Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Doom, with the GPU clearly dominating the performance curve. The data shows a combination that sits at rank 786 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the top 21% of all system configurations for this title. Across all resolutions and settings, the average frame rates never dip below 96 FPS, and at 1080p the system pushes past 230 FPS on the lowest settings, indicating that this pairing is well-suited for fast-paced, competitive play.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, built on the Zen architecture with a 12 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, and the benchmark results suggest that this level of single-thread performance is sufficient to keep up with the demands of Doom's engine. The processor's passmark single-thread score of 2239 places it in a competitive position, and its cinebench r15 single-core score of 157.3 reinforces that its per-core capability is not a bottleneck in this title. The CPU's overall percentile ranking of 75 versus all CPUs indicates it is a solid mid-range performer, but the game's frame rates show it is not the limiting factor here.

The processor's multi-threaded capabilities are also relevant, though less critical for Doom's primarily GPU-bound rendering. With a cinebench r15 multicore score of 1248 and a geekbench multicore score of 5648, the Ryzen 5 2600 provides ample headroom for background tasks and system overhead. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% faster), the Intel Core i9-11900H (0.5% faster), and the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (0.7% slower), showing that the Ryzen 5 2600 sits in a tightly contested performance band. The fact that the 2600's avgBenchmarkScore of 21484 is within 1.2% of the AMD EPYC 9454 (which scores 21223) suggests that its processing power is well-balanced for gaming workloads.

The 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB per-core L2 cache provide the data locality needed for Doom's level streaming and enemy AI routines. At 1080p with High settings, the CPU manages to feed the RTX 5090 enough data to achieve 210 FPS, and even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 96 FPS. The benchmark data indicates that the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame delivery pipeline rather than to push raw performance, as the frame rates scale more dramatically with GPU settings changes than with resolution changes alone. The processor's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 46.9 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for this game, and the results show no signs of starvation at any tested configuration.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of settings presets, and the optimal choice depends on the user's display refresh rate and resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 234 FPS, which is only 11.4% faster than the Medium preset's 223 FPS and 11.4% faster than High's 210 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is relatively small in terms of frame rate cost, but the visual quality improvement from Low to Medium is substantial, making Medium the best balance for most users at 1080p. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 196 FPS, which is still exceptionally high, but the 27 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra may not justify the visual gains for competitive players.

At 1440p, the Medium preset produces 193 FPS, which is 10 FPS faster than High (182 FPS) and 24 FPS faster than Ultra (169 FPS). The Low preset at 203 FPS is only 10 FPS faster than Medium, suggesting that the graphics card is beginning to become the primary constraint at this resolution. For users with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors, the Medium preset at 1440p is the recommended choice, as it provides a comfortable margin above refresh rate while maintaining good visual fidelity. The Ultra preset's 169 FPS is still playable, but the 12.4% performance drop from Medium to Ultra is a steep price for the extra effects.

At 4K, the Medium preset delivers 139 FPS, which is the only preset that breaks the 120 FPS barrier at this resolution. The High preset at 117 FPS and Ultra at 96 FPS are also viable for 60 Hz displays, but the Medium preset is the clear winner for high-refresh-rate 4K monitors. The Low preset at 159 FPS is the fastest option, but the visual compromises are significant at this resolution. The data shows that Medium is the sweet spot across all three resolutions, offering the best frame rate per visual quality trade-off, with the 1440p Medium configuration providing the most compelling experience for the majority of users.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, with the RTX 5090's immense rendering power being the primary driver of frame rates. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 223 FPS at 1080p to 193 FPS at 1440p (a 13.5% decrease) and then to 139 FPS at 4K (a 28% decrease from 1440p). This scaling pattern shows that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count efficiently, but the diminishing returns are clear as resolution increases. The 4K Medium frame rate of 139 FPS is still remarkably high, indicating that the RTX 5090 has substantial headroom even at the highest resolutions.

The Low preset shows a similar pattern, with 234 FPS at 1080p dropping to 203 FPS at 1440p (13.2% decrease) and then to 159 FPS at 4K (21.7% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the 4K Low frame rate of 159 FPS is higher than the 1080p Ultra frame rate of 196 FPS is notable, suggesting that settings changes have a more significant impact on performance than resolution changes alone. This is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU has enough headroom to handle the increased draw calls at lower settings without bottlenecking.

