution remains above 144 FPS, making it a viable choice for 144Hz monitors. The Ultra preset, while still playable, begins to show the CPU's limitations as the frame rate approaches the performance ceiling of the Ryzen 5 2600 in this title.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more critical. The Ultra preset averages only 66 FPS, which is below the 70 FPS threshold many consider necessary for a consistently smooth experience. The High preset improves this to 81 FPS, while Medium reaches 95 FPS. The Low preset produces 109 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K. For the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, the Medium preset at 4K is the recommended choice, as it maintains an average above 90 FPS while providing a significant visual upgrade over Low. The High preset is also acceptable, but the Medium preset offers a better margin above the minimum FPS of 81 recorded at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is based on the GA102 chip and the Ampere architecture, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The card features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. The core clocks are listed with a base of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, while the memory operates at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which are relevant to Doom's rendering capabilities.

In the measured results, the GPU demonstrates its strength at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is only 46 FPS, which indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti has ample headroom to handle the game's demands. However, at 4K, the gap between Low and Ultra widens to 43 FPS, showing that the GPU is being pushed harder. The data shows that the RTX 3080 Ti is capable of maintaining over 100 FPS at 4K on Low settings, which suggests the card's raw compute power is sufficient for Doom even at high pixel counts. The GPU's 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 532.8 GTexel/s texture rate provide a strong foundation for this title's fast-paced rendering. The card's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, though Doom does not heavily utilize ray tracing or DLSS in these measurements. The GPU's percentile rank of 83 among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 41187, places it well above the majority of competing cards, which aligns with the high frame rates observed in the 1080p and 1440p tests.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo in Doom?

A: The highest average frame rate is 234 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 Ti the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No, the data indicates the opposite. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 234 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 188 FPS. This 46 FPS difference shows the GPU is still the primary driver of performance, as the CPU is capable of feeding it enough frames to reach these high numbers.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS in the data is 81, which appears at 3840x2160 with the Medium preset. The same minimum of 81 is also listed for the High preset at 4K, though the average for High is lower at 81 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 1440p Ultra compared to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 2560x1440 Ultra, the average FPS is 122. At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average FPS is 188. This represents a 66 FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance at any tested resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU begins to limit at higher settings and lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 234 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame output capability. At 4K Low, the average is 109 FPS, showing the GPU is taking over the workload, but the CPU is no longer the primary bottleneck at that resolution.

Q: Which preset provides the most consistent frame pacing at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 has a minimum FPS of 81 and a maximum of 110, with an average of 95. This provides a tighter range compared to the High preset, which has no listed minimum but averages 81 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 1220 out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom. This places it in the top third of all combos, which is a strong showing given the CPU's age. The Ryzen 5 2600, released in 2018, has a percentile rank of 75 among all CPUs, while the RTX 3080 Ti, released in 2021, has a percentile rank of 83 among all GPUs. The combination of a mid-range CPU from the Zen architecture with a high-end Ampere GPU produces a balanced result, though the CPU is clearly the weaker link in this pairing.

The rank of 1220 indicates that many other combinations, likely those with newer CPUs, achieve higher frame rates in Doom. However, the RTX 3080 Ti's raw power compensates for the CPU's limitations, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the dominant factor. The combo's position in the ranking is respectable, and the measured data shows it is capable of delivering excellent performance in this title, especially at 1440p where the average FPS remains above 120 across all presets. The data indicates that while the CPU prevents the combo from reaching the very top of the rankings, the GPU ensures a smooth experience in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear trend of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the average is 234 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 202 FPS, a decrease of 32 FPS or roughly 14%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 109 FPS, a further drop of 93 FPS from 1440p, representing a 46% reduction. This pattern is consistent across all presets.

For the Medium preset, the progression is 223 FPS at 1080p, 176 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 47 FPS, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 81 FPS. The High preset shows 210 FPS at 1080p, 149 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows 188 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K.

These numbers indicate that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K, as the frame rate scales almost linearly with the number of pixels. The 4K resolution has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, and the data shows roughly a 50-60% reduction in frame rate, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p, the CPU begins to play a more significant role, as the frame rates are high enough that the Ryzen 5 2600's single-thread performance becomes a constraint. The data suggests that for this combo, 1440p is the sweet spot, offering a balance between the high frame rates of 1080p and the visual clarity of 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset provides an average of 234 FPS with no recorded minimum or maximum. The Medium preset averages 223 FPS with a minimum of 190 and a maximum of 257. The High preset averages 210 FPS with no min or max recorded. The Ultra preset averages 188 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 46 FPS, with the Medium preset offering the best stability based on its recorded minimum.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 202 FPS. The Medium preset averages 176 FPS with a minimum of 150 and a maximum of 202. The High preset averages 149 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 122 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 80 FPS, showing a wider performance range than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 109 FPS. The Medium preset averages 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 and a maximum of 110. The High preset averages 81 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 66 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 43 FPS, which is narrower than at 1440p but still significant.

The data shows that the Medium preset consistently provides a recorded minimum FPS across all resolutions, which suggests it may be the most stable setting for this combo. The minimum FPS values are 190 at 1080p, 150 at 1440p, and 81 at 4K, all of which are above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Zen architecture, specifically the Zen+ refresh codenamed Pinnacle Ridge. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with a TDP of 65 watts. The CPU features 96 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 16 MB L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s.

In Doom, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p with lower settings. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 234 FPS, which is likely near the maximum frame output the CPU can sustain. At 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 188 FPS, which is a 46 FPS difference that can be attributed to the increased GPU workload, but the CPU is still keeping up. The Ryzen 5 2600's single-thread score in Geekbench is 1154, and its Cinebench R15 single-core score is 157.3, which are modest figures by modern standards. The CPU's passmark single-thread score of 2239 places it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is an average performer for its generation.

The data suggests that the CPU becomes a bottleneck at high frame rates. At 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 202 FPS, which is still very high. At 4K Low, the frame rate is 109 FPS, which is more GPU-bound. The CPU's multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R15 multicore score of 1248 and a Geekbench multicore score of 5648, is sufficient for Doom's engine, which is optimized for high frame rates. The combo's rank of 1220 out of 3712 indicates that while the CPU is not top-tier, it does not severely hamper the RTX 3080 Ti in this game. The data shows that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p, but as resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the primary determinant of performance.