Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Doom with the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 570 show a clear progression as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 91.3 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 58.5 FPS, a reduction of 32.8 FPS. At 4K Low, the average falls to 32.5 FPS, which is 58.8 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. This pattern indicates that the Radeon RX 570 becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The data shows a consistent scaling curve across all four settings presets. At High settings, the transition from 1080p (68 FPS) to 1440p (43.8 FPS) represents a 24.2 FPS loss, and the further drop to 4K (25.6 FPS) costs another 18.2 FPS. The Medium preset follows a similar arc: 80.5 FPS at 1080p, 53.9 FPS at 1440p, and 29.6 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings exhibit the steepest degradation, starting at 55.7 FPS in 1080p, falling to 34.4 FPS at 1440p, and bottoming out at 21.3 FPS in 4K.

The relationship between resolution and frame rate reveals that the GPU's 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 256-bit bus are being saturated at higher resolutions. The RX 570's 4 GB GDDR5 frame buffer also comes into play when rendering at 4K, where the gap between Low (32.5 FPS) and Ultra (21.3 FPS) widens to 11.2 FPS. At 1080p, the same Low-to-Ultra spread is 35.6 FPS, suggesting the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions.

What the scaling data indicates is that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming. The 1440p numbers hover around playable territory for less demanding presets, but the 4K results fall below 33 FPS across every settings level. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU busy at 1080p, but the GPU's compute resources—5.095 TFLOPS FP32 and 32 ROPs—struggle to maintain frame rates as the rendering load multiplies.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Doom?

A: The highest measured average is 91.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low produces 58.5 FPS average while Ultra drops to 34.4 FPS, a difference of 24.1 FPS between the two presets.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware combination?

A: The 4K results range from 21.3 FPS (Ultra) to 32.5 FPS (Low), with High at 25.6 FPS and Medium at 29.6 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for smooth gameplay.

Q: Which resolution shows the smallest gap between Low and High settings?

A: At 3840x2160, the gap between Low (32.5 FPS) and High (25.6 FPS) is 6.9 FPS. At 1080p, the same comparison shows a 23.3 FPS difference, indicating the GPU bottleneck narrows the settings impact at 4K.

Q: What does the combo rank tell us about this pairing's overall standing?

A: This combo ranks 1603 out of 1681 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the lower portion of the database's tested configs.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark percentile compare to its measured gaming performance?

A: The RX 570 sits in the 74th percentile among all GPUs based on average benchmark scores, yet its Doom frame rates at 4K fall below 33 FPS, showing that synthetic scores don't always translate to high-resolution gaming capability.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 brings 6 cores and 12 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This Zen 3 architecture chip, built on TSMC's 7 nm process, shows strong multi-threaded capability in synthetic tests—its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 places it in the 79th percentile among all CPUs. The single-thread performance of 2319 in Cinebench R23 is adequate for gaming workloads that rely on fewer cores.

In Doom's measured results, the CPU appears to maintain sufficient headroom at 1080p. The jump from Low (91.3 FPS) to High (68 FPS) at 1080p suggests the GPU is handling the additional visual fidelity, while the CPU keeps up with the game's simulation and draw call processing. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5386 and max-thread score of 5411 confirm that the CPU can deliver consistent performance across all threads when needed.

However, the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases. At 4K, the frame rate differences between settings presets compress dramatically—from 21.3 FPS at Ultra to 32.5 FPS at Low, a spread of only 11.2 FPS. This compression indicates the GPU is the dominant bottleneck; the CPU's 16 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are not the limiting factors at higher resolutions. The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores nearly identically in average benchmarks (20897 vs 20875), with a delta of -0.1%, so there is no meaningful CPU performance gap to exploit.

The 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface are sufficient for this workload. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 19330 and single-thread score of 3058 suggest balanced capability for a game like Doom, which is known for its optimization but still benefits from solid per-core performance. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is doing its job—frame rates scale with GPU settings changes—but at 4K, the CPU's influence fades entirely.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Ryzen 5 5500 and Radeon RX 570 ranks 1603 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 5% of all configurations in the database. This low ranking reflects the GPU's age and mid-range positioning rather than any CPU deficiency. The RX 570, released in 2017, sits in the 74th percentile among all GPUs, but its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are modern cards like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (delta 0.2%) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (delta 0.2%), which are far more capable in gaming workloads.

The ranking suggests that while the CPU is competitive—its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-12500 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE with deltas under 0.2%—the GPU drags the overall combo down. The measured FPS data supports this: at 4K Ultra, the combo achieves only 21.3 FPS, a figure that would rank poorly against any modern GPU pairing. The 1080p Low result of 91.3 FPS is respectable, but the combo's inability to maintain 60 FPS at 4K across all presets limits its standing.

When interpreting the rank, it's important to note that the database includes 1681 combos, many of which feature high-end GPUs from recent generations. This combo's position reflects its 2017 GPU paired with a 2022 CPU, creating an imbalance where the CPU has significant headroom but the GPU cannot exploit it. The percentile rankings for both components—79th for CPU, 74th for GPU—show they are individually mid-pack, but their combined gaming performance in Doom's higher resolutions demonstrates that the GPU is the constraining factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 91.3 FPS average, Medium achieves 80.5 FPS, High reaches 68 FPS, and Ultra drops to 55.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 35.6 FPS, showing that the GPU's settings headroom is substantial at this resolution. All four presets exceed 55 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where every settings level is playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers decline across the board. Low averages 58.5 FPS, Medium 53.9 FPS, High 43.8 FPS, and Ultra 34.4 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 24.1 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to struggle with the increased pixel count. Only Low and Medium remain above 50 FPS, while High and Ultra fall below the smooth gameplay threshold.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly. Low yields 32.5 FPS, Medium 29.6 FPS, High 25.6 FPS, and Ultra 21.3 FPS. The settings spread compresses to 11.2 FPS, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated and no longer able to differentiate presets meaningfully. Even the lowest settings fail to reach 33 FPS, making 4K impractical for this combination.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each settings tier costs roughly 10-12 FPS at 1080p, 8-10 FPS at 1440p, and 3-4 FPS at 4K. This diminishing impact of settings changes at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU bottlenecking. The RX 570's 32 ROPs and 159.2 GTexel/s texture rate are simply insufficient for 4K rendering, regardless of the CPU's capability.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combo depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, High settings deliver 68 FPS, which balances visual quality with smoothness. Ultra at 55.7 FPS is close to 60 FPS and may be preferable for players who prioritize image fidelity, but High offers a 12.3 FPS improvement over Ultra with only a modest visual downgrade. Medium at 80.5 FPS is the best choice for competitive play where higher frame rates are prioritized.

For 2560x1440, Low settings at 58.5 FPS provide the smoothest experience, though Medium at 53.9 FPS is still playable and offers better visual quality. High at 43.8 FPS and Ultra at 34.4 FPS fall below the 50 FPS mark, making them less desirable for fast-paced FPS gameplay. The data suggests that 1440p users should stick to Low or Medium presets to maintain acceptable frame rates.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS, and the highest result is Low at 32.5 FPS. Given Doom's fast-paced nature, the 21.3 FPS Ultra result would likely feel sluggish. The recommendation for 4K is to avoid this resolution entirely or accept Low settings for a playable-but-not-ideal experience. The 4 GB VRAM capacity may also cause texture streaming issues at 4K, further degrading the experience.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is 1080p with High settings, which offers a solid 68 FPS average with good visual fidelity. For players who want maximum smoothness, 1080p Low at 91.3 FPS is the highest frame rate available. The combo's sweet spot is clearly 1080p, where the CPU and GPU work in balance and the frame rates remain competitive.