The High preset shows a 13.3% drop from 1080p (210 FPS) to 1440p (182 FPS) and a 35.7% drop from 1440p to 4K (117 FPS). The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling, with a 13.8% drop from 1080p (196 FPS) to 1440p (169 FPS) and a 43.2% drop from 1440p to 4K (96 FPS). This disproportionate scaling at Ultra settings confirms that the GPU's texture and shading units are heavily taxed at 4K with maximum effects. The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal, as the Ryzen 5 2600's performance is sufficient to maintain consistent frame delivery across all resolutions, with the frame rate differences being almost entirely attributable to GPU workload.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p with Medium settings provides the best balance, delivering 193 FPS while maintaining solid visual quality. At 4K Medium, the system still achieves 139 FPS, making it viable for high-refresh-rate 4K displays, but the 1440p experience offers the most consistent high frame rates.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 2600 perform relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an avgBenchmarkScore of 21484, which is 0.2% slower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (21440) and 0.5% slower than the Intel Core i9-11900H (21367). It is 0.7% faster than the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (21635) and 1.2% faster than the AMD EPYC 9454 (21223).

Q: Is the RTX 5090 overkill for Doom?

A: Benchmark results indicate that the RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, as evidenced by the large frame rate differences between settings presets at the same resolution. The GPU's passmark g3d score of 39650 and its percentile ranking of 92 versus all GPUs demonstrate its top-tier performance, which allows for high frame rates even at 4K.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 4K, the Low preset produces 159 FPS, while the Ultra preset produces 96 FPS, representing a 63 FPS difference (39.6% lower). This shows that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects cost significant performance at 4K.

Q: Does the system maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset delivers an average of 96 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. While this is the lowest measured result in the dataset, it remains highly playable for a fast-paced FPS title.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 + RTX 5090 combination ranks 786 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the top 21% of all systems tested for Doom. This ranking reflects the strong performance of the GPU despite the mid-range CPU.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the clear performance driver in this configuration, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit memory bus providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This massive memory allocation is far beyond what Doom requires, but it ensures that the GPU never faces memory constraints at any resolution or settings preset. The GPU's 21760 shading units and 680 texture mapping units allow it to process the game's geometry and lighting effects at exceptional speeds, as evidenced by the high frame rates across all tested configurations. The boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz provide the raw computational throughput needed to maintain these frame rates.

The RTX 5090's benchmark scores reinforce its dominance in this pairing. Its passmark g3d score of 39650 places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, and its geekbench vulkan score of 376728 indicates strong API-level performance that translates well to Doom's Vulkan rendering path. The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% slower), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% slower), showing that the RTX 5090's performance is at the top of the tested range. The 3dmark steel nomad dx12 score of 18355 further confirms its DirectX 12 capabilities.

The GPU's role in Doom is most evident in the settings scaling data. At 1080p, the difference between Low (234 FPS) and Ultra (196 FPS) is 38 FPS, while at 4K, the same settings difference is 63 FPS. This widening gap at higher resolutions demonstrates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU's frame delivery rate remains constant while the GPU's workload increases with resolution and settings complexity. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate provide the computational resources needed to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra, where it still delivers 96 FPS. The GPU's dual-slot design and 575 W TDP are consistent with its high-performance positioning, and the PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures sufficient bandwidth for data transfer.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 234 FPS average, while Medium produces 223 FPS with a minimum of 190 FPS and maximum of 257 FPS. The High preset achieves 210 FPS, and Ultra drops to 196 FPS. These results show that the system is capable of exceeding 200 FPS at 1080p across all settings except Ultra, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 203 FPS, Medium delivers 193 FPS with a minimum of 164 FPS and maximum of 222 FPS, High achieves 182 FPS, and Ultra drops to 169 FPS. The 1440p results show a tighter grouping than 1080p, with only a 34 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 164 is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset produces 159 FPS, Medium delivers 139 FPS with a minimum of 118 FPS and maximum of 160 FPS, High achieves 117 FPS, and Ultra drops to 96 FPS. The 4K results show the most significant scaling, with a 63 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 118 is noteworthy, as it ensures that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 100 FPS. The Ultra preset's 96 FPS average is the only measured result below 100 FPS, but it remains highly playable for a game like Doom. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the best balance of performance and visual quality, with the 4K Medium configuration delivering 139 FPS, which is an exceptional result for a 2016 title running on modern hardware